Christian. . . or sucky

In our world we live in the word Christian has become very different than the meaning. When it comes to shows, music, productions, movies, and other such things when attached to the word Christian automatically means that it will suck. I understand that not all Christians sucks, but neither are all things labeled Christian actually Christ Following!

I have a theory that popped into my head the other day about why Christian stuff sucks. Well, if you look at the typical youth group or at least my picture stuck in my head of the typical youth group, and no this has nothing to do with any youth group I have ever attended. If you look at the youth groups a lot of times they primarily consist of the loser kids. The kids no one else wants to hang out with, which is why we reach and love them. I am in no way saying reaching the unloved is wrong, but why not go for the kids that are harder to reach as well; the leaders, the jocks, and the "preppy kids".

My theory is that these "loser kids" grow up into our adult devout church members, and create crappy stuff. If most people didn't like what they liked as children, then this might not change when they grow up. Thus taking the non-cool ideas with them their whole life. I will have more to come on this in a later post.

True Life Study: Nimrod

To me the name Nimrod to me is synonymous with idiot. I remember when I was little the name was used when we would call someone stupid or other such mean name. After doing this study I have come to learn that the biblical Nimrod was no idiot. He must have been pretty intelligent in fact. He was called a mighty hunter before the Lord. The literal meaning of his name is מרד, marad, he rebelled. He was a bad dude, but had some pretty amazing feats that most of us know of, but we just don’t know who instigated them. Nimrod is the son of Cush, who is the son of Ham, the son of Noah. This means that Nimrod was a great grandson of Noah. Nimrod whose name translates “he rebelled” was just a few generations from the man that was noted as the ONLY man left pleasing to the Lord. It is kind of ironic to me that such an evil man can come that close to such a great man in the same family.

The Bible refers to Nimrod four times. Two of the times name him the son of Cush, one time referring to him as a mighty hunter, and the other time refers to Assyria as the land of Nimrod. This shows that we do not get much information on Nimrod from The Bible, and must rely on other sources to understand more about who he was.

A few things that are accredited to Nimrod include instigating the construction of The Tower of Babel, he started the kingdom of Babylon, and Assyria is called the land of Nimrod. “Some Bible students have linked Nimrod to Tukulti-Ninurta, an Assyrian king (about 1246-1206 B.C.). Others think that Amenophis III of Egypt (about 1411-1375 B.C.) or the heroic Gilgamesh might have been the ancient Nimrod. Regardless, extremely popular legends involve Nimrod as a ruler in both Assyrian and Egyptian lore. Nimrod shows that the great Mesopotamian culture had its origin from the creative work of the God of Israel.” (Clarke’s Old Testament Commentary)

According to Clarke’s Old Testament Commentary and other biblical time lines it is said that Nimrod built Babylon of 2233 B.C. or A.M 1771. This really does not mean a lot to me, and probably would not to most people, but I found a few more interesting facts about this. According to the same timeline Noah died at the age of 950 years in year A.M 2006 or 1998 B.C. This is 235 years after Nimrod built Babylon and the tower of Babel. I think it is highly interesting that Noah’s great grandson started wreaking havoc on the Earth while Noah was still alive. Noah, at one point the only righteous man left, saw the whole world wiped away, but then his great grandchild, whom which he had to have encountered, started to cause separation from God again.

Nimrod accomplished a lot. He did a lot of major things. He can be linked to many kings, and kingdoms. He is one of the main people responsible for all of the idol worship as well. Nimrod was accredited with throwing Abraham into furnace, for Abraham would not worship the idols that Nimrod had set up. He did such terrible things that Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible goes so far to claim him as “The first full-time minister of Satan was Nimrod, Noah’s wicked and apostate grandson”. This shows that Nimrod was a pretty evil man to be considered the first full-time minister of Satan!

Also according to Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible I read that according to secular history and traditions tells us that Nimrod was married. He married a woman who was “as evil and demonic as himself”. She was named Semerimus, and she knew about God’s promise of the messiah. She claimed that her firstborn son Tammuz, fulfilled the prophecy that we know Jesus came and fulfilled. In doing this she claimed to be the queen of heaven, she put herself and her son in the center of worship, she claimed to be the way to salvation, and she and her son made such claims which led to the beginning of a completely new cult or as Wilmington calls “satanic church”.

