Always Reforming

    Politics--it's a running joke, really.  Sure, there are those zealous few who believe in the American political system, but they are quickly becoming extinct.  This is the group that believes that one vote matters and that politicians actually care.  These people are being replaced by a generation of disillusioned Millennials who, regardless of the platform they prefer, are beginning to recognize the stronghold that the establishment has over the political process.  Politicians are seen for what they are--money-hungry pawns of the elite class.  Oh, there are a few who are honest and are trying to help their constituents (Ron Paul, for instance), but they are few and far between.  After all, that kind of person can only survive for so long in a political environment that seeks to stifle free-thought and decentralization (see Ron Paul).     Our political environment is, perhaps, most clearly evidenced by Hillary Clinton and her laund...

    Want to start an internet debate with your fellow Christians?  Simple.  Just tell someone that something they want to do is wrong.  Tell them that some part of their appearance, entertainment, worship, or general lifestyle is wrong, and you're certain to get a visceral response as hordes of hedonists ignore plain mandates from Scripture in order to protect their personal pleasures.     Let's be honest.  We all have a tendency to defend the things we really want to do.  We humans have this innate ability to rationalize behaviors that, if we were to view them objectively, would be obviously inconsistent with a profession of Christianity.  The truth is that we are all hedonists from birth. Our depraved natures are regenerated at the time of our conversion, but remnants of the old man (or flesh, if you prefer) are left over.   Hedonism  is one of those subconscious attitudes we struggle with as we seek to become more Christli...

    Being an outlier never really bothered me.  I began to realize around 10 or 11 that the way I was being raised was significantly different from most of my friends, even those who were fellow conservative Christians.  Little distinctions that may not have made sense to nonchristians (and, let's face it, to most Christians) set our theology apart and significantly affected the way we lived our lives. I'm pretty used to being outside of the mainstream because I was raised to prefer faithfulness to the Scripture to being normal.  Much emphasis was placed on the responsibility of every Christian, particularly fathers, to know what he believes and why he believes it, and to follow his conscience in lieu of the baseless traditions of men.  We respected our religious heritage and thanked God for it, but Scripture was the source of our beliefs, regardless of what this or that Reformed tradition said (of course everyone has traditions they can't recognize or shed...

    Forget about bathrooms.  Forget about LGBT and all that.  What we are dealing with now is a plague of self-identification, as evident by the number of memes satirizing the concept.  We're taking the whole "I think, therefore, I am" thing to places Descartes never imagined.  To say that we're bordering on the absurd is an understatement.  We've crossed the border.  We're officially residents in the land of absurdity!     Allow me to offer an illustration.  There are laws in basically every political subdivision of this country against impersonating a police officer.  If I can simply identify as whatever I please, why is that the case?  Can't I simply self-identify as a police officer?  I dare you to try.  You'll find your rear end parked in a jail cell so fast you're eyes will spin.  Why?  Because reality.  Because we live in a world where natural laws are constant and things that are true are...

    I'm happy to say that the term "YOLO" is used far less frequently now than it was a few years ago. Unfortunately the spirit of YOLO lives on, and, as it is an attitude that has been around for millennia, I doubt it will ever truly be extinguished.  For those of you who don't know, YOLO means "You Only Live Once."  In those simple two syllables is captured an entire mindset--a worldview, if you will. YOLO communicates the belief that life is short and unpredictable, so you might as well do whatever the heck you want while you're here.  We're all worm food after we die, right?  Why conform to social norms and pointless responsibilities when you can do drugs, have sex, and stay out till sunrise? If we're all just animals, then why not act like it?  The American Dream and its work ethic have been replaced by hedonism and fatalism.     This type of thinking has permeated our culture in this irreligious, post-modern age.  Our culture, es...

    I've been reading through the book of Job lately, and I've been struck by the unifying theme--awe of God.  Now, I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this, but I feel like modern interpretations of the book of Job focus on Job and his miserable comforters.  As is the case with most modern theology, we make this tale very anthropocentric.  It's all about how we need to stay the course in troubled times or how we need to remember that people going through tough times are not always sinners. These applications are good to make, of course, but they are not the main focus of the narrative.  The main point is that God is ineffably greater than His Creation.     We see this theme in a few different ways.  Firstly, on several occasions we see different speakers express the same sentiment--that man could not possibly be found just in the sight of God. The most telling example is Job 9:2  where Job himself says this.  It is telling becau...