Zombies

This is a sonnet I had to write for my literary analysis class. I had so much much fun writing it, I decided I would share it with the word.  Let me know what you think!

 

Zombies

Death follows me whenever I go out

People all around me dead, yet alive

Organs dry as leaves as though in a drought

Brains desiring to work, but totally deprived

 

The virus, quick like a wildfire had spread

People once living below tombstones

Proclaiming “You look for me with the dead?

I live! Death cannot hold this bag of bones!”

 

There is, however, something different

They are changed, though one could say for the best

Conscious of ev’rything, not ignorant 

Whether mocked or beaten they seem at rest

 

Eradicated of their life within

A pilgrim declaring “You are forgiven.”

iShine Bible

I have to be honest, I was not impressed with this Bible.  This Bible was geared for an age group that could not use its potential.  For example, the only marketable quality, other than the NLT translation, is that it has topics that can be looked up online.  The way one does this is by scanning a QR code on the pages.  The problem with this is that it is considered a children’s Bible.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many children who have a cell phone, let alone a smart phone.  Even in having a smart phone, how many kids are going to know how to use a QR Scanner?  So, to be honest, I’m not sure why this was the best choice for a Bible to market towards kids.

 

I did receive this Bible for free for the soul purpose of reviewing.

Singleness is Not… (Part 3)

…Making You Any Less of a Man or Woman

That definitely was a mouth full, but I needed it to fit with the “Intentional Singleness is not…” part. Pursuing intentional singleness does not make you less of a man or woman. When I tell people that I am single and content in my singleness, they look at me as though I have lost my mind. They then proceed to tell me that they will find me a great wife who will take care of me. Many in the church culture don’t understand that God is still good even though I am not married. I am grateful for their attitude because they want me to find the joy and the peace that they have because of their marriage. In their minds they connect marriage with joy and happiness because they cannot imagine their lives without their spouse.

With this in mind I know how difficult it is when they look at you as though you have five heads and the thought runs through their minds, “Is he incapable of finding a wife or is he gay?” Just remember, your sexual orientation is not based on the opinion of others or even on yourself. It is based on scripture. Our experiences don’t mandate truth and that is something some married people have forgotten. So the assumption of others that marriage is for everyone is not based on scripture. It is based on their experience of marriage and the married life and they want you to be as happy as they have been throughout the years of their marriage. Some of you reading this will never be married. Does this make you any less of a human being? By no means! In fact, it shows that your trust is in the Father’s provision of your future rather than your personal provision of your future.

Truth comes from one place, the Bible. Married people assume that those who are single are in this middle ground between getting done with college and getting married, but the one who is intentionally single is not in some middle ground between these two big areas. But their assumption is based off of their experience. In some ways, they have forgotten that God is even in control of our relationships. Like I said earlier, if God had wanted you to be married by now, you would have met the man or woman of your dreams and you would have walked the aisle, said your “I do’s” and would be living happily ever after. Yet, this is not the case and it is something our church has forgotten.

Because the church has forgotten this, it has caused it to bleed into our culture so that every boy in church knows it’s his responsibility to grow up and be a man who is a husband and father. It also means that every girl is responsible to grow up into a wife and mother. While these fields are wonderful and will be for most women in the church, many in the church feel as though this is the case for every boy and girl. This is a huge mistake. Inevitably, what this does is causes our understanding of “man and woman” to be made into “husband and wife” or “father and mother.”

Rather a man is a man regardless of whether or not he is a husband and a father and a woman is a woman whether or not she is a wife or a mother. “Of course they are” you will reply, but do we treat them as such? In my opinion, we do not. We treat men as boys until they get married or are at least pursuing a woman and we treat women as girls until they are married or are at least interested in boys.

I may be overstepping my boundaries with this paragraph, but, in my opinion, this is a reason why sexual sins are rampant in our culture. For years our children have been taught that their role in life is to get married and make babies (in that order). No, it’s not been a conscious teaching, but a subconscious one. Here’s what I mean: when children are younger and with their parents, the parents are always asking young men and women “When are you getting married?” or “Are you dating/pursuing anyone?” If it’s a young married couple, they are asked, “When are you going to put a little on in our nursery?” These questions are the same questions that we have been asking people for years. They are harmless enough questions, but it is engrained in our nature to get married and make babies.

Naturally, as this child gets older, after hearing these questions multiple times through its life, this child comes to the conclusion this is what is meant for him/her. Fast forward a few years and this child is now a single adult. Not only an adult, but also one who can barely get a date, let alone think of settling down. For years, he/she has thought that it is part of their role to get married and make babies, but now no one is helping in that area. There must be something wrong with me is reasoned in the mind and thus begins the process of sexual addiction.

