Simply Christian

"Jesus aint for me, you know, I dont want more rules to follow" Or "Jesus aint for me, I like drinking", "I sleep around", "I'm a lair", "I've had an abortion" or "I'm Gay! God cant love me!". This are some of the "rebuttals" some people use, or think, in order to excuse themselves for not following Jesus; sometimes, they really think that being this things actually bar them from becoming Christian. I've even heard the "You know, I cant be a christian, I love gays way too much". To be honest, this is utter nonsense. If you are broken, a sinner, doesnt matter the type of life you got, Jesus can, will, and does love you and is eager for you to follow him. Now here comes the issue, many of us have felt that because we are too broken, God cant use us, that we ought to resign ourselves to a life of earthly living because we are not "good enough" to follow Jesus, when actually, Jesus did...

Imagine yourself living in the days of Moses, you're living your life, following this guy that drove you out of slavery, and you have seen God's hand at work. You crossed a parted sea which closed behind you, you have seen bread appear from nothing, and water pour from a dry rock. You have no doubt, God's with your people. So now this prophet goes to mount Sinai, you hear thunder and rain, days passes and no one hears from this guy... food starts lacking, so does water, so you and everyone around pulls together and does what you have learned in Egypt, you make a statue for a God, and you worship it in order to see if you can ease the situation, The God of Abraham,The great I AM seems to have left your side. Here comes Moses! he finally comes back, he's angry, he's angry at the idol, he tells you that you should have trusted the God of Israel, this so called YHWH. Years pass, your whole society has been restructured, each year, the priests, those that live closer to...

I wake up at 6:05 each morning to get ready for university and I leave my house at 7. At 6:15 I'm half asleep, with my eyes barely open, 6:20 I'm in the shower. By 6:40 I'm showered and dressed. At this moment, more or less I go to my room, kneel down facing the cross which is in the center of the back wall of my room, put my elbows againt my bed which is next to that wall and I pray, Its way more than a simple habit or something I need to check off my list. It is part of my daily routine, but not like shaving (which its something that I dont enjoy doing, yet I do), I do it because I love to do it. Unlike waking up at 6ish in the morning, starting my day with a prayer is a great thing and it always ends up in a smile in my face. I hear you saying "Alright, so, whats the point about telling me how you pray every single day? good for you bro, but I dont think its necessary". The point here is a simple thing, I live my life for Jesus, thanks to Jesus and with Jesu...

Back in this topic... Why did I felt necessary to tell that little... well maybe longish story about me? This is because that story perfectly illustrates  not only today's and yesterday's topic, but it also shows what I was talking about in my " The importance of community " Post. This is how a, at the beginning, devout christian (although an immature one), through loosing that community which is so important for all of us, allowed himself to be pulled into sin, little by little, sin by sin. Now, one thing that I failed to mention in my community post is, that community serves also a checks and balances role in the christian's life. If you feel something is good, but then you're called out by fellow Christians, you'll be able to correct your behavior. However, if you were to do the same sinful thing, but you dont have a christian community to call you out, you might not realize its a sin, or that its simply pulling you away from our Lord Jesus Christ. Thi...

"Lord, please, I beg you, allow me to get the scholarship and enter in this university, it is the best in the Country lord, and all my friends are here, I beg you, this time, follow my plan, could you? Lord, I know this is the best, it will be good for my CV and I'll get a job for sure, plus I dont have to say goodbye to my whole life, so, I beg you, In Jesus's Name, Amen"  Like this I prayed back in late 2016, I was waiting for the results of the Scholarship to come. Why did i asked for my idea of my life to be fulfilled? Because I Though I knew better, I concluded that getting in the best school was the best, plus not having to have that awful "I'm leaving, for good" talk with my best friend, and by best friend I mean someone who was there when no one else was. Also it meant not moving to a city that I despised with all my heart and soul and that avoided as long as I could. So I guessed that staying in that city was the best. What Happened? The very fa...

He wake's up, its 8:10 in his clock, takes a shower. Finds himself half asleep water running down his back, wondering what will he eat after the service is over, he shaves, and grumbling to his alarm clock as if it was an annoying friend, he gets dressed. He drinks his morning coffee, eats a toast. Now its 9:20, He gets in his car and drives his family to church, pulling up there, his grim expression and half asleep face shifts into a big smile, he now blesses being there and greets his fellow church attendees. Sits through the service, he sings a few songs, he's barely there, his nicely dressed body is there, and his mind seems to be there, he follows pastor Jim's sermon, but once he stands and prepares to leave his mind is wiped clean, he was recalling last night's game all along. He talks to his friends there, he portrays the image of a christian, he shares some insight to a seemingly christian life to John, his coworker, and Melissa, his wife's friend. He leave...

Today I was doing some university work, then, a message from my youth group's whatsapp group appeared on the screen. It was a video, titled "Is God Good?", I was doing some serious university reading, so  as the good and responsible procrastinator I am, I closed my laptop and watched the 2 minute video on my cellphone. Afterwards, because I knew all comments where going to be positive Christians saying how good the video was (Sarcasm indeed.. its youtube after all) I decided to take a peek, what I found was a mass of atheists that fail to understand even the simplest idea, then it hit me, many Christians dont ask this questions because they believe in God, but their doubts remain just like the atheists i was reading. "So God created free will? then he cannot be omniscient! if you can change your mind, God cant know that in advance!" "So God created me, knew exactly what I would do, but still sent me to earth to suffer? why not take me directly into heaven ...

We Christians are human, yes I know, that's a total revelation, worthy to have its own chapter in the bible (I tried to make a joke and now I realize that the fact that we humans is in genesis chapter 2). And as we are humans, humans are also animals, pack animals, social animals to be precise. We christians often look upon the Lord as the only thing we need. Give us a bible, and a place to pray and many will say that's all we need. Even if the Jesus teaches us that God is a very important thing in our lives, he also teaches us how God wants us in community. God wishes for us to congregate and worship, whether is in a tent in the middle of the dessert (Exodus 36:8-39:43) or in a Church built on solid rock (Matthew 16:18). Weather it is 2 people alone (Matthew 18:20) or in Church (Jesus goes and preach at the synagogues: Luke 4:16). Now, Alright you say, "I will go every sunday to church (Sigh...) If I have to, I'll be there" But I think that that's not what...

The Christian Times is my personal blog, no, I'm not a celebrity nor I'm a pastor in any church. What I am is a 18 year old Christian guy that not too long ago got a revival in his faith, and that a few days ago now decided that I need to start spreading the gospel as Jesus commands us (Matthew 28:19). Some backstory: When I was 16-17 I lived for a year in a small southern american city (the very idea of small town, America) there I found a church, where my pre existent faith got a for the first time a revival, there I learnt about the importance of the christian community and how it can help to further develop your faith. Sadly, my time in Small town America came to an end in May 2015, coming back home was hard, but the hardest was finding out that in my city there was no church that came even close to the one back in america. Because of this, although my faith didn't wore off, my commitment did though. 1 and a half year later, I found myself believing in God, in Jesus,...