2 Billion People Can't be Wrong - or Can They?

"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Apparently Christianity is the largest world religion, with over 2 Billion adherents. Does anybody else find this statistic hard to believe. Certainly the Bible seems to contradict this idea when it says that "only a few ever find [the gateway to life]". I think there is definately a lesson here that needs to be learned.

It has become increasingly apparent to me that there are actually far fewer REAL disciples of Christ than we realize, although to look on the surface it appears as though we are legion. By now, most Christians recognize the fact that no other "religious" group in the world is as widely reviled and disrespected as the Christian Church. Sometimes it seems as though there is some kind of conspiracy out there to discredit and ridicule us.

Fact is there is a very real conspiracy that starts in the spirit by way of the devil and his cronies, and therefore translates into the natural world by way of the popular media and the world system. Let's face it - the devil would love nothing more than to reduce the image of Christianity to an empty, sterile, laughing stock consisting of boring old men, irritating middle-aged ladies and over-the-edge, obsessive young people that must naturally earn the ire of the "thinking" world.

A large part of the devil's strategy, as I see it, is to promote people who declare themselves (and perhaps truly believe themselves to be) real Christians and yet in reality have no clue (or in some cases simply aren't interested) in what it means to be a true Christian.

Some of these are people who could be described as modern-day Pharisees. These are the religious people who love to point out everyone's flaws and call down divine judgement on those they deem to be unrighteous, or talk Bible circles around the unitiated. These are also the kinds of the people that fill large and powerful churches, man the political juggernaut that is the "Religious Right" and wear the titles such as "fundamentalist" as a badge of honour. They're cowardly because they hide behind their knowledge of scripture while judging other people but never seem to realize that those same scriptures apply to their own lives as well.

"The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the Scriptures. So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach. They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden." Matthew 23:2-4

In other cases we see the devil's tactic in the form of random strangers (usually standing on street corners, often looking unkempt, occasionally drooling) who seem to think it is their mission to tell every stranger that walks by that they are going to hell or screaming slogans like "turn or burn!". These people disgust almost everyone besides themselves and, if given half the chance, are almost sure to inspire most people to swear off anything associated with Christianity.

"How can you think of saying, `Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye." Matthew 7:4-5

Then there are the listless, exhaustingly changeable, adolescent (in age or mentality) youth groupers, who just never seem able to get themselves together. These are not to be confused with the actually sincere teenaged youth groupers who really are working for the kingdom, because I definately recognize the hard work and honest devotion of these (particularly in my church - our youth and young adults are pretty amazing for the most part). The people I'm talking about are the ones who have an obvious habit of making completely backwards lifestyle choices and are known by pretty well everyone for being completely unreliable. Most of these showed up to Church once or twice and had some kind of emotional "experience" where they became saved. After that they disappear for awhile and are occasionally spotted downtown, drunk or stoned or some other variant of these and show up for church every few months to wave their hands in the air and have another emotionally charged "experience". I find nothing terribly real about this kind of faith because there is absolutely no fruit.

"You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don't pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles. A healthy tree produces good fruit, and an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced." Matthew 7:16-20

Then there are those who seem to think that Christianity is a membership in some kind of religious social club, with a bouncer at the door prepared to weed out the undesirables and make sure that the club stays members-only. This type of "Christian" often looks extremely devoted on the outside as they flit from church to home-group to alpha meeting to men's breakfast to choir practice. But put them in a room with a non-Christian, especially one who is rough around the edges, and they don't have a clue what to do. They've never had time for anybody outside of their circle, so of course they are completely unprepared for this type of situation.

Some of my best memories revolve around hanging out with a bunch of neo-pagan/wiccan/you name it's who had nothing but derision for Christians before they met me. They were my most regular friends for awhile and were always reliable and true and desperately in need of the truth. I feel sorry for "Christians" who have no time for unbelievers because they'll never feel the reward that comes with leading someone to the kingdom.

"The Pharisees were indignant. "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked his disciples.
When he heard this, Jesus replied, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do." Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: `I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough." Matthew 9:11-13

The final group I am going to mention is probably also the largest. These are the ones who think that Christianity is a birthright or habit. I've talked to people who say they are Christians because they go to church, or because they were born into a Christian family, or because they do good deeds. There are people who think they are Christians because they were born in North America and go to church on Christmas and Easter. Or people who think that because they believe in some kind of vaguely defined god, or pray regularly or went to sunday school, or hold Bible studies in their home that this makes them a Christian. But they are lacking that essential component - that relationship with their creator, and they in turn mislead others.

"Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as `Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. On judgment day many will tell me, `Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I will reply, `I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized.'" Matthew 7:21-23

So subtract all the fakers and those 2 Billion "Christians" very quickly start to look like a whole lot less. Its an insidious plot on the part of the devil, but also a very effective one - I know I have been guilty of more than one of the things I have described above. Everyone has done one of these things at some point in their walk with Christ. Thankfully all of these things can be put down and left behind, if only we will look outside of what we "know" and seek the truth instead.

