So, I just have a million and one things going on in my head. It is hard to keep them all straight, so I figured I would try to organize them enough to put them onto paper. I don't know how well that is going to work. I have been so busy with all my school work, work, meetings, classes, church, and then the occasional social life. Well, here goes an attempt of organization...
Church - we are starting this new section on media and how it affects our lives. The more and more I have been thinking about it, we cannot get away from media. It surrounds our lives even when we are not looking for it. We see billboards when driving, advertisements on the radio and the tv, movies, ipods, internet on your phone and the list honestly goes on forever. This media affects us. It is either positively or negatively. It can't not affect us. So how do we deal with this media overload? Do we live in a bubble and listen to just the "Christian" music and watch only "Christian" tv shows? Or do we immerse ourselves in it and just say that it is all apart of life? I think that those are the two extremes, but where is the balance. It seems to be a fine line and is becoming finer and finer the more media consumes our lives. There will be more of this as time goes on and I do more searching.....
Basics - what are they and do we need them? What is sin? What is truth? What does the Bible say about homosexuality, relationships, media, healthy living, praying, going to church? Why do I need to pray and who am I praying to? Why do I feel like I am praying to the ceiling? Does anyone hear me? There are all questions that I have asked myself growing up in the church. But as I am getting older (19 isn't really old...) I am understanding that these are the basics of my faith. Once I could answer these and understand these questions, I took my faith as my own and really could live it out. Today's generation of kids/youth that have grown up in the church, don't really know the answers to these. They are lost and confused. So to "fix" that they look to the world and culture to answer it. This is causing so so many problems in the church. They are supposed to be setting the example of Christ Living and yet they are not doing so because they haven't been properly taught. We, I, as a Christian, should have that responsibility of helping them understand the basics of our faith and how to live it out. It really breaks my heart hearing about kids in my youth group that are not against homosexuality and abortion. They don't have a problem with it. This is shedding a new light on the next generation, the leaders of the church, that I am not sure represents Christ the way that he would want to be represented.
So, I am not sure if that is really understandable, but if you could follow it... kudos to you! :) I have been thinking about this a lot and I feel like God has been showing me and teaching me a lot and there is always more to come....
