One of my favorite Lewis quotes

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." --C. S. Lewis

Oh Lord I feel so barren and ashamed of who I am
How I often fell
I hid it well
A lie I cannot defend
So I lean upon Your mercy
As I confess my sin to You
It is no easy way
No saving face
When you finally see the truth
Let my life be filled with only You


I know someday I will be free
The weight of sin shall be released
But for now He covers me
And though the trials never end
I learn to take them as my friend
For each day He covers me


Sometimes the pressure builds around me
And I feel about to break
I suffer patiently from wrongs done to me
But vengeance isn't mine to take
Let me glory in my weakness
Until Your strength's revealed in me
It is Your grace alone that helps me carry on
To be the man I long to be
Let Your life be perfected in me
(You're the Light) Until it's You they see


And though heartache surrounds me
I know Your love is around me
Nothing can separate me from You
Oh Lord I know it's true

The reason Creflo thinks about shooting people if they don't pay tithe is because that's his cash cow.  That's how he makes money.  He believes he's entitled to 10 percent of your income and it pisses him off when he can't take it from you. 

Musings on tithe and Deuteronomy 14

When you begin to study what the bible has to say on the subject of tithe, you'll find some pretty interesting information.  Of course, that's the problem isn't it?  Most people are unwilling to study the bible or anything else for that matter.  We don't want to invest the time to find the truth.  It's not that important to us.  Instead, we take the word of the paid clergy (no conflict of interest there) on what the bible has to say about our money.  We're suckers.  We take advice from men and women that are at best sincerely incompetent and at worst devious hucksters. 

Let me get back to what I was saying about tithe.  I challenge you to read Deuteronomy chapter 14, paying special attention to verse 22 and beyond which deals with the tithe, and you'll find some curious instructions.  Here's verse 26 :

(KJV)  "And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,"

So, you've converted your tithe to money for traveling according to the earlier verses, and when you get there you can buy whatever YOU want with the money, even wine and beer.  What???  Read it.  It says "whatsoever thy soul desireth".  It says to eat the food you've purchased with that money.  You eat it.

I know.  I know.  This will mess with your theology.

Don't take my word for it.  Study to show your self approved.  As you do, I believe you'll see the absurdity of placing these things on Christians.

And I'm not encouraging drunkenness or any craziness, but this is the problem with those teaching tithe to new testament christians.  They're teaching religious law and they're teaching it incomplete.  That doesn't work.  If you're righteousness is by the law, then you'd better keep it all.  Christians are in Christ.  He is their righteousness.  They don't keep these religious laws.  If they want to give or they feel led to give, they give.  Period.  No quotas, no percentages.  Just freedom.

Easter

I believe HE is risen. I choose this idea. I embrace it with my heart for I cannot bear to imagine a universe ordered any other way.

Romans 10:9-10
King James Version (KJV)

... 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

"Sheep"

Church, just because the Bible refers to you as "sheep" doesn't mean you have to be as dumb as one - it is a metaphor...

According to Wikipedia, "A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object. Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile."

So now, you must ask yourself, at what "point of comparison" am I like a sheep? or at what "point of comparison" does God want me to be like sheep?

You see, the thing is, you're not really sheep.  So you better find out what that means and stop walking around like you have to obey everything the leadership of your particular organization says and does because in the end, you are responsible for being a part of it.

Stop acting like you have no choice.

You have mind.  You have will.  Study to show your self approved.

Think about it.

Thank you C.S. Lewis

 I first read C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" when I was 17 and it had a tremendous impact on me.  I read it and re-read it.  The logic was so pure.  I was already following Christ but had many questions.  Lewis fed my mind and strengthened my faith.

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." – Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.