World Of Heraldry

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

What is the name of the Judeo-Christian God?

Many will say Jehovah and that is a name we call him, among many others. He is the Creator, the One who Save, The Just One, Our Father, and many more. We use the word God to encompass all. It is a generic cover all to describe him who cant be described.  What do Muslims call God? Allah which means God. It is the same God of the Judeo-Christians faiths. But does the word “GOD” mean that god. To me it does. To an another it might mean something else.
Oki on RightNation.us posted the following:
“There is a lot of controversy about the word God in our nations Education, Political, Monetary and even Judicial processes. Some argue that the references to God are Christian references to Jesus and are trying to force or promote one religion over another. Yes and no. Our founders where largely Christian, true enough. But, if there intent was to try and promote the Christian religion over another wouldn't they have specifically said Jesus?  Wouldn't our money perhaps say in Jesus we are saved?
Problem is it doesn't.  There is also the problem of the word God itself.
It's generic. What does that mean? Simple. The word God is not specific to one religions beliefs or another. Every language has a word for God. IE if you ask a Japanese Christian, Jew, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhist, the word God they will all say Kami San. Does that mean if they look at a U.S. Dollar Bill they will all think of Jesus because the U.S. was founded by Christians? Pretty big leap of assumption don't ya' think? Or perhaps it means they will think of the God which they worship and see the money as encouraging placing your trust not in money but in a higher power. After all they were largely pretty religious people weren't they? And if you believe in nothing big deal, it is at best a subtle request which you don't have to honor. You are free to live your life as you choose, you are not forced to believe anything you don't want to. Some people will see offense in anything. Problem is the word God by itself is generic. It's what YOUR beliefs are that define what it means, TO YOU!” Oki
I agree. Our founding fathers while overwhelmingly Christian did not want a state sponsored religion or the persecution of faiths by any group or power. I do not believe that they intended or even conceived any other forms of religion other then the various sects and denominations of Christianity that were prevalent at the time, but that is irrelevant. Our countries motto; “In God we trust” no more endorses Christianity then does telling someone “Bless you” after they sneeze.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Living in Sin and proclaiming Christ.

Recently Michelle Bachman and her husband have come under fire for operating a counseling service that, among many other things, counsels men and women who no longer desire to live in the “gay lifestyle”. Whether you think homosexuality is a choice or not is irrelevant to this case since the clinic does not force this counseling on anyone, and all who participated were willing volunteers. I will not debate if you can “pray away the gay” as some have called it. I also will not condemn homosexuality here as a mortal sin.
Today on ‘Theblaze.com’ there was a survey that asked can you be gay and a Christian. The over whelming response was “no”, with some” yes” and a small percentage of “I don’t know”. Several of the comments to the survey brought up how hypocritical Christians condemn homosexuals who claim to be Christians while turning a blind eye to other blatant open sins in the Christian community such as pornography and premarital sex.
They are right. Far too often we classify sin and rank it by order of not so bad to really really bad. That is a lie we tell ourselves to continue doing what we are doing or to make ourselves feel a little better about our own sin. We are all sinners. I am a sinner. I struggle with many things, but the point is I struggle with them. I repent of my sins as often as I can. When a brother or a sister points out sin in my life that I don’t see, I repent. When I sin and know it, I repent. I try to avoid my temptations and I struggle to eliminate sin in my life. Of course I am a complete failure, but I try. Though the Grace of God I am forgiven. Not because I don’t sin, l do, but because of his Grace. I sin, I repent and God forgives.
The Bible says that if I am guilty of breaking one of God’s laws I am guilty of all. In the same manner, if I deny any portion of the Bible I deny the whole. It is not my job here on Earth to condemn anyone. We are all condemned by our actions. Even Jesus said he did not come to condemn the world it is condemned already. I am to call sin a sin wherever I see it. That is not condemning the individual sinner it is only noting that a sin is a sin.  Sin is; “Any want of conformity to or transgression of the God’s law.”
I do not believe that you can openly and actively live in such a manner as to willfully and continually sin and deny that your actions are a sin while proclaiming to the world that you are a Christian.
It does not matter what the sin is. It is said that predisposition to alcoholism is a genetic trait. My father is an alcoholic and I have struggled with my drinking. I choose not to be an alcoholic. I avoid the temptation that comes to me and avoid the situations that could lead to my over consumption. I could not be an open and unrepentant alcoholic and still proclaim Christianity. I could not be an actor in the adult film industry and proclaim Christianity. I could not co-habitat with someone as man and wife and claim Christianity.  It does not matter what the sin is. If it is open and unrepentant and you refuse to accept the fact that it is a sin, you are not a follower of Christ. If you deny the Bible you are not a Christian. To deny any portion of scripture is to dent the whole. To deny the Bible is to deny the Christ and to deny God’s sovereignty over you life.