Nimrod is also accredited with starting the first Monarchy. This meaning that he was one of the first “kings” of our world. This was not a God ordained appointment, as the first Israelite king was Saul. Monarchies ruled for many years and still do exist, though in recent years democracy has begun to take over.

A lot of things came about from Nimrod and his family. From great cities to a terrible religion, much is to go with this name. I never knew that this name “Nimrod” could carry such a powerful meaning. I just thought Nimrod was a stupid person, but now realize that he had to be fairly intelligent if he came up with ideas causing terrible religion and a city as great as Babylon. When I think of the greatest city of all history I think of Babylon. I will now forever think of Nimrod with Babylon. Though he did many terrible things, I also look at the creative side of him in which came from the same great creator that we do, and see what he still did even though he was not living a righteous life.

WOVEN

This years Masters Conference was titled Woven. It was based off of the scripture that a three fold cord is not easily broken. It was my first Masters Conference and it was amazing. I have a new appreciation for my staff at MCUSA. I know that I am only here for a limited time now, and need to take advantage of the opportunities around me now. I love these people so much, and hope to continue to grow closer to them during the next weeks. We did a part in the conference in which was a banner presentation, and it was amazing!

Attitude

I've not had the best attitude lately. I always used to have a great attitude about things. I guess this is God bringing more junk to the surface and helping me get rid of things. I continue to press in and try to have a good attitude. For those around me I apologize for the bad attitude I've had. I know it effects the people around me.

Deep Ellum

Went downtown yesterday with a couple friends and enjoyed a little of the city life. We got to see many things. We enjoyed Cafe Brazil, walked around in Deep Ellum, went to Catholic Mass at the Cathedral, and just talked to people. It was a fun time. Here are a few photos of the city, and the art of the buildings in Deep Ellum. I thought the Hub City sign was pretty sweet, considering our youth group at Relevant is called The Hub.

Christian vs. Secular

I heard someone say the other day "The Christian world not the Secular world." I am taken a little back by this comment, as many Christians carry it. They view the Christian world and Secular world as two different things. I honestly think that idea only exists to Christians, and I think it sucks. Why must we live in a Christian world, and not a human world?

Jesus himself lived as a human. He lived among the people. He didn't stay with the holy, in fact he primarily spent his time with the unholy. Why then do we only hold ourselves to Christian life? Why do "Christian" things primarily suck. Most events, shows, and music by Christians suck. (I understand not all of it sucks, but generally as a rule of thumb if it's a "Christian [fill in the blank] then it sucks) Does God not call us to be excellent? To me I think we need to stop viewing the world as two different things and intertwine ourselves into it more. I'm not saying to compromise our character, but to live among non-Christian people, to create excellent art, to be the most creative and innovative people we can be.

I don't like to call myself a Christian, but rather a Follower of Christ, for the fact connotations that come with the word Christian. I personally have a hard time with Christians sometimes. Maybe I'm too critical, but then again maybe my ideas will change others, who knows!? Caleb and Joshua had their opinions that no one else agreed with, maybe I'm like them, or maybe I'm way off. You decide.

God is good to me!

This is how I felt last week. I Journaled this on 1/29/09, but didn't get the chance to blog it:

Who am I? I feel like I am in the center of God's will for my life. I feel like his favor is on me in everything I do. I got on the Youth Impact team, I made the writing team for our drama final, people that talk to me love me (at least the seem to), I got on the outreach team, I'm impacting people's lives in a bigger way then I myself possibly can do, I get big roles in different things, I get chosen to speak quite a bit, and I get to speak at The Hub on Sunday (The Hub is the youth ministry of Relevant Church). Who am I to get all these opportunities. I am a child of God and my Father continues to bless me beyond all I deserve. I continue to be in awe of what he does for me.

That was an amazing week. I spoke at the Hub and thought it went well, after I spoke my little bit, we went to Living Hope Church in Coppell, Texas and I got to speak again. I didn't feel as great about the way I spoke on Wednesday, but I did get some positive feedback which always builds up the confidence. I thank God for everything He has been doing for me!