Sunday, September 28, 2008

Presidential Debate: Round 1

A couple nights ago we got to see the first Presidential Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. I'm going to offer my view though a Christian perspective.

Politically speaking, I believe Obama won, but not by a big margin. There were plenty of opportunities to hammer McCain on economic issues, but I feel he will save that for future debates. I am an Obama supporter, but I would have no problem pointing out a victory for McCain if that were the case. That's all I want to get into in regards to the political aspect.

Both men have expressed that they are Christians in one form or another of Institutionalized Christianity. From a Christian perspective, Obama again won, but by a huge margin. If there are any honest Christians out there, I believe they would see it the same way. However, as I've discussed prior, there are so many brainwashed "Conservative Christians", that they don't even know what to look for anyway. After all, they don't follow the Two Most Important Commandments.

McCain didn't look at Obama once. Not once! He never directed any of his comments towards him and never referred to him cordially. This debate format consisted of a lead question that both had time to address, then both would engage each other. McCain didn't engage Obama one time. He looked angry when Obama spoke, or sarcastically smiled and laughed which showed that he was very disturbed, and only laughed to avoid losing his head. His body language was one of contempt. It was a hard thing to watch as a Christian. There was no bi-partisan language or friendly tones.

Obama routinely looked directly at McCain while he was listening. And when he spoke during the exchange periods, he was always looking and addressing McCain. He called him "John" when speaking to him. He stretched out his hands and looked genuine in his body language. He pointed out what he agreed on with McCain while he was pointing out their differences. And while he was doing this, all McCain could do was look down or away. It was as if Obama didn't exist.

From a Christian and genuine openness perspective, Obama wins easily.

Maybe that's why he's owning him in the polls now.

If you put faithful Christians that follow the Teachings correctly that don't know the candidates in a room, showed them the debate, asked them to put political views aside, and choose which one showed their Christianity beliefs the most. Obama would have won unanimously.

They would have chosen the Black man with a Muslim name.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Torture

This is something I'll never agree to as long as I live. How can a Christian ever agree with Torture? Our Commander in Chief is a self proclaimed devout Christian as well as many cabinet members of his administration. Yet despite this, he supports torture of enemies, suspected enemies and any one they deem a potential enemy. And those Conservative Christians that I just wrote about, all defend this and in most cases support it as well. How is this possible? Before I answer that question, let me state a few things.

Jesus Christ was tortured. The same Jesus Christ gave us a message that stated we should love our enemies, just as we love all our neighbors. We don't agree with their actions nor should we be an accomplice. How can you sit here and say that you Love your enemies so much that you torture them? Spare me the crap that this technique is necessary to halt future attacks on our Country. That doesn't cut it. If you are a Christian, what do you have to fear? I want to know. Have you ever thought, that if you followed those two most important commandments unconditionally and without hesitation, that there might just not be any enemies at least none that would concern us?

Why do Christians support this? It all falls back to Institutionalized Religion. They don't preach what Jesus preached. They have gotten into your heads to make you fearful of others. They have made you think that by supporting this or doing this, that you are on a mission from God. That you are defending God, and sometimes, we must do things that might be considered evil in order to protect good. If this is the case, how are they or you any different than the Jihadist's we're "supposed" to fear?

Would Jesus Christ torture anyone? If the answer is no, please tell me how you can justify it? You can't justify it. Because the moment you start to, you'll realize that you're actually putting other things and circumstances ahead of God and ultimately ahead of what Christians are supposed to be taught.

We have to get out of this cycle. We have to really take a step back and look at what is being taught to us in our Churches. By their fruits you will know them.

Why are you fearful?

I'll leave you with this:

"For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." Hebrews (13:5-6)

The Lord gave you the most critical message of your learning process. His message was to help you which would give you clarity and purpose. He said to Love God and Love your Neighbors which include your enemies. If fear gets in the way of doing this, His message can never be heard correctly. Your actions will act off of this fear, and it will be opposite to what you should do.

We have to be better than this. We have to be willing to tell the people that are preaching this nonsense to us that they have it wrong. But you can't do it until you do what you were first told to do. If you did what you were first told to do, false teaching never would have sunk in, and you wouldn't have bought it. The Holy Spirit would never have let that happen. The great thing about the Teachings, is that it is never too late. You can always figure it out, and you can always redeem your faith.

Once upon a time, I was on another blog (Dinesh D'souza), and the subject was on torture. I played a devil's advocate of it to see what people said. Sadly the Atheists and Agnostics overwhelmingly were against torture while many various Christians supported it.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Are you a Conservative or a Christian?

