Desiring God
1. It reduces friction
2. The gospel is free
3. We exist first to serve, not be served
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Idea for Countries to encourage young people
This is just a crazy idea I had while running, and thinking about places like Singapore which make it compulsary to serve in the Military. This isn't something I recomend for NZ as much as it my idea for my ideal country, to help build up young people and strengthen a nation.
When someone turns 18, they have the choice to join the Military and serve for 3-5 years, or go to University to attain a degree. When you finish university, if you have not served in the Military, you must serve at least 2 years. In the military, you serve in a role suited for your skills and abilities. Not everyone is suited to be a soldier, and for those people, roles as technitians, engineers, scientists, medical personnel, pretty much every profession out in the civil world, but in the context of the military or government sector. You would receive military discipline, physical training, and real-world experience applying your skills to real life scenarios. Even an opportunity to travel the world. Of course, you get paid a good salary for your service, and after your service is over, you join the rest of the world, you can go get a degree (or another) or pursue a carreer.
The purpose is to equip people to be more well-rounded - not just to be all brains or all brawn. To keep people out of a career on the benfit. To assert discipline and nationalism and reduce career criminals. Crazy? Yep. Welcome to the mind of an idealist.
When someone turns 18, they have the choice to join the Military and serve for 3-5 years, or go to University to attain a degree. When you finish university, if you have not served in the Military, you must serve at least 2 years. In the military, you serve in a role suited for your skills and abilities. Not everyone is suited to be a soldier, and for those people, roles as technitians, engineers, scientists, medical personnel, pretty much every profession out in the civil world, but in the context of the military or government sector. You would receive military discipline, physical training, and real-world experience applying your skills to real life scenarios. Even an opportunity to travel the world. Of course, you get paid a good salary for your service, and after your service is over, you join the rest of the world, you can go get a degree (or another) or pursue a carreer.
The purpose is to equip people to be more well-rounded - not just to be all brains or all brawn. To keep people out of a career on the benfit. To assert discipline and nationalism and reduce career criminals. Crazy? Yep. Welcome to the mind of an idealist.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Why Christians go to Church: My thoughts on Baptism and Church Membership
Do only Christians attend church? No. Many people attend church who don't believe in God, many people who think they are Christians attend church, yet they are not Christians, for it is not Church attendance that makes one a christian. And there are many Christians who don't attend church, for they chose not to, although it is arguable whether such christians are christians at all!
So how do you become a Christian? It is to be "born again", to believe that Jesus died for your sins, to repent and be baptised. Its not whether you say you are, its whether you truely believe, and only God knows. Its interesting that in the bible, we see every believer is baptized, in almost every instance, its "repent and be baptised". There was no delay or wait, no infant baptisms, no "baptism classes". And straight after that, they were part of the church. Repentance and accepting Jesus and baptism were often spoken of as one thing. So baptism was a way of visibly identifying that you were joining into the church or the "body of christ", hence the term Church Member as in members of the body (like hands and feet).
And then theres the distinction between your local church, the one that meets every sunday in that church building, to that of the universal church, the one encompasing all believers. Why are there so many different churches, denominations? Do they believe in different things? do you need to find the one that matches your own beliefs? Some churches have people jumping around and waving their arms, some have lots of old people that stand stiff and still... is there a proper way to attend church and worship God?
I believe there are absolutely no requirements to Church membership, there shouldn't be. Church leadership and eldership is another matter however. But you cannot have exams, and degree requirements for Church membership, because one ought to become a member as soon as they are baptized, which is as soon as they repent and believe and recieve Jesus. They become part of the universal church which encompases all Christians, and they ought to be member of their local church. Come as you are, but don't stay as you are. Its up to the other Church members, and the Holy Spirit, to model and change that young baby Christian to be more like Jesus, the perfect man. And in time, supernaturaly, we may come close to believing all the right things about God. All our human divisions are created out of sin and intollerance, we must learn to agree to disagree. We cannot kick people out because we don't agree with them (this is usually us thinking we are right) and we ought not to leave and start our own group. We trust that in the end, God knows our hearts, and our deeds, and most importantly the strength of our relationship with Him. And His Love, Justice, and Mercy will be revealed to all; within the church and outside.
So how do you become a Christian? It is to be "born again", to believe that Jesus died for your sins, to repent and be baptised. Its not whether you say you are, its whether you truely believe, and only God knows. Its interesting that in the bible, we see every believer is baptized, in almost every instance, its "repent and be baptised". There was no delay or wait, no infant baptisms, no "baptism classes". And straight after that, they were part of the church. Repentance and accepting Jesus and baptism were often spoken of as one thing. So baptism was a way of visibly identifying that you were joining into the church or the "body of christ", hence the term Church Member as in members of the body (like hands and feet).
And then theres the distinction between your local church, the one that meets every sunday in that church building, to that of the universal church, the one encompasing all believers. Why are there so many different churches, denominations? Do they believe in different things? do you need to find the one that matches your own beliefs? Some churches have people jumping around and waving their arms, some have lots of old people that stand stiff and still... is there a proper way to attend church and worship God?
I believe there are absolutely no requirements to Church membership, there shouldn't be. Church leadership and eldership is another matter however. But you cannot have exams, and degree requirements for Church membership, because one ought to become a member as soon as they are baptized, which is as soon as they repent and believe and recieve Jesus. They become part of the universal church which encompases all Christians, and they ought to be member of their local church. Come as you are, but don't stay as you are. Its up to the other Church members, and the Holy Spirit, to model and change that young baby Christian to be more like Jesus, the perfect man. And in time, supernaturaly, we may come close to believing all the right things about God. All our human divisions are created out of sin and intollerance, we must learn to agree to disagree. We cannot kick people out because we don't agree with them (this is usually us thinking we are right) and we ought not to leave and start our own group. We trust that in the end, God knows our hearts, and our deeds, and most importantly the strength of our relationship with Him. And His Love, Justice, and Mercy will be revealed to all; within the church and outside.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
New Blog: Road Tripy
Hi everyone, I've set up a new blog to help plan my upcoming trip to the South Island. Firstly, head over to Road Tripy and have a look at the plan. Although if you go too early, there may not be much there.
If you are keen to come, leave a comment (here or there) and I'll sign you up. Feel free to leave comments as to where you want to go, and what you want to do.
If you are keen to come, leave a comment (here or there) and I'll sign you up. Feel free to leave comments as to where you want to go, and what you want to do.
The general plan is to fly to the South Island and drive all around.
My original plan was to get a one way ticket and fly to Invercargill. Then starting from the Bluff, drive all the way back to Picton, ferry over to Wellington, then back to Auckland.
Plan B, is to fly to Christchurch, drive south down to Invercargill, then back up to Picton, then down to Christchurch where we fly off back to Aucks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)