How do you define your Christian life? What is your “walk” or your “testimony” all about? At times, my Christianity has been defined by what I don’t do. The whole, “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t cuss” basically, I don’t do non-Christian things. But is that akin to being dead? Sure, rendering the old man dead and no longer living for sin is a good thing… but doesn’t that accomplish just as much as a dead person? What are the “Do(s)” of my Christian life? What do I do that makes me distinctly Christian? Do I love more than a non-Christian? Am I humbler than a non-Christian? Do I seek after justice more than a non-Christian? Am I lead by the Holy Spirt to DO and not just to DON’T?

Doing can be scary. Doing can set yourself up for scrutiny. Don’ting (that’s a word I just coined) is safe. When you don’t no one can call you out and say that what you are Don’ting is wrong. But Doing, that’s way more dangerous. Doing can be questioned. You can get called out because the style in which you are Doing is isn’t correct, or the people you are Doing with aren’t correct, or a whole host of other dangers of Doing.

A good example would be Rick Warren. The guys does a lot. Do I have issues with some of the stuff he does, absolutely! If he were busy Don’ting would he be criticized? Probably not, Don’ting is safe. People are very critical of Warren and he’s a Doer. Warren himself said that he’d like his tombstone to say, “At least he tried.” What I’m saying here isn’t an endorsement nor is it a condemnation of Warren. I’m just using him as an example of someone who is Doing and is highly scrutinized because of it.

I’M ASKING A LOT OF QUESTIONS BECAUSE I WANT ANSWERS FOR MYSELF. Am I a doer or a don’ter? I think I need to be a little of both. Only being one can be dangerous. Only being a don’ter is dangerous because you miss out on this amazing adventure that God has for us and you don’t get to be his hands. Only being a doer is dangerous because you can become a pragmatic results-oriented Christians. Don’t get me wrong, results are important, but not if you have to compromise the convictions of the Holy Spirit or go against the Word and Commandments of the Creator.

I went into “The Book of Eli” completely blind. I hadn’t even seen a preview. All I knew was Denzel Washington was in a futuristic movie that a friend of a friend said had a strong Christian message… so that was enough for me.

Let me firstly say that the movie is rated R for violence and strong language, with that said let me say that the violence might be too much for some and I’m not saying you “NEED” to see this film.

So I know I need to give it a little more thought but I’m going to say right now that “The Book of Eli” is the best Christian film ever made. OK, that is my first response to the film.

If you’ve seen the movie I’d love to hear your response to the above statement. I’d like to know why I am wrong, because I very well could be.

I posted my predictions for 2010 earlier and just stumbled upon Tony Jones 5 predictions for 2010. I thought they were quite insightful and worthy of commenting on:

Tony Jones give his 5 predictions for 2010:

5. A Handful of Evangelical Leaders Will Soften Their Stance on Gay Issues
• I’d guess that Jones is right about this one. That’s the direction that many have seemed to be taking over the years. While I’d love to see those who represent hate like Fred Phelps “soften their stance.” I don’t want to see leaders in the Church say that homosexuality is not a sin.

4. Rick Warren’s Cultural Influence Will Wane, and the Media Will Anoint a New Evangelical Spokesman
• Interesting, I hadn’t thought about this.
• Who would take his place? Maybe Greg Laurie, hopefully not a Joel Osteen. While I clearly have my issues with Warren, I do have to say that I would vote for him for political office.

3. Universalism Will Become a Hot Topic among Evangelicals
• 100% agree on this one.
• I think that “Universalism” should replace atheism has to be the most appealing wrong view in the world! It’s so much nicer than atheism or a dogmatic right and wrong view. If it appeals to the world, no doubt it will appeal to some in the Church.

2. The Pope Will Do and Say Nothing Controversial
• The only time I thought about the Pope in 2009 was when I was watching the movie “Angels and Demons” and I said to myself, “What’s the Pope name?” I agree Jones on this one, I often forget that there still is a Pope.

1. Political Correctness Regarding Islam in the West Will Decrease
• Jones hopes this doesn’t happen.
• I hope it does! Being PC when it comes to terrorism is just plain dangerous.
• Jones quotes, “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but virtually all terrorists are Muslims.” Something that I’ve heard and seen a lot as well. However, I don’t have a problem with it.

Very interesting article in “The Atlantic” by Hanna Rosin (Author of “God’s Harvard), titled: “Did Christianity Cause the Crash?” - speaking of the housing crash. She raises some excellent points.

“America’s mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. Known as the prosperity gospel, and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. It pumped air into the housing bubble. And one year into the worst downturn since the Depression, it’s still going strong.”

One church goer in the article is quoted as saying, “… we love the money in Jesus Christ’s name! Jesus loved money too!”

A friend of mine from Red Ice Creations made this video @ the Un Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen some interesting footage of the protesting that went on. Apparently not everyone believes that “man made global warming” is a proven fact!

Ever get the feeling that maybe the government is over stepping its bounds? How about arresting parents for not registering their children with the school district? Yeah, I’d say it’s getting scary!

