Why Calvinism Might Be True

 It's a fundamental revelation I've had.  People either give a shit about others and are righteous, or they are somewhat to very egocentric and think, to one degree or another, that the world revolves around themselves.

 The more I think about it, I think people - if they find out they aren't going to Heaven - they are very focused on "what they can do to go to Heaven."  What most people don't understand is, the people who are going to Heaven don't do shit so that they can go to Heaven - they do shit because THEY GIVE A SHIT ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE.

I don't know how you can teach someone to really care about other people.  Either you naturally are somewhat to very concerned about your fellow man, or you aren't.  It's hard to teach selflessness.  It's hard to teach "letting go of self" and putting your trust in the Lord - either you are all about protecting yourself and your future, or you've released your need to worry about the future and are focused largely to completely on just making the world a better place.  There's not as much middle ground as people think.  People either spend their time thinking about themselves, or when they are out and about, they are looking for opportunities to make the world a better place.  It's one or the other, and the second is hard to teach.  Can people easily go from one to another?  Some can for sure, but... those people often had a lot of trauma, and were going to eventually get that revelation anyway.

Yeah, I don't know.  I want to believe that people are somewhat in control of their own destiny, but at the moment I'm unsure.  Either someone has basically always been really righteous and thinking about "the other," or they are fairly evil in the beginning, have a massive epiphany, and become super righteous.  Everyone else is stuck being anywhere from somewhat evil, or not quite righteous enough for Heaven.  Food for thought. 

Potential for Righteousness, and Tragedy

 This is my greatest revelation ever.

 I just learned that how easy, or how hard your life is, is related to what God and Satan think your potential for righteousness is.  If you have the potential for great righteousness, expect intense testing and hardship.  If you are an evil person however, then YOU CAN BE ASSURED that the devil and his angels will leave you alone, knowing that "ease of life" will atrophy any chance of becoming anything of significance in the kingdom of heaven, and you will become a scoundrel.  The more potential for righteousness that exists, the more tragedy is likely to befall them, in Satan's hopes of derailing what could be a nightmare for him.  But if someone is prone to evil, they will be left alone, for their own destruction.

 Don't ever feel sorry for people that are evil, who've had cush lives - if they had had any significant potential for righteousness, they would have been tested.  But the people who have had great tragedy in their lives - it was only because great potential was seen in them, and God and Satan wanted to test it to "draw it out" or destroy it.  This is the unvarnished truth - Job was always going to go that way, because anyone who is righteous needs testing.  That is always the way, end of subject. 

Teaching Our Kids About Sex

 

There's a fundamental misunderstanding about sex in this country, and I want to talk about it.

 

We here in the US are VERY DETERMINED that our teen kids not have sex, and that people don't have sex before marriage. However, no one knows WHY. No one understands what the actual reasons are for "not having sex." It's based on the judeo-christian perspective that "sex before marriage is wrong," but... the logic of such convictions is lost on the general public. So I want to get into "the why."

 

THE WHY is that Biblical Christianity teaches that when you have sex, the two become "one flesh." It doesn't matter whether they are two married people, or two single people... no matter what, when two people have consensual intercourse, they become one flesh. This relationship must be eternally enjoyed, or eternally endured. That means sex before marriage leads to eternal consequences. What those are, are anyone's guess? But they exist. That's why, from a Christian perspective, we try to discourage immoral sexual behavior - because it creates a permanent relationship between the two people having sex.

 

This thinking has been lost in the details. Our culture doesn't understand our obsession with abstinence, and THE REAL PROBLEM is that "neither do we." NO ONE understands. So they think it's stupid. It's not stupid? But without an agreement that having sex creates an eternal relationship, we can't expect unbelievers to go along with our preoccupation with abstinence. It's unrealistic. I think it might be best for our culture to not assume that teens are going to follow our advice (at least in schools) and teach them how to have safe sex. And in our homes... the homes of Christian teens... teach them that sex creates an eternal relationship that is unpleasant outside of marriage, and is no good for you.

 

Bottom line - it's not our schools' jobs to teach this. It's up to Christians teaching this in homes. And we need to stop hamstringing our schools... nonchristian teens will not be able to get their minds around our reasons, because they don't believe that they are true. And we need to accept that reality.

Transgender and Homosexuality Issues

Foremost, transgender is not in the Bible.  The Bible says absolutely nothing about it.  And all the science says that men and women have ZERO control over it.  They are born a certain way, and it can't be changed.  Transgender people cannot help themselves.

