Case for Christ (a documentary on the Gospels)

'Case for Christ' (http://www.hulu.com/case-for-christ) is a movie to check out from the skeptical/atheist to believer. The movie looks at the Gospels as a historical accounts to prove the existence of God.

Isaiah 53:5

So I mentioned Stryper (http://www.stryper.com/) early today (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/as-music-saved-my-soul-dance-of-life-pt.html) and I haven't been able to stop listening to their music. I also looked up what Isaiah 53:5 (part of their logo) means. It's been such a long time since I read this verse. These words practically summarize who Christ was and is -- the Christ, the savior of the world.

Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)
"But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed."

me, the sore loser

A while ago I nominated myself to be an officer at church, but others were considered. As much as wished I was considered and given the opportunity, I must admit that I don't have the experience yet serving God or the state of mind right now for such full-time commitment.

In the other hand, several of my friends and other people whom I barely know by name or face were nominated and elected. I congratulated my friends honestly although wishing it was me being applauded. Well my friends have lots of work ahead and I'm glad for them especially for that one friend whom I also nominated.

Anyway this feeling of defeat will go away in a couple of days. Maybe next year or in a couple of years, I'd have my chance to serve.

Yet I feel like a sore loser.

as music saved my soul (the dance of life), pt 2

As I mentioned before, music saved or was used to save me (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/as-music-saved-my-soul-dance-of-life.html). Music's always been an important part of my life. My favorite music genre is rock & roll (especially hard rock) covering a huge variety of sub-genres and styles (modes, instruments from guitars to polyphonic synthesizers, influences, tempo changes, etc). Although this music genre is still considered negative and even ungodly by many people (religious people especially), rock & roll has had religious overtones since its beginnings in the 1950's. This tradition has continued to be true for close to six decades.

Several artists recognize that they often fail to do what God wants us to do and they ask God for mercy in their music. Although these artists may not be like Stryper (http://www.stryper.com/) worshiping God on every song and giving out Bibles in every concert, they do ask for God's help and mercy while holding on to their bad-boy persona.

Right after rock & roll, I like country music, from which rockabilly and then rock & roll came to be. As with rock & roll, with little to no doubt, country music has been very religious since the American South is still Christian country.

Nonetheless these are two forms of having one's faith in one's art and/or feelings. At least on a personal level, I prefer being the sinner constantly asking for God's help and mercy.

Needless to say, most rock & roll and country music alike also deal with humanity, pains, joy, love, sex, heartbreak, drinking, drugs, plenty of sinful acts and many not so-godly topics. Nonetheless within the sin and depravity, many artists do have and have shown deep religious beliefs and/or have God in their lives.

What bothers me is that nowadays expressing one's faith is not politically/socially correct. What happened to the nation founded under deep Christian beliefs where a one can't openly mention God without hurting someone else? Is this really the end of this great Christian nation (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/end-of-this-great-christian-nation.html; http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/end-of-this-great-christian-nation-pt-2.html) where one could share one's religious beliefs in one's art -- especially music?

the Catechism vs the Bible

Having grown up in the Roman Catholic Church, I can now see the level of Christian and over all religious ignorance that I had and still have. We didn't study the Bible since we neither needed to or had any incentive to do so. Maybe this ignorance was key in being and forming the Catholic mind. At most, we studied the Catechism (http://www.usccb.org/catechism/; http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM). Yet we called ourselves "true" Christians with a certain degree of arrogance especially to Protestants.

Now going to a Protestant church, I've had the opportunity to read and study the Bible as well as questioning religious beliefs and practices -- some with deep Pagan roots. Does studying and questioning make Protestantism better? Well it does in order to really know who and what God really is and not be led blindly.

As all human organizations or anything touched by human hands, religions and the millions of interpretations of each are imperfect. Hence Christianity is broken and at times corrupted faith (several generations of accusations of sexual abuse primarily, yet not limited to the Catholic Church).

Since I'm on the topic of being subject to imperfection (not always good) and corruption (evil), I never understood as a Catholic the whole concept of saints and the need a Pope as the human representation of God on earth, as God's top priest. After all humans -- including the clergy and the Pope -- are imperfect and over all broken with all the good and evil in the world. Further more, history is plagued with corruption from the Roman Catholic Church including adultery, slavery, child abuse and assassination; http://www.reformation.org/holocaus.html.

Why am I beating on the Catholic Church? Well I still bear scars of this broken subculture and, yes, I do realize that I'm beating on a dead horse.

Am I closer to God having defected from the Catholic Church and adopted Protestantism? No, I'm not, but at least I feel more honest to myself about my beliefs in God.