Now I know I am over analyzing this, but if early on we begin teaching our sons and daughters that marriage doesn’t fix their problems, but that it is only Christ, this may help. It may also help to intentionally teach our sons that they are men without being a husband and father. By doing this, we are basing their masculinity on what God has placed in them, rather than what they have learned from culture.

Daily Bible Reading

I think I must have had, at least, a dozen high school and college students (some of whom I had not met previously) ask me in the past week how I read the Bible. Before I explain my philosophy, I first must say that there are as many ways to study the Bible as there are Christians. There is not one way to study the Bible and that if you don’t study that way, you’re doing it wrong. Instead, there are better ways to study and this is the best way that I study the Bible.

The best way to study your Bible is when you’re at your best. I can imagine everyone at this point is lost, so let me explain: if you’re a morning person, read your Bible in the morning. If your a night owl, read your Bible at night. If you’re neither, read it in the afternoon. But don’t just throw God a bone telling Him that you’re reading the Bible when you’re reading it to check it off a list.

Another thing is that we are in that stage where we want to study the Bible, we are tempted to say a prayer like, “God give me the desire to read your word.” This is an outstanding prayer because God is the only one who can put it in our hearts to actually desire His word, but this prayer is also a selfish prayer because what you’re really asking God is to give you the satisfaction of spending time in His word without actually spending time in His word.

I view this prayer like I view those who say that they really want to like chocolate cake without ever trying chocolate cake. They see a piece of chocolate cake and say “I really wish I liked chocolate cake. God give me the desire to like chocolate cake.” Asking in prayer to like to desire God’s word is much like asking God to like chocolate cake. The best way to like chocolate cake is to actually eat it. Eventually you will acquire a taste and will love chocolate cake. The best way to desire God’s word is to actually read it. The more you read it, the more you will love it. This, I think, is why the Psalmist said “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

So please, taste and see that the Lord is good. Figure out when you are at your best and just read. Choose a book in the Bible and just read it. Make observations. Interrogate the text. And apply it. Godly application leads to godly living and you can only make right application if you actually open God’s word and read it.

Singleness is Not… (Part 2)

…An Excuse

What I mean about this not being an excuse is that there are many who are going to pick up this book, so that they can make an excuse on why they shouldn’t get married. These are those who still live at home and have no intentions on ever moving out because they want an easy life. This book is not for you. If your assumption is that this book will help you make an excuse, you have made a grave mistake. I hope though that you don’t put it down. Not because I want the book sale, but because I hope this book will help you understand marriage and singleness differently.

Even though I am writing about singleness, my outlook on marriage is not lessened. In fact, my outlook on marriage is optimized because in studying and learning about singleness I see that marriage is beautiful and for the general public. Living a life of singleness demands as much as a marriage relationship. This may sound odd, but consider this; Paul would say that it is good to remain single because if a person remains single that person is not anxious about the things of this world. But the single person is not free from anxieties. The single person is anxious about the things in the next world, namely the next life.

So to be intentionally single is not making an excuse because you don’t want to get married or because you don’t want to make a commitment to another person. To be intentionally single is not not making a commitment to another person; instead it’s making a commitment to God and His kingdom. This commitment is that you will drop whatever you are doing for the sake of the kingdom when God asks, with no questions asked.

The only time in scripture Paul says it is best for a person to stay single if that person is in the pursuant of full time ministry. This does not mean that every person who is single is going to be a pastor or ministry leader, but that people who are single should use the time given them for things other than themselves. This means teaching the children or leading a Bible Study or any number of things. This is why being intentionally single should not be an excuse. If this is your excuse, you should think twice or begin volunteering in your church.

Singleness is Not… (Part 1)

Last Thursday my Precept class had a great discussion on what it meant to pursue a life of singleness.  And considering it is Valentines Day, I’m going to begin a series on what it means to pursue singleness.  This isn’t just for my single friends though, if you’re married, feel free to read it.

…Not Getting Married

Now upon reading that title you may be tempted to think that I reused a word that was unnecessary. As though it was my intention to say, “Intentional Singleness is not getting married” to which your reply would be “Duh!” But no, this is not what I meant. To be intentionally single means that in this moment of your life, you will be the single person God has made you to be, which means that you may be getting married in the future, but marriage is not what you are planning for.

This may sound odd at first, but let me explain. Had God wanted you to be married, He would have put that special someone in your life and you would be married. Whether you are 14 or 104 if God wanted you to be married, He would have you married, right now, with no questions asked. But I would guess that most reading this post is not; which is to say that most of you are single. Some of you are struggling with your singleness as though God made some mistake. Sometimes I feel as though I am that can that has slipped out of the bag and rolled under the refrigerator. Lost and forgotten. Let me be the first to say, this is not the case and I will explain this later. But for now, let me just remind you: living a life of intentional singleness is not you saying that you will never be married. It is you resting in God’s plan for your singleness right now until He changes the status quo.