They don't go together. They never have gone together, and they never will go together. This so called "Religious Right" movement started in the 70's. It's purpose at that time was to organize and oppose Roe V. Wade. Look at what it's become since then. Conservatives would like to tell you that they are part of the moral party or the party with Traditional Values. They would also like to tell you how liberals have destroyed not only the morality of this Country, but also have led us away from traditional values.

Well, as an outsider not affiliated with either party, it's easy to see that Conservative members especially the Politicians are no more moral than liberals. It's a preached mechanism to divide. We as people are natural followers. We like to be a part of something. It is shameful that this division is preached in Churches on Sundays and people simply grow up this way.

Most Conservatives I talk to are Christian or at least call themselves this, and have been fed these lines of morality and traditional values ever since they could think on their own. It is shameful, and it goes against Christ's most precious teachings.

If you divide yourself, you are not following the Teachings.
If you make yourself part of something that demonizes other ideologies and philosophies, you are not following the Teachings.

And as previously stated, if you are not following the Teachings, you are not being a Christian. Calling yourself one doesn't make you one.

The Religions and Churches affiliated with Conservatism and preaches Conservatism are taking you away from God and the words of His Son.

Are you a Conservative or a Christian? You have to pick one, because you can't be both.

I will love thy neighbor with complete conviction. Show me examples from the Conservative movement that practices this.

Being a Conservative and a member of Institutionalized Religion in association with Conservatism is adjacent to following the Open path.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Narrow Path

As Christians, what have we become? Can you honestly and without hesitation say that you as a believer in Christ have been following the Narrow Path? My money says you can't. Do you know why? Because I don't think you know what the narrow path is. And if you don't know what it is, you can't possibly follow it. And if you can't follow it, you can't understand any of the Teachings. And if you can't understand any of the Teachings, you can't possibly be the Christian you are intended to be. Let's get right into this and pull no punches.

There is a specific message to future Christians in the Book Of Matthew. Jesus was asked which commandment was the most important. He didn't say that all commandments were equal. He said that the First Commandment is the most important AND a second is like it. He said that the whole law was inspired and written based off of this instruction. He didn't say ignore the other commandments, but what he did say is that practicing the two most important commandments enables you to follow the rest basically without any effort.

If you Love God with all your mind, heart and soul, and also Love your Neighbor with complete conviction, wouldn't everything else naturally fall into place? Can you even disagree with this? I get a lot of responses from other Christians during conversations such as this one, and what I find amazing is the amount of excuses I get as to why they can't practice those 2 most important commandments unconditionally and without hesitation. We're humans so we're faulty. We're not perfect. We mess up just like anyone else. We're tempted, and as Christians we're more tempted than anyone else. This is all a bunch of baloney. These aren't legitimate reasons. Do you think if Christ was standing in front of you, that he would buy this? I don't.

You don't have to be perfect to love unconditionally. These are our fellow humans. We are all brothers and sisters. We are not separated by color, status and faith. How hard is this to understand? We are faulty. We will make mistakes in our lives, and we will fail at a lot of things along the way. But we should never fail at love. That is not an option.

This is my main problem with Institutionalized Religion. For those of you that don't know what Institutionalized Religion means, let me help you out here. Any Denomination is the definition of Institutionalized. It is segregated. You follow that denomination's view and set of rules. It is man made. Not any one of them is the "True" one or "The Way". Pick up your Bible and read. There is only one way, and that way is taught to you. It is clear as day.

In the coming weeks I will be focusing on the Narrow Path, and what comes of it when followed. Every aspect of your life has a better understanding to it. The very Bible you believe in no longer is a belief, but knowledge. The younger you are in age gives you a better chance to re-program your minds from the false teaching you have absorbed from Institutionalized Religion. The sad part about this, is that Atheists and Agnostics will have an easier time understanding this in the beginning even though they might disagree.

Get away from the Open Gate, and let's start discussing the Narrow Gate.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Introduction

Welcome to my blog. My goal here is to convey what I've learned from the teachings of Christ and apply it to all aspects of life. A lot of the things that I will write may not be popular to members of various denominations of Christianity, other faiths and lack of faiths. This is of no concern to me. My goal is to achieve shared knowledge that over time can result in illuminating and thought provoking dialog where we can all start to move in a direction where we can be productive in our lives and be beneficial to each other. And if this happens, I believe we will all be striving for what Christ preached, which was Love, Tolerance and Forgiveness.

As with any believer of a faith, I believe that I've got it right. I believe that what I know cannot be contradicted, cannot be disputed, and if my knowledge is understood, it will eventually make a lot of sense to the reader. This will take time. This will have to be tested. We will have many debates. This experience will come down to three possibilities:

1. We remain the same no matter what.
2. You convince me that I'm wrong and show me the errors in my belief.
3. You see what I see, and you jump on board.

Until the next post,

Botts