In the end it all comes down to this:

"And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life." 1 John 5:11-12

Story Time!

I've created a new blog in which I plan to publish, in serial format, my long awaited fantasy story.

Please check it out and leave tons of comments! http://sentinelstory.blogspot.com

The Problem with Pharisees

"Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they love to parade in flowing robes and to have everyone bow to them as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. But they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property, and then, to cover up the kind of people they really are, they make long prayers in public. Because of this, their punishment will be the greater." Luke 20:46-47

I've been noticing a disturbing trend lately, among Christians, especially those belonging to the 'Fundamentalist' persuasion. We've become stodgy and set in our ways and so concerned with appearing righteous that the really important things that Christ came to teach us are being lost. In essence we've become Pharisees.

Where I think this really comes out is in the selective Christianity that most people practice. This is the version of Christianity where we get to pick two or three things that really chafe us, and then form religious armies to mobilize and basically do everything possible to break the offenders down and do away with them. This is especially abhorant to me when it enters the political arena and we start electing presidents and prime ministers based on their support or opposition to our two "Biblical" issues.

What we love to ignore is the fact that gays and abortion are not the two most important issues talked about in the Bible. In fact, I don't know that I've ever seen anything in the Bible that mentions abortion, and while homosexuality (in practice, not in temptation) is definately a sin, it also isn't mentioned more than a handful of times. The fact is that Jesus spent more time talking about money and the abuse of money than about any other subject. Jesus taught far more about social justice - taking care of widows, orphans and the poor, than he ever did about the evils of homosexuality and abortion.

And yet, we Christians in our wisdom have decided that rallying against same-sex marriage and picketing abortion clinics are the only things that really matter to God. Forget fighting for economic reform, social justice or the stewardship of the environment, those aren't matters for real Christians but for hippies and democrats.

Well God does not allow, anywhere in the scriptures, for us to be selective about our faith. If we are going to mobilize 1000 people to protest same-sex marriage, we had better already have mobilized 10,000 people to feed the hungry and build homes for the homeless, because those are the issues that God cares about - more than anything else he loves his people. Our greatest command is to love one another, not to persecute sinners.

The fact is, Christians no longer have any credibility because the world only sees us calling people down and rebuking their sins, but not caring for them or loving them. If as many Christians would unite in the name of social justice, the environment and the care and provision for the needy, the world would listen to us when we correct it its wrongdoings.

But instead we practice selective Christianity, and the most important parts of Jesus' message are lost to the world.

"How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law--justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things." Matthew 23:23

Saint - 1, Icy Fingers of Death - 0

Yes, that's right, I have won the heating war and sent the Icy Fingers of Death back to its home in the spare bedroom.. and sometimes the bathroom.

Those portable baseboard heaters that we bought from Canadian Tire really came through for us and for the second morning in a row I was able to hop out of bed and not fear the icy grip of subzero temperatures calling to me from under the carpet. Its so good we actually had to turn the heat DOWN last night.

I'm debating whether or not we should take one of the heaters back because so far we haven't really needed to use it, but I bet I'll be kicking myself come next November so maybe we'll keep them both. The nice thing is they should be much cheaper to use than the oil furnace - the calculator at BCHydro.com said it would cost about $65 a month to run one heater 24 hours a day. That certainly beats the $150-$250 we've been spending for a month's worth of heating oil. Of course that may be due to the outrageous price of gas at the moment (just saw the 96.9 price tag and thought I was going to have a coronary). Heating oil is close to the same price, which is about double what it apparently cost a year or so ago.

To further aid in our battle against the cold, we picked up a heat conservation kit that has window covers and special plates for electrical outlets and light switches that are supposed to cut down on drafts.. which would be nice as our place seems to be more draft than house.

Well that's one battle won.. onto the next!

The Baron's New Clothes

It seems that our dog's little skin condition got a whole lot worse while we were at work. In fact we came home to discover a patch more than twice as large as when we left.. I don't know exactly what has been causing that dog to scratch and bite like that, but I'm thinking it may be a combination of things - the moving back and forth, first to mom's house and now back to our house, as well as being in a cold, cold house and the fact that he apparently has been in some fairly major abdominal discomfort.

We decided we were going to just wash the "hot spot" (as they call those hairless patches that dogs make on themselves) and just keep an eye on him, but then a few strange things happened. Firstly, we decided to take him with us to Canadian Tire (to get our new heaters), and whilst getting into the car the poor dog pooped (like diarhea) a little bit in the car. He's never done anything like that before but it was like he just lost all control. Then, after our trip to Canadian Tire we took him to Petcetera to look at something to keep him from further injuring the spot.. and he pees on the floor - twice! Very weird. At the same time he was putting out the most egregious gas I think I have ever experienced - it made me actually squint my eyes and cry a little bit.

