One of my friends shared this video on Facebook. 
https://www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedVideo/videos/1816363428504531/
It's painfully defensive, unbelievably weak, and depressingly wrong.   
 If that movie reflects their image of what Christians are, and what Christians should be, then there's no point any of us labelling ourselves Christians (except maybe the slightly larger music catalogue)

Becoming a Christian is a life-changing event.

If we're the same after years of sanctification as we were before God saved us then we need to seriously question what we've been saved from and what we've been saved to.

If our morals come from our own idea of what's right and what's wrong, or if they're based on popular consensus then we have completely ignored God and what He wants.

Let's start with the assumption that all true Christians base their Christianity on the Bible.

Look at Luke 6:46-49.
If you're a Christian you'll know the story.
The wise man built his house upon a rock.  The foolish man built his house upon the sand.
Build your house on the rock and it will stand firm through the storm, build it on the sand and it will collapse.
Logical thinking there from Jesus.  A simple story with a deeper meaning.  How well do you actually know the story?

Does Jesus then go on to explain what this parable means?
or does he just leave us to interpret it on our own?

How do you understand it?
Put your trust in Jesus and everything will work out OK?

That's a lovely thought, but let's actually look at what Jesus says:

 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

It's not even about 'building your life on God'.  It's entirely about doing what Jesus commands.

So, Number One Priority to avoid collapse and destruction.... Find out what Jesus commands, and do it.


http://swapmeetdave.com/Bible/Commands/Commands-list.pdf

Don't Like.... WHAT??!!

so a normally mature and sensible person I know posted this on facebook today.   It's a very strange, pointless, inarticulate, badly thought through, illogical rant

WHAT??!!

Do I need to go through them one at a time?  I do want to.

1. Cigarettes.  I don't like them.  Secondary smoke is irritating and causes serious diseases and possibly death.  I don't smoke, but whose rights are being taken away if you smoke near me?
2. Don't like alcohol?  well, it's OK, I'm not a huge fan.  What I'm really not a fan of is getting my nose broken by a drunk teenager while I was trying to keep him at a safe distance from some children.  Whose rights got taken away (well mine, and after a while his right to freedom went too)
3. Don't like abortion?  never tried it.  I would ask somebody who did, but they're all dead.  every single one of them.  
4. Don't like porn?  I actually sort of do like it, but if I watch it I start to think of my wife in a very one-dimensional way.  She's better than that.  I stopped looking at porn for her sake, not my own.
5. Don't like drugs?  never tried them.  Got a crossbow shot at me once by a thief who was high. Thankfully he was so high that he missed.  Me not taking drugs didn't really help there.
6. Don't like sex?  strange question.  I do.  Not sure what they're getting at.  Since the rest of the list has negative consequences, maybe they're wanting us to think of sexually transmitted diseases, rape and unplanned pregnancy? that's just speculation on my part.
7. And the first one.  Gay marriage.  Even if I'd been a fan at the start of the post I'm pretty certain, having read all the rest of the items in the list, that there must be some dire consequences for anybody who has ever met a gay couple.  Probably safest to stay well out of their way.

Broken

We insulate ourselves from the painful things that go on around us.
The way we live in 21st century "Western World" we are vaguely aware that there's somewhere out there called the "mddle east" where impossibly large numbers of people are dying or fleeing their homes. We're vaguely aware that if we stop and think about it we'll probably realise that those nameless, faceless masses of people are made up of individuals very like us, and they're not enjoying themselves.

So we slide our finger up the 4" oLED screen and move on to the next story.

Some of us though, come face to face with the Horrified and catch a glimpse of reality. It's a strange experience. It's different when it smells and feels and doesn't end as soon as the interesting action sequence is over. It's not the same when you then have to eat dinner with the weeping victims.

What's even more surreal is when you leave, and come home and try to explain it to everybody who still imagines it on their Apple Device, everybody who thinks they understand, thinks they're being sympathetic, but they just Don't GET it.

I've... seen... an odd thing happen to some... others...  who fly out, see horror for a while and fly home. We retreat into ourselves. We come to believe that nobody understands but us, that nobody cares but us, and that, since words can't explain what we've seen, we are helpless to do anything but mourn.  Christians who went out with big plans break down and succumb to deep depression.  The irony is that those we went to help are relishing the joy, seizing every opportunity and growing in the Lord - often buoyed up by the support we brought and the promise of our prayers, while we shut our minds off from the world and suffer a whole different kind of pain.

The story is not about us. It's never about us. God's plans are always unexpected, always complex and He always sees the bigger picture.
We are always selfish, always biased and can't even see what's right in front of us.

If you meet someone who has been on a traumatic mission trip, treat them carefully, listen properly to what they're saying and encourage them.  I mean really listen and really encourage them.
If you've been away, look after your head and understand that you've had a bigger impact than you can ever imagine.  Keep telling people what you've seen.
They won't understand; but neither do we.

(picture - not everybody from Somalia, Northern Ireland and Pakistan is a terrorist)