Luke 6:38 says – ‘Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Being a tightwad is NOT a virtue. And, sorry, we can’t mask it as frugality. So what’s wrong with a miserly approach to life, you may ask?

At the root of this sin, is unbelief in the generous, bountiful, and create(ive) nature of the Living, Triune God. We love to doubt by thinking that the whole system is a zero-sum game; that there is only so much to go around, and furthermore if we don’t get a lock on ours someone else will grab it.

God is a giving God. Because He is, we who love Him are learning to be like Him in generosity, sacrifice, and lavish love toward others.

There was a man,
some thought him mad;
the more he gave,
the more he had.
- John Bunyan

So, I suppose I should clarify a few things from my post on vampire fiction (thanks for the feedback - scroll to the bottom if you want to get straight to the vampires). But I want to be careful because this will inevitably open up more points that I’ll want to address, and that leads to more… well, I get in trouble when I blog too much!

First, would you agree that reformation is all about getting our priorities straight = worship? We are all worshipers: we all put our time, resources, energies, and thoughts somewhere. So where are they going? When we worship the Triune God of all creation (when we sacrifice our time, resources, energies, and thoughts to Him by living for His glory) we find that His promise is true - we become like Him and share in His eternal life. When we worship our own devices (spending our time, resources, energies, and thoughts on them) we find that His Word is true - we become as worthless and dead as those idols. Can we trust His ways?

Now because of depravity we have some messed up, muddled ways - our ways that are hard to break. In fact, they are impossible to break without the Savior Jesus Christ and His Spirit of renewal. So we have these muddled ways and God is calling us out of them, right? It’s a lot like eating right. If you’re accustomed to eating junk food all the time, you really don’t have an appetite for good, healthy food. But to give in to your appetites and cravings… it will be the death of you.

So my premise, and I think you’ll agree, is that we have some messed up appetites in the psyche of our current culture. But there’s hope because the good news of a Savior, Jesus Christ offers us a pathway out. But we have to trust Him and not our own understanding to deliver us. As I work with people, especially young people I see, “there is something deeply attractive, at least to quite a lot of people, about squalor, misery, and vice. They are regarded as more authentic, and certainly more exciting, than cleanliness, happiness and virtue” (Dalrymple, Romancing Opiates, p. 88).

Regarding vampire fiction - especially “Twilight” - I conceded that I find quite a bit of morality in the story. So, what could be wrong with vampire fiction?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The question should be answered by Christians who know the history of 1) European literature, not to mention 2) sexual diseases. The whole thing is a metaphor for immorality and syphilis. Brahm Stoker, who wrote the first Dracula story, died of syphilis. For 300 years or more syphilis was the prominent health problem in Europe. It wasn’t like a 10-year scare of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s of America. It was a 300-year problem that deeply shaped the psyche of Europe.

And the whole problem was: what do you do with pure, chaste, faithful wives who are infected by unfaithful husbands? …unfaithful husbands who are seeing prostitutes who are going home and infecting their wives. You have the scenario, the basic setup, for vampire fiction. Horror fiction, in general, plays upon guilt.

So what could be problematic with sweet, Christian girls being taught to be drawn to and attracted to a dangerous lover - someone who might be the death of you - he’s dangerous. What could be wrong with teaching girls to look up to that or be attracted to that? To ask this question is to answer it… it’s not a trick question!!

I am grateful to be surrounded by so many strong women who see right through that problem! They aren’t attracted to something “dressed exceptionally well,” having “remarkable good looks,” excelling with “that degree of beauty”, “musical voice”, a “dazzling face”, “flawless lips”, “so beautiful”, and a “bizarre, beautiful boy” who just so happens to be a vampire underneath it all!

Lol, I have gone too far.

This morning I added category ‘Sin-Error-Heresy’ in my blog to journal my reflections of sanctification (the Holy Spirit’s work of making me more like Jesus Christ). So, with this category, I hope to share short observations on how we become like whatever we worship. My desire is to worship (and become like) the Living, Triune God. When I worship idols (mammon, humanism, pomosexuality, etc.) I am conformed to their deafness, blindness, and dumbness.

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2 Tim. 3:7, “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”

These are the words of God. In this Scripture we get a glimpse of the fruitful nature of the Triune God. According to His ways, all work should produce fruit, increase, blessing. Learning - which any true student knows is hard work - should not be an exception. As Christians we don’t approach learning as some prideful source of stockpiling information; no, we learn in order to arrive at a destination! This destination is always the person of Jesus Christ who embodies truth. And He bids us come and partake of Him that we, in turn, might bear much fruit. So we study life, love, and beauty more passionately than the unregenerate masses because we have the hope of service, ever-giving, and increase!!

“Lord and Father, we confess to you that we have often wasted our learning and intellect on our own devices: ever learning, never arriving. We have seen the fruit of these endeavors - namely, no fruit. We instead desire to worship You in spirit and truth; having an end, a goal to all of our endeavors. We acknowledge that this can only be found in You, through Jesus Christ. We also believe You at Your Word when You describe Yourself as a father who loves to teach and forgive. We gladly accept this forgiveness through the work of Your Son. We unite ourselves with You through His strong and mighty name, Jesus. and, let it be so.”

As a minister of the gospel Jesus Christ, I am pleased to announce to you that your sins are forgiven through your confession. Rise for the assurance of pardon and go forth in newness of life proclaiming the testimony of the good news which you have received.