So many times when I see something that is different from what I am used to I think of it as superior or inferior. For whatever reason different cannot seem to simply be different. But as I am encountering more and more life and I am learning more and more about the world I am realizing how wrong I am in thinking that way. For example, different people worship God in different ways, none being better or worse... simply different. Or another thought: different people represent different aspects of God (if we still believe that we are all image bearers).
However, there are certain things that are in fact worse or better then others. This distinction, I am finding is very difficult to make. The only example that comes to mind is this: people who live a life attempting to become like Christ are better off then people who do not. The difficulty in making these distinctions can be observed by looking at the mysterious human heart.
The human heart cannot be defined, nor predicted. One cannot tell what is happening in someone else's heart (at least not all the time), nor can one tell what is happening in their own heart. We cannot explain why we fall in love. We cannot explain why a person would give up their entire life for something that does not even directly benefit them. Again, the only way I can make sense of the human heart is by eluding it all to God. We fall in love because God loves us and we desire to love others in the same way. We give up our own well being because God has given up His to bring peace and joy to us. I believe that human beings ultimately long for Joy, and I believe that Joy comes only from God.
With these thoughts in mind, let us proceed to the main topic of this entry: oppression. My first question is this: can a person or people truly be oppressed?
When the rich look upon the poor, what do they see? The rich likely see the poor as unfortunate or worse off then them. However, quite to the contrary, it may be the rich who are less fortunate. But with these ideas of Joy and difference in mind, one could say that neither is more or less fortunate. For the difference between rich and poor is difference. Neither is better or worse. So in order to see which is better or worse off, one must look at the situation through the eyes of Christ and not the eyes that they have developed over their years.
What then, of a man who lives under a democracy where the freedom of the individual is held high versus a man who lives under a monarchy where only the king matters? Is one better off then the other? Is one oppressed? What of a man who is ruled as a slave? Is he oppressed? Is joy in equal reach of all three of these men?
I believe it is Hinduism, where it is customary for a man to live the life he is born into. If a man is born poor, it is best for him to remain poor. If a man is born rich, it is best for him to remain rich. If a man is born a slave, it is best for him to remain a slave. The idea is that each man would live the best life he could in the life he was born into.
Is this Hindu belief a word to the wise or a word to the fool? Is it oppressive for a man to not have the option to move on to different things (I would say "bigger and better" things, but we have established that different is not better or worse)? Or is it wise for a man to live in the life that he is born into and live the best possible life he can? Should kings be kings and peasants be peasants?
I believe that one should not reach out of his immediate surroundings for joy.
God is everywhere, so a man does not need to embark on a journey to find joy. In fact, I think it would be wiser for a man to find joy where he is rather then journey for it. I say this because if you find joy where you are, you can bring it with you. But if you go out looking for joy, it is possible that your life will be the search. Life is indeed a journey, and one should not expect that happiness and joy should be the same thing.
In your life right now, what are you viewing as worse? What are you viewing as better?
"If I only had ____" or "if only I were _____"
What can you be open minded about? What can you allow to be different rather then better or worse?
Grace and Peace,
Ben
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Questions?
I often question things. Sometimes I voice these questions, but more often then not I keep them to myself. The thought will arise and I will tell myself how absurd the question is and I will decide that it's not worth my time. But I have a bit of time on my hands and I am not yet tired of the night, so while I have consciousness I shall entertain these thoughts.
How can I be sure that a time or place that I have not perceived exists?
You see, I have never been to Africa. So how do I know this place exists? Everyone who has been to Africa, or anyone who does not have these thoughts arise, will think that I am strange, absurd or perhaps offensive for even asking this question. But the point remains that the only reason I believe in this place called Africa is because people have told me that this place exists. I have seen many souvenirs brought back from Africa, but those could all be fake. I have seen pictures of Africa, but I have also seen pictures of distant planets through the venue of movies and science fiction. So why should I be compelled to believe that Africa exists?
And you could also look at this from a chronological perspective rather then physical setting. Why is it that I believe that two people met before my very existence and conceived me? Really? It seems bread from a novel that I could be brought into existence or created. It seems ridiculous the very notion of a world that existed before I was present to perceive it, for what is there other then what I can perceive? What about the idea of my consciousness leaving my body? People standing around a sac of meat crying or rejoicing that there is no longer a soul or spirit, or whatever you may call it, inside the body. What an inconceivable idea! For what exists outside of my senses? What could possibly be that I cannot perceive? And if I cannot perceive after leaving my body, then what could possibly exist?
