Currently Listening Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness By Coheed & Cambria Wake Up see related

I don't think I've talked alot about it on this, but one of my favorite passages is the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7.  I believe that if one is looking to find salvation, and the gospel itself, one only has to look as far as the sermon on the mount and in doing so will find what it means to truly live. 

In matthew 5 Jesus, as recorded in matthew, is just starting to begin his public ministry.  It is his first recorded teaching to the crowds following him and he most definitely delivers. 

You see, in these chapters Jesus is essentially imparting his own personal commentary on the Torah.  He gleams almost every teaching he has here from passages he doesn't think are being interpreted properly by current Jewish thought.  In doing so, he not only challenges thought and perception, but in explaining these scriptures to his followers he couples a different perception of God to a literal application to our lives.  Statements like, "turn the other cheek," let your 'Yes' be 'Yes'...," and "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," all convey a sense that God does not just want you to know him, but to demonstrate your understanding in action.

That is salvation, that is life.  If we apply what we know about God in our lives our life will be to the fullest that Jesus came to make possible. (Jn. 10)

I often meet a lot of people, christians and non-christians, questioners and self-righteous alike that have a problem with scripture.  More often than not they've read the bible, probably not the whole thing, but enough to get a jist.  The problem is that many of these people still are having an incredibly hard time believing in it.  I understand.

The problem in most people's lives is that they know the scripture, they know the teachings, but applying them to their lives, taking a conscious effort to understand what it means to keep our acts of giving and fasting in private or anonymous, or what it really looks like to live a life of not resisting an evil person.  Even the greatest commands (not in the sermon on the mount) Love the Lord your God, and love others as yourself, which are the root of everything in the s.o.m. are constantly left on the theological shelf and practiced only in convenience.

So in light of this I challenge us to make a conscious change in our life to live more like the beattitudes, to make physical changes in our life that can reflect the teachings in Matthew 5-7. 

Next time I'm gonna go a little more into the s.o.m. and talk about one of my favorite things:

"eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise."  - God - Exodus 21: 24, 25

"You may have heard it said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person...turn the other cheek..."  - Jesus - Matthew 5: 38, 39

Think about it.

Brother In Christ,
Brandon

Currently Reading The Gospel According to Moses: What My Jewish Friends Taught Me About Jesus By Athol Dickson see related

Okay, before I say anything I feel a disclaimer is in order.  I'm going to be talking about suicide right now, but not in the way that is so familiar to xanga.  In no way am I flurting with the possibility of it or am I even considering it as a viable solution to any problem.  In fact, if you read you'll find i'm going to argue that it is not, but once again, in a very unfamiliar way.  So if you're considering suicide, please call somebody.  If you're worried about exposing yourself to a subject like this, then don't read.

If while you're reading this you start to think, "Brandon, you're wrong about everything, and I don't agree with you in any way, shape, or form."  Great, read it anyways.

That having been said, I hope you'll thoughtfully consider what is to be said.
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There is a lot of thought in the suicide arena of, "why?" and I won't argue with that at all.  However, in the realm of what is best, or as Socrates best put it, "not life, but a good life, [that] is to be chiefly valued."  I have found another question that is prudent into disecting the nature of suicide, "why not?"

Now, I ask that question not in the sense of trying to get permission to, or justify suicide by any means.  I am merely trying to say, what are the best reasons to not commit suicide?

Am I simply not to end myself because I have a loving girlfriend, parents and friends, and a bright future ahead of me?  Perhaps.  I really want to find out why, why are these things the reasons why so many people seek to stay in this world any longer. 

Because they are the reason, right?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but when we think about dying (not suicide) we recall the things that we have, the relationships, the time we've spent honing our current life, our future.  To me, its like we're playing a game, and we've invested so much into it and gotten so much out that we're afraid to quit. 

Okay, pause.  This is a little scary, probably to the reader.  remember at the top when I talked about being grounded in the firm truth that suicide is not and never will be the answer.  Okay, let me scare you a bit more.

I recently watched the film, Lord of War, Starring Nicholas Cage and several naked women.  (Now here's my pathetic attempt at a movie review).  Entirely disturbing and offsetting (what I like about media), this movie can really make you think about a number of things.

To start, when the most moral character is either a materialistic, self-centered, model who thinks that marriage is best with a 'no questions asked' attitudes or a little brother with an addictive personality (gets addicted to things easily), a bad habit of sleeping with strippers and snorting cocaine you know there is little chance of a happy ending going to occur.  Which, doesn't make the movie bad.  (perhaps the many, many profanse uses of God's name and while coarse, justifyable usage of a plethora of curses, not to mention sex/nude scenes might.  Parents, don't let your kids see this movie until they're old enough not to "monkey see, monkey do"). 

In essence, the protagonist is a man who falls into a deeply immoral and inhumane lifestyle, can't/won't get out, and eventually chooses to stay in.  Mostly from what I felt to be a deep sense of belonging and desire for self-satisfaction in the only ways he acknowledged how. 

Now, I said that to make a point.  You and I have the same possibility of turning out the way the main character in that movie did.  His actions were undeniably wrong, even by the most adherent of relativists.  He chose to propogate the slaughter of innocent women and children (though you can certainly see his dilemma, due to great acting/filmmaking).  In chasing this life of relative hedonism he was the bullet that killed thousands all over the world.  You and I have no less potential to become like that.  So why not end it now, to prevent such a terrible outcome?

I pray anyone reading this does not seriously consider suicide an option at this point, please just think about this, do not do it, you're worth more than you ever dreamed of. 

Moral dilemmas like these are the reason why we need to know why not to commit suicide.  If i'm grounded by what I have, then the prospect of suicide in order to save people from my potentially vile outcome almost seems...moral.

There has been an awakening.  There is an escape from desperate circumstances that does not involve guns, rope or a razor.  By the grace of God we have been given life, not just life in heaven, but life right now.  Jesus talks constantly of the wonderful life that you can live now.  And not just simple life that is made by what you have and hold onto, but a life that comes from above.  A life that is in the very nature of God, a joy that is overflowing in your soul that makes you cry when you realize that Jesus wants you. 

"...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - Jesus, John 10:10

God bless you.

Brother In Christ,

Brandon

As we walk day by day, may you find Jesus in your life, though he may be hidden, though he might be hard to find.  I pray that you find Jesus in your life, wherever you are. 
Out of the darkness, "Jesus is calling, 'o sinner, come home.'"

Brother In Christ,
Brandon