'removing' God

sometimes happenings in the USA make me want to pull out my hair. we've removed God because we tiny little dots on huge planet Earth think we know better.

example 1: America has decided that abortion is a 'woman's right to choice;' the baby inside is labeled a 'piece of tissue.'

BUT this is the news i saw a few weeks ago: a man was upset at his girlfriend, who was pregnant, and he shot her, 'killing her and the unborn BABY.'

yep, the news reporter said BABY.

can't everyone just admit that we all know it's a BABY??? it's not a clump of nameless, formless, unimportant tissue. it's a living, moving, feeding, feeling human being.

ridiculous how it's a BABY if someone shoots it or if it's killed in a car accident, but it's an 'unwanted pregnancy' or a 'fetus' (sounds like an alien) if a mother wants to get an abortion. 

how can it be murder in one instance, but the woman's right to choose in another???

bottom line: when we remove GOD from creation and make laws based on what's convenient or what gives us immediate gratification, we start to contradict ourselves. our 'truth' changes according to the mood we're in and we lose our ability to make sense.

the life inside a mother is a baby from the first moment to the time it's born. labeling it a 'piece of tissue' so that you can rationalize killing is wrong. somewhere inside, everyone knows this, which is why everyone's gut reaction to an unborn baby being killed is horror and sadness and anger.

it can't be a baby worth saving in one circumstance and a fetus that grew like a tumor in another.... 

example 2: here's another piece of news i heard a couple of weeks ago: a boy and girl in high school went to prom together. afterwards, he took her home and drove himself home. after she'd changed or something, she drove herself over to his house, where they had sex. the news reported that the 'rapist' was now in jail facing charges because of the poor 'victim' who was taken advantage of on prom night. 

WHAT??! come on! she drove herself over there!

the fine line was that she was 17, and he probably happened to be 18. so suddenly she is an underaged 'victim' and he's an adult 'rapist.' ridiculous. she is responsible too.

bottom line: when we remove GOD from our lives and replace HIS VALUES with arbitrary laws, nothing makes sense. if the girl had turned 18 five minutes before they had sex, they'd be 'two consenting adults.' nonsense.

the real problem is that people want to have sex when they want to have sex, regardless of marriage. once you remove sex from the confines of marriage, anything goes. but we still realize that we need SOME sort of boundaries, so someone came up with an arbitrary age. but by making it arbitrary, they have removed the REASON BEHIND the rule.

let me tangent on this a bit...

the reason for sex being in the confines of marriage is that God meant it to be the most meaningful way of sharing yourself completely with another human being. it's a way of showing your commitment, a way of distinguishing this special person from anyone else on the planet. 

ultimately, marriage is the picture of how intimate and personal our commitment is supposed to be to Jesus. in light of this, sex in marriage is one of the most beautiful and amazing parts of life.

outside of marriage, sex is one of the most cheapening, hurtful, meaningless, and sad things you can do with your body.

same with the commitment of our souls. committing your life and soul to Jesus is the most meaningful and freeing and awesome thing you can do. on the flipside, committing your soul to anything else in the world (money, yourself, success, your loved ones...) leads to meaninglessness, to living a totally unfulfilled life, and to spiritual death.

removing God removes all reason.

you may think you have eliminated God from your life, but just because you've denied His existence or decided He doesn't matter, doesn't mean He ceases to exist. and it doesn't mean that you are not accountable to Him.

"'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,

'every knee will bow before Me;

every tongue will confess to God.'

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."

Romans 14:11-12

be careful of the decisions you make. 

are you rationalizing away what's right so that you can be more comfortable?? 

are you forfeiting your sense and reason because you refuse to make a stand for truth? 

are you being careless and wishy-washy with your beliefs because your friends think they're stupid?

where is your allegiance? Jesus said this to those who thought they had it all together:

"You belong to your father, the devil,

and you want to carry out your father's desire.

He was a murderer from the beginning,

not holding to the truth, 

for there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks his native language,

for he is a liar and the father of lies.

He who belongs to God hears what God says. 

The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

John 8:44, 47

the size of faith

most Christians like to think that they have a pretty good amount of faith in God. we really believe, right? you might not think you feel proud of yourself about your amount of faith, but consider this: if anyone questions your faith, you probably feel angry, even indignant, right? how DARE someone say you don't believe with all your heart!

but think about true faith in God. faith can move mountains! that's not just a saying. read Matthew 17:20. you may be thinking, come on, move a real mountain? yes. that's what i'm saying. Kilimanjaro. Mount St. Helens. Mount Everest. that sounds ridiculous. well, how about we shrink it down a little. how about a tree?

Jesus, who also talked about moving mountains with faith, said:

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, 

you can say to this mulberry tree, 

'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' 

and it will obey you." 

Luke 17:6

how many of you have told a tree to be planted in the sea, and then watched as it uprooted itself and ran off to obey? that is the power embodied in a piece of faith the size of a tiny mustard seed!

do you know how big a mustard seed is? wikipedia lists they diameter as 1 to 2 mm. i've cooked with them and find that they truly are tiny, and they are easily lost as they bounce out of sight through the cracks. here's a photo:

of course, moving land masses and greenery by talking to them is not the point of Jesus' words. the context of His statement is that He was instructing His disciples to forgive a believing brother who'd sinned against them and come back to ask for forgiveness, even 7 times in one day! tough. but Jesus goes on to make the point that having faith and forgiveness are our duty as believers. God won't stand up and cheer or congratulate us or thank us for doing what we should have been doing all along: forgiving others (remember, if you are not PERFECT, you have been forgiven to the same extent as anyone else) and having faith in God (we have no excuse for not believing in Him, as He has blessed everyone with everything from breath to the beautiful nature we see around us).

faith is trusting in the One who created the universe with just words. HE is the object of our faith. it doesn't matter how weak or how incapable you may be; Jesus will be your strength. it's not about you anyway. your life is supposed to be the vessel through which people see God.

and He doesn't just deserve it, He loves you too. He wants what's best for you. trust in Him!

and the next time a brother or sister in Christ comes to you and asks for forgiveness, step out in faith and forgive. it may be hard, but GOD will give you the ability to really mean it. i struggle SO many times when my husband asks me for forgiveness, even for little things. my emotions tell me to refuse him; i'm angry with what he's done! but God says i MUST forgive. it's my duty because Jesus offered forgiveness when i was still doing wrong things, while i was in the act of spitting in His face.

faith and forgiveness are tough. but God builds them up in us as we PRACTICE them. let's not just rest thinking we have faith; let's put them into practice!

for more on forgiveness, please read my post: in the midst of my mess