Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Friedrich Nietzsche's complete rejection of Christianity, with the famous quote "God is dead", led him to be known as a remarkable philosopher in his own right, but also as a progenitor of existentialism.

A brilliant young man, he was appointed professor at the University of Basel aged 24 having not even finished his degree.

Nietzsche was debilitated from chronic illness. He lived as an invalid (sickly person) for many days of each year. Born with severe Myopia he had always been a sickly child. During the Franco-Prussia War he contracted dysentery and diphtheria while serving as a medical ordinate. While he was a student he became infected with syphilis in a brothel. By the age of 30 Nietzsche had become a partial inveigled (someone who entices or ensnares by flattery talk to acquire or obtain something).

Nietzsche argued that the Christian system of faith and worship was not only incorrect, but harmful to society because it allowed the weak to rule the strong - it suppressed the will to power which was the driving force of human character. He wanted people to throw of the shackles of our misguided Christian morality and become supermen - free and titanic. He later called himself the 'Anti-Christ.'

The core of Nietzsche's work, including Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883-92), Beyond Good and Evil (1886), The Birth of Tragedy (1872) was to find a meaning and morality in the absence of God.

However, without God he felt that the future of man might spiral into a society of nihilism, devoid of any meaning; his aim was for man to realize the lack of divine purpose and create his own values.

Without divine sanction and retribution human suffering was unintelligible. Nietzsche sought for a replacement. He looked into philosophy for an answer and discovered the teachings of the German atheist thinker, Arthur Schopenhauer. Here he sought the consolation he craved to make sense of a godless universe. Schopenhauer's philosophy is very pessimistic at its core. One way to get out of this misery momentarily was the role of art and above all music.

His evanescent philosophical life ended 20 years later when he went insane and died shortly afterwards.


References: BBC.co.uk, TopDocumentaryFilms.com; Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil

A Life In Sync With God

Living Beyond The Limits by Frank Graham
Prologue

All my life, I've loved machines that are fast, loud, even dangerous. That's just the way I am. Whether it's flying an airplane, riding the wind on a dirt bike, four-wheeling through the Colorado mountains, or cruising in my old pickup through the North Carolina countryside, I love it! What I don't love are roller coasters or carnival Ferris wheels, especially when they start down. I'd much rather be in the cockpit twenty thousand feet up in the clouds than sitting in a chair forty feet above the ground with someone else at the controls.

Maybe that is why, as a young man, I was so reluctant to surrender my life to God. I thought Christianity would be boring, that it would mean living by other people's dull rules, that it would be, in a sense, a living death. I wanted to be in complete control. I wanted to live hard, fast, and free, to experience life on the edge.

And for a while, I did. I witnessed firsthand what it was like to hear bullets whizzing past my head and artillery exploding in the distance. I crossed closely guarded borders and travelled over perilous and exotic terrain.

But eventually the excitement proved to be nothing more than a temporary high. I soon realized that there wasn't enough adventure in the entire world to satisfy my thirsty spirit. No matter how thrilling the day, when my head hit the pillow at night I was overcome by a nagging emptiness—a dark void.

I began to discover what King Solomon lamented in the book of Ecclesiastes: "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. . . . Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had one and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; . . . So I hated life. . . . All of it is meaningless" (2:10-11,17 NIV).


Acknowledgement:
"Live Fast, Die Young"

This is the attitude for many of the youth and even some adults. They chase after the wind, seeking adventure and excitement in their life, but end up with empty hands. They are chasing after something that they'll be never satisfied with. The things like fame, honour, and fortune are all vanity and meaningless because they will be taken away when we die. We were brought into this world naked, and we will leave this world the same way—from dust to dust.

Are You Living For Christ Or For Vanity?
King Solomon said, "All is vanity" (ESV).

Ecclesiastes 8:5-9
5 He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,

6 Because, for every matter there is a time and judgment,
Though the misery of man increases greatly.

7 For he does not know what will happen;
So who can tell him when it will occur?

8 No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.

There is no release from that war,
And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

There is no end in chasing after pleasures of the body. It is a never ending race.

Ecclesiastes 12:11-12

11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Finding Your Calling

Can God still use me, even while I am still a sinner?
Of course He can!