I had a friend that was a woman, that used to be a man?  The reason we are not friends at the moment has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with them being this way.  But she was nice, and I liked her in general.  She did something pretty evil on my 45th birthday that I don't want to get into now?  But she was a decent person in general.  And I always saw her as a woman.  It was easy... she had the kind of money that made it possible for her to basically "completely transition to being a woman"?  If you met her, you'd never know she used to be a man.  Interestingly enough, she was also gay (she was into women)... as a Christian, I really had no idea what to tell her.  I hate gay sex, but what am I supposed to say? 

Homosexuality is a more complex topic.

I want to point out that A LOT of lesbians aren't really that.  Before you argue with me... how many lesbians have you met?  They have what can only be characterized as "pent-up fury" towards men.  I think a lot of them were sexually or maybe just physically abused by men, and so they decided that they didn't want to be romantically involved with men.  Just... not all gay women feel this way?  Lauren (my transgender friend)'s partner was cool.  But a lot of them... you can tell.  You can tell that they REALLY hate men.  Just know... I felt the "resting rage" of a gay woman before... that's DEFINITELY a thing.  A lot of lesbians could become straight if they just got therapy and forgave the men that abused them.  Maybe even most of them could.

Gay men are another matter.  That's A LOT more complex.  Gay men... they became gay through a complex interplay of genetics and environmental factors.  It's hard.  Some of it has to do with their father?  Find me a gay man, and he'll tell you that his father was lousy, without fail.  Honestly, that means that some decisions went into being gay?  But I'M SURE that getting out of being gay is very difficult.

I've hated gay sex for a long time.  As a man on Earth, I knew it from the Bible?  But it makes sense why I didn't like it before time.  For one thing, it is my understanding that Donald Trump raped me in the ass before time.  Explains a lot, doesn't it?  But I'm wondering right now if I'm right to hate gay sex as much as I do.  Yeah, I don't know.  I don't like it?  But I don't know exactly how much damage it actually does.

What I find interesting, is how evil MANY BUT NOT ALL gay people are.  Not all?  Certainly Lauren and her partner aren't.  And Ian McKellen is going to my paradise for sure.  But if you know any gay people or lesbians, many of them are assholes, more than the general population.  I don't know what the connection is?  It's weird.  But it is there.

Now we get to gay marriage.  That's a toughie.  I know that there are many straight couples are terrible?  And I know there are gay couples that do a fine job in general of raising their kids.  But heterosexual couples offer something that gay couples never can - motherly love and fatherly love.  Motherly love is more unconditional?  But fatherly love is what drives us to succeed and do great things.  I think children need both.  I don't really like children being adopted by gay couples?  But I agree that that is better than living in an orphanage... 

All of these are complex topics.  I reserve the right to grow and change.  But this is where I'm at now.

 

Fundamental Understanding of What Grace Is, and What It Truly Means

 I want to talk about "grace" in how it works.

 There's a tension in Christianity, between some idiots' thinking that "we need works," versus the moronic idea that if you mentally assent to Jesus' sacrifice that it doesn't matter whatsoever how you live your life.

 We are judged by how grace transforms us.  We must begin that transformational process by acknowledging our sin... we must begin our transformational process by accepting that our "good deeds" will NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS get us into Heaven.

 If your motivation to "be good" is to "score points with your maker," it won't work.  If you are trying to impress God, or worse, impress other people, that WILL BE your reward.  If you think of "good deeds" as deeds that are good, you fully and completely miss the point.  You help a person in need, because you love them... if you have no love in your heart, you've never grasped the nature of grace, and you will have no home in Heaven.

 Ultimately, "mental assent" isn't enough.  Praying a dumbass prayer isn't enough, unless you really mean it.  Getting right with God is a little bit like casting evil spells in Harry Potter:  "You have to MEAN IT, HARRY!"  If you don't really mean it, it is pointless.  And if you don't abide in God, you may get 'cut off'- you have to abide in Christ by constantly living in relationship with God.

 If the grace of God isn't actively shaping you, isn't actively transforming your heart from one depth of knowledge of God to another, I QUESTION YOUR SALVATION.  Mental assent is NOT ENOUGH.  Praying a prayer you didn't really mean IS NOT ENOUGH.  Living for God for a year, and then going your own way IS NOT ENOUGH.  You need to FULLY commit yourself to the process of transformation.  We'll be judged by how we allowed grace to transform us; we'll be judged by how we responded to God's empathy for us.  If we don't spend time in God's love, if we don't get to know the goodness and graciousness of God, we'll never understand grace; if we don't understand grace, we'll never be empathetic; without empathy no one can go to Heaven.  And that is that. 