Now that you understand that, let me also say that this does not mean planning for your wedding. No, I did not say, “Intentional singleness is not not planning for your wedding” as though you should be planning for your future spouse and wedding and a live happily ever after. This is not the case with one who is living to be intentionally single. Instead, one who is living intentionally single does not plan for a marriage. Though a marriage may come, it is not planned for. I have found that when I being to plan for a marriage, when I read a book about what it means to be a great husband, or when I think about how life would be so much better if I had a significant other, is when I am tempted to sin the most.

Even though you should not be planning your wedding, you should be growing in your knowledge of married things. “Wait” you reply, “why shouldn’t I plan for a wedding if I am learning anyway what it means to be married? Should I keep knowledge to myself?” Not at all! Knowledge is meant for sharing. It is shared not for the sake of sharing and looking great, but that it would grow people in the kingdom. I am positive that everyone reading this not only knows, but converses with married people on a regular basis. Since this is the case, there might be something that God uses in you to teach a married person about their relationship with their spouse. I can’t think of how many times I have met with a married man for lunch and God has used something I am reading in order to help him understand how to relate to his wife differently.

This balance is not easy. And it is when this is off balance that my view of God is changed and that I begin not trusting God with my future. For instance, if I begin to plan for marriage, and I am not dating anyone and don’t have any plans to date anyone any time too soon, these plans for marriage that I am making are meaningless and only cause me to want to get married rather than the be content in my singleness.

Another example is this, if I am not learning about marriage and teaching others about what marriage is like, I am staying in the same place and if God would have me married, I would not be ready because I hadn’t been learning. Therefore, I would be a poor husband to my wife because I would not know what God would expect from me as a husband and I would be a poor father because I would not know what God would expect of me as a father.

To recap, living a life of intentional singleness does not mean that you are not not getting married, but that you shouldn’t plan for marriage, instead you should grow in your knowledge and understanding of marriage.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Last semester I had the honor of taking Russian Literature. We read some of the greatest authors of Russian Literature. Among them was Fyodor Dostoevsky. The book we read from him was Notes From the Underground and our final exam was a chapter from The Brothers Karamazov entitled “The Grand Inquisitor.” Dostoevsky is an incredibly brilliant author. This biography was definitely helpful in eating a quick synopsis of Dostoevsky’s life without drowning the reader is nonessential facts. What I mean is, unless one is doing an in depth research paper on Dostoevsky, a lot of the facts that are read in the his major biography will get lost and be forgotten. This book was super helpful because it used a fictitious storyline to tell Dostoevsky’s life. It’s obvious what is and isn’t fiction, so it can definitely be used if doing research. I definitely enjoyed this book.

“Heaven is for Real” by Todd Burpo

For those of you who don’t know, I am a book seller in Chattanooga.  I work at a Christian bookstore and absolutely love my job.  An aspect of my job that I love is being able to have access to books and reading books for more than the sake of obtaining knowledge.  When I read, I know that what I feel about a book will be conveyed to anyone coming through the doors of my store asking my opinion about the books that I have read.  It is for this reason that I am posting this specific book review.  Heaven is for Real is a book about a 3 1/2-year-old boy who claims he went to Heaven and saw Jesus.  I am going to be perfectly honest and say outright that I do not believe that he went to Heaven.  I know this is going to shock many of you who have read the book and if you lose respect for me and my opinion because of this post, I am deeply sorry that you don’t agree with me.  I do love the fact that he, Colt, has a deep respect for Jesus, but his claim are historically and biblically inaccurate. The three main problems I had with this book are “Jesus’s Markers,” “Everyone has Halos” and “The Pearly Gates.”

Markers

Colt begins by making the claim that Jesus has “markers.”

“You mean like the ones you color with Colt?”

“Ya, Dad.”

“Well Colt, where are these markers?”

Colt then places both hands, palms up and points to the palm of his right hand and then his left.

“Why would you have something against this Stephen?  Jesus had piercings in his hands from the nails.”   Yes, this is exactly what John 20 shows when Thomas says he won’t believe until he places his finger into the mark of the nails.  The problem is not with the nail prints, the problem is with the location of the nail prints.  Historically the hand was known to be up to midway up the arm.  Thus, Jesus would not have been pierced in his palms, but instead, he would have been pierced in his wrist.  This is biblical and historical for two reasons.  First, had Jesus been pierced in his palm he would have slipped off of the nails because his palms could not support his weight.  Second, the bones in Jesus’s hands would have been broken and this would have gone against the fulfillment of the scriptures.

Halos

Ya, dad.  Everyone in heaven has lights around their head.”

