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June 28, 2013

2

Random Thoughts – July Edition

I’ve been so busy with work and dealing with the crash of our finances, that I’ve not had much time to come up for air. I read the SCOTUS decision on DOMA, it took me a couple of minutes to dig through it…

I just knew there was a wave of anger coming from believers the minute I read the decision,  the blaming and shaming would begin and the real discussion about what SCOTUS said would get lost.

Tim Kimberly weighed in on the topic with a good reasonable opinion, and then generated some heat from the comments section. You can read it here:

<a href=”http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2013/06/the-supreme-court-vs-sola-scriptura/” title=”Supreme Court Versus Sola Scriptura” target=”_blank”></a>

Sure enough, the next morning my iPad reader was full of commentaries from the Christian Community, they ran all the way from quoting the old testament lamentations, throwing ash on ourselves and wearing sack cloth (which could be a new fashion trend), to blaming the whole thing on our apathy.

My take is pretty simple, I think Tim’s right and we are now, and have been for quite a while, a secular society. Despite the culture wars, and battle mentality of some in the Church, this country was founded on the belief that faith, and personal belief should not be  legislated but protected. And yet I find so many in the Church who want to change that, they aren’t happy that others don’t share their delicate beliefs, and want our government to fix the situation.

I’m also tired of hearing the nonsense about our founding fathers all being Christian, any first year student of history will tell you that it’s not that simple, and disingenuous to suggest such a thing. That doesn’t mean they didn’t believe in religious freedom, they did. But their personal beliefs are all over the board, sorry revisionists but that’s the truth.

The Supreme Court, whether you agree with them or not, made the right decision, we cannot, or should not legislate morality at the federal level. And we certainly should not single out one belief system or another and hold it in higher regard than others at a federal level, the fed’s job is not to play that role, and the minute we change that we have lost what the founding fathers attempted to do.

We are not redefining ‘Holy Matrimony’ as defined by the church, but simply allowing marriage at a state level to be defined there. Obama stated that there is no desire to force Churches to accept the new definitions, and while I don’t always trust him, I believe him in this case. There’s no benefit in doing so, in this country the Church gets to believe what it wants, regardless of how one feels about that. If we have that type of religious freedom then, it needs to flow the other way. You may not agree with same sex marriages, that is your right, but you also don’t get to legislate them out, unless we as a society deem they are destructive as a whole.

Do I care if same sex couples get married?, not really, I don’t think it’s the end of society, at least I haven’t started building my bunker yet. There are much more pressing issues to focus on, Abortion is the killing of our own kind, and I think one could easily make the case that it sets a precedent that hurts our society as a whole. Same sex marriage, outside the church?, not so much.

I was also amused to read Kirk Cameron’s take on the issue, it was the old shame game, it’s all our fault, because we didn’t do enough, or witness enough, on and on and on the blame goes. I left that world a long time ago, and it feels good to be looking at it from the outside.

Apple and the Post Jobs Era…

I’m an admitted Apple Fan boy, have been for a long long time. I was very pleased with the new changes to iOS that Apple is making, and have decided to get back into programming on the side. I do some much administrative work in my day to day job, that I don’t get to code as much as I used too, and I miss it. Plus I find the OS X and iOS platforms fascinating.

I think Apple is doing fine without Steve at the helm any longer, and the latest changes show they are still innovating, and pushing the envelope in design. I wasn’t blown away by the new Mac Pro, but I’m intrigued. It looks like Darth Vader’s life support system from the outside, but it is impressive on paper, and will probably be outrageously expensive…

Converting to Orthodoxy

We got a chance to sit with Fr. Fenn this week and discuss our current personal situation, it was uplifting to hear his struggles which mirror mine in so many ways. And he didn’t give me sophistry, he gave us some good solid advice and shared Christs love with us, it was a shelter in the middle of the storm, and much appreciated.

He told me to not hold back in sharing my frustration with God, but I’m actually not mad at God this time, I’m mad at myself. So my prayer has been to ask for mercy, it’s all I can think to do.

The other topic that came up was our entrance into the Church, he is off for the next week to a conference and is going to talk to the Bishop about finally pulling the trigger on bringing us officially into the Church. It’s been just about two years, we have been slowly bringing the Orthodox Ascetics into our daily lives. And the one thing that I shared with him was that I have not been able to do reconciliation in over two years, and that weighs on my soul. So hopefully the Bishop will approve our entrance into the Church and we can finally be whole again.

Please Forgive me a sinner…

-Paul-

Read more from Conversion, Faith, Life
2 Comments Post a comment
  1. Jun 28 2013

    Paul,

    Lots to digest here, and most I agree with. But Obama’s promise is empty: his administration and ones following will come after churches and punish them and their people for not doing same-sex ceremonies. It may not be “Obama” himself–he never actually does anything odious–it will be his administration, his judges, his legislators, etc. And know that they *will* legislate morality and a belief system (a secular one) and will punish those who disagree.

    Reply
  2. Paul Davis
    Jun 28 2013

    I don’t disagree with your point, but it’s a long road to punishing a church for not supporting gay marriage, a longer stretch to my mind than the contraceptive mandate they have forced on us. I’m glad to see businesses like Hobby Lobby fighting back, because I think his position is nonsense on the issue.

    Unfortunately we may have to swing to the left a ways before we self correct, and swing back, if we ever do. I keep wondering when enough meddling will be enough for the population, it will be interesting to see when that limit is hit. I don’t think people voted for him because they liked him more this time around, I think it was the pain they already knew, and Romney seemed to self destruct at the very end.

    I didn’t vote for the man, either time, and I personally think he’s just an empty suit, who is living in a fantasy world, surrounded by idealists.

    But…

    I don’t think he’s evil incarnate and I refuse to play the same games that the left played by likening bush to Hitler. To some degree we have always legislated morality, it’s the human condition, heck I catch myself doing it. But that does not mean it’s right, and we still have the right to speak out against it.

    What I don’t think we have the right to do, is to hate others because they disagree with our beliefs, especially if we call ourselves Christians.

    -Paul-

    Reply

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