Life On Earth is a Test

It's interesting.  There are people who wonder what the point of life on Earth is if the afterlife is eternal.  What is the point?

The POINT is that life on Earth is a test.  Some people get harder tests than others.  But how hard the test is, is probably the opposite of what you think.

The "easier" your life is, and the more money you have access to over the course of your life, the harder the test is.  The people who grew up in poverty and those whose lives were exceedingly difficult- THOSE PEOPLE had a relatively easy exam.  All they had to do, basically, was not become real assholes later in life.  Those who had access to lots of money and never were in real need, THOSE PEOPLE HAD A REALLY HARD TEST.  If you have an abundance all your life, how you treated people who were really poor is very relevant (amongst other sin issues).

I'm telling you now- be aware that if you are independently wealthy, that what qualifies as a "passing grade" will be quite different than someone who grew up in poverty.  God doesn't take hoarding sitting down.  God gives a shit about suffering in the world and what you choose to do with your wealth is important.

Everyone should take their exam seriously.  Judgment will be fair in the end.  No one will get away with being shitty.  Justice comes to everyone.  Be aware that God is paying attention to how you spend your money and whether you care for those in need.  God gives a shit about the poor, the homeless, the people with terminal illnesses... God gives a shit about those who were dealt a rotten hand.  Take care about how you manage your money and what you think about God's precepts.  They matter.  God doesn't take sex outside of marriage lying down either.  God gives a shit about how you spend your time.  Live wisely.

The Role Christianity is Supposed to Play in Building Character Into People

I just streamed an episode of The Daily Show where a retired Four-star General told John Stewart that he should help instigate a debate on character in terms of how it can lead our country to being a better place.

Fundamentally, this general did not give a really good reason for people out there to "give a shit" about being empathetic or compassionate.  Ultimately, without some kind of impetus, hardly anyone is going to care about having better character.

I know it is possible to have good character without being a Christian.  And fundamentally, much of what passes for Christianity is built around being "good people" who prayed a dumbass prayer and now think that Heaven is essentially owed to them, and that they get to decide whatever standard they want to follow, without regard to what God really wants from them.  Ultimately, that leads to a culture where people are really out for themselves, and "their religion" makes them good only in a certain kind of way that is ego-centric instead of other-centric and Christ-centric.  All of it is purely grace-abuse and "cheap grace" as Bonhoeffer said, either in terms of lowering the bar that Jesus set in the Sermon on the Mount, or by just disregarding Jesus' ethos altogether and doing whatever we want.

I want to say this though, about... about agnosticism and atheism.  It fundamentally lacks a reason to give a shit about other people in any significant way.

I had a friend... we'll call him Roger.  Now Roger was pretty honest in his dealings.  He was very kind to his friends and family.  I'm quite confident he didn't cheat on his taxes, I'm quite confident that he probably did give at least SOME money to charities, although that subject never came up, it wouldn't surprise me if he did.  HOWEVER, he was unwilling to take any real risk that had the possibility of blowing up in his face.  He... wouldn't pick up a hitchhiker (as an example) because there was always a risk that they would hurt him.  I don't think he gave to beggars, because he didn't know how the money would be used.  He was unwilling to take any real risk in his personal life where things could theoretically end badly for him.

Now, would some say he's a good person?  OKAY.  But without a God telling him to give a shit about his neighbor, without a God intent on judging him for not taking any real risks in terms of helping people, there is a solid ceiling for his righteousness.  And honestly, that ceiling basically exists for a good portion of the world's population.

As long as you aren't "saved by grace" and feel a debt to God to be repaid by caring for the people he cares about, you will have little reason to not think the world revolves around you.  Fundamentally, IN ITS BEST FORM, Christianity can and should cause people to look outward and give a shit about the needs of others.  That's what "being a Christian" is supposed to mean, something fundamentally different than just taking care of yourself or even just "doing a good deed so you can talk about it later."  Grace from God is supposed to lead to compassion for others, and when it doesn't, there is a fundamental misunderstanding on what the purpose of God's grace for you was actually for.  God's grace for people wasn't meant to be so humanity could exploit God to do whatever the fuck they want and have it as "hellfire insurance."  It was supposed to be for the purpose of teaching us to give a shit about all the needs that are around us, so that we help people we come across who are in need.  That is what being a Christian was supposed to be about.