Tending the Temple Daily

  I was just listening to Outside The Camp's latest video. (I will for sure put the link at the end by my name.) Anyhow, Andrew is street preaching in this video. He has a table with a sign, along with his video equipment.  The sign reads: Christians should not eat swine. He is set up in a high foot traffic area, enticing folks to engage in the conversation.  And several people did engage.  What I noticed right away was that if he spoke with 10 people who claimed to be Christians,  each of the 10 had a different doctrine they followed. Each had a different understanding of the very same Scriptures that were being discussed. How can that be?  Why are the words in the Bible up for personal interpretation? We do not approach writings by other authors in that manner. We don't have multiple interpretations of Hemmingway, Steinbeck,  Dickens, or Tolstoy.  We do our best to understand what that author is communicating to us. Words matter, they have finit...

  One cannot turn on any news website or social media without seeing the warning that war is imminent.  Mostly, as Americans, we can put these threats of war out of our minds, and continue our day. Why? Well, war has not been at our front door since the American Civil War. War is continuously happening,  just somewhere else on the earth.  Unless you've served in the military,  it's likely, as an American, you don't give much thought to the devastation of war. How many innocent people die or are maimed? How many people are moved from their homes and families? How many people's lives are upended because someone with power wants war? Our mainstream media will not report accurately on war, it feels more like propaganda. Independent journalists who do show us the reality are quickly silenced. We are only shown what those people in power want us to see. Keeping us ignorant is a powerful tool.  Who exactly are these powerful people who want war? We can name the wo...