It was then we decided we'd better get him to a vet.. he just seemed not like himself. After much deliberation we broke down and took him to the emergency vet hospital downtown and got him checked out. The vet discovered that Baron had some really nasty "gut" stuff going on - he was very gassy and he suspects Baron may have a parasite of some sort. There wasn't anything to specifically explain the hot spot, but at least there was no evidence of fleas. So the prognosis is that we have to feed Baron some special food for a few days and give him 2 different kinds of medication - one in pill form that we can hide in his food, and one that we have to use a syringe to squirt down his throat (he loved that one, I might add). I also should mention that Baron absolutely loved having a thermometer up his butt.

In order to prevent Baron from further injuring the hot spot, we had to get him some new clothes. Specifically this stylish collar and this makeshift sock-boot we made for him out of one of my socks and a whole lot of "vet wrap", which is supposed to help prevent him from scratching himself silly.

Needless to say, the poor dog is having a very rough time getting around the house. He pretty much catches the collar on every and has to do a little dance in order to get unstuck. Apparently it messes up his peripheral vision as well, as evidenced by the fact that when I let him outside to pee he has no idea where he is and heads straight for the road.

All this for only $180! ..Its okay.. God will provide! Right? I mean he told us he would! Okay, God - start providing!

For some good news, check back later.

Ruder Awakening

So we actually spent our first night back home last night.. and as the title suggests, it was actually worse than I imagined. I think we may have chosen pretty well the worst time to move back into our icy dungeon as the temperature dropped to like 1 degree last night. I also hear there is a possibility of snow on the horizon. Not what I want to hear. Not at all.

To add insult to injury that oil-fulled radiator we bought is a Grade-A P.O.S. (for those of you who are unfamilar with the acronym, that means Piece of Suckyheatingequipment). We left it on overnight in our bedroom and I knew when I got up this morning and felt the cold fingers of icy death grabbing my feet when I stepped on the floor that a certain oil-filled heater was not living up to our expectations. In the heater's defence, it did a bang-up job of heating up the air in a 6 inch circle directly around itself.

To add schoolyard name calling to the insult that was added to the injury, Baron (our 11 year German Shepherd) appears to have bitten and/or scratched the fur off of a small patch of skin on his right side. I'm guessing its a flea thing.. hopefully it won't require an expensive trip to the vet.

In a further quest to heat our house, we've decided to exchange the oil-filled heater for two portable baseboard heaters.. it'll cost more, but the baseboards are apparently safe to leave on when we aren't there and should heat the house more efficiently. I guess we'll see. Pray for us.. pray that someone doesn't find us in the next few days, huddled in our bed like 2 giant icecubes (a la bugs bunny).

Rude Awakening

So tomorrow, Me and Lisa's stint of housesitting for my mom and co. comes to an end. We will be picking them up from the airport at 11:05pm tomorrow night (actually I just realized its 1:14 am, which means it is actually tonight). By my calculations this puts me and Lisa officially being back in our own place in approximately 23 hours or so.

Originally I was looking forward to getting back to our place in the "country", however I have to admit that I've become rather attached to things like cable TV and heat over the last two weeks. We brought most of our stuff (including the cat) back to the house today in preparation for our arrival and it was then that the realization came crashing down upon me that our place is fricking freezing! Our oil furnace seems to have lost about 3/4 of its fuel efficiency as well as developing a leak at some point - the result is that we ran out of heating oil on the day we came over to my mom's. So basically its really cold. In anticipation of moving back in, we bought a plug-in oil radiator heater from Crappy Tire because we were told by one of their employees that it would be okay to leave it on all the time, even when we aren't there. We thought this would be a great alternative to using the furnace.. until we got the thing home and read a passage in the instruction manual that says "Never leave heater unattended when in use." So much for that plan I guess.

I would almost be tempted to buy another half tank of oil, but since the last half we bought was gone in under one month it just doesn't seem worth it. My kingdom for an electric furnace.. or even baseboard heaters! Somehow I doubt our landlords are gonna spring for that.

Anyway, we prayed for God to heat the house somehow, so I guess we'll see. I'll let all of you (up to three viewers now, I think!) know what happens!

On a slightly different note, I would like to mention how much I appreciate Lisa taking the time to organize my music for worship almost every week! Thanks sweetie pie! Love you!

Lunch Money

Have you ever been faced with a seemingly mundane decision about a seemingly minor detail and made the choice to sacrifice something in favour of someone else(like your spouse), only to discover that in what you thought was an altruistic and selfless act actually ended up inconveniencing said other party?

