Music Again

I’m enjoying music again… all different kinds. Some that I would have classified as “secular” a few years ago have lyrics that speak to life. With “judging” taking on new meaning, I’ve transitioned and now enjoy a number of different groups. Our sons have introduced their dear old parents to some of their music . We both enjoy the new input. Here’s one from Five For Fighting that I play loud driving around in the car:

The Riddle

There was a man back in '95
Whose heart ran out of summers
But before he died, I asked him

Wait, what's the sense in life
Come over me, Come over me

He said,

Son why you got to sing that tune
Catch a Dylan song or some eclipse of the moon
Let an angel swing and make you swoon
Then you will see... You will see


Then he said,

Here's a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There's a reason for the world
You and I...

Picked up my kid from school today

Did you learn anything cause in the world today
You can't live in a castle far away
Now talk to me, come talk to me


He said,

Dad I'm big but we're smaller than small
In the scheme of things, well we're nothing at all
Still every mother's child sings a lonely song
So play with me, come play with me

And Hey Dad
Here's a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There's a reason for the world
You and I...

I said,

Son for all I've told you
When you get right down to the
Reason for the world...
Who am I?

There are secrets that we still have left to find
There have been mysteries from the beginning of time
There are answers we're not wise enough to see

He said... You looking for a clue I Love You free...

The batter swings and the summer flies
As I look into my angel's eyes
A song plays on while the moon is hiding over me
Something comes over me

I guess we're big and I guess we're small
If you think about it man you know we got it all
Cause we're all we got on this bouncing ball
And I love you free
I love you freely

Here's a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There's a reason for the world
You and I...

It’s about living and loving life… freely. It’s about God creating each of us… our likeness reflecting Him. With gratitude… have a great Thanksgiving Day.

gossip kills

Last week I attended a gathering of some women whom I have known for quite a number of years. The common denominator that brought us together was the fact that each of us at some point in the past had taken on the task of educating our children at home. We knew each other from that venue. It was a get-together at one of the lady’s homes basically set up so she could introduce and sell a product to earn extra income for her family.

After arriving we mingled and showed pictures of our families. We caught up on our lives and those of our children, where they were, what they were doing, and that sort of thing. During the course of conversation around a table set with food, we started talking about some of those we knew who were not present. Understandably we wanted to know how different ones were doing now.

It didn’t take long before someone mentioned a mom who had changed her life and the way she looked. This person now had an office job and was wearing clothing that was totally different from what she had previously worn. Instead of the high collar, no skin showing person, she now was wearing fashionable clothes, looking “very good”, and drawing the extra attention of men in the office in which she was working.

Even though I made a comment something to the effect like "good for her", trying to stand in for her defense I suppose, I was bothered by the use of innuendo and insinuation that the teller used when speaking of this woman. It was clearly gossip. What business was it of any of us how this woman now dressed much less know that men were noticing her at work? I doubt if she was a personal friend of anyone in the room and yet several present thought talking about her in this manner was okay.

There was a time not too long ago I found out that my family was being talked about. It caused hurt, anxiety, anger, and suspicion just to mention a few emotions created by this injustice of gossip. The source of the gossip came from someone inside our church, the only place such knowledge existed. This was one reason for us leaving the church meeting place, though not the only one. The mental and emotional distress I experienced when going to “church” was very difficult to deal with. The oppressive invisible force always present, I had no resources at the time to fight it. If that was even something that could be done, I don't know. When we left, I suppose you could say the gossips won.

I think that gossip is typical of some religious people. It seems that it is a product of judgment. Judgment is that which is passed by the religious ones against those who fall from the Christian standard of acceptability. Why is gossip so prevalent in the religious church setting? Could belief in keeping the Law have anything to do with this?

If someone lives under the Law, they experience guilt and shame on a regular basis. When a Law person sees someone stumble and fall, their own sense of guilt and shame causes them to feel the need to expose the other (the sinner). They need to make what the other person did seem much worse than anything they may have ever done or thought of doing, thus alleviating their own feelings of guilt or shame.

When I was a child I was constantly chided and made to feel worthless by my alcoholic father. I think it was his way of alleviating his own feelings of worthlessness. This somehow makes twisted sense to me.

Judgment was the default in my life before I became aware of God’s grace. It wasn’t until I realized I desperately needed God’s grace that I became a recipient of it. How could I receive something until I was aware I even needed it. My admission of failure and weakness caused me to begin to see all humans as equally in need. All of mankind is on equal footing when it comes to God. He knows us. We don’t know Him.

Gossip kills. It kills hearts and minds. It kills relationships. It kills like the Law kills. Grace is the soil from which love grows. We all need more realization of our desperate need for God and less self sufficient and self righteous attitudes. The two definitely do not mix.

Seeing all as equally needy will create compassion and camaraderie toward others, not judgment and criticism.

ALL

Consider this statement:

“Not all men became sinners after Adam demonstrated unbelief and disobedience in the garden."

How would most Christians respond to this statement? The overwhelming majority would say that it is not true. They would insist that death became a reality for all men because of the sin of Adam. They would also say that no one was even given a choice in the matter. Mankind was automatically assigned the death sentence because of Adam’s unbelief and disobedience. The Bible would back up this understanding also.

“…just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned,” Romans 5:13 (NKJV)

I agree. The fact that sin and death spread to all men seems established in this verse.

If we believe that all died without a choice in the matter, then why don’t we believe that Jesus redeemed all without a choice being needed on man‘s part? Do we need to believe first in order to receive redemption? I think belief is important in living a life here on earth. What does believing do for us? Our believing that Jesus finished and fulfilled it all at the Cross brings salvation to our mind and soul as we live our life here and now.

Evangelical Christianity teaches that only those who confess and believe can receive the gift of redemption offered by Jesus Christ. Some are in and some are out. I don’t believe this as I once did. I don’t believe it was an offering, a choice, or an option. Scripture doesn’t bare this out.

Continuing to read in Romans 5 we see that the gift given is much more than the death by offense that mankind received by Adam.

“But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.” Romans 5:15 (NKJV)

In case the word “many” provokes a question of how many received it, look at Romans 5:18:

“Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”

I love the book of Romans.

This is my first post in a month. Some in my family took a week away from home which meant one week to get ready to go and two to get back to normal after returning. Well, that’s my excuse anyway for not writing. More to come…