The Question of Audience

Sometimes I feel like I am being judged by others because I do not preach heaven and hell in everything I write. Let me assure you, I am a Christian. It is true that we are all called to 'make disciples' and you will never hear me deny it. But I think there are two general ways people do this. The first is the evangelist, who walks up to everybody and everything that moves and shares the gospel. I admire the evangelist. I respect the evangelist. And I think the evangelist is needed. But I am no evangelist.

I am more of a missionary mindset, which could also be called relational-evangelism. I like to reach out, to help, to be a living testimony before I ever open my mouth to speak of sin and death, of Christ and hope. You may think I am a procrastinator, stalling for more time until I'm comfortable. But look at if from the other person's point of view. Some people have been through a rough time in life. They are bitter, untrusting, and some of them, sarcastic towards everything is mentioned about God. To these people, some nut* walking up to them on the street, witnessing to them, and then walking away isn't going to mean a lot to them. The witnessing person is just another delusional hypocrite as far as they're concerned.

But work with them, give them some time watching you and how you act. Stay calm and cool, constantly keep a Christ-like attitude. Add this with prayer. Maybe, just maybe, you'll gain enough validity with them to talk to them about our Lord. Maybe you think I'm out of my mind saying this. I'm not trying to put God in a box by saying He cannot work in the sarcastic individuals life through street witnessing. I believe He can. But I also believe He can work as effectively through the Missionary way as well.

I believe part of the Missionary mindset is helping people. Whether they are Christian's or not, you are obligated to advise, to tutor, and to help guide individuals through life.

And this brings me to the real topic of this post. Audience. Who your target audience is defines how you write, what you say, and what subjects you cover. I cannot bring myself to define my audience as merely Christians. There is too much hurt and suffering in the World to do this. So I try to write on the middle ground, presenting Christianity in contrast with other worldviews when I mention it. Occasionally, I will narrow my audience to just Christians for a post or two. But over all, if there is anyway that something I can write will help affect somebody's life for the better, I will write for that goal.** And I will pray that somehow, someway, God will use it. Whether softening a person so an evangelist can then lead them to Christ, or that it will help build a relationship so that I myself may present Christ.

I may be way off base, but I think there needs to be more of a 'behind the scenes' Christians too.


*I use 'nut' not as a slam against street witnessers, but just as another way to help place you in the lost person's mind I was trying to place you in.

**The writing I speak of is everything I write, not just this blog.

The Small and Brave

Recently I watched Walden Media's "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe." This is one of my favorite movies to watch when I want a good fantasy. It's shorter than Lord of the Rings (which I do not feel is actually watched unless you see all three parts), has a nice score of music that sticks in my head, and features some of the most memorable characters. Lucy Pevensie definitely catches my attention. As the smallest and youngest of the four children, you would think she would be the most whiny, scared, and least understanding of the protagonists. But I find she is just the opposite.

When she first enters Narnia she is amazed. How many of you could really stay calm if you discovered an icicle of a forest in a wardrobe? And when Mr. Tumnus reveals how he originally intended to kidnap her, she is more worried for his safety than her own. Some may say this is because she is naive. Maybe this is so at first, but, by the time the wolves attack, I find it hard to believe she still views Narnia as some giant playground where nothing could really hurt her.

It is really, however, when she first comes back from Narnia that amazes me. Her older siblings don't believe her story, but she never doubts. She continues to believe that Narnia is a real land, and she did, in fact, go there through the wardrobe. She never once recants her belief, even when her siblings show her the back of the wardrobe. The lesson here is really simple. Lucy Pevensie is not only one of the smallest of heroes, but also one of the youngest. And yet she still speaks up for what she knows is true, no matter how fantastically impossible is sounds to others.

Jesus- Messiah or Fraud

I was at a restuarant recently, when a conversation a couple of tables over caught my attention. "You know the Christian's legends, the Bible Stories, they all had a mansion in them." I exchanged a quick look with my Dad. We both fell silent, listening in for several minutes. In rapidfire motion, the ladies and bored host were running through different religions and their basic beliefs. Occasionally, as if suddenly concious other people were around, they would lower their voices for a few minutes. A lot of the conversation was meaningless without the enlightenment the full conversation would have brought. However, one part stands out in my mind. "I just want to know," one of the ladies' raised her voice, "What the Islams think of Jesus."

