Aug 27, 2010

Author: More teens becoming 'fake' Christians - CNN.com

 

Author: More teens becoming 'fake' Christians - CNN.com

Wow!!

If this is about one of the truest things I have read in a loooong time.

If you are a teenager or a parent you should def read this. As Christians we need to understand this and get it together…and quickly

 

Author: More teens becoming 'fake' Christians - CNN.com

Perfect Plan...

When I was much younger I always dreamt of the day that I would find that special guy that seems as if they were made specifically for me. Going away to college I just knew in my heart that he would be here for me waiting with open arms and a bouquet of flowers...lol yes I know. CRAZY!!
You cant blame me for wanting to have someone love me (other than my extra loving family) and want me for me. Love to me and/or being in love is far from fiction. I know its there and I know that someday I will feel it like no other. Whenever that day comes around I just know that it will be remembered forever especially with me having dealt with crap boyfriends.
Tonight just hanging out with some friends and there being absolutely no funny business made me realize that there is still so much time left for me to find that. I just need to live my life and wait.
Perfect plan :)

Aug 26, 2010

After the Storm...Is Sometimes Another Storm

I just had to talk about something that has constantly been bugging me for weeks before I even made my trip out here to Denton...and that is faith.
Like I've stated before I was entirely content with my life and with that I also mean the way I was living my religion. I evangelized, studied, went to church, and everything was just so strong. There was absolutely nothing that could make my faith waiver or even make me think of my faith wavering. I'd built a nice little wall around me that instantly denied access to anything (and anyone) that came against me or my Father.
To get to that point took quite a lot of work and caused so much shifting between me and other people. Yes I understand that the road of Christianity is no where near being easy, but I did love how I finally felt like I was living right.
Now that I'm away from the ordinary I have to say that I feel like a one woman army. Not necessarily alone as in I feel as if I don't have God with me, but like me having no back-up in certain areas.
I have prayed for strength numerous times before I got here because I do not want to backslide or lose myself over the things out here in the real world. I want to stay covered. But it's so hard feeling as if I'm not "exposed"...
Maybe I'm just freaking out because the few friends I do have here aren't exactly the most religious and I'm used to be surrounded with people who love God.
All I can do is continue to pray. Pray and keep my faith strong as my will to get through college without losing the God in me.

First Day!!

My first day of college is almost over seeing that I only have one more class until I'm done for the day.
For the past couple of days I have met a few good people and gotten a lot more accustomed to a lot of the changes that came with the territory.
There's so much to say but I'm not the best to write how I feel in a "journal" type manner. Its...weird lol
Last night we had the Mean Green Fling after convocation and it was not really all that great. Making friends was a def negative lol Or at least it seems like it. Afterwards though is when all the real fun started. Made some random friends which is a good thing...maybe. Idk.
I'm about to start rambling so I'll just end this right here.

Aug 21, 2010

What Could Fear Possibly Be...?

I must be so honest and say that I am a tad bit afraid of being left at school tomorrow. There have been numerous times in my life where I have had to do something that scared me but...this?? Idk what this is. I am extremely happy and sort of excited. Then there's that feeling that I just cant put my finger on.

Today was my last day and I swear it doesn't feel like enough.

Aug 19, 2010

Stone Blind and Out of His Mind Is What He's Got To Be...

Today I saw a guy that I used to have this huge amount of feelings for (careful not to say love) and it was surely unexpected. With him being away at school disliking him was quite easy to do. All I had to do was think of every simple minded and potentially hurtful word he'd ever uttered...then I was so free of this emotional bond. Seeing him today just made me realize how much I did...or do :/...like him. That of course made me mad because being how I am I just despise when people go for people that they shouldn't be with or cant be with. In this case I guess its safe to just say that I shouldn't be with him. He's changed a great amount and that amount has put him in a category of a "loser".
When things like this happen I just can't help but think "What in God's name was I thinking?" lol But people change and that was indeed the case.
Still...dealing with seeing an ex is something weird. Def in a category of its own. Especially when all you wanna do is remind them of how much damage they ,at the moment, caused in your life. Thankfully I'm a pretty strong person.
Beautiful thing strength is.

