New exciting 3rd Party candidate!!!!!

Click here to find out who!!! http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370743&altf=Mvlf&altl=Tbwbhf

Well....ok....maybe I should stick with Obama

Raise My Politics From The Dead, Jesus

I enjoyed talking with some of my old pentecostal and charismatic friends today, it's nice to get a different perspective on life than what I have been exposed to lately. However, like most of the church, I think the focus is off. The question being dealt with was "why doesn't God do more healings and raise people from the dead like in the bible?" There may be several theological, philosophical, or even practical answers to such a question. I, however, would like to add to the discussion by posing another question: Why would we expect God to do any healing sick or raising dead when we, as the church of the USA, won't even give a cup of cold water to someone who needs it? My charismatic friends want to point to a lack of faith, when in reality it could easily be a lack of love.

In a political discussion last week, I was told that the least important issue for Christians should be poverty. Yes, I said least. Of course, the charismatic individual who told me this was very concerned about homosexuals being allowed the same civil rights that all humans get under our constitution. I'm not talking about marriage, I'm talking about the simple right of being allowed to visit someone you love in the hospital. This person saw this as a central political ideal that all Christians should be concerned about, but called me "silly" for being concerned about poverty. This person also had great concern for abortion, which is a conviction I also share. He wants it to be illegal. I'm pretty sure it never will be. While many Christians disagree on the legal questions surrounding abortion, together we can and must pursue practical steps that actually reduce abortion rates. Three-fourths of women who have an abortion say a primary reason is that they cannot afford to raise a child, so reducing poverty and supporting low-income women is a good place for our candidates to start. Recent research affirms that social and economic support for women and vulnerable families are effective solutions to lowering the abortion rate, including greater access to health care, poverty reduction, adoption reform, and pre- and postnatal care.

The problem is, right-wing Christians have tended to think that abortion is the only "life" issue on the agenda. Recently, however, there has been a growing conviction among Christians that poverty, disease, war, the health-care crisis, human trafficking, the death penalty, nuclear weapons, and the worldwide deaths of 30,000 children every day from preventable causes are also key "life" issues. Neither political party have a monopoly on these issues. These are the issues we should be debating and trying to understand. These are the issues that are EASY to find coming out of Jesus' mouth in your new testament. If you want to live like Jesus, you must LOVE. Supporting "life" from conception to the grave is a very basic principal of such living. Instead of looking for a miracle show from God, perhaps we should put on a show for God....one of love for neighbor that makes Him applaud and say "well done, good and faithful servant" Shalom

Labyrinth Research

I decided to study the usage of the labyrinth in various religions about a month ago, when a friend of mine informed me that the ancient wiccan usage and symbolism differed from what I had began to become accustomed to. Usually it wouldn't even concern me. After all, that is typically what Christianity does. We steal holidays and rituals, make some small changes, and then call them our own. I find it to be non-plagiaristic and certainly not evil. It is simply acknowledging something good in a belief system that perhaps you don't buy into, and finding a way to incorporate that good into your worldview. The reason, however, this particular difference bothered me was because it appears to take something away that could be valuable. According to my friend, the labyrinth is not supposed to have a simple path that you walk until you reach the center. It is supposed to (according to him) have dead-ends that cause you to double back. This, to him, represents the complexities of life.

When he said it, I understood the value and wanted to research. What I found was actually astonishing - Christianity didn't change a thing for once! The original labyrinths were apparently greek-made structures, cropping up from various myths, some involving minotaurs living in the center. Some were difficult like mazes and others were simple and impossible to sway from. The labyrinths intended for peaceful and meditative spiritual use, however, were always simple.

Now here's where it gets interesting. There is another type of labyrinth for spiritual use that can not be called peaceful or meditative, and there are actually some emerging Christian communities that have spent more money than I am comfortable with, trying to duplicate it. This model is, perhaps, what my friend was referring to. It is a three-dimensional structure, which introduces the element of the unknown because it's walls block a persons awareness of the totality. It also has a few dead ends, though not many. Therefore, it is more effective in producing the endocrine secretions associated with fear, anticipation, and excitement into the blood stream. Altered states of consciousness are greatly heightened by the introduction of such chemicals. These labyrinths (again, neither meditative nor peaceful) tend to have net-like patterns and spirals. Studies employing hallucinogenic chemicals indicate that spirals and net-like patterns are universal human responses to altered states of consciousness. During the hallucinatory phase, such patterns eventually give way to surrealistic visions of people, places, and things. In this respect, the spirals and net designs are intended to act as doorways or gates to a separate reality. Something, perhaps, outside of our mundane awareness. This labyrinth design stimulates right-brain awareness and function, invoking the intuitive levels of consciousness.

While I find all of this incredibly interesting, I can see why most of the Christians attempting to find good use of the labyrinth idea have adopted the more meditative usage. The labyrinth in Davisburg has become a regular visit for me every Sunday after attending a church service. It is an effective way to clear your mind, heighten your awareness of creation/nature, and open yourself to God. Interested, but don't know what to do? They actually have instructions posted, which you can decide how far to sway from. Just remember, the only way to find is to seek, and every day that you seek takes you one step closer to God even when He looks and feels very far away. Shalom