Intolerance within Christianity

I just read an article that is becoming more and more prevalent as the years swiftly pass by. The main point is basically this, Christians are intolerant. Ok, I'll give you that, but what are we intolerant about? Not what everyone pins on us.

I am intolerant of sin. I am intolerant of evil. I am intolerant of selfish reasons for ignoring those more in need than we are. Now what am I accused of being intolerant of as a Christian. The list is long and brutal, but increasingly more and more people are just plain upset that we believe marriage should be between a man and a woman and that waiting to have sex until marriage is best. In a nutshell, sanctity of marriage and purity. Man I'm such a bad person.

Now, will I judge you/treat you differently if I find that you are homosexual or haven't waited until marriage to turn in your 'v-card'? No. Why? Well, the bible clearly teaches us to love the sinner and hate the sin and to pray for those who persecute/do not tolerate us. Really? Yes. Jesus did not go to the priests and teachers of the law. They knew the law and they knew how to use it to their advantage, which was in direct violation of the law itself, but they did it anyway because it made them rich and prestigious. Jesus ate and talked with tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, etc etc, people who were rejected and hated by society because Christ knew that their hearts were longing to be filled and the only way they could be was with the love of the God the Father.

Society now a days wants to worship one god and that is ourselves and we do not want to be told that we are wrong. The bible even foretells all these things. Thousands of years have passed and yet all that it says still holds true. Christ said we are to be hated because of him and we are. If you are a Christian reading this embrace that intolerance and hatred of us. It's part and parcel of who we are and what we accepted when we prayed and told the Lord that we would serve him only. Be glad and rejoice.

Leigha

Balance

I'm sitting here thinking about balance as my 5 year old is huddled against my knee begging for my attention. She's an interesting little girl with more questions than they day has seconds and I have less than half of the answers. I'm so proud of her. She makes me smile and giggle and then look at who I am as a person and the desire to change becomes quite strong. There are so many flaws within that I become so focused on them sometimes that it's hard to see who or what I am supposed to be changing for. That's where the balance part comes in to play. Is the house work really that important as opposed to the reading assignment my daughter has for her kindergarten class (yes, she is reading at a first grade level and I'm very proud of her)? Yes, they are both important, but in that moment which task is the more important. I guess this is where intuition and motherhood comes into play sometimes the former trumps the latter and vice versa, you just have to be aware of everything that is going on around you and as a mother you find the more experienced and more children you add that it's much easier to do this than you think.

In life we have to understand that there is a time and a place for everything and that deciding which is what and what its which is very important. Life now a days is not what it use to be and I'm sure everyone will agree with me. Gone are the days of lazy summer afternoons spent sipping ice cold lemonade on the porch just enjoying the moment. We have programed ourselves into a rat race where every second is deemed to valuable to waste and yet by doing so we are squandering our lives.

So how does balance come into play? How doesn't it? Slow down and think about what you are doing and can it wait. We do so much work on computers and smart phones that it is just so very simple to push pause/save and let the work wait while we either tend to that fight between our children, talk to our spouse about whatever they need to discuss, or just take that time to enjoy the moment and make that special memory, even if it includes reading that ever so important book, or chapter in a book to your child right before bed. There is so much more to life than work and connecting to the umpteen social networks that there are now. Balance and focus is just what the doctor ordered and it's about time.




Don't be Silent
Leigha

Necro- Preface

In the year 2020 Earth made first contact with other worlders. Their name was unpronounceable in any language except their own. We called them Healers. A peaceful race dedicated to the development of medicines through synthetic and natural remedies. They traveled from planet to planet curing all diseases they came into contact with using their synthetics and herbs found on the host planet. We accepted them with open arms and minds. Within five years all disease was gone save one, cancer. All their efforts became focused on eradicating the slow killer.

Ten years later their research died along with three quarters of their test subjects. In their efforts to end all sickness on Earth they created a super virus so lethal that it killed every medicine and remedy they tried. Their last resort was to bring medicines from other planets in to try and kill it; this only fueled the virus. It mutated and twisted itself so that even the most experienced one of their doctors struggled to find an explanation for it.

Humans died at all stages of life. However, newborn babies up until the age of two showed no signs of the virus. The Healers were so awed by their resilience to the virus that they spent three decades studying why, there was no explanation, once the babies turned two they became carriers as well.

It was so terrible and so deadly that they called it the Necro Virus, meaning simply death. The virus would lay dormant for any amount of time. People could live their entire life and die in their golden years, while some would die on the playgrounds at school. It didn’t matter who you were or how old you were, when it took its full form it was only a matter of moments before the body lay dead. It was violent and painful. Deaths were so common, that even children were not fazed when they saw someone in its grasp. 

Living Sacrifices Part 1

This will be a weekly post for the next couple of weeks. I did a study of the first two verses of Romans 12 during lent while on a 'Facebook Fast'. This is what I found. I will also be posting my story (whether it's short or not is to be determined) 'Necro' weekly as well.

Living Sacrifices Part 1

While I was 'away' over lent I got to do a fairly in depth study into the first two verses of Romans 12. It was an interesting hiatus from Facebook considering that as soon as I made that decision I sprained my back and then had to deal with children throwing up the rest of that week while I was, for the most part, a non-combatant. However, this study just kept my spirits up and I refused to be defeated emotionally and mentally by it. Some of it is tough to swallow, but it's such a great reminder of who we are as Christians and what we have forgotten and made excuses for in today's world. We are not our own. We were bought at a price. We made the decision to be separate from the world and we need to honor that. Here is part one. For verse one. I will break it down key phrase by key phrase, as I saw them.

Romans 12:1

            Therefore I urge you brothers in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship.

1. In view of God’s mercy.
   • What is God’s mercy? God offered Christ as a sacrifice (The burnt offering, grain offering, fellowship offering, sin offering, and guilt offering all in one, they were how the Jews asked for forgiveness of sins and cleansing before Christ came) for us out of His love and mercy toward us instead of condemning us to death. God does not want to be separate from us. He made the earth so that he would have a place for us and Him to enjoy together. However, he loved us enough and understands that to truly experience love it has to be given freely. So he placed within our grasp the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told us to stay away from it because he didn't want to be separated from us, but we had to make that choice. He wants us to choose him and sadly we didn't and still don't, we choose to be apart from him. God saw that all people were rejecting him, including his chosen people, and so he sent the most precious thing he had to earth, His son. 

• His son was human and divine, why? So that he would know and feel every emotion and driving power behind those emotions for himself. He literally walked a mile in our shoes, so he knows what you’ve been through and how it feels, who better to go to with your problems and life aches than someone who not only has experience, but wisdom. Since he knows and understands, when you ask him to give you guidance and are truly seeking it with all your heart in order to do a 180 on whatever problem it is he will know how to help you best, even if you don't want his solution remember it always ends in the same way, peace. Therefore, God’s mercy brings us peace. 

Please seek out Christ prayerfully if you have any questions regarding any of this. This is kind of the bread and butter of it, there is more and it's not so wonderful to hear, but still so many have forgotten the importance of our sacrifice because we desired the benefits of Christ's. We are different and that difference is expected of us. Praise God for that! 

Don't be silent,

Leigha