So then, if I believe all of this, I could say that nothing exists outside of my perception. And if nothing exists outside of my perception, then the only thing that truly exists at all times is me. I currently believe that there are people on the floor above me and people on the floor below me, but I have no current perception of them so they must not exist.
This thesis, or theory or question or whatever one feels like calling it, has been defeated by philosophers for years now. Most philosophers believe that the senses are what misleads us. But that still leaves the original question of wondering how I know that something exists. I would propose that to believe in anything in this world, to even believe in your own existence, you must be open to the idea that things exist that we do not, have not, or may never perceive.
Things exist that we do not, have not, or may never perceive.
Sometimes I honestly struggle with the idea that Africa exists. I have never been on the other side of any ocean, how can I believe that there is another side to the ocean? Sometimes the world seems to have been born at the same time as me. The idea of the world existing before me seems absurd. Nobody could ever actually prove to me that the world existed before I did.
Imagine this: there are some six billion people living some six billion individual lives somewhere on this planet. Six billion! Each one may have these thoughts. I know some thousand people, so some six billion people do not know me. To six billion people I do not exist. I know that I exist, they all know that they exist. I know that the place I am currently exists, they all know that the place they are currently exists. Many more people lived before me, many likely asking this same question. Where does the question end? How is the question answered?
Only one entity contains an answer. Referred to as Truth, Beauty, Love, Peace and many more names. This entity assures me that I exist, this entity can assure us all that we exist, that we matter. This entity turns me from the idea that the existence of things revolves around me to believe that the existence of things revolves around God. Without a God that brought everything into existence I cannot believe that anything exists.
I still do not know whether or not Africa exists, but I can be sure that a time before me exists and that a time after my time on earth will exist. I know that my perception of things does not define their existence but rather God's truth is what defines them as existent.
There is a center to existence, and it is God.
How can I be sure that a time or place that I have not perceived exists?
You see, I have never been to Africa. So how do I know this place exists? Everyone who has been to Africa, or anyone who does not have these thoughts arise, will think that I am strange, absurd or perhaps offensive for even asking this question. But the point remains that the only reason I believe in this place called Africa is because people have told me that this place exists. I have seen many souvenirs brought back from Africa, but those could all be fake. I have seen pictures of Africa, but I have also seen pictures of distant planets through the venue of movies and science fiction. So why should I be compelled to believe that Africa exists?
And you could also look at this from a chronological perspective rather then physical setting. Why is it that I believe that two people met before my very existence and conceived me? Really? It seems bread from a novel that I could be brought into existence or created. It seems ridiculous the very notion of a world that existed before I was present to perceive it, for what is there other then what I can perceive? What about the idea of my consciousness leaving my body? People standing around a sac of meat crying or rejoicing that there is no longer a soul or spirit, or whatever you may call it, inside the body. What an inconceivable idea! For what exists outside of my senses? What could possibly be that I cannot perceive? And if I cannot perceive after leaving my body, then what could possibly exist?
So then, if I believe all of this, I could say that nothing exists outside of my perception. And if nothing exists outside of my perception, then the only thing that truly exists at all times is me. I currently believe that there are people on the floor above me and people on the floor below me, but I have no current perception of them so they must not exist.
This thesis, or theory or question or whatever one feels like calling it, has been defeated by philosophers for years now. Most philosophers believe that the senses are what misleads us. But that still leaves the original question of wondering how I know that something exists. I would propose that to believe in anything in this world, to even believe in your own existence, you must be open to the idea that things exist that we do not, have not, or may never perceive.
Things exist that we do not, have not, or may never perceive.
Sometimes I honestly struggle with the idea that Africa exists. I have never been on the other side of any ocean, how can I believe that there is another side to the ocean? Sometimes the world seems to have been born at the same time as me. The idea of the world existing before me seems absurd. Nobody could ever actually prove to me that the world existed before I did.
Imagine this: there are some six billion people living some six billion individual lives somewhere on this planet. Six billion! Each one may have these thoughts. I know some thousand people, so some six billion people do not know me. To six billion people I do not exist. I know that I exist, they all know that they exist. I know that the place I am currently exists, they all know that the place they are currently exists. Many more people lived before me, many likely asking this same question. Where does the question end? How is the question answered?
Only one entity contains an answer. Referred to as Truth, Beauty, Love, Peace and many more names. This entity assures me that I exist, this entity can assure us all that we exist, that we matter. This entity turns me from the idea that the existence of things revolves around me to believe that the existence of things revolves around God. Without a God that brought everything into existence I cannot believe that anything exists.