Some of these are no brainers, but here they are none the less:
1 Islam will call for the eradication of Israel.
2 The economy will get worse before it gets better.
3 Hot, cold or just right, it’ll be blamed on Global Warming.
4 Lots of people will do amazing things for others everyday, but the news will talk about something stupid that a celebrity did instead.
5 Technology will advance in a way where we say, “How did I live without this just last year.” Including a new term to go along with; google, blog, myspace, facebook and twitter (tweet).
6 President Obama will do no right in some eyes, no wrong in other eyes and make decisions that will shape this country for the rest of our lives.
7 3rd-party politics will make an even bigger push.
8 The government will spend money it doesn’t have… and both Democratic and Republican leaders will be to blame.
9 Jesus will still be the only means of salvation.
10 God will still have it all under control and we need not worry.

I often say that I have daily epiphanies; unfortunately not all of them stick. However, I can remember quite clearly a life-changing, view-altering epiphany that I had back when I was a junior in high school… and it stuck! I was at a camp and the speaker said in essence, “It’s all about perspective.” It was then that I realized, my friends and I weren’t going to always see things the same, because we were coming at the same events from different perspectives, different world views. It also meant that when I came at something from the correct perspective, I’d see it for what it really was. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I needed to be slow to react to things and check my perspective on the situation. All three of these are things I still think about today.

My friend Ryan Couch, the pastor of Missio Dei in Fort Collins, Colorado recently asked the question, “What is a Christian worldview?” That question along with the excellent teaching I heard this week from pastor Ben Courson about storing up treasures in Heaven, got me thinking about having an eternal perspective. What is it? Does it matter? Do I have it? How is it applied?

WHAT IS IT?
We are surrounded by the temporal. We live in temporal bodies, in temporal homes with temporal friends and family. All the people around us, no matter how much we love them, could be gone at any second. This life is truly but a vapor. Life is so temporal, that saying we have an “eternal perspective” almost seems nonsensical and sounds cliché, like just another term found in the vast dictionary of “Chrisianese.”

But we are not temporal beings. We are eternal! We have all been created in the image of God and these temporal shells are indwelt with an eternal soul… the real you and me. An eternal perspective begins with the understanding that you and I are very much going to exist forever. This short time here on Earth doesn’t even register as a mark on the timeline of eternity (unless you really, really zoom in). Seeing how we are eternal ourselves, an eternal perspective is looking at things and weighing what they matter in the scheme of eternity.

DOES IT MATTER?
Yes! An eternal perspective is paramount in living a godly life and essential in our ability to connect and relate to God Himself. If we only look at things in the temporal, it makes it very hard for us to understand the heart of God, who is without beginning or end. We miss out on the big picture and we get caught up in the monotony and unimportant cares of the day.

It matters because without an eternal perspective, we can’t understand the single most important event in all of human history. The cross! The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is all about the work that was done on the cross. Work that was both eternal and had eternal ramifications. The work of the cross was a work done inside of time (it happened there on the cross) but with outside of time power (confusing… yes) in that Jesus (the infinite God) took all the sins of the world (past, present and future) upon Himself and defeated death inside of time. He was the only one who could do this, as a person like you or me could only take on our own sins, but the infinite perfect God was able to take on all sins. This act opened the door for us to live in peace with God for eternity. An eternal perspective begins at the foot of the cross.

DO I HAVE IT?
Yes and no… and that’s a pretty big no! But I want it and I’m going to have more of it.

HOW IS IT APPLIED?
I think a clear-cut way it is applied is how we view people. With an eternal perspective everyone is either a “sibling in Christ” or a lost soul in need of the love of Jesus, destined for an eternity in Hell. Yikes and Yowzer! Things just got a little more serious and important once that gets applied in our lives. That guy sitting by me on the bus, who used to just be an older dude who needs a shower is now either my brother or someone who at any moment could begin their eternity in Hell. If he’s my brother, I need to love him… no matter how he smells. If he’s lost, I need to love him. Because that was me once!

It’s also applied to how I make my personal choices in regard to what is good for me. I’ll always remember the quote, “A moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips!” It stays in my mind because when I was a kid, I heard a boy say it to a girl so that she wouldn’t eat her ice cream and he could have it. I thought he was a genius. ☺ The saying has a good place when it comes to the sinful lusts and temptations of this world. “A moment of pleasure, a lifetime (or eternity) of disappointment and failure.” The pleasures of sin are so temporal. An eternal perspective helps us to avoid the sinful lusts of this world and to take seek after the joys of this world that serve an eternal good.

It also changes whom I want to please. Is it important that everyone think I’m awesome and know about any good thing that I do… or am I aiming to please an audience of one? The only one whose opinion truly matters!

Irene Vilar is a serial killer who just got her book published. She’s not in jail and she certainly doesn’t look like what you’d expect a serial killer to look like. She is a beautiful professional woman, with two young daughters. She was a child prodigy, attending New York University when she was just 15 years old. At the age of 16 she married a 50-year old man who didn’t want to have kids. So she had 15 abortions in 17 years and now she’s published her memoir about her “Abortion Addiction.” God have mercy on us all! Read the full article HERE.

I just saw a preview for the movie “Trade” about the horrific sex trafficking issue. That quick preview got me wondering what is really being done to fight this problem.

My question is what is being done and does anyone recommend an organization to support who is fight against slavery?

UPDATE: Here are two groups that are making a difference:
Rise Up International
Call and Response