Said all this, does it all make a smarter or at least a better person? I doesn't make me smarter since I'm sharing this with the world. It does make me a better Christian (person) having this broad understanding of the differences in Christianity and my curiosity to explore them all.

a quick thanks

On behalf of FAPC (http://www.fapc.org/), I'd like to thank all those who came last night for part one of the New York Concerns... New York Conversations (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-york-concerns-new-york.html) series. We had lots of fun and I hope you join us next Wednesday for part two.

the end of this great Christian nation, pt 2

I mentioned early this week that the US is a Christian nation (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/end-of-this-great-christian-nation.html. This nation was founded on Christian principles and the Constitution was based on the Book of Order http://www.pcusa.org/oga/publications/boo07-09.pdf.

Now it seems that Governor Sara Palin is in trouble for using such remark.

Palin Draws Heat over 'Christian Nation' Remarks

always good to laugh

It's always good to laugh at ourselves while blaming The Onion (http://www.theonion.com/).

as music saved my soul (the dance of life)

In those moments of deep depression and self-hatred, when I wanted to end it all, You were there with songs like 'Escape' from Metallica (Ride The Lighting, Megaforce Worldwide 1984, http://www.metallica.com/Media/Albums/albums.asp?album_id=2). Music saved my life as I realized that the bloody and selfish peer pressure to be like them was stupid and a mere sham. Music stopped my suicide and self-injurious life to escape my life and start anew like a diamond and rust*. Two decades later, I wonder if music saved my life or if it was a mere vehicle to stop me from ending my life. As music saved my soul, maybe God supplied the music for me to continue the Dance. Now I can dance the Dance of Life thanks to the music that saved my life and twisted soul.

the end of this great Christian nation

This seems to be the beginning of the end of this great Christian nation. This type of politics is corrupting society.

Obama cancels National Day of Prayer, declared Unconstitutional

New York Concerns... New York Conversations - just around the corner

As I mentioned (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-york-concerns-new-york.html) about a week ago, FAPC (http://www.fapc.org/) has made an open invitation to "lectures and panel discussions [that] will provide honest reflection and hopeful possibilities for a hungry [New York City]."

We're mere days away of part one of five-part event (04/21, 04/28, 05/05, 05/12 & 05/19 at 7pm). So the question now is who's coming.

By the way, the guy talking in the video is Reverend Paul Rock (real surname) who will be in charge of this event.

funny funny yet true

funny, how we see religion and the Bible itself? unfortunately very true in so many levels.

How Are We Making The Bible Come To Life?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/how-are-we-making-the-bible-come-to-life,17174/

science & God

The toughest part of being a Christian for me at least is coming from a scientific background. I question everything and everything simply comes back to physics. I try to explain both realities all the time looking for a way that one intertwines with the other and prove each other true. Did God create the universe? Yes, he did and this event was the so-called Big Bang. After all God had to start everything in a major way, practically in a spectacle for everyone to cheer (hooray for God).

lots of information on Christianity

lots of information on Christianity in Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Christianity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations

Cuba, 31 years later

After going through some old articles, I read an article how Cuba is becoming a Christian nation once again (http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2010/10280.htm). The Cuban constitution changed the description of the nation from atheist (hostile, government rejection to religion) to secular (neutral, government tolerance to the practice of religion) on 04/02/1990.

With this change, several Christian groups of various denominations have started or continued now without persecution to teach others about God as if this was a savage, Godless and/or pagan land. These missionaries are rebuilding the religious infrastructure of the country that was practically on hold for about three decades -- about two generations of Cubans brought up or at least coaxed via propaganda in the idea that man's supreme above all and/or there's no God -- since the Communist takeover in 1959. Although humans unlearn ideas and habits slowly and learn new ones even more slowly, Christian congregations seem to have been growing rapidly for the past two decades. It would take some more time for most of the population to find God once more.

This proves that humans need to believe in God -- not only to explain the unknown, but rather to cope with life itself. Perhaps the most important right anyone can have is practicing the religious and/or spiritual beliefs that he/she prefers.

New York Concerns... New York Conversations

an open invitation to "lectures and panel discussions [that] will provide honest reflection and hopeful possibilities for a hungry [New York City]"

New York Concerns... New York Conversations

faith in God to...

How do I keep finding faith in God to bear my problems and seek for a cure for my son? I have no idea, but I hold on to my faith as if my life depended on it. Well actually my son's life does.

one of my favorite books, Maus

If I'm writing about religion, maybe I should mention the bad aspects of religion too.

Let me start by expressing how deeply confused and repulsed I am by the evil during World War II that meant the demise of 1.1 million Jews at the concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz). Perhaps this is why my favorite book that talks about the horrors of Auschwitz is Maus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus) by Art Spiegelman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Spiegelman).

(picture from Wikipedia; all rights reserved by the owner and/or author, Art Spiegelman)