The American Dream Stolen

It is true! The American Dream has been stolen and replaced by one of success, fortune and fame. It is not only true about the American society as a whole but it is also true in the Church.

It seems everyone is dreaming of a bigger home, a faster car, more powerful ipod, iphone, or laptop. It seems that success is measured by the clothes one wears, the car one drives or the home or area one lives in.

Let's look at what the founding fathers of the United States saw as measurements of success.

From the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The United States Constitution was written to protect the people from their government taking away those rights.

The American Dream is really about being free and having the security that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness protected.

The American Dream is not found in a bigger home, a faster car or even wealth. Our founding father's knew that a home can burn to the ground, wealth can disappear over night and those can be replaced but freedom true freedom is much more valuable than any material thing.

Today we find mega-churches and other church organizations preaching a wealth and health message instead about the freedom found in Jesus Christ. I believe God is not against good health or even wealth but He detests a life that is focused and measured in those.

I am reading a book by David Platt that encourages us to "Take back your faith from the American Dream". The book is called, "Radical" and is all about Jesus teaching about what it means to follow Him. I encourage you to get this book and read it with an open mind. Let God show you where in your own life you have abandoned Jesus idea of what being His follower is all about. Then if you are Radical enough make the changes to become His disciple.

WARNING!!!! To be a follower of Jesus will mean buying completely into His teachings and selling out to His way of life.

David Platt is the pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, which is a 4,000 member congregation so I think he knows what it means to get caught up in the thrill of seeing numbers as success.

3 No Nos in America

I am writing this post in response to something I heard in a sermon.

If you live in America today and consider yourself a Christian there are many things that people who are not Christian think you should not get involved in. Some believe that Christians are intolerant and self-righteous when they take a stand on things. They say Christians are hypocrites when they sin and in many cases they are. I believe these things are come from a misunderstanding of what a Christian is. In the next paragraph is my definition of a Christian or at least how I understand my relationship to God.

A Christian is a follower of the one who is known in history as Jesus of Nazareth and the one they believe is the Christ the savior of the world. They believe He was the son of God and that through His death they are forgiven and through His resurrection they have hope of being raised from the dead some time in the future.

The story of Jesus is not a new one because there have been many such stories about life, death and resurrection but none of the other stories involve the Creator coming to stand in man's place for the sins they have committed. There is no God like that in all of the other stories.

A follower of Jesus is one who knows they are not perfect and that they will still commit sin in some way even after accepting Jesus as their savior. They see the sins of others through that lens and so a true follower of Jesus does not make judgment of others even though they may voice opposition to their sin. A true Follower of Jesus is tolerant of other people even though they may not be tolerant of their behavior. They know that they are not that much different than them. A true follower of Jesus knows that they stand equally before the Creator God and Judge of the world but that because they have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus when it comes to sentencing He shows to the Judge His wounds to show that the debt has been paid in full. A true follower of Jesus knows that they are no more righteous than anyone else and they know that any righteousness granted to them is given by the Creator.

What are the Three No Nos in America? They are three areas of life that other people say Christians have no right to voice an opinion on. The three areas are:

1) Criticism of the religion of Evolution. Make no mistake about it Evolution is a religion. It is the belief that man is subject to no one and that nature is the God of the universe. If one who believes they are really educated who just apply the ability to think freely that God gave them they would have to admit it takes more faith to believe life just spontaneously came into being. I believe that anyone who believes in Evolution is being purposely ignorant of nature because they do not want to acknowledge the possibility of a Creator because they would have to then submit to that God.

2) Criticism of the Homosexual life style and the belief that people involved in those life styles were not born that way and can choose to change.

3) Criticism of Abortion. Believing that abortion is the taking of a human life is offensive to some because they assume that it is a condemnation of the person who has had an abortion. It never ceases to amaze me that the very people who are against the death penalty in America are the biggest supporters of abortion. Check out the abortion facts and Rick's Pro-Life Blog.

I am going to state my beliefs about the 3 No Nos.

1) Evolution has been shoved down the throats of young school children as fact. It is a LIE!

2) The Homosexual life style is wrong and people involved in it are living a LIE!

3) Getting an Abortion is the ending a human life and it is all based on a LIE!

Those who really know me would probably say that I am pretty tolerant of others and accepting of them. Even though I believe the world has been lied to about the 3 No Nos I believe that God desires to heal the wounds caused by the belief in them. I am in no way better than people who believe evolution is fact, that homosexual life styles are natural and that having an abortion is nothing more than removing tissue matter from a woman's body. The only thing I have going for me that they currently do not and that is Jesus will step between me and the Judge when my judgment day comes.

Usually I encourage people to leave a comment about how they were encouraged by a post but this time I invite any criticism one might have concerning this post. Just be aware that as a follower of Jesus I am set in my ways because you see God asks us to conform His standards not the worlds. Giving in to the 3 No Nos is the world's standard and I will not conform to it.