I still do not know whether or not Africa exists, but I can be sure that a time before me exists and that a time after my time on earth will exist. I know that my perception of things does not define their existence but rather God's truth is what defines them as existent.
There is a center to existence, and it is God.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
When Did Life Become So Complicated?
Food, water and shelter. That's it. That is all that is necessary to sustain the human race. Food, water and shelter.
Food comes to us by a plants growing or an animals slaughter. Plants continue to grow and there are plenty of animals to be had, so there is no problem there.
Water comes from the sky and from under the ground. There is plenty of it. We use an estimated average of 39,090 gallons (177,859.5 liters) of water to make car. It takes 1.85 gallons (8.4175 liters) of water to manufacture the plastic for one individual water bottle, many of which are used to bring less than a liter of water to a single person then are thrown away. American's consume an estimated 29.8 billion water bottles each year. Yes, 29,800,000,000 water bottles which to manufacture all of those uses 55.13 billion gallons of water, 55,130,000,000 gallons, that's 250,841,500,00 liters of water each year just to make the plastic for these bottles.
If we can use that much water on cars and plastic, that tells me there is more then enough water in the world.
Shelter is something that we find or create. We are capable of living in caves or under tents. Perhaps some peoples need better shelter because of the region they inhabit, but shelter certainly should not be a problem. Everyone can adapt to their region and build shelters that are suitable.
Now with this thinking brought to an extreme it is likely that issues such as disease and natural disaster would take more lives and shorten the average life span. But my point is that we have complicated everything so far and brought so much unnecessary cleanliness and status to our world that there are some who are forced to go without. We live in a world where suffering is ignored as long as it pays for our comfort. We live in a world where we shower every day so that rather then smelling like ourselves we smell like a product we created.
We originated as hunters and gatherers, in a time when the world was simple and God was trusted to provide. Now we have seized the illusion of power and think we no longer rely on any "god" but that we are our own god. We live in such comfort that controls us. The men and women in our culture have become obsessed with themselves and their self image.
God created us so that all we needed to survive was food, water and shelter, and we created the lie that we need whatever the media tells us.
When did life become so complicated?
-Ben
Food comes to us by a plants growing or an animals slaughter. Plants continue to grow and there are plenty of animals to be had, so there is no problem there.
Water comes from the sky and from under the ground. There is plenty of it. We use an estimated average of 39,090 gallons (177,859.5 liters) of water to make car. It takes 1.85 gallons (8.4175 liters) of water to manufacture the plastic for one individual water bottle, many of which are used to bring less than a liter of water to a single person then are thrown away. American's consume an estimated 29.8 billion water bottles each year. Yes, 29,800,000,000 water bottles which to manufacture all of those uses 55.13 billion gallons of water, 55,130,000,000 gallons, that's 250,841,500,00 liters of water each year just to make the plastic for these bottles.
If we can use that much water on cars and plastic, that tells me there is more then enough water in the world.
Shelter is something that we find or create. We are capable of living in caves or under tents. Perhaps some peoples need better shelter because of the region they inhabit, but shelter certainly should not be a problem. Everyone can adapt to their region and build shelters that are suitable.
Now with this thinking brought to an extreme it is likely that issues such as disease and natural disaster would take more lives and shorten the average life span. But my point is that we have complicated everything so far and brought so much unnecessary cleanliness and status to our world that there are some who are forced to go without. We live in a world where suffering is ignored as long as it pays for our comfort. We live in a world where we shower every day so that rather then smelling like ourselves we smell like a product we created.
We originated as hunters and gatherers, in a time when the world was simple and God was trusted to provide. Now we have seized the illusion of power and think we no longer rely on any "god" but that we are our own god. We live in such comfort that controls us. The men and women in our culture have become obsessed with themselves and their self image.
God created us so that all we needed to survive was food, water and shelter, and we created the lie that we need whatever the media tells us.
When did life become so complicated?
-Ben
Sunday, July 4, 2010
unattractive
Unattractive is not a very attractive word. It looks and sounds absolutely not appealing.
Just a thought: I am going to list some unattractive traits.
1. Sarcasm
2. Bitterness
3. Unforgiveness
4. Contempt
5. Cowardice
All of these end up working together to ruin us... like this: He was being sarcastic towards her for he bitterly held her in contempt because of his cowardly unforgiveness.