Aug 18, 2010

Movie Talk: Study: Superheroes Might Not Be Such Super Role Models

This is so true…younger generations have got many obstacles to overcome…

Movie Talk: Study: Superheroes Might Not Be Such Super Role Models

Everyone seems to be excited to be going off to college and have this freedom that is beyond what they've ever experienced. With me yes I am excited but at the same time I have become very content with my life and what I have been learning, living. and becoming.
Is that why I am not so excited about college as others? I do want my college education because I plan on going so far but there is just something that is irking me.
Maybe its just some scheme that Satan is trying to pull on me. Making me doubt and worry...
Just thinking that makes me want to shake this feeling.
I learned something tonight in church...
I am anointed and when I have that inner confidence I will know that everything is well with me.
I can not and will not get the same outcomes as those who do not have this anointing over their lives.

lol Its funny how God comes into you and helps you feel so much better about something in such a short amount of time. With the way he works there are times when all you can do is smile.

Aug 15, 2010

There's a voice that cries out in the silence,

searching for heart that will love him,
longing for child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all
And there's a God that walks over the earth,
he's searching for heart that is desperate,
And longing for child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all
And he says, love me, love me with your whole heart
he wants it all today
serve me, serve me with your life now
he wants it all today
bow down, let go of your idols
he wants it all today (x3)
He wants it all

The above is an exerpt from this song that has literally been on repeat in my head. It touches my heart and also a reminder that I need to let go of wordly things and cling to God.

Hopefully it can be one for you also :)

Aug 14, 2010

There Is No One Else Like My Daddy...I Thank Him For Loving Me

Today I went out and about with my daddy to pick up a few more things for college. Shopping is shopping but when you go to get undergarments with your father I swear shopping gains a whole new meaning!! His jokes and SUPER honest opinions on things makes me realize just how much alike we are.
If I had to ever admit to regretting anything in the few years I have lived I would have to say that it would be me not ever appreciating, respecting, or loving my daddy enough. Sure I do love him more than sooo many things in life but to be honest its not shown as best as it could be.
A little while ago I was helping him look through boxes in his office attempting to find only God knows what lol and I was sitting there thinking "Here's a great man that God has blessed me with. I have taken him for granted on so many levels." It is so true. Now here I am about to leave home in about a week...how can I ever gain back the past years to let him know that I love him and that yes I do truly appreciate everything you've done...The simple fact is...that I cant.
Right now just thinking of how he must feel that I haven't been the best daughter and how I don't spend much time with him has me bawling. From time to time he has always been there in every situation, everything financially, everything spiritual, and just everything dealing with my family. I couldn't say that I've ever met a man so strong in faith and so hardworking. Cant say that I ever will meet anyone that could steal that title from him.
I will make a vow to myself to make an effort to strengthen our father daughter relationship. No matter what. Before anymore time is wasted he will know how much I care and how I think of him as a solid rock in my life. Since I've been a little girl I've always wanted to be like my daddy and obtain the qualities that he has seemed to effortlessly contain in his heart. Especially his happiness. Of many things in this world he has to be one of the few that make me genuinely joyful. In my heart I yearn for him to feel the same.


Hold your hand much bigger
Never wanted mine to grow
So I could always feel perfect
Inside your palms just so
No one loves me just like you do
No one knows me just like you do
No one can compare
To the way my eyes fit in yours
You'll always be my father
And I'll always be your joy
~Chrisette Michelle

Aug 9, 2010

"Jesus, Judas, and Brutus"
Uhh...que? I already didn't like Jay-Z but that just really did it for me.
Don't compare my Lord to the greatest liars/backstabbers

Aug 6, 2010

Being a Christian...With Ink

Lately I have been thinking of different ways to evangelize. Of course there's the normal (not to mention cliche) way of going up to people and doing a "Way of the Master" on them. But being a teenager that has to be able to relate to those who are young ,in age as well as faith, I needed something easily understood.
Talking to a few guys at the lunch table a few months ago the question came up asking if getting a tattoo as a Christian was wrong.
Now everyone goes directly to “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.”  Leviticus 19:28 — New American Standard.
What people fail to realize with each piece of literature there is always one rule that should never be broken. READ EVERYTHING BEFORE AND AFTER!! Or in other words DO NOT pick and choose what you want from the piece of work and attempt to enforce it based on that part alone. Doing that is a very dangerous thing seeing that it could possibly change the meaning of just about anything. With something as beautiful as the Bible there should not be one reason why we shouldn't take it for what it is in its wholeness. You will never get the real meaning of anything by zeroing in on one scripture and not what was written along with it. In this case this is what was said:
26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying. 27 You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard. 28 ‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD. 29 ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. 30 ‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the LORD. 31 ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.