"They think he's a prophet, but nothing else," the host replied.

The gears in my mind began to turn. If they think he's a prophet, then who do they think he is a prophet from? This one thought gave me a revelation.

You see, Jesus Christ can only be one of two things: a fraud, or the Messiah. There is no middle ground, and those who call him a 'prophet' only do so as a compromise. If they truly believed Jesus to be a prophet, then they would believe every last word he said. This presents a problem for many of them. Jesus stated that he is the only way to God and Heaven, and, if this is true, then their religions are obsolete.

Obviously, they do not believe this. After all, he is a 'prophet', not a 'messiah.' So my question becomes, if he is a prophet, then why would he lie? After all, isn't the very definition of a prophet 'someone who God communicates through?' So it would seem to me that a single lie spoken in the name of God would prove that a person was not a prophet, but, in fact, a fraud. Besides, if Jesus truly did tell one lie (which I do not believe he did), then what would keep him from lying about everything else he said?

So, I believe that a person cannot logically believe that Jesus was 'just a prophet'. He has to be either the prophesied Messiah, or a common liar. Which do you believe?

The Epic Tail of a Mouse

From somewhere within the house the cry will sometimes sound, "There's a mouse in here!" Of course, usually our dogs have tried to warn us several times and have been ignored. Nonetheless, the cry will sound in human words, and it will stir the house into action. Tonight, the words came. With my Dad away, I took up the epic war against rodent pests, counting on our two dogs to actually catch the thing. I crept into the living room. "Where did it go?"

"It's under the TV cabinent!" The dogs testified to this, running from side to side, sticking their noses as far into the gap between the cabinent and wall as they could go. I realized that this meant the mouse would be trapped like in a tube. An easy victim.

If I could make the dogs understand the concept. I would need one stationed at either end. For a split second, they were in position. I shifted the cabinent a little. Both dogs crowded against my leg. I pushed one of them, the smaller papillion, back to the other side. Again, I moved the TV stand. Grace, the larger dog, darted forward. A flurry of brown at my feet caught my attention. I admit,I squealed, lunging towards one of our couches just as a way to get away from the mouse. "It's heading for the couch!" Without thinking, I jumped.

"Not that couch, Lauren! This one!" I realized then that she meant the couch that she sat on. Blushing, I'm sure, I clamored off my perch. Usually it was Mom who squealed and panicked while I remained calm.

"Let's flip it!" I suggested. We finally got the dogs to understand our fugitive now hid under the couch- not behind the cabinent. Together, Mom and I quickly flipped it. I held my breath incase the mouse made another escape over my foot. Nothing.

And then..."Quick, Grace, Ash! Over here!" I ran after the small furry dot running across our floor. The dogs remained staring at the couch. The mouse disappeared under our kitchen counters. I dared to put my face near the floor, but the creature had already disappeared. And the dogs, my partners in mouse hunting? Well, they were back sniffing around the TV cabinent. They would starve to death if they needed to hunt their own food.

As for me, I think I've had enough mouse hunting to last awhile. I tried, Daddy!

Christian Characters

I've been thinking a lot about several of the shows that I watch. They're varied between light hearted fun and having a lot of dark undertones. Several of them involve murder of some kind, all of them are good guys vs. bad guys. And the characters are a wide mixture of thoughts, actions, and emotions. A few years ago I just thought most shows were neutral on the whole God-issues. Maybe they really were, or maybe I just didn't have enough awareness to see past the story into the more sublte themes and the writers' opinions that are revealed throughout the shows. I know that there's that half-joking, "Will God smite us/will God save us?" that appears a lot. It comes across almsot as a taunt. Everyone knows the character isn't really serious, and will not be changing their lifestyle anytime soon based on whatever happens after those moments.