Now that is not always the case, and there are many other traits I could list, but the point is that the story never ends with, "he was being sarcastic towards her." Nor could the story be fully told by saying "he held her in contempt." You see, unattractive traits seem to magnetize to each other and build on each other over and over until the one possessing the traits actually acquires the trait that is unattractiveness.
So when you notice that you have not forgiven someone for something, don't just shrug it off or just stare at it and hope for it to change. You have to do something about it. You have to analyze it and see how it has poisoned you.
Maybe you think to yourself, I struggle with lust. But with that statement, you could likely dig deeper and tell a much longer story revealing much more. Maybe like this: I struggle with lust, which is just my poor self image manifesting itself, and my self image is poor because I have been quite glutinous lately.
But then there is another step to most stories.
Blame.
The story then becomes: He was being sarcastic towards her for he bitterly held her in contempt because of his cowardly unforgiveness, because she hurt him.
Blame is unattractive.
Or maybe: I struggle with lust, which is just my poor self image manifesting itself, and my self image is poor because I have been quite glutinous lately, because my parents abandoned me.
The story moves from what seems simple sarcasm to a plethora of unattractive traits along with the blame that you use to justify it. But let me tell you something that I have realized, your unattractive traits cannot be blamed on anyone. You do not struggle with unforgiveness because people wrong you. People do wrong you, and they affect you negatively with their own unattractive traits, but that is not the reason for your unattractive traits.
I struggled for some time with unforgiveness. And the sad thing is that I thought that my unforgiveness was caused by the wrong done to me. MY unforgiveness was caused by MY HEART.
MY lust was caused by MY HEART.
MY sarcasm was caused by MY HEART.
MY unattractive traits are caused by MY HEART.
Every single time.
God does not love based on good deeds, if he did then he would not be able to love any of us. God does not bless based on good deeds, if he did then he would not be able to bless any of us.
God loves and God blesses because it is part of his nature to love and to bless, it is part of his heart to love and to bless.
So when we hate we must be reminded why we hate. When we lust we must remember why we lust. Blaming someone for your unforgiveness will only make your unforgiveness worse. The only way to turn your unattractive traits into attractive traits is to turn your heart. God calls us to be like Christ, we must align our hearts with His so that we may love like He does and bless like He does.
Jesus is the way the truth and the light.
There is no other way.
Grace and Peace,
Ben
Friday, June 25, 2010
I Choose the Steps.
Life is a journey. A life can be mapped out in steps, perhaps a step is a day, an hour, an event... But there are two ways we can live this journey: we can take each step, or we can leap to the end point.
Now the "end result" seems to be a debatable topic in the world of modern thinking... what happens when we die? That is a question for another day, but everyone would agree, I think, that we die. The form in which we currently exist is altered or erased.
And like just about any other journey, the journey has some sort of end or destination. Life's end point seems to be death. But even if you shrink down the time line and only look at age 15-25, you have journeys and end points. Perhaps you graduate high school, college, maybe you get a job. Whatever you do, there is a journey to get you there. You take multitudes of classes to end up with a degree, you interview for numerous jobs before you get one. In life you take multitudes of steps.
You can look at the journey as a starting point and end point, or you can look at every step in between.
I choose the steps.
In this way of viewing life you get to have multitudes of end points: every step is another end point. And you begin to see this bigger picture, you begin to see that life is not about "getting there" or finding the end point. You begin to see that life is about every step. You wake up in the morning and think, I get to take this next step. You suddenly have optimism of the step you are on rather then only having a longing for the end point.
So as I take this step I will look around. As I take this step I will observe Beauty. As I take this step I will Love. I will not worry about the step tomorrow.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day (each step) has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6: 34
Grace and Peace,
Ben
Now the "end result" seems to be a debatable topic in the world of modern thinking... what happens when we die? That is a question for another day, but everyone would agree, I think, that we die. The form in which we currently exist is altered or erased.
And like just about any other journey, the journey has some sort of end or destination. Life's end point seems to be death. But even if you shrink down the time line and only look at age 15-25, you have journeys and end points. Perhaps you graduate high school, college, maybe you get a job. Whatever you do, there is a journey to get you there. You take multitudes of classes to end up with a degree, you interview for numerous jobs before you get one. In life you take multitudes of steps.
You can look at the journey as a starting point and end point, or you can look at every step in between.
I choose the steps.
In this way of viewing life you get to have multitudes of end points: every step is another end point. And you begin to see this bigger picture, you begin to see that life is not about "getting there" or finding the end point. You begin to see that life is about every step. You wake up in the morning and think, I get to take this next step. You suddenly have optimism of the step you are on rather then only having a longing for the end point.