Leviticus 19:26–31 — New American Standard
 
Basically God is talking to his covenant people telling them to stay away from certain religious practices of surrounding groups. Of those he names eating bloody meat, fortune telling, certain hair cuts related to the priests of false cults, cutting or marking the body for dead relatives, cultic prostitution and consulting psychics. All things that would cause you to stray from God and towards false lower case g gods. Now it does say "tattoo marks" but this is where the research that in my opinion everyone should partake in comes in. Back in that time those marks were not the same as what we call tattoos nor were they used in the same manner. In our day and age tattoos are basically body decorations such as body piercings, nail polish, make up, etc. At that time people got these "tattoo marks" were wanting to connect with cultic religious practices such as honoring the dead. The reason alone of these cultic followers receiving the marks on their bodies was a disgrace to God as Leviticus 19 states in its many verses. But in order to understand just why God spoke against it there must be even more research about these so called tattoos. Modern tattoos are received by having a needle break the top layer of skin and ink place right below it. When it heals whatever piece of art you chose will show up in that place. The marks in Leviticus were obtained by deep gashes made on the face, arms, legs and wherever else to show respect for the dead or to praise the leader of whatever cult the person was attempting to be apart of.
If you were to read that passage in Hebrew you would notice that the word "qa aqa" is used and it is the only time it is used in the Bible. Due to many things in the Bible having to be translated from Hebrew to other languages ,that either did not have that word or had many words with the same meaning, some words had to be substituted for another due to there not being a direct translation. The word tattoo in our English Bible is the word "qa aqa" which in Hebrew means literally "to cut". If we take it in the context of the passage we can safely believe that those words indicate a cutting that leaves behind a physical imprinted mark. Like said earlier this could vary from many things such as branding, scarring, cutting, or inlaying ink into the skin. Whichever way it was done we are sure of one thing for certain and that is that they were obtained for cultic worship. The reason God placed what could be called a prohibition against "qa aqa" was only to keep those people from becoming apart of the cultic worship.
The practice of making deep gashes on the face and arms and legs, in time of bereavement, was universal among the heathen, and it was deemed a becoming mark of respect for the dead, as well as a sort of propitiatory offering to the deities who presided over death and the grave. The Jews learned this custom in Egypt, and though weaned from it, relapsed in a later and degenerate age into this old superstition (Is 15:2; Je 16:6; 41:5). “nor print any marks upon you” (v:28 )—by tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It it probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely forbidden.
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. (Le 19:28). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

“Make any cuttings in your flesh” (v:28): the reference here is to the practice of making deep gashes in the skin while mourning the death of a relative. This was done to provide life blood for the spirit of the dead person rather than to express sorrow. On account of the dead: as indicated above, this describes the purpose of all the actions in verse 27 as well as verse 28.

Péter-Contesse, R., & Ellington. (1992). A handbook on Leviticus. UBS handbooks; Helps for translating (Page 296). New York: United Bible Societies.

Things we do now such as wearing certain clothing, piercings, wearing make up, cutting our hair, dying it, plastic surgery and so on are all things we do to alter our appearance. If you want to seem a certain way or express that you are a lover of something you find a way to express that. In most cases you perform an alteration of some form and it ends up having to do with your body. When this is done it is simply looked upon as someone exerting self expression although almost all of those things once held the belief that they were bound to false religions. Honestly do you cut your hair, get braces, receive lasik laser surgery, and cut your nails to defile your body and disrespect God? People do not modify their looks to disrespect God or defile the temple he created especially if they do it honoring His word. These sometimes daily tasks have become nothing but a way of expression. One must also remember that the New Testament believers are not bound by the Old Testament laws. We do not need those laws to gain or even regain a relationship with God. If those laws were to be enforced we would have to uphold many laws such as not wearing clothing made of different fabrics, eating shellfish, and certain hairstyles.
The Apostle Paul gives us an reminder that the Old Testament was designed to lead us towards Jesus, and since Jesus was crucified for our sins we are no longer bound under that law. In order to have a strong relationship with God we must have trust in Jesus' death, and not in those previous laws.

I personally believe that you can receive a tattoo and still hold Jesus in your heart. Depending on what the tattoo depicts and where you place it on your body can also help you decided whether or not God would approve. Surely getting pagan symbols and any other object or saying that is disrespectful to God is a horrid choice and may in fact make your tattoo become one that could fall under the category of what the Old Testament speaks out on. Although we aren't bound by those laws there should always be a level of respect that you have for yourself and what you do with the body God has given you.

A tattoo can become a evaligising tool and help you reach out to people. It can also be the permanent sign that you are with God and a constant reminder that he is with you.
If you still have doubts then simply do not get one. If you plan on going through with receiving a tattoo, please remember to:
Make sure what you get brings God glory
Make sure it will not bring you shame in the future
Make sure you will be able to have the support of your parents as going against their wishes would be defying God.

Hopefully this has helped you see the possibilities on this subject.

God Bless,

Allison Jones