I apologize profusely. I thought I had posted that I had switched blogs. I’m now blogging at http://isaacsranting.blogspot.com/. I’ve been doing that for about a month now. I’m so sorry. I made up a post to tell you guys I was switching then I guess I never posted it.
Hypocrisy July 6, 2007
Many time throughout the bible Jesus condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites. Unfortunately not much has changed since those days. From talking with unbelievers I have found that those who are vehemently against Christianity consider Christians to be hypocrites and to a big extent we are. Here are two hypocrisies that non believers point out.
Hypocrisy #1
Teaching love but having none. Many Christians do not love unbelievers especially those who are living in sin. Now, I don’t mean they should accept unbelievers as they are, but they should love them and try to bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Hypocrisy #2 not witnessing.
Believe it or not I know unbelievers who are upset that more Christians don’t share their faith or that when they confront Christians with a question, the believer is unable to answer. C’mon people. If we have been saved we need to tell the whole world. If the unbeliever doesn’t see that we are exited about our faith, why should he be interested in it?
There are many moor hypocrisies I could mention, but these are the ones non-believers notice and I have also already posted about some other ones.
Now if you’ve read my blog long you know that I do a lot of ranting about what I think is wrong with the world or with people groups and I realize that is probably what this sounds like. However that is not what I want people to think about this post. I want the believer [including myself] to look at himself and see if his life is showing hypocrisy that might deter someone from coming to the Lord.
Photos from trip June 30, 2007
Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip. You can see more photos by going to my Flickr account.
I better not post any more or those of you still living in the ancient days of dial up won’t be able to visit my blog. So go check out my flickr account for more photos
Tidbits From Our Vacation June 28, 2007
Here’s basically what we did on our trip. It was a very fast passed trip and there was only one campground were we stayed for two nights, every other campground we only stayed in one night. I uploaded some pictures to flickr [click here].
Sunday
We got back from church, finished packing, and left around noon. We had a great drive over the mountains to eastern Washington stopping several times in the gorgeous cascades to stretch. We then made camp near Grand Coulee Dam then went to see the laser show at the dam.
Monday
We slowly meandered towards southwest Washington, but a good chunk of the day was spent swimming. We camped near Palouse Falls.
Tuesday
We broke camp early to get to Pullman for dads and my meeting with the head of the Architecture department and Washington State University [the college I plan on attending in two years]. After spending what seamed like forever getting lost at the WSU campus we finally had our meeting then headed off for Yellowstone. We camped near the park boundary.
Wednesday and Thursday
We spent both days hiking and seeing LOTS of wildlife. As a photographer I was in heaven.
Friday
We headed up towards northern Montana stopping at several dinosaur museums on the way [my brother LOVES dinosaurs]. We camped just south of Glacier International Park.
Saturday
If I loved the wildlife photos I got Wednesday and Thursday, I REALY REALY REALY loved all the great views in Glacier. We went on one big hike between two hills and a view of other mountain. The hike was steep but non of us noticed being out of breath, the views were to awesome.
Sunday
Big day of driving home. This was the day that I accidentally deleted all the photos from my camera. I was playing with it and I thought that format meant to edit one picture-apparently it means to delete every single last picture from the card. I was heartbroken. Thankfully once we got home we were able to download some good recovery software and save all of my photos.
True Religion June 17, 2007
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27a
Many people today have a wrong view of religion. A lot of these false views fall into one of two camps. Either they believe that religion is doing good deeds, or they believe that they can just call themselves religious and have no deeds. Both of these views are false. James 2:21-22 says …was not Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
After going to jail recently, Paris Hilton claims that she’s found “religion.” She says that when she gets out of jail she will be different; she will try to be a good person. Now I don’t know all the details behind this, but I’m willing to guess that all Paris found was a wake up call to change her ways. She claims to have changed on the outside, but to have true religion, a person must first be changed on the inside. Many people look at James 1:27 and see only the first part that talks about looking after orphans and widows. However the verse continues. It says that true religion keeps oneself from being polluted by the world. Since any good deed we would do outside of our life in Christ would come from selfish motives [pollution of this world], we need Christ to keep our motives pure and unpolluted.
There are many people today who don’t believe that there lives have to change when they become a Christian. I can think of many people who go to church on Sunday but if someone who they thought would mock Christianity asked them about their faith, they wouldn’t talk about Jesus. This is a dead faith. As it says in James, faith without works is useless. As Christians we are a new creation. We are no longer self seeking idiots aimlessly wondering through life not sure what in the world we were doing, but we are new creatures who are overjoyed by the grace we have been shown and are prepared by God to perform good works. Ephesians 2:10 says, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand.
