Pandora

As most of you know, my favorite past time is looking for new or little known recording artists who are not promoted by the big record labels. Before my mom had a stroke, I used to have to time to visit clubs to hear them. Now that I spend most of my time taking care of my mom, opportunities for visiting clubs are slim.

I've been browsing MySpace for artists on MySpace, but it's pretty time consuming since it's a "hit or miss" situation in which it's mostly misses.

Well, I found a fantastic web site for looking for new artists that match your taste in music.

It's http://www.pandora.com

There, you can create a "radio station" (list of artists that you like) and it'll start playing artists whose style is similar to those on the list.

It uses the data from the Music Genome Project to select music for that "radio station".

It's great if you are just starting to get into a genre of music.

You can create more than one "radio station" if your favorite music spans a plethora musical styles.

Oh, I almost forgot: it's FREE!!!!

How should Christians deal with sin?

For the last several days, I've noticed a re-occurring theme in the Christian discussion groups. It's the question of how should Christians deal with sin? Some suggested that we, Christians, should never tolerate sin, while others suggested that we should tolerate sin in non-believers but not within the Body of Christ. There are also those who argued that we should tolerate all sin.

As the discussion threads grew, it became apparent that there were several perspectives on what sin is and even more perspectives on what it means to tolerate (or to not tolerate) sin.

Let's first start with the Biblical definition of sin.

The word sin is found in two of the most important verses in the New Testament.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned (hamartano), and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin (hamartia) is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Greek words harmartano (verb)/harmatia (noun), that are translated into the English word sin, are not religious terms. They are secular terms that comes from archery. The term means to miss the mark.

So what is the mark that we are supposed to hit but fail to hit? We can find it in Genesis.

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness

We were created to carry God's image and be stewards of His creation.

When we fail, in any way, to perfectly mirror God, we sin; or to quote Romans 3:23 when we "come short of the glory of God", we sin.

By this definition, all of us are sinning all the time. There is not a second in our lives in which we come close to mirroring the perfection of God; therefore, there is not a second in our lives in which we are not sinning.

Then, is it possible for us to not tolerate sin all the time?

How, then, do we deal with sin?

Here is what Jesus said:

Matthew 7:1-5
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

We must first deal with our own sin.

There are at least two aspects of dealing with our sin. One aspect is dealing with the wages of sin: death from which we must be saved. Another aspect is the pursue of holiness after we are forgiven.

How are we to be saved?

Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

We need to accept Jesus as our Lord and believe that the Jesus' death and resurrection pays the wages of our sin.

Once we know that the wages of all our sins are paid, do we continue sinning?

Romans 6:1-4
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

No, we do not go on sinning because the grace of God is not just the forgiveness of sin but also the gift of a new life. To go on sinning, we would fail to reap the full reward of God's grace. We would receive the first half of God's grace: forgiveness of sin; but fail to receive the second half: a new life.

Since our pursuit of holiness would never be complete on this side of eternity, does that mean we would never be dealing with the sins of others?

Didn't Jesus say that we need to take the plank out of own eyes before we can pick the speck of sawdust out of our brother's?

Since we are never done with taking "the plank out of own eyes", doesn't that mean that we should not be dealing with the sins of others?

If that is so, then it would contradict the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

No, Jesus commanded us to teach others what is right and what is wrong (sin) and how to deal with what is wrong (sin).

Matthew 5:13-14
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

How others deal with this knowledge of sin and the forgiveness of sin is between them and the Lord.

There is one caveat. Leaders within the Church are measured by a higher standard.

1 Timothy 3:1-13
Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

While we are all still pursuing but not reaching holiness, leaders within the Church must reach a certain level of temperament, self-control, and respectability.

We can not allow leaders within the Church to overtly sin. These leaders need to be examples of men with great faith; and the presence of sin is result of the lack of faith.

Matthew 6:31-33
So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Why do we steal? We do not trust God to provide for our needs.

Why do we lie? We do not trust God to protect us when we tell the truth.

How can we say that we have faith in God if we are not willing to abide by God's rules.

Leaders must exhibit greater faith than those whom they lead; thus, they must be those who do not exhibit the presence of overt sin.

How should Christians deal with sin? We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of world; to teach what is sin and how to deal with it by setting an example for others to follow.

God Is Love

I just had a epiphany moment. When I hear people say, "God is good", I've always assumed that they mean that God is a good God. I was meditating on this thought when it suddenly occurred to me that good is not just a description of God. God defines what good is. In the same way, God is love does not only mean that He is capable of love, He defines what love is. In the same way God is beauty.

What is good? Being just and merciful simultaneously.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Rom. 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord


What is love? Putting what is best for the other ahead of what's best for one's self.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.


What is beauty? Being Holy: set apart and untainted

Leviticus 11:45
I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy

1 Peter 3:3-5
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

Addendum and Errata to "Thanksgiving History"

• For those of you who are interested in getting more detail about my post reference there is an indented history of Puritans and Pilgrims w/ references on one of the web pages at the University of Virginia site:
  
  http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/puritan/purhist.html
  
  This page included the quotes that I posted. (I got my quotes from references that were on paper, however, I am not able to find those references in electronic form on the Web.)


• In my previous post, I made a slight mistake about Massasoit. His tribe was the Pokanoket tribe and the Pokanoket tribe was part of the Wampanoag Confederacy. I was confused because Massasoit was not only the chief or sachem of the Pokanoket tribe but he was also the Great Sachem of the entire Wampanoag Confederacy.
  

To be fair, Massasoit did agree to peaceful co-existence with the Pilgrims and so theoretically, the Pilgrims could have been thanking him for not attacking them. However, that was not the case. The first Thanksgiving celebration was due to the harvest which the Pilgrims credited to the Lord's provision.


• The Patuxet tribe, to which Squanto (whose real name is Tisquantum) belonged and was wiped out by a mysterious plague, was also part of the Wampanoag Confederacy. However, because Massasoit did not trust Squanto completely, due to Squanto's closeness with the Pilgrims, Massasoit assigned another native American, Hobamok, to also stay with the Pilgrims (along with Squanto).


• Also, I failed to mentioned Samoset, the other Native American, who assisted the Pilgrims. (Sorry, Samoset) He, by the way, was a member of the Abenaki sachem tribe that resided at that time in Maine.