I usually promise myself that I'll never post "theological" blogs. They can be harmful, misleading, and typically serve no good purpose. I've been bothered, though, by something long enough to where I need to say something about it.

I am absolutely, positively sick of all the infighting that is occurring inside of Christianity. I'm not talking about arguments against heresy or against denominations considered other religions altogether. I'm talking about arguments between two people who both consider each other in the faith yet are persistant in name calling and in utter hatred for each other. You think you're not guilty? I hope you're right, but think twice before you excuse yourself.

I've got a couple of theories as to what I think is the reason for all of this. First of all, people are caught up in the desire to be right. Everyone wants to be called right and to think that they know more than everyone else else. The Gospel, though, is not about being right. It's about God. If we stopped for two seconds and realized that what we're talking about is the Almighty God of the universe, maybe we'd sit down with each other and try to understand Him and defend His character as opposed to pridefully defending ourselves. Is being right really so important? You have to ask yourself, if you're right about God, should it produce the character in you that you show when you slander others?

Secondly, we're all ashamed of each other. No one wants to live and die together with someone they brutally disagree with. For example, look at how Christians run from words. It used to be acceptable to call yourself "orthodox." Then a denomination or two got ahold of that word, and all of a sudden we have to stop using it because it "could associate us with someone we don't want to be associated with." Then, it happened to the word "evangelical." Now, people don't want to be called Christians anymore, because they don't want people to think they're like "bad Christians." I was once told in a resume not to use the term "sanctification," which is completely Biblical and necessary to use when talking about the Gospel, because it might sit with people the wrong way.

Here's the point of my second theory. If someone's taking good words and making them mean something else, then take them back. Use a dictionary and look up what "orthodox," "evangelical," and "Christian," really mean and tell me if they're things you should just let someone else steal and abuse because you don't want to be associated with them. Who placed any of us on such a high pedestal to walk around being embarrassed of each other? Is this junior high or is it the Kingdom of God?

Let me stand up first and say that I don't want to die of the cross of Joe Beck's rightness anymore. If you profess your hope of salvation to be in Jesus Christ, then I stand next to you, along with your warts, your sin, your heresies, and everything else you bring to the table. Let's sit down and pray together and know God together, because it's God who we are to know and whose character we are to defend to the world, and not our own pride and arrogance.

Currently Listening Supply And Demand By Amos Lee see related

Yes, an actual new post

Hey, everyone. I'm slowly loosing touch with everyone who doesn't live in the same house as me, and as such, I've seemed to neglect a lot of people who I never intended to neglect.

So here's an update.

I'm officially a youth director now. Man, talk about coming full circle. For those of you who were around me in early 2005, you'd know how long of a journey back this has been. It's crazy to think that I almost threw away every good thing in my life, one by one. It's been 2 years since all of that went down, and that sometimes it still hurts. But i've bounced back, all glory be to God.

It's a Presbyterian church. This is a funny one, because a guy I knew a long time ago whose opinion I anything but respected called this one. I'd been attending a PCA church since I got married, and Jess was a member at one for a year before I moved down here. It's not the right decision for everyone, but leaving the SBC was probably one of the smarter things I've done. I'm not bitter, but i definately don't regret it. Traditional Reformed churches have their own problems, no doubt, but so far God has blessed my experiences. This church is giving me a loose leash on being evangelical, which is great, and very encouraging. PLEASE pray for me that I'll impart something good to the students.

Lastly, Jess and I just bought our first house. The church was praying we'd find one, and lo and behold, God cranked one out! We don't move in until April, but we're definately itching to get in there and have some leg room.

Well, I definately want to hear from everyone. Shoot me a comment or an e-mail.

               Soli Deo Gloria,

                             Joebeck

Currently Listening Coming to Life By The Normals see related

Oh, wonderful Nashville.

I came here to be an intern at Christ Community Church and work at Texas Roadhouse. Well, I'm an intern at West End Community Church and I work at Starbucks. The thing is, I love both jobs (job is a loose term for the internship, since I neither get paid nor am forced to do anything I don't want to do, besides losing 35 pounds, which Pastor Carter is pretty adamant about) and I think that both are directions I'm going to continue in for awhile. God works in wonderful ways. I never would have pursued either one of those avenues if I hadn't already been living here.

Married life is great. We're pursuing the possibility of getting a dog, which stresses me out, since I've all of a sudden become very possessive of our apartment, and I don't want it to smell like tiny dog poop. But, we were looking at apartment-sized dogs (dogs that would live comfortably in apartments, not dogs the size of apartments) and they sure can be cute. Particularly, we're looking at miniature weiner dogs. They're the funniest looking dogs in the entire world, and we've decided that if we get one and it's a boy, we're naming it Weinerschnitzel. I love having a wife that lets me get away with dumb stuff like that.

This band project of mine is coming along just fine, and so far on board I have Jake Mentzel, Chris Baize, and sometimes Seth Ransom. He's like "Y" (do you get it?). All three of these guys are so stinkin' good and so much better than I am. We're still looking for someone to play a little bass diddy, and maybe someone who plays strings, like a violin, or a cello, or something like that. Basically, anything that you've always wanted to play in a band but never thought you could. We want you to play with us, as long as you're laid back and you can flow with the music without having to rehearse every single note.  

That post was miserably boring, but as is always expected from now on, let me hear from all of you that I don't get to hear from anymore. I love you all.

Currently Listening How To Save A Life By The Fray see related

Hello, everyone. I figured it's time for a serious update since a ton has happened in my life since I blogged last.

First off, and most importantly, I've been married for a grand total of 22 days. Let me say, I strongly recommend it. It's one of those things that is so different from anything I ever imagined, and it's definately something you have to apply yourself to everyday and work at daily or it could become a burden. But the work is well worth it, and the experience itself has brought be close to God in a way that I had never experienced as a single person. This isn't to say that singles can't be close to God, because they obviously can. The experience of marriage, though, is entirely different, since you have this living image of Christ and the Church every morning when you wake up and throughout the day. And to think, it's just been 22 days!!!

Second, as some of you may know, my stay with Vann Avenue has come to an end, sadly. I'm going to miss those guys like crazy. We had two awesome last shows this weekend, and I'm excited about them moving ahead with me in absentia. It's a little wierd to think they gigged this weekend without me, but it's hard to be upset because I took away a lot of great memories from the whole experience.

That being said, I'm going to compile something on my own, and if you're interested in playing shows with me on a casual basis, I have some ideas that I'm playing around with to give people a very enjoyable concert experience.  

Please pray for me as I'm trying to find a job to compliment my unpaid internship and bring in some needed income for Jess and I. Hopefully by the time you're reading this something has come up, but pray regardless whenever you see this.

Let me know what's new in your life. I'm interested to know. If I haven't seen you in a while, feel guaranteed that I miss you dearly.

                                    in Christ,

                                                    Joe Beck