Religion does not come by being good; neither does it come without cost. We must first realize our deadness because of sin, then we must accept Christ as our Savior, lastly Christ will give us the heart to serve. Not because he forces us, but because we are so overjoyed by the mercy he has shown. There are steps to obtaining true religion, and they don’t start with us.
Ten little known things about me June 13, 2007
1 I’m awful at public speaking, but if you listened to me talk at the teen mission thing at church you already know that
2 I can’t stand honey, which leads me to number 3
3 I DESPISE bees; they are totally good for nothing
4 I enjoy photography
5 I think that the most gorgeous of God’s creations is a gentle rolling, grassy hill way out in the country.
6 I’m fascinated with buildings, especially churches and buildings under construction.
7 I used to think that I could fly. I just had to get the staying in the air part down.
8 I don’t like firefox. [it’s a web browser] I used it some until IE7 came out but IE 7 is way better.
9 I like some 80’s&90’s sitcoms [growing pains, home improvement, ect.]
10 At this moment my room is cleaner than my sister’s.
I tag Kyle and Paul to write a “ten little known things about me” segment, but you don’t have to and this is, of course, open for anyone
The Personality Trap June 10, 2007
Most of us probably have someone in our lives who we think of as the “model Christian”. Maybe it’s one or several traits that make this person stand out. It’s easy to look at someone like this and say, “Wow, what a great person, but I could never be like that that.” We so often get sucked into thinking that someone’s personality is just the way God made them and if my personality isn’t one to do that trait then that’s not how God made me. It is at this time that we get sucked into the personality trap. The devil tries so often to make us think that our lives fit into a mold called our personality. This is not so. Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. We must not walk in our old earthly ways but as 1 Thessalonians 4:1 says, “Excel still more.” In interpreting this verse, there is no room to say “my personality isn’t one to forgive when someone cuts me off in traffic.” The bible makes it very clear that we are to always excel still more. Satan often tries to lie to us and make us believe that, “I’m not the compassionate type. I’m not one to keep his cool. I’m just don’t easily forgive. This is a lie. That is our sin nature not our personality. We must not get sucked into the personality trap, but excel still more. Looking at examples from the bible and from people around us is a practical way to see how to live our lives in a Godly fashion
I used to think that finding a hero was dumb. Heroes always have flaws, but that’s what makes them human. I think it’s important to find someone who you admire and come into contact with a lot and try to study his or her good character habits. There is much can be garnered from watching other people’s lives. Now remember that Christ is the perfect example; we should always study his example. However, sometimes it is helpful to see practical application of scriptural truths being worked out in people’s lives. The next time you see a person helping someone in need, remaining steadfast in the midst of struggles, or showing other scriptural qualities, don’t say, “That’s them, this is me”, take their example to heart and break free from the bonds of the personality trap.
Plus One – I Don’t Care Lyrics June 6, 2007
Could it be yesterday
I coulda swore the same thing happened just the other day
Put on the spot
Now what am I gonna say
If I tell them who You are will they think that I’m insane?
Do I really care?
Well yes and no, maybe so
Cause if they don’t think You’re real how will they ever know
So I won’t stop
Cause even if they laugh at me
It doesn’t change a thing about what I believe
(What I believe yeah)
*Chorus*
I don’t care what it takes
I don’t care who it shakes
I don’t care what they say
I’m gonna do it Your way
Even if I’m afraid
Don’t wanna make You look fake
I don’t care about anything
It’s not about me
You make me feel secure
You’ve given my your word and now I know I’m sure
I was so messed up
Like a wheel you turned around my fate
When I thought you were just something up in outer space
But that’s not the case
You’re more real to me
Than what they make you out to be on the TV
Can ya turn me up
‘Cause you know we’re getting serious
When we talk about the invisible it’s clear to us (so clear to us)
*Chorus*
I don’t care about the things that used to keep me far away from you
Left me so confused
I don’t care about the things that used to fill me up with so much doubt
I’ll turn it inside out
So if they start to wonder
and they start to stare
You know it don’t matter cause
I don’t care
Someone needs a grammar lesson May 31, 2007
Ever notice how so many road signs have bad grammar? I mean come on
`
Hello! It’s slowly
“Well Officer I thought that by speed limit you meant I had to go at LEAST 75. Your not really going to give me a ticket for going 90 are you?”
So if the pets are on a leash why are you warning me about them. I would hope the owner would be able to control a leashed animal.
`
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Now that was random.
A funny Hillary. Can this be? May 29, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LClOHUFUC5g&feature=dir
Dispite myself I found this quite amusing.
Random collisions with my brain 