These lights are supposed to be halos.  These halos are the kinds depicted in Touched by an Angel when Roma Downey quotes her most famous lines “I am an angel, sent by God.”  This doesn’t make sense to me for a couple of reasons.  First, is that did not come into Christian art until the 3rd or 4th century and is started with Christ and eventually made it to all the saints.  Second, if God’s glory is the source of all light, and halos can be seen, wouldn’t this mean that the glory of the halos would outshine the glory of God?  I know that this could be a non sequitur argument, but the argument can still be made.  I don’t know how bright the glory of God is, but if it shines so brightly that there is no shadow, how could one see a halo?

Pearls

“Ya Dad. The gates were gold and they had pearls on them.”

This could be a misquote on behalf of the father, but because it was in the book, I have to take it as what Colt actually told his dad.  The problem with this statement is that it goes against Revelation 21:21.  ”And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl”  [emphasis mine].  This verse shows that the gates did not have pearls (plural) but a pearl (singular).  This is in opposition to what the Bible clearly says about Heaven.  So why would God show Colt multiple pearls on a gate, but show John that the gates had one pearl?  The answer is obvious, he didn’t.

Conclusion

Now to be honest, I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Heave is for Real, but we shouldn’t rest on the “experience” of a kid.  Instead, we should open our Bibles and read for ourselves what the Word of God says.  God’s word is the final authority and so to save time and heartache, it might just be best to pick up a book that speaks on what the Bible says about Heaven and not a kid.  In my opinion, Heaven by Randy Alcorn is a much better choice.  He uses scripture (in context) to back up everything that is said.  Heaven is not something he experienced, but something that he’s studied;  not from a kid, but from the Bible.

Dear Sir or Madam

Dear Sir or Madam who has intentions on finding me a wife,

I am grateful for your desire to see me grow in my sanctification by feeling the need to find my spouse for me. I know in many ways I have lead you to believe that it is your job to find the perfect woman to fit my needs and to be a great helper for me. I know that whatever woman you had in mind for me would have been perfect.

As of this moment though, your responsibility is relinquished in finding my spouse. Your friendship has meant so much to me, so please do not hear me saying I do not value your friendship, I do. I will gratefully accept any wisdom you have in helping me understand what it means to be in a relationship and would love to talk to you more about things other than my relationship status.

Perhaps at this point, you are questioning my sanity as most do, including myself, but I have thought this through. Because you feel the need to find my spouse, in some ways it has caused our conversations to consistently turn to my relationship status. In many ways, these conversations make me feel inadequate and less in your eyes, though I hope you don’t think of me any less because of my singleness.

The main thoughts that go through my mind when you ask me “You’re still single and not pursuing anyone and you’re fine with that?” is that you either think that I am incapable of finding a spouse or that I am gay. Trust me. I am neither. I am waiting for my timing to be in time with God’s. He will provide a spouse for me and I will be grateful for His provision.

For now though, I am single and I plan to keep it that way. I know this comes as a shock to you and trust me, it shocks me the more I think about it, but I am learning contentment through this time in my life. I would love to continue our friendship and for you to get to know me outside my singleness. Thanks for the time you have invested into our friendship.

Sincerely Yours
Stephen

Grief

There’s nothing like death to remind me of my immortality. I am that person who think he will live forever. Who thinks he is invincible. Who thinks he will never die. Yet, with the passing of Andy Meadows, I am reminded that this is not true. There is one day that I will die because I am mortal.

Death causes me to be confused. When I say confused, I don’t mean the generic term confused as in terms of being conflicted. I literally mean confused, or “with fusion.” With the death of one who does not know Christ, we should not be confused, we should mourn. We should mourn because that person will never know life. We should mourn because that person will never know Jesus. We should mourn because that person will spend the rest of eternity apart from a God who knows and loves them.

Yet, with the death of a Christian, it is hard not to be confused. This is one of the few times in life that our emotions are conflicted against each other, and they shouldn’t be. It is with the death of a Christian that these conflicting emotions should be fused, come together. On the one hand, we feel grief of the deepest sense on “losing” a brother or sister. We are sad because that is a life lost to those who love. At the same time, though, we are joyful because what person is with Jesus. The joy of knowing that one’s struggle with sin is over and that that person is in the presence of Almighty God is indescribable.

This is what it means to be confused. We don’t let our emotions conflict with one another as though they are fighting and one has to win. Though it may feel as though the grief will never let go and our joy is being overtaken, we must not let our emotions win. It is at these moments in which we must be confused. We must let the grief and the joy fuse with one another. Eventually, the grief will begin to loosen its grip. Eventually, the joy, that seemed so lost early on will begin to take a turn for the better. And while the grief that was so strong in the beginning, will never go away, our insurmountable joy in God will not let go. And while there will be times of grief, there will be many more times of joy.

One day, you will die and people will grieve over your death. Will they grieve knowing that you will be lost for an eternity, or will they grieve with hope?