Freedom and Compromising

It's been a while. I missed you dearest blog. I should probably sleep, but when one is in a writing mood one must write.

It was recently the 4th of July and when I looked at my social media accounts my peers and friends bombarded my feeds with things pertaining to July 4th. I am not patriotic at all. If anything I am unpatriotic. When patriotism becomes invloved a general theme is the freedoms America has and the lives lost to obtain it. I have a problem with individuals that insist their contries peoples' lives have greater value than say a terrorist. As if one soul that Christ made a way for is worth more than  another soul. I dare not say all Americans think this way, but where I grew (growing) up this idea is more common than I'd like to admit. I don't dishonor the military in any way and it is very sorrowful for all the lives that were lost. But it is hard for me to be genuine in my sorrows completely when the "freedom" being fought for creates a devestaing warzone for another country. No life is greater than another. We are not worth more because what we believe or what country we live in. We are worthless. Yet, God decided to save us anyways. That is my pride. His grace saved me from death. And my freedom comes from my Saviour. Not the country I live in. I am in awe with my God who made me free and He alone can give us true freedom.

I was in a Christian Book store the other day and I saw something that startled me and left me feeling quite unsettled. I saw a Manga Bible and playing battle cards? Manga is a very disturbing industry to me. The art is sexualizing of women and the characters can often have a fantasy feel to them. I have only seen covers and the inside contents are no doubt full of immorality and things the devil delights in. My point is that Manga and the Bible (which is truth and light) should never be mixed. I saw this display of battle cards with Bible characters on them that were unidentifiable and appeared more like mystical fantasy creatures. The women's bodies were outrageous. I  have several problems with these cards and the manga Bible.

1) The characters had purple, blue, pink hair. They had glowing crowns on their heads. The backgrounds were not of Earth. In short, they seemed like fictional, mystical creatures. My obvious problem with this is that if a non-Christian or even a Christian were to see this then the real characters and the truths in the Bible will have a potential to become associated with this theme of fantasy.

2) It compromises truth. This doesn't really need an explanation.

3) I associate manga with sexual, immoral, possesive material. This manga looked exactly like the secular manga. That is unacceptal and gives the wrong image of what peace and life the Bible gives.

There are probably a dozen more reason I can discuss on why I had such a problem with these cards and the mange Bible. But my final thought leads to what is the Church compromising? This is just one example of what the Church has let slip in order to what? I suppose because manga is so popular the purpose was to create a manga that is "Bible" based. The compromising leads to lukewarm Christians. God wants to spit out lukewarm Christians. But before I point to the church I must remember that I am part of the church and I surely am compromising too in different areas. It is crucial as ambassadors of Christ that we must do our best to represent our perfect God. But when we compromise it can lead to death. There is either life or death. There is no eh kinda alive but also dead.

I believe that if we truly set our eyes on Him and have our spirit have dominion over our lives then there will be a lack of  compromising. My desire is to truly set my eyes on Him, but that proves to be a struggle at times. I fret over the small things and everything nowadays moves in lightning speeds. I mean, I can communicate with my sister who is hundreds of miles away in an instant. But He tells us to Be still and know that He is God. So my prayer is this.

I am in a not so still enviroment, but I will chase after His word that tells me to be still and this is just me.