Opener

If i do not know you, who are reading this, i have a few statements i would like you to consider -

1. I make a solid distinction between disliking a person's belief and the person specifically. I do not intend to attack any person, although i will critique their worldview and i will certainly critique their actions. Example: I am in horrible disagreement with Richard Dawkins, but it is of a necessity that i believe God, that Dawkins is made in the image of God, and though he is fallen as i am, God loves his soul and desires fellowship with him.

2. In critiquing any action, one must first consider their own infirmities and their own shortcomings. No man is righteous of his own power. A Christian's righteousness is only derived from their faith in Jesus; the horrible torture and death our savior endured for us is the only reason we can claim "righteousness." As Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, so a Christian's trust in God brings his righteousness into our lives. This is not always pleasant.

3. There are certain assumptions and non-negotiables in my thinking, as with anyone. I will plainly list them to you -
a) God is a triune being, 3 persons in one entity, and within the relationship of the Godhead, God needs no one else, and is entirely self-sufficient; he does not derive a reason for existence outside of himself.
b) Jesus is the Messiah predicted in scripture, he is the son of God, and he is both fully deity and fully man (hence the titles son of Man and son of God used in the gospels). All cults of Christianity have attempted to fiddle with Jesus' status in the Godhead.
c) As such, Jesus is the Word, or Logos, and is the pattern son for the Church. In him all things consist and have their being.
d) God is rational; human beings are not always rational. Human beings do not always perceive reason correctly. God has an absolute standard, and his actions and words are always in agreement. Man's actions and words are not always in agreement.
e) Truth has certain non-negotiables. By definition, if one thing is true, another is false. Only fluid truths are subject to change. Solid truths, or "Truth" with a capital T does not, because it is based inextricably in the character and words of God. Truth is non-contradictory. (I will elaborate somewhere in the course of this journal.)
f) Love is the highest ethic. It is also the most restricting, most difficult, and most unpleasant. But it is also ultimately the most rewarding.

I may in this post somewhere offend you or someone else. I do not apologize for offending people merely because i have offended them - but i will apologize if i have offended someone wrongly. Offense can be a sign of one of two things - either what i have said has been said in order to take a jab at someone else for a particular purpose, or what i have said is a concept or belief or part of a worldview which you find repugnant.

I apologize if in the course of this blog i say things that are not out of the deepest respect and love for those whom God has put his image within; i apologize if i do offend in merely behaving myself unseemly and vaunting myself forward, potentially in a motivation of pride. I do not apologize if I offend in merely speaking plain truth.

God is good, but human beings can be bad.