Now, it seems there are several shows that openly challenge the existence of an Almighty Creator of the universe. The characters who do this are often 'logical' and bitter. To be fair, the characters claim they believe all religion is wrong, from Budhism, Muslims, and Christians. But they pair these devout athiests beside weak-minded 'church goers' who cannot seem to reply even half decently against the questions thrown at them. It's clear who they're attacking most.

At the same time in these shows, we watch realistic homosexual characters, muslims, satanists, and other various groups. Does this make sense to you? Why is our media so afraid to portray true Christian characters? Are they afraid of offending non-Christian viewers by such a display? If so, then why are they not afraid of offending Christians with all their other characters?

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of watching so many of the media's "Christians" come across as watered down and incapable of explaining their beliefs. I have no problem against having characters attack my beliefs in shows. After all, I understand a wide range of people from different religious and social backgrounds watch TV. But I do have everything against an unfair representation.

Or is it an honest reflection of what the world sees from the modern day Christian church?

On Milk and Government

I recently came across a contest that encourages students to express their views on what changes would make America better. I thought about entering, but then realized my views would be too radical to actually make it through to the final judging rounds. After all, it seems that a lot of people, especially involved with this contest, are extremely liberal. (I mean, one speaker at the awards ceremony last year sang Obama's praises every few minutes!)

In essence, I take the stance that our government needs to mind their own business. It has become a monster, hungry for power, and greedy for money so they can keep what power they already have. Oppressive. We've given our government too much freedom. They try to protect their citizens by regulating human stupidity, but in doing so, they have almost destroyed at least one of our foods for the majority. Because of government, it is impossible to buy unpasteruized milk. They do this because of bacteria and the like. But the pasteurization process destroys a lot of the natural enzymes, needed to digest the milk. Not everyone produces these enzymes naturally. This means not everyone can digest the milk easily.

So wait a minute...in a way, doesn't that mean that government has regulated a food to be more unhealthy? I think so. And to get back to something I said earlier, since you cannot buy unpasteurized cow milk, you can't even go to a direct source and legally buy it! Okay, so maybe there are some legal health concerns. But why can't we be given our freedom to choose whether to buy unpasteurized milk or not? You can force all sellers to display something in big bright letters warning about the potential hazards. And I'm not saying stores have to carry unpasteurized milk or anything. But if they gave us the option to choose, than maybe there would be one more local business around. And another business means more jobs and more money in the community, something I'm sure most communities would be glad to have.

The milk example is the one I'm most familiar with. But don't discredit it just because it's focused on a single commodity. I heard a story a couple of years about a small grain mill in my area that had to shut down. Regulations had been passed that made it impossible for a family owned mill to compete with the commercial mills. This is another example of government becoming too restrictive. With our focus being forced to shift away from locally grown foods and products, is it really so confusing as to why there is so much poverty? If we had more freedom, more oppurtunity to make a little extra money here and there, there would be more options people could use to keep themselves afloat.

I did not mean to spend so much time on agriculture, something that will not apply to all areas, but I hope you see my point. Government needs to stop trying to regulate everything, often time just so it has more ways to get money. I think we need true freedom again. Because isn't it one of our rights that we can choose what we can and cannot do? Besides, if towns can legalize marijuana, shouldn't we be allowed to drink unpasteurized milk if we so choose?

EDIT: Reading through this, I realize I come across like a milk nazi. =P

The Beginning Saga

So I'm writing this first post at 11:20 at night and I'm just a little braindead. In other words, do not expect profound thoughts or a nice little devotional or anything from this post. In some way, I think I actually prefer it this way. A part of me rebels against being TOO serious. I think that's why I post so many absurd things as my Facebook status. And the more random and funny a conversation is, the happier and more hyper I become.

At any rate, we are currently at the beginning of something new. I feel a little excited in a way, kinda like I do when I begin a good book series, or find a new show I like. There's almost a fanatical edge to wanting to know EVERYTHING about the series or show, and I keep a mental countdown going in my head for when the next installment will be. I don't expect this blog will be anything great, but maybe, perhaps, you can learn a little about me or maybe even learn something from what I say.

I do like to think and converse...even *gasp* discuss things. Chances are, you'll see more of my 'serious' side in this blog. But that doesn't mean there won't be an oddball post occasionally. ;)