At the times when we ask for forgiveness for our sins we can sometimes feel like 'God can't use me because I have failed Him.' That is Satan tricking us to make us feel unclean and unable for the Lord's work. There are times when God asks us to do something when we don't want to or feel like it. When He does we feel frustrated and find ourselves fighting against our flesh. Sometimes we can get anxious and impatient. But that is the flesh. God asks us to do things for Him to praise Him and to build up His body for the Kingdom. Sometimes we can get frustrated and make a move without asking God and confirming it with Him. We make a move without His driven faith.

Yes, it is true that He asks us to do something 'right now,' but ask Him first to put the burden on your heart if it is His Will and Calling for you. Make sure that this is what God has put on your heart and not just something you want to do. God will ask us to do things that we don't think we are capable of; things we think that are beyond our abilities, but God knows our abilities. He knows you better than you think that you know yourself. This is why we want to seek Him. As followers of Christ, we seek His counsel, and His friendship. He wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him and to help us in every need in our lives, but most of all, to help us better praise Him.

Grow with Him. Asking Him for His Will and His Calling into your life. Ask Him for the burdens you feel on your heart. If it is Evangelism, Discipling, Teaching, Helping, Preaching, whatever it may be. Ask God to show you His Calling in your life, and not of your own.

Ignatius: The New Breed of Youth Pastor

Ignatius: The New Breed of Youth Pastor

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Hell's Best Kept Secret

Christian Dating

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV)

Paul is saying that we should not be "mismatched" with unbelievers. What could be more clear?

Has your mother ever told you, 'Do not mix oil with water' ?


Willaim Lane Craig replied to a concerned Christian, Judith, about marrying unbelievers,

" Is there, then, a contradiction with Paul’s commands in I Cor. 7.12-16? Not at all! Paul is speaking there to couples who were both unbelievers but one of whom has since become a Christian and so finds himself or herself with an unbelieving spouse. That this is the situation is evident in Paul’s overriding principle, also applied to slaves and uncircumcised, “Let everyone lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him and in which God has called him (v. 17). “Everyone should remain in the state in which he was called” (v. 20). So if you were married when you were called, Paul tells you not to leave your non-believing partner. Stay married, just as you were when called to follow Christ, unless the unbelieving partner desires to separate.

But Paul prohibits Christian believers to marry unbelievers. Why? In II Cor. 6.15 he says: “ Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” One might be tempted to answer Paul’s question, “Well, we’re both really into sports and the outdoors” or “We both love finance and business.” But Paul would have regarded such an answer as betraying an utter lack of understanding of the marriage union. For Paul common faith in Christ was central to the marriage relationship. Take that away and you’ve taken the heart out of the marriage. That so few of our marriages between Christians today exhibit the centrality of Christ is shameful testimony to the extent to which we have become assimilated to the world’s view of marriage. Is little wonder, then, that divorce rates among Christian couples is as high as among non-Christians? It’s been my privilege to be married for over thirty years to a woman whose first and foremost love is to know and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Our common desire to know and serve him has bound us tightly together. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be married to someone who didn’t share that common first love. It has seen us through the ups and downs of life. I don’t know your personal situation, Judith, but if you’re contemplating marrying a non-believer, I’d urge you not to do so, no matter how much you love him. Obey God, give Him time to work in your boyfriend’s heart, and in the meantime strive to become the woman that Christ wants you to be, as his character is formed in you. On the other hand, if you’ve already married a non-believer, then you should confess your sin, claim the Lord’s forgiveness, and then obey scriptural commands on how a believing wife married to a non-Christian should deport herself (I Peter 3. 1-6). "


Dating is Worldly


Many teenagers believe that they know everything. The truth is, if you're a teenager or young adult, You know Nothing! Take you're parent's advice, don't date and don't get into a relationship with non-believers. Trust me, I had to learn the hard way. I thought I knew what I was doing. But I didn't even notice myself running away from God. I felt freedom from Him. But once a slave of God, always a slave. How could I reject such a forgiving and loving God! Thank the Lord! He pulled me back with repentance and faith! Praise Jesus!


Reference: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5795,
YouTube.com

Being Tested

It seems that after my baptism I've been tested more with my heart. Especially with my job and the way I display my life to others that I work with. And now there is more testing of my obedience to God. Especially my sexual drive. It's of course not so easy for a young single man. I've cut down the branch of lust from my mind. But the flesh keeps knocking on the door telling me, "you want sex." But I take those thoughts captive. I'm striving to be a Man (of Christ), not just some male mammal hungry to have sex. I find that Satan is trying to trick myself and others that it is just my nature as a man to have these urges.

We must learn to take fleshly thoughts captive, live in God's Grace, and share His Mercy and Love with others.