Jesus Drank?

Obviously Jesus drank water seeing as how he was completely human and completely God, the human side of him would have needed water to sustain life. I am referring to the idea that Jesus in fact drank and was at settings that included wine, which would infer that Jesus is in fact not at all against responsible (key word: Responsible) drinking. I should offer some background as to why I'm talking about this issue, however.
I attend an EC denomination church. For those of you not familiar with the EC church, basically the majority of EC churches have made a statement somewhat along the lines of "The most responsible choice concerning alcohol is total abstinence". I did not know this was the common opinion though and when I recently went on a vacation to Canada, I fell into the the Devil's clutches and tried beer. I also sampled some wine. I felt no guilt for this and don't really believe I should. I see very little Biblical evidence for the idea that alcohol is sinful. If Jesus was opposed to drinking why would he turn water into wine? Why would he create a substance he knew was completely sinful. He would have sinned by creating a so-called "evil" substance and we know that Jesus was sinless. What we do see in the Bible, however,are plenty of warnings against drunkenness. Drunkenness and drinking are not the same thing. It's like calling eating and gluttony the same thing. We are not gluttons every time we eat breakfast. There is a way to responsibly enjoy alcohol. If we are to be like Christ I believe this also means that if we choose to enjoy alcohol, we are to follow his example of how to enjoy it responsibly.

I don't believe that total abstinence is a wrong view to take on this issue, its actually pretty respectable, but I don't think total abstinence should be taught as THE MOST responsible choice to take on drinking. As if responsible drinking is "less responsible". Its just not supportable, in my opinion.
Therefore, I believe that Christians are able to responsibly enjoy alcohol without feeling guilty about it. Follow Jesus's example and enjoy it responsibly. The answer to the popular question "What Would Jesus Do?" is; He would drink, but drink responsibly. So drink up fellow Christians!

Christianity

Hello there, I got thinking the other day by a comment about Christianity and the people who have founded it. Before revealing the comment, I should offer some background on the conversation that was taking place at the time. I was discussing a religion I believe was Mormanism. The main topic of discussion was something along the lines of "How can a group of people place trust in a religious leader that claims to have had a vision alone and written a religious book about this vision? " To me I would have just assumed the man got high in his attic and came out of it with a new religious book he wrote while in a drugged-up stupor. Who can prove the man had a vision? Who can back up this "religious book" he claims is "from God"?
The comment that got me thinking, however, was "How is Mormanism any different than Christianity?" Aren't there dozens of books in the Bible that were written by men who claim to have had visions or were inspired by God? Moses claims to have gone up into a mountainside alone and seen a burning bush. John saw the vision of Revelation alone. Paul had the vision of seeing God on the Roadside that no one else could see. How do we know he didn't fake being blind? Who can back up any of Daniel's visions? How do we know the tempting of Jesus happened when only Jesus was there to experience it?
I think there is a lot more faith involved with Christianity than we are aware of. We can very rarely back up a lot of what Christianity is founded on and yet we accept it without question. I just think there are a lot more similarities between Christianity and other religions than we tend to recognize. It's also easier to relate to people from other religions when you can understand the similarities of your religion and theirs.
Another amusing thought occurred to me when listening to a Derek Webb song. The lyrics to the one song were ".....that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican" I found this amusing because most Jesus films portray Jesus as this white dude with long hair and a beard, but most likely he looked more like Osama Bin Laden.
This probably isn't a thought that most Americans would be happy to think about right now, but it's probably the truth nonetheless.

Loss of Wisdom?

It is now the fourth day since I have been under the knife.The swelling has gone down from the aftermath of Day #3 (aka the Doomsday of Wisdom Teeth Removal), and I am beginning to eat foods. I suppose I am eating more out of desperation than actual recovery from my surgery. A man can't really be expected to live on soft foods for so long a period of time. The biggest struggle for me this entire week has been having to deal with a body that is recovering when my mind is completely healthy. What I mean by that statement is this; My mind was ready to be going out, running, eating, doing things, but my body was still stuck in recovery phase. This drove me crazy. It's like being stuck in a cage; only the cage is your own body. I have never watched so much television in my entire life and I never want to again. I will say though I have come out of this entire week with an ability to relate to druggies. I have discovered the lure of Vicodin. Not that I have become addicted, I merely mean that I could see why it would be easy to fall into a trap of becoming addicted to it and becoming one of the kids in my school that are known to sell and use Vicodin on a daily basis. This week has also given new meaning to Philippians 4:12, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want". Although my face is swollen, my teeth have been replaced with stitches, and I'm stuck drinking soft foods, I am alive and I know that good will come from all of this.

