Healthy Rebellion???

[sage]

healthyrebellion.blogspot.com/

[Rob W. Case]

To whomever this may concern.....

I hope you don't mind, but I went in and changed the title from "share" to the title of the link you are referring to. Otherwise, readers might see the title and think it is about sharing, and not about the content you provided.

At any rate....

I have read the articles you linked at on my website, and there are a few points that I feel, need to be addressed.


The underlying theme of the article you linked to is, "I reject "tradition." I am a "free-thinker" who can detatch from the commonalities of the culture that surrounds me, and in that, I can essentially, "be my own god."

The dramatic emotion embedded within the article gives the argument an added dimension, yet the root of the idea is a concept that has existed since the beginning of man.

Genesis 3:5
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Isaiah 14:14
'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

Ezekiel 28:2
"Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your heart is lifted up And you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas'; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God--

(Emphasis mine)

It is one thing to have a healthy curiosity regarding matters of God and matters of faith. In fact, even the Bible encourages critical thinking.

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 4:2
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

One of the greatest misconceptions of Christianity is that we are dumb, ignorant masses that blindly "follow the leader," meaning a pastor, a priest (if we belong to a religion), or what have you. Such is further from the truth.

The truth is, especially in my case, is that I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. There is a stark difference between having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and belonging to an organized religion. With Christ in my heart, we interact with each other. If I need to know something, and ask him for the information, he will provide it. For example, every time God puts something in my heart, and if someone else distracts me before I end up writing it down, I sometimes lose the information. I then ask the Lord to return the thought to my mind, and shortly after I ask, he brings the thought back to the surface, where I can write it down and use it for his glory.

Much of the article I cannot personally relate to because I do not belong to an organized religion. The only way I can connect to the article is by the testimonies of those who are trying to disconnect from their organized religion, using the very same argument you presented in the link that you provided.

For example, one person I know with a Roman Catholic background talked to me in the same way your article was written. This person saw anything Godly as nothing more than a fear mechanism brought about by nothing more than tradition, being rooted in absolutely nothing. When I talked about Bible prophecy, and how alive and vibrant it is, citing facts, history, dates, and what the Bible predicted, this individual stopped cold. The facts on my end, and the lack of knowledge of this person on the other end deadened this person's argument. You see, when some people who belong to organized religions (or once belonged to organized religions) are faced with questions like these, they have nothing to fall back on, since they only know what they have been told, never having to think beyond that. They have never experienced or interacted with the Lord, or had a change in their hearts due to Him working on them. And so, they fall away completely, having at best a slight awareness that God exists somewhere in the background, or at worst, don't believe in Him at all.


The Tradition Aspect:
The article states as follows......

Feasts of my father's fathers and mother's mothers. Anything else? Ya. Treasured ideals. Iron-clad, smooth and starched ideals that swaddle and soothe. I'm not sure when the realization kicked in but at some point I just knew I was not stuck holding anyone's ball...not my parent's or any other well-meaning adult who influenced me as a youth. At the same time, there is something to be said for their gift - it is my starting point.

There are two things that can be said about the content in that statement. One is wanting change for the sake of change, and the other is rejecting anything and eveything that is sound, but is dressed up as rejecting the past, and becoming more "progressive". We live in interesting times. In fact, I am going to let you in on a little secret. There is absolutely nothing in the progressive movement that is in fact progressive in its true meaning. The progressive movement is simply a return to the old ways of Monarchial rule, yet it disguises itself as moving forward. What do I mean? The "progressive" movement was and is a movement promoted and funded by multi-billionaires and millionaires who seek to restrict capitalism only to themselves and those who cooperate with them and have you believing certain things so that you will basically do their bidding, as a willfull slave.

A-moral capitalists use socialism to do this, and it begins with a rejection of God and a growing faith in Government. And yet in order to accomplish this, they have to apply the remnants of the "Age of Enlightenment" from the 18th century to do this. In fact, it can be accurately said that the Devil never changes his tactics because they still work. When I read the article about being your own God, it is right out of the Age of Enlightenment. In fact, it is this movement that derailed Charles Darwin's faith and Karl Marx's faith, caused them to rebel, and us adopting those systems so that we could have the system that your article speaks of.

The modern atheist movement, the secular humanist movement, are all rooted in the age of enlightenment, which was a movement that openly rejected God, and tried to compete with him. It's interesting. The Bible talks about how plain the truth is, and yet the competition can make something that is plain and wrong sound complicated and more intellectual when it really isn't. But that's another topic for another time.

Yet when a person receives Christ as their savior, God works with their heart. When we support or fight for something, there is order and structure to it.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

When you reject what is right, orderly, and structured you cause chaos, and disorder. And the world, especially the United States (through those who run it) is an everyday reminder of this truth.