·Then they came...·
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent,
I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
This is one of the many versions of a poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984). He was a Lutheran pastor in Germany who was eventually imprisoned in a couple different concentration camps. The poem is specifically about The Holocaust but it can be applied to many different situations.
Recently there has been a little something going on in the US. These two guys are debating and campaigning and they're trying to get your vote so that they can become the leader of our country. Perhaps you've heard this.
Anyway, if you ask people what the most important issue is in our country today, you'll get one of a few answers. The economy, gas prices, health care, and the war in Iraq. These 4 things are seemingly the most important issues. Some of you might have noticed that there was something missing from the list. If you did notice, you're very correct. That little abortion issue is missing.
The reason I bring this up is because abortion was not talked about in the latest presidential debate. It seems that being able to afford a mortgage or to drive your car to grandma's house without taking out another loan is more important than the abortion holocaust. Every single day people who have been deemed undesirable are being ripped from their mother's wombs and placed in zip-lock bags full of chlorine. It's far beyond sickening. And all the presidential hopefuls care to talk about is the economy?
Let's add another verse or two.
When they came for the unborn,
I remained silent,
I had already been born.When I was old and crippled and "undesirable",
there was no one left to speak out.
I apologize for butchering the cadence of the poem but I think my point is clear. We need to watch what is happening to our next generation. The babies who are not being killed are growing up and being indoctrinated to believe that it's OK to kill someone that they don't want around, namely YOU, when you are old and no longer useful.
The murder of millions happened in the 30's and 40's and it's happening again.
Labels: abortion
Written by Gage Herrmann at 7:55 PM |
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·Twitter and a Psychology Test·
Phew. I just took a pretty difficult 50 question test in psychology. I'm really hoping (praying) I did well on it. The last one I took I got a C on. That's not good for my so far A+ record. Luckily Shaina, my wife, is really interested in psychology and she'll be able to help me with it.
I got a Twitter account today! I got it for a few reasons. Facebook has been weird lately. "The new Facebook" is not very impressive and has not been working well with my browser of choice, Flock. So, I'm switching my status updates to Twitter. It's faster, less complicated and thus much less of a hassle.
Speaking of hassles; small every day hassles are one of the main causes of stress. Learned that in psychology class...
Written by Gage Herrmann at 4:40 PM |
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·Holiness·
I am going to be reading (after I finish John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress) a book by R.C. Sproul that I hear is REALLY REALLY great. It's called The Holiness of God. It sounds like it's going to be about God's perfect measure of righteousness that is the standard He holds us to, and how He is completely just in punishing us for our sins.
I love books about theology. The last book I read was a book by Ted Kluck and Kevin DeYoung entitled Why We're Not Emergent (by two guys who should be). It was enlightening, entertaining
and, despite its title, actually made me a little more sympathetic toward the whole emergent movement. In case you have no idea what the emergent movement is, this conversation (and part 2) epitomizes everything that I believe is wrong with the Emergent movement. I enjoyed the book and I'd recommend it to any Christian.
Now back to the original subject. For the past few months I've been in thinking a lot about what it means to present myself blameless before Almighty God. It's impossible for us to be sinless of course but we are to try to be as holy as possible as long as we do it all in genuine 1 Cor 13 love.
For as long as I can remember I have been addicted to movies. Now, I'm not one to say that movies are inherently sinful to watch (I also wouldn't say that they aren't either, some of them anyway), but I believe that they have been a sin for me many times in the past and hopefully not in the future. I have really been convicted about this particular thing and because of this new conviction I have deprived myself of many movies that I desperately wanted to see this summer. I still have not seen and will not see Indy 4 and The Dark Knight. It might sound really crazy but it is taking a lot out of me to not go and see those two. I actually regret having seen Iron Man and The Hulk (partially because The Hulk stunk). I think I'll see the new Star Wars one though. It's rated PG and I know Star Wars characters aren't going to use any blasphemy so I feel OK about seeing that one; that and Kung-Fu Panda. I may see that too.
Wall-E is one I'll actually be buying when it comes out. I cant wait to watch it with Zoe when she is old enough to appreciate it.
Also, I just can't get enough of the good Disney films. Nearly everything (Pixar co-labs included) from The Little Mermaid to today has been excellent. And, all of the old classics blow me away too. They're beautiful.
Well, see what I mean? Addicted to movies. I could go on for days about them but I'll spare you. Don't even get me started talking about Lord of the Rings.
Labels: emergent church, holiness, movies
Written by Gage Herrmann at 6:28 PM |
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·A word about the title·
The title of this, my new blog is currently Bean Greens. Strange title yes, but I can't think of anything else right now.
My wife Shaina will tell you that I like very much to mess around with words. Here are a few examples:
-Grean Beens
-Brean Geens
-Greens Bean
Anywhom, welcome to my temporarily titled blog about what IS and what IS NOT Biblical Christianity.
Written by Gage Herrmann at 4:14 PM |
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