Yeah that happened to me today when I was getting dressed for work and noticed that my wife (still sleeping) had put a $20 and about $2 in change on the dresser. I thought for a moment that it might be nice to have a $20 on hand but then decided to take the change instead (thinking that it would be nice to buy some coffee cream for work) and left the $20 for my wife in an effort to be selfless and make sure she was taken care of.

A little later I got a phone call from said wife, in a rather grouchy mood, asking for an explanation for why I stole her lunch money. "But I left you the 20!" I said. "That 20 wasn't mine, it was for work!" she replied. She then proceeded to complain about being hungry and having no money to buy lunch as I had also taken the opportunity to "steal" back my debit card that morning.

So I guess I can add "stealing lunch money" to my resume.

Defining a Saint

So what exactly is a Saint anyway?

There are many definitions, but when most think of the word saint images come to mind of the semi-mystical and apparently near-perfect beings canonized by the Roman Catholic church, who are somehow able to step in for God and answer our prayers on his behalf.

Apart from that, the word saint usually denotes a really great person who is incapable of doing any wrong. From this definition we derive common phrases such as "He's no saint", inferring that the person in question is an immoral or somehow "bad" person.

So what is the real definition of the word saint? And what does a person need to do in order to be considered one of these?

First we'll look at the dictionary (or more precisely dictionary.com), which defines 'saint' as:

Abbr. St. or S. Christianity. A person officially recognized, especially by canonization, as being entitled to public veneration and capable of interceding for people on earth.

or

a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization 2: person of exceptional holiness [syn: holy man, holy person, angel] 3: model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal .

Wikipedia.com (like a dictionary but with more emphasis on cultural relevence) seems to back this up by saying that:

In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. It can be applied to both the living and the dead and is an acceptable term in most of the world's popular religions. The Saint is held up by the community as an example of how we all should act, and his or her life story is usually recorded for the edification of future generations.

Wow.. those are some large shoes to fill. You may ask "Ryan - how can you dare to call yourself a Saint given the meaning of the word?". Well, rest assured there is more to say on the subject.

I like Wikipedia because it not only gives a definition of things but also goes into detail about where it came from and how it has been used historically. Wikipedia had this to say about the origin of "saint":

The term Saint is derived from the Latin Sanctus meaning “Holy”. This is a direct translation from the Greek word "hagios" also meaning “Holy”. In its original scriptural usage it simply means “Holy” or “Sanctified”. In this form it can be applied to a “Holy” person, a place (The Holy Mountain), a thing, such as Scripture itself (Holy Writing), or even God (The Holy Spirit). But very soon the early Christians began to make the distinction of using the term “Saint” to refer to a specific, exemplary individual.

Aha! So it was not originally used in the Roman Catholic context but was adapted from the real scriptural definition, apparently used frequently by the Apostle Paul. I definately like what Wikipedia goes on to say about "Christianity in General":

In many Protestant churches, the word is used more generally to refer to anyone who is a Christian. This is similar in usage to St. Paul's numerous references. In this sense, anyone who is within the Body of Christ is “Holy” because of their relationship with Jesus.

Similarly, Dictionary.com states something similar in the bottom parts of the its definition:

one separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by profession andby covenant; a believer in Christ

So the truth comes out. From putting all of this together it seems that the word "saint" was used frequently by Paul and that the Protestant interpretation of the word is the closest we have to the actual scriptural meaning. I wanted to find at least one or two actual Bible passages to back this up, so I did a search at Biblegateway.com for "saint". I used the King James Version as I figured it was the most likely to actually contain the word "saint" and found this passage, that I think sums up perfectly what a saint is:

Philippians 4:21
21Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you.

"Salute EVERY saint in Christ Jesus" .. is that perfect or what?

Conclusions: Everyone who is with Christ is a saint. The godlike figures popularized by the Roman Catholic church were just ordinary, sinful, imperfect people, just like me and just like you - they deserve the title "Saint" inasmuch as they are with Jesus Christ and for no other reason. Being a Saint doesn't mean being perfect - in fact it doesn't really mean we have to be particularly "good" people.. it just means that we have accepted the gift of our Creator and become his children and his servants.

While writing fantasy stories I have envisioned armies of ordinary and yet extraordinary Saints, all fighting, however imperfectly, in the name of their God - all possessed of gifts that no one but God himself can bestow - all following the leadership and guidance of God through his ultimate messenger, Jesus Christ.

Such an army would be unstoppable in any fantasy setting. It would be unstoppable in the real world too.

Version 2.0

So the blog is back. I wish I had waited until after my destructive (electronically speaking) rage had settled down to decide whether I REALLY wanted to kill it. I had a good post in there. I was proud of that post. And now its gone.

So I dunno how much I'll be putting in here or exactly WHAT I'll be putting in here. I shall try to re-create my post about the definition of a Saint as I see it.

Welcome to Version 2.0