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jeremy_colby
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Name: Jeremy
Country: United States
State: Michigan
Metro: Benton Harbor
Birthday: 7/11/1978
Gender: Male
Interests: Reading-C.S. Lewis, Soren K., TOny Campolo, Dee Brown, and anyone else who presents and interesting thoughtful point of view
Occupation: Other
Industry: Other
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
10/8/2005
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| Ok SO a recently deceased Christian leader said some pretty mean things in his life, but who hasn't. We usually let worse stuff than that pass, and praise the person at the time of death. I mean it is something that I find crazy. In most cases we can criticize like crazy until the person dies, and then we say all kinds of nice things about him. But thos who have championed tolerance and acceptance have shown the exact opposite in this case. I did not agree with much that the Rev. said, but I do not believe that I can make that better be attacking him after death. In fact this man for all of his flaws did do a lot of great things in his life, and helped a lot of people, but that can be overlooked in our culture. If he was a womanizer, and a drunk, who messed up his family, but supported the tolerant agenda of the day he would be a hero, but because he had some misguided beliefes, and made a few mistakes (some of which he apologized for later) some believe it is OK to kick a dead body. I can't believe who I am defending, but some of this is just plain stupidity.
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| I feel really strange right now. I have had a lot of things that I think I should be upset about. My ministry is over for right now. I have just had an ugly experience with the church I worked for. A friend of mine from the last place I work died sudenly in her 20's. Many of the young people who I have been spending my time an energy on are gone. I am not sure what my Christian life is going to look like in the future. I am definately not sure what I need in a church. I am really in a strange place right now. With all of this I feel strangely numb. I feel like I should feel something, but I don't really. THe problem is that I knoiw I am goign to eventually. I just hope it does not effect my life now. It is in times like these that it is easy to forget who you are, but it also in times like these that you can discover who you truely are. I pray for the latter. Comments welcome fellow travelers. | | |
| Sometimes I do not know what to do. I look at the Bible and I see what the church is supposed to be, and than I llok at the churches I see, and I see nothing like it. It seems like I am constantly fighting battle, and I am starting to think I am picking fights . There has to be some middle ground between being a doormat and a bully, but I do not know if I have found it. I long for real community, safe community, where I can be myself, and not be attacked for it. I want to be in a place where there is little or no power to be gained, no possesions to fought over. Unfortunately, that is not where I live. THere are people who want that to at my church, but our church culture is so different that I do not know if can be overcome. I want the promises to be true. I believe that they can be, so I will not give, but I pray that I will have both wisdom and courage as I seek this bride of CHirst as she should be. SOmetimes it makes me want to cry, because I believe that we could be so much more. I will not give up! | | |
| SO I was having a discussion with someone about proposal 2. Apparently it passed which I have to say I am glad. THere is something in me that still says to wrongs do not make a right. I understand a certain minority groups have been discriminated against for hundreds of years. So in a way we are paying the consequences today for the sins of the past. A person I really respect put it this way. How can we expect to make right the wrongs of many years in just a few. What amazes me is the inconsistency here. First of all it is not my sin, and the people who most likely have commited the sins are usually not the ones who have to pay for it. When I apply for a job, and I am not chosen because of my skin color, I am punished even though I have not refused anyone a job because of their skin color. I have not seen in company leaders offering to step down so that minority leadership can take over. Once again change is made at the expense of the little guy. Second, is there really anyway that more discrimination helps racial issues. Am I going to feel more incline to work toward racial reconciliation when I have been discriminated against, and the less qualified person who is taking my position defends the process that took the job or school I was trying to get. Third, if the reason that affirmative action is ok is because we have to right the sins of the past, then racial profiling should also be ok. I mean, I know the person pulled over on the side of the road is not a drug dealer, and the police officer had not logical reason to pull the person over, but for years now our jails have been disproportionately full of minorities who have commited lots of crime. I do not think racial profiling is right, but if I follow the logic for affirmative action out it can lead there. I am sorry you get pulled over more, but other people of your race that you may not even know commit a lot of crime, and we cannot expect the sins of the past to rectified in just a short period of time. Finally, I am for hiring minorities. I believe there must be action by companies and schools to make there institutions more diverse, but not at the expense of standards. THere should be equal standards and qualification in any job, and those should be the deciding factor. If two people of similar qualification apply for the same position I do not have a problem with a minority candidate being given the job, but forcing diversity does not make racial issues better, it just flips the cycle of discrimination, which means some day it will flip back. | | |
| Take a deep breath. DO it again. Check your pulse. Still beating? OK. I found out this weekend that a 19 year old secoind cousine of mine was killed in a car accident. I did not know her really, so I am not devestated by loss, but there is still something that is making me angry and sad. SHe was driving down the road to go to a college football game. A drunk got going the wrong way on the express way and hit her head on. I spend a lot of time complaining about my life. I also spend a lot of time listening to other poeple complian about theirs. I think to often we forget we are still breathing. I was talking to a young man today who has decided that the best way to go through life is by not having any goals. I know several young people who squander their free education as if it is normal. I know that I often sit at home and wine about the way things are instead of trying to change things. I need to ask myself what have I done today that matters to another soul. Many days the answer is not much. For many it is even less. What really amazes me is the contrast. THis young lady was living life. She may not have been saving the world, and there may not have been a Nobel Peace Prize in her future, but she wasn't squandering precious breath. The man who hit her could not deal with the life that he had, so he decided to get tanked up so he could pretend to enjoy life instead of actually facing reality. To make it worse though he got behind the wheel of a car and ended another life. I find that to often the choice to do nothing. The choice to squander precious breath is a choice that damages others. We are all part of the same world, and when I choose to waste my life, I also choose to contribute to the evil that thrives on our desire to wait to do until later. I am reminded of the words of "the Offspring", "This is life What a #@#*% up thing we do. What a Nightmare come true. Or a playground if we choose, and I choose." | | |
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