Grrrrr....

Ill and in Pain, Detainee Dies in U.S. Hands 

So, you get human rights if you were born in America, or if you have oil.

Sometimes.

Good to know.

....but the REALLY ridiculous part is that the whole thing is still behind red tape and that every single prison official involved wasn't immediately canned.

The really REALLY ridiculous part, is the people who will read this article and say "Well, he shouldn't have been here illegally."

Kinda makes me glad I haven't heard from my mother in a while.

Love,
Crystal

Why You're Not A Christian

I love playing the "Why you're not a Christian" game.  I get it a LOT... primarily because I USED to be a Christian.

The most recent was this one:  You're not a Christian because deep down you really feel guitly because of the way that you've lived your life, but you don't understand what Jesus did for you and that his sacrifice covers your sins and you don't have to worry about it.

I could come at the first point first, "You're not a Christian because you feel guilty."  Guilty for what?  Well, because I've sinned, I suppose.  I've had sex outside of marriage, I cuss, I've lied... or, if you want to go down the original sin road, I was born.  I suppose that would be fair... except that I don't have any reason to feel guilty for having sex outside of marriage because I don't think that it's wrong.  I suppose that you could tell me that I'm lying to myself, and you MIGHT be right, but that's a pretty egotistical claim to make, particularly if you're coming from the "I'm not God" point of view.  "I know you better than you do because I'm not you."  Hm, well, by that logic, I also know YOU better than YOU do, and you're lying to YOURself. 

We could run around in this circle forever.  Let's go to the next part.

"You don't understand what Jesus did for you."

I'm a passionate person.  I'm dedicated.  When I find something that's important to me, I want to know everything about it.  I fell in love with Chris and have been going back through his blog and reading old entries JUST to get to know him better.  And you really think that I didn't study the God who I believed had granted me eternal life without suffering and was going to keep me warm and safe and loved and happy for all of time and then some... and on TOP of that actually MADE me in the first place??   

I get the matter of sacrifice.  I've even come up with theories about God being a being made of stuff that would DESTROY us if we had any sin... not because of his own will so much as because of his own ESSENCE.  But that if something takes your place, dies for you, you're covered.  And I get that Jesus, being a perfect Someone, made a sacrifice that covered EVERYONE.  I GET that when I'm hidden in him, I have absolutely NO sin, that God sees me perfectly as he made me to be, and that I live to please him.

I get that.  I don't BUY it.

It's a beautiful idea, but the problem that I have with it is that you have to take things that don't hurt anyone, including yourself, and call them "wrong" for no other reason than that everyone does them (ie, being born, again, see "original sin"), and then say that you need saving from them.  You have to take things that can be easily corrected, like eating too much or having sex or lying or hurting someone's feelings, and instead of just saying I'm sorry and making reparations to that person, you have to say that that thing is SO BAD that you have to DIE for it.  

You see, you have to start the Gospel story with the bad news before you can get to the good news.  You have to start with Sin, and that "the wages of sin is death."  You lied to your Mom about how late you stayed up watching TV?  You stole a candy bar from the grocery store?  You don't get to go to bed earlier or without supper, you don't get to take the candy bar back and apologize... you get DEATH.  

BUT WAIT, there's an ANSWER!

THAT is why I don't believe it.  Not because I don't "understand what Jesus did", but because I think that it's absolutely silly to think that something that dramatic needed to be done in the first place, 'cause I was born, 'cause somebody I don't know and don't have any proof even exists supposedly ate an apple they were told not to eat.

And, last but not least, when you are concerned that someone might have a good argument for you, the easiest way to shut them down is to say "Why are you so defensive?  Why are you protesting so much?  You MUST have a guilty conscience."

BRRR, wrong again.  The answer to that question would be????

I have this jones for truth.  Y'see... I"ve seen bullshit, and I've seen the damage it can do.  Congratulations, I'd like for you to know the truth... about me, if nothing else.

But, you probably don't care to hear it anyway.

Love,
Crystal