Mel Gibson

So this may be overdue, but I wanted to comment on the whole Mel Gibson escapade. He made some pretty strong anti-Jewish ("Semitic" technically refers to Arabic people as well) comments after being pulled over drunk. As a result, a bunch of Hollywood has disowned him, he is losing business opportunities, and many have refused to forgive him in any way.

Here's my first problem with the whole thing: he was drunk. He was drunk, for goodness sake! His blood alcohol level was .12 at the police station, meaning he was a lot higher when he got in his car in the first place. Now, that's no excuse for what was said, but anyone who has been around anyone else who is drunk knows that *gasp* alcohol impairs your ability to reason. Emotions take over and things are said that aren't meant.

I think a more important issue at hand, though, is the self-righteous standard our culture has of public conduct, while simultaneously declaring "to each his own" - what's right for you is right for you. We leap at the first sign of corporate mistakes, but are afraid to say homosexuality is immoral. We condemn the tobacco industry, yet enact laws to keep pornography legal. We ridicule McDonald's for "making" us fat, yet use profanity in public without shame. We declare a celebrity dead because of a drunken rant, yet can't wait to hear the new gossip on celebrity divorces or extra-marital affairs. Our societal standards are upside down!

Now if Gibson had not apologized, my opinion would have been different. Yet, he gave a very humble and thorough apology. Those who are refusing to forgive him are bringing judgment on themselves. More importantly, though, our society is bringing judgment to itself in its distortion of true ethics, trading in the fight against true evil for the fight against fake evil.

What is this?

What the heck is this? Please tell us your thoughts.

My Nation

I've just created a new nation. I learned of this from Jordan, so I named my country in honor of him. He learned about this from Laura, but didn't name his country after her. That's probably because he hates women.

Keep track of my people here:
http://www.nationstates.net/jordan_raney

Nonunconditional Forgiveness

Forgiveness is an important part of life. Without it, no one could ever move on from anything, nor could peace ever exist. But I find something troubling that many people - Christians and not - hold to, that being unconditional forgiveness.

The bible does not command us to forgive unconditionally. It says we are to forgive just as God forgives us. In fact, is goes so far as to say if we won't forgive, God won't forgive us. So we see a direct correlation between our acts of forgiveness and God's.

Now God is just, and punishment for sin is required. That's why Christ came to die. Christ's sacrifice pays for the sins of those who believe in him and repent. Repentance is nothing more than the mental recognition of wrongdoing, coupled with a heart decision to turn away from it. Belief in Christ serves as an attitude of repentance, because it decries our sinful nature and declares our utter depravity before God. Faith in not faith if it is not accompanied with repentance.

Thus, in the general sense, we as Christians have repented from all of our sins. To say that God will not, in the end, forgive us of every little sin we haven't said sorry for is legalistic gibberish. With the Holy Spirit in us, the bible says we can't go on sinning. Thus, no one who gets to heaven hasn't repented from all of their sins, because God will not allow it, and his Holy Spirit brings our hearts to conviction and repentance in the end for any sins we have not been repentant of. Our immediate and open confession of those sins to God protects us from further estrangement from him, which is to our benefit, even though for the believer all will be reconciled in the end because our faith serves as a catch all for repentance. Repenting now prevents the need for a harder (but required because we have faith) repentance later.

Now for us as individuals, we are not commanded to forgive everyone for everything they do regardless of the situation. In fact, to forgive when no repentance is shown is to be approving of the sin and denying its significance, thus rebelling against God’s moral code and subsequently Him. Christ forgave those who came to him in faith, but what about the pharisees? They were not forgiven, because they would not repent.

How did Christ treat the woman who was caught in adultery, who was feeling the full weight of her sin by public ridicule? He told her that her sins were forgiven, saying, “go and sin no more.” How did Christ treat the man on the cross next to him who cried out to him, acknowledging his sins? He told him, “today, you will be with me in paradise.” How did he treat the other criminal who mocked him? He was not forgiven.

We are to forgive just as in Christ God forgave us, leaving vengeance up to God. This means we must be quick to forgive when repentance in shown, and slow to forgive when a lack of repentance is clear, leaving room for God’s wrath. Our forgiveness, when wrongfully used, is not much different than taking revenge: both get in the way of God’s wrath

This is God’s grace: to unconditionally forgive when forgiveness is sought, and to bring judgment to the unrepentant. The Battle Hymn of the Republic has a line that says, “as ye deal with My contemnors, so with you My grace shall deal.” God’s grace brings forgiveness and righteousness, and so should our grace bring reconciliation and repentance.

Badgers must die

I was watching Animal Planet last night as I flipped through channels, and there was a special on badgers. The show talked about how "humans persecuted badgers" over the centuries. Being as this was the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time, I would like to call for the brutal murder of all badgers. Hang them, torture them... I don't really care. Just persecute the crap out of them, then kill them. That will make me very happy. Thank you.