Work

I've been doing a lot of thinking on the subject of working, as far as what does God expect us to do with our careers? Does he expect us to simply work hard so we can earn a ton of money? Or does he want us to follow his calling into a career he has planned for us and he will provide us with money? I feel as though the major misconception is that we are to simply spend our lives working as hard as we can even if it means we are miserable. If you think about it work makes up approximately 40% of our waking hours a week. Don't you think that God plans for us to use our work hours to bring more to him? Can we do that if we are simply working miserably to earn money? I don't think so. I think God has a career path planned out for us that allows us to use our God given gifts in a way that glorifies him and will bring more to him. I have been thinking more and more about this idea and have finally opened up my mind to the idea that maybe God has a career path for me I haven't even begun to consider. Even careers that I had previously shut my mind to I am now open to consider. As I go into College with a career for myself in mind I also am open to the idea that maybe I will have to change my major at some point in my college experience, but this excites me more than makes me nervous. I have no idea what kind of career God has planned for me, but I am looking forward to figuring out what it is he has planned.

Gluttony

It occurred to me recently that I can't remember the last time a pastor got up in front of a church and talked about gluttony and overeating. I feel as though sometimes churches get so caught up in the deep spiritual topics that they overlook the basics such as: How do we reflect our relationship with God through what we eat? The Bible is about as equally outspoken about gluttony as it is about drunkenness, so why is it that gluttony seems to get overlooked all too often? The Bible tells us that our bodies are temples. The Holy Spirit is living inside of us. How can the Holy Spirit have room to live in there if McDonalds has taken over? We are to have self control it says, but how does eating 3 deserts reflect upon that verse? Is that self control? I'm not talking about being overweight. They are two different topics that are usually connected, however. You can be a glutton without being overweight and vice versa.
Jesus was very big on caring for widows, orphans, and the poor. I think we lose sight of this very often though because we live in a country where the poorest person here would be the richest person in 75% of the world. We don't daily see children dying from hunger or parents who watch their kids die because they are not able to provide them with food. Every time we eat we should be thinking of Jesus's words to care for the widows, orphans, and poor. If all the Christians in the United States consciously made an effort to eat smaller portions and cut back on unnecessary pleasures, God could use us to have a profound effect on those that are going without food in our own country. We need to stop being worried about who we're offending and start worrying about those who are dying from hunger. If it takes the truth to offend someone and stop them from the sin of gluttony then so be it. We are to "love one another as Christ loved us", but if a brother/sister is living in sin it wouldn't be love to allow him to continue sinning. I feel very strongly about this subject, but on the other hand I am a human as well and struggle with this sin as all of us do. If more people are aware of it, however, there are more people to keep myself accountable to.

Running

It occurred to me today on a training run that the sport I participate in must seem very peculiar to those that don't do it. The entire thing makes no logical sense when you look at it at first glance. I go out, run for miles a day, have to eat the right foods, drink the right amount of water, avoid other foods, and all for what? About 3.1 miles of pain. What kind of reward is that? Why don't more people find this appealing...? To me though I have learned so much through my experience with running that my life would have a huge hole in it if God had not brought it into my life. I can't explain all that running has done for me but I can offer a few examples that hopefully make my running seem a bit less bizarre to you outsiders.
One way I think about it when I go out on a run or do a workout is the fact that God's given me a gift and it would be insulting to simply throw away a gift or not fine tune it. If someone gives you a car as a gift would you crash it or would you attempt to keep the car in prime working condition? When God gives you a gift you don't throw it out; you use it to make the giver of the gift proud that he gave it to you.
When I run it's the same as if I was in church singing praise songs. Every race is an act of worship. It may not seem like worship to those who watch, but that's how I feel when I get on the line. This also makes it worse, however when I have an off-day. It feels as though I've let God down.
Running has also taught me the power of prayer. I've only told two people this, but about a year ago when I was on a training run I started thinking about states. Keep in mind this is the summer of my Senior cross country season. I remember praying to God something along these lines "God if its in your plan please give me the strength to win states for you and not for myself. If it's not in your plan for me to win I will accept that, but I want to try to win gold for you." I kind of forgot about this prayer actually until a few months after my states race. I'm not trying to say for a second that I knew I was going to win, but I know now that if you pray for something with the intent of accomplishing it for God, God will use you.
Running is very comparable to a healthy Christian life. The constant discipline, faith that that you're doing will make you stronger, the perseverance to get through hard times, and most of all Faith in your Coach (God). I look back on my high school years and know now that God was intending to use me for that one race not for the glory or the gold medal, but to show me that God works in amazing ways and does indeed answer prayers. I hope now that you can somewhat understand why I do this sport and have learned so much from it.