So as I take this step I will look around. As I take this step I will observe Beauty. As I take this step I will Love. I will not worry about the step tomorrow.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day (each step) has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6: 34
Grace and Peace,
Ben
For Every Burden
For every burden we carry, one more person will not have to carry that burden. So should the strong not carry the burden? I am given a burden, and somebody else is relieved. perhaps somebody who was being crushed.
Has not God removed a burden from you? Through what vessel?
You can be that vessel.
I can be that vessel.
God calls for that purpose.
We are given opportunities to carry the weight that was presumably crushing someone else.
So do not mourn for the burdens you carry, but rejoice for the opportunity to remove those burdens from others.
Has not God removed a burden from you? Through what vessel?
You can be that vessel.
I can be that vessel.
God calls for that purpose.
We are given opportunities to carry the weight that was presumably crushing someone else.
So do not mourn for the burdens you carry, but rejoice for the opportunity to remove those burdens from others.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Lament
Maybe it is Ok for "it" to not be Ok.
Maybe it's fine for life to suck.
Maybe it's Ok to be honest about it.
Just read the first chapter of Lamentations. Here are a few exerpts
"The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. In his winepress the Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah."
"See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed."
"People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my distress they rejoice at what you have done."
Lamentations is a book of lament. Mourning. Pain. Groaning. Distress. But most of all that first chapter breathes honesty into my heart.
How often do we have our cities crushed? How often do our dreams crumble? How often do our loved ones die?
How often do we tell people how we really feel?
How we are suffering?
It IS ok to be suffering. It IS ok to be in distress. What your heart feels should not be hidden or suppressed. We trap our emotions and feelings, and we are tormented by them from within. We long so desperately for somebody to care, somebody to come to our aide. Then somebody asks us, as they so often do, "how are you?" We smile and lie. Even in a situation when we know that that person truly cares, would really listen to all of your pain and sit with you like Job's friends sat with him. We smile and lie, because we believe that it is not Ok for it to not be Ok.
I am suffering. I am processing pain. I am being tormented. There are numerous things in my life that are not ok.
But that's ok.
Now I offer this thought, and do not be so naive to disagree with me. Nobody reading this is truly 100% OK. I believe that we are all suffering. I believe that we all are crying on the inside. I believe that if that mask were to be removed we would find pain. We would find unresolved conflict. We would find anger towards God.
So please, retreat to that safe environment and take off that mask. Remove that person that the world thinks you should be and cry show them who you really are. Take off your mask for God. Do not sugar coat your prayers. If you have doubt then tell God and those dear to you about your doubt.
It is Ok to not be Ok. It is fine for life to suck. And it's Ok to be honest.
In Christ,
Ben
Maybe it's fine for life to suck.
Maybe it's Ok to be honest about it.
Just read the first chapter of Lamentations. Here are a few exerpts
"The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. In his winepress the Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah."
"See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed."
"People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my distress they rejoice at what you have done."
Lamentations is a book of lament. Mourning. Pain. Groaning. Distress. But most of all that first chapter breathes honesty into my heart.
How often do we have our cities crushed? How often do our dreams crumble? How often do our loved ones die?
How often do we tell people how we really feel?
How we are suffering?
It IS ok to be suffering. It IS ok to be in distress. What your heart feels should not be hidden or suppressed. We trap our emotions and feelings, and we are tormented by them from within. We long so desperately for somebody to care, somebody to come to our aide. Then somebody asks us, as they so often do, "how are you?" We smile and lie. Even in a situation when we know that that person truly cares, would really listen to all of your pain and sit with you like Job's friends sat with him. We smile and lie, because we believe that it is not Ok for it to not be Ok.
I am suffering. I am processing pain. I am being tormented. There are numerous things in my life that are not ok.
But that's ok.
Now I offer this thought, and do not be so naive to disagree with me. Nobody reading this is truly 100% OK. I believe that we are all suffering. I believe that we all are crying on the inside. I believe that if that mask were to be removed we would find pain. We would find unresolved conflict. We would find anger towards God.
So please, retreat to that safe environment and take off that mask. Remove that person that the world thinks you should be and cry show them who you really are. Take off your mask for God. Do not sugar coat your prayers. If you have doubt then tell God and those dear to you about your doubt.
It is Ok to not be Ok. It is fine for life to suck. And it's Ok to be honest.
In Christ,
Ben
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