Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Batman & Syria


 
 
 
Since the announcement last week that Ben Affleck would be playing the role of Batman people have been up in arms. One petition to have him NOT play Batman man has acquired over 70,000 signatures. There is even a petition to the White House asking for Ben Affleck to be removed as the actor for Batman.
 
 
 


 
All the why men, women and children are dying daily in Syria. To date they estimate that over 100,000 people have died in the two years this war has gone on. Where are the cries of outrage at this atrocity? Why is there no anger or disgust over the lives that are no longer here, that have died far to soon.
 
Seems to me that things are backwards in our country right now and it troubles me greatly. If we can only be upset that an actor is cast into a role with don't agree with rather than the lives that are dying needlessly then we may need to step outside of ourselves and think more of our neighbor rather than our own needs and desires.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Sin is the Problem!

Women are not the problem in society.....

 
 
SIN IS
 
 
 
Genesis 1
 

The Creation

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light "; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good ; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. 6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse ; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9 Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear "; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas ; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation : plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind ; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day. 14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years ; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth "; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night ; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness ; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." 21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind ; and God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind : cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind "; and it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind ; and God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed ; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food "; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day
 
God's creation is good. I have always liked the saying, "God don't make no junk" I know this is a double negative, common in the south but you get the point that everything God made is good. That includes women. See in verse 26 of Genesis 1 the Hebrew word we translate man is best translated as mankind or humanity. Mankind is made up of both male and female, we are both good.
 
Based upon this passage it always upsets me and offends me when people blame women for the problems in society or the bad choices men make. Here is the truth, we are good simply because we are a creation of God but we are also sinful. We are a fallen people, but that in no way negates the inherent goodness that is in all of us.
 
What I love most about God and creation is that we have free will. We have the ability to make our own choices with out interference from God and especially without interference from others. So when someone blames men's behavior on the behavior of women three things are negated:
 
1 - the inherent goodness of women is dismissed/negated
 
2 - women's role in creation and God's created order is dismissed/negated
 
3 - and men's (male) sinfulness is dismissed/denied
 
If we dismiss or deny our sinfulness then we cannot receive the redemption of the cross and the forgiveness that Jesus freely gives.
 
I implore and beg all Christian men to consider what they imply about God's created order when they place the blame of societies ills on women. Do we really want to imply that God created a flawed world and that God made a mistake when Eve was created?
 
Something I hope people will really think about.
 
 
 


Friday, August 16, 2013

Far from home. Oh the difficulty



I don't technically live that far from home. If I drive to where my parents live it is 3 hours or if I drive to my mom's childhood home; just over 3 hours. None the less it is the farthest I have ever lived from home. While I love living in Virginia, in the Roanoke Valley it can be hard at times, times when my father is sick and his heart and lungs don't want to cooperate. Like back in May and right at this moment. See, my immediate family is very close. Whenever someone is in the hospital we are all there. We are one of those families that asks lots of questions and probably annoy hospital staff. But we do it because we care for each other and love each other.

This is what makes living away from my family so difficult. Being in close physical proximity to my family helps lighten the burden of stress and grief. I can call my mom or my sister, and I have already today, 2x, and it helps but it doesn't fill that need to be with them.

It is difficult. It is just difficult.

(On a side note, my father is doing better and should go home tonight)

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Have you joined a team?

Back in July I wrote about how you can join a team in SE Asia and help fund rescues of those caught in the sex trade. Click here to read about how you can get involved.

Since that post team Bravo has rescued a 16 year old girl from a  private brothel. Watch the video of the live rescue:




Teenager Rescued from Private Brothel. RAID FOOTAGE HERE. from The Exodus Road on Vimeo.


This is the reality of rescue that happens when we come together and fuel brave teams on the ground. Currently, Maria is in an aftercare facility.

If you'd like to join our new Search and Rescue Program, we'd love to invite you to join BRAVO Team (shown here)  in India. With a $35 monthly sponsorship, you can empower more raids like Maria's.

If you have not joined a team please consider doing so. Your financial support means FREEDOM for someone like Maria