I just realized my blog was set to only allow comments from registered blogger users. oops. I’ve corrected it to allow comments from anyone and everyone so now anyone can let their voice be heard, or words be read…whatever.

Although there is much much more I can talk about concerning politics, I think it would be good to step away from it for just a little while. On one last note though, there is a quote I want to share that is interesting in context with my last two posts. Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator, once said “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” This statement is quite remarkable when one applies it to our government. Makes you think…

Anyway, enough politics for now. I was thinking tonight about how so often my thought is directed outward and can be so negative and critical towards the government or certain churches or the overall Evangelical establishment. It is so easy to get upset at all kinds of establishments and have all these opinions on how things should be. I think it is only natural to see problems from the outside and want to fix them, but, interestingly, it is completely unnatural for me to continually look inside and face up to the fact that I am a selfish and sinful person and that I’m part of all the problems in the world. It is a never-ending struggle for me. I could probably write a book about the problems with many American churches and much modern Christian thought, but the truth is, I’m still trying to figure out how to truly be a follower of Christ myself and grasp what that means. There seems to be such a disconnect with what we read in the book of Acts about the early church and 21st century American culture. It is so hard for me to really truly love, and really truly have faith and not depend on my own ability. How often am I willing to share everything I have and truly care for the strangers I come in contact with everyday? How much of my thought is dominated by temporal things like money and my time and my satisfaction? Just how many material things am I attached to? The only hope for all of us is the grace and love of Jesus Christ. We have to realize that we are our worst enemies because we insist on rejecting our Creator. The establishments of men are hopelessly flawed simply because humans are flawed. As a follower of Christ, I believe I’ve been given the key to this life, yet I don’t use it. I pray that I can learn to use it everyday. The politics and systems of this world are here today and gone tomorrow. The American light blinks success and wealth in our eyes and our priorities are all mixed up. No matter what the preacher-man says, it feels as though we live in a vacant shadow of a true faith because it was interwoven into the culture of a material world and are just beginning the search to find the real thing once again.

Does anyone else ever feel this way? Does it seem like Christianity in America has been given this attractive sales pitch in such a way that we feel ok being Christians and just fitting it in to our normal lives, but not being drastically different people. Or maybe working Christianity into our lifestyle rather than our lifestyle being totally changed by Christ. This seems to be my struggle anyway. When I sit down and read the Gospels and the teachings of Christ, I am overwhelmed with how striking Christ was and how counterintuitive what he taught is to human nature. The truth of it is, following Christ is not easy at all to me, and the only way to do it is to allow yourself to be fully changed by Christ and let that which does not matter truly slide. Otherwise, you will always to be trying to live out a teaching which is completely impossible to do by yourself, and empty without true change.

With all of that said, I do still believe it is good to debate and analyze and discuss problems so we may be aware and informed and helpful. The danger is in blaming everyone else for everything and forgetting about your own life or your own attitude or the way in which you help others or do not help others. The answer is not in a church or a government or anything set up by men. The answer is in Christ working through His followers to love and transform individual people. This is surely where the only change that really matters must lie.