Divided and Conquered - Part 2

As I mentioned in my first post about this issue (Divided and Conquered - Part 1), the church has seemingly completely ignored Jesus' teaching in John 13:34-35, instructing his followers to love one another and how in doing so others will know that they are actually Jesus' followers. Divided as we have become and so eager as so many Christians are to attack and defame others who call Jesus 'Lord' because of various differences, it's no wonder why many people consider us to be full of it when it comes to what we claim about Jesus and about how following him truly makes a positive difference in our lives. I mentioned how we in part have the Protestant Reformation to thank for introducing this concept of breaking away and only associating with people who think, act, and believe like we do. And as I write this, my heart is very heavy, because this practice has been going on for so long now that it's considered normal and right among far too many Christians, and not only does it continue to make so many in the outside world consider us mindless followers of a farce, but it also denies us the opportunity for iron to sharpen iron, so to speak - which I will get more into in another post.

Divided and Conquered - Part 1

 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." - Jesus (John 13:34-35)

 
I find it rather interesting what Jesus says about his followers loving one another, namely that it's how others know that we are Jesus' followers in the first place. He says nothing about taking bold stands, wearing 'Christian' apparel, jewelry, or trinkets, parading about for this cause or that, or even talking publicly about one's faith. No, what he said was that by loving one another they are showing others that they are indeed Jesus' disciples, his followers. 

A Few Thoughts on Racism

Considering all that has happened in America lately regarding racism, I am hard-pressed as a follower of Jesus to ignore it, even though a lot of well-intentioned Christians try to do just that, especially people who, like me, are of European ancestry and genetics. In fact, there is a lot I want to say about the topic of racism, but instead of writing volumes, which I could easily do, I want to acknowledge a few truths about the issue:

The Sculpture - A Repost

(Source: Worth1000.com, Artist: JetStrike)

I wrote this analogy/metaphor/parable years ago, and I've edited it and tweaked it many times on the many different blogs I've had in the past, and after all this time I still feel like it's a good story to share and still very appropriate to the church's history and current situation.

A Restart of Sorts...

My experiment with Wordpress seems to have come to an end, and while I enjoyed the freedom it allowed me as far as customization goes, securing a reliable free server was a nightmare. I used 000webhost primarily and tried out a number of others, but I was constantly hit with tons of downtime, unreliable servers, and restrictions that made functioning a simple website practically impossible.

So after all the headaches and wall repairs, I'm settling for blogger as my host and platform for the foreseeable future. 

In the meantime, as I build this site and try to get it to my liking, excuse the mess... :)