Far Left Liberalists vs. Me

Hello all!

I just finished reading "Blue Like Jazz". I hadn't read it before because I didn't want to follow the crowd into reading a book that people were saying was that good. You know me, I don't conform. Anyhow I read it and it was so good. I find it odd though how we can want change in our lives so badly after we read a book like that yet the Bible doesn't do the same thing for us. Are we just reading the Word because we have to or are we reading it to learn what stirs the heart of God? I for one get a lot out of reading books like Blue Like Jazz in which they discuss biblical ideas and uses verses from the Word, however it isn't the Bible. I can this as much as I want that I will read the Bible with purpose to find meaning and to ask questions, however I know that I need to take a step to actually do it. I pray that I will find joy and excitement in reading the Bible and come to it everyday in expectation of something amazing.

I liked this book because it brought in a lot of cultural crazes and ideas into this idea of Christian spirituality. I didn't agree with lots of things that he was saying, which excited me because I used to be someone that just took what anyone said and adopted it as my ideas. Now I really think about it before I chose to adopt or refuse that idea. Three major things stand out to me from reading this book.

1. The love of self. Man, I am so addicted to myself it's crazy. No one wants to admit this and so it's hard for me to do this but it's true. I want the best for my life and at times I struggle with meeting others needs without having a hidden agenda of my own. I pull myself away from people for fear of them seeing my imperfections. Being friends with someone of letting someone close to use involves humility on our part. I am so proud. If I could have anything in my life I would ask for humility and a loving heart for others. On the other hand, I need to love myself as my neighbor. I am extremely hard on myself and put myself down a lot. I would never be this negative to someone else. I heard once that when we are happy with ourselves, and love and accept ourselves, we will be able to love and accept others deeper. I think this is true because I compare myself to everyone all the time and in doing so put them down (in my thoughts) to make myself feel better. If I would get over this and love myself, my body, my talents for what God has given me, then I will be more open and loving towards others.

2. Love of others. I am so judgemental toward other people's lives, opinions, looks, etc. Once again it pains me to admit this. Confession is not only good for the heart, it's good for the soul and is the first step to humility. Why can't I accept people for who they are? Why do I think that everyone needs to share my values and ideas and then we would get along? What I need to do is to smile, listen, ask God to help me to love them as He does because I certainly can't do this on my own.

3. Tolerance. This sort of ties in with number 2. I struggle with tolerance as well. I am really conservative in my views which may cause people to view me as pious or proud or better than anyone else. I have strong values and I stick to them. However I need to be accepting of other people. I don't need to love what they do, but I need to love who they are. They are people too. They were created by God for Him and it hurts Him to see one of His own family put down another. Homosexuals, environmentalists, feminists, druggies. They all need my love and acceptance. I have no idea how I am going to show them this but I know that it starts with me. My attitudes toward them and how I view them through my eyes. I need to view them and everyone through the eyes of Jesus with compassion, love, and grace. That is what He wants and I want to glorify Him by doing this.

Warning now that this could be a very long blog. All of these thoughts have been running through my head for sometime now and I just didn't have the time to post them or know how to word it all. I am not super good with words so I hope that this all makes sense and I am not just using Sunday School talk. I want to show you what is on my heart and how it is affecting me.

So I picked up the Martlett today which is our school newspaper. Usually it is pretty dirty and smutty but I thought that I would give it a chance this week. Turns out it was still the same. Now I have been complaining about BC for quite some time and how I can't wait to leave. Much of it has to do with the far left liberal views of this campus, city and province. This is not me. I don't share their values at all. This is where my tolerance needs to come in and I am working on it, trust me, I am working on it. Anyhow I thought that I would just show you some of the headings of the paper so you can catch my drift on this.

"Anti-abortion posters 'manipulative'" - posters saying "is this the face of the enemy" and a picture of a child on the poster were posted in the SUB by "accident" and were then taken down. Apparently, the some people on the student's council say that this makes people feel uncomfortable and they have nominated some abortion doctor for the Order of Canada. I don't know what that is but it's wrong. The Students union also supports the decrimialization of cannabis hemp.

"Students should raise holy hell: Suzuki" David Suzuki came to the school and was talking about the environment and this new stupid Carbon tax. BC has adopted this carbon tax that will raise gas prices tremendously all for some environmental program. They want to decrease taxes on income and raise it for the C tax. However, I'm sure that they will both increase. They are mad that the federal government is not supporting this through the rest of the country.

"A $10,000 difference: Female UVic faculty earning less than male counterparts."
"Women in Canada not treated equally"
"Green Campus: What UVic is doing for a sustainable future"

Well there is more but I am not comfortable putting those words on this blog. Nor do I feel comfortable even talking about it. So there you have it. That is this liberal campus and I hate to say that I go here. However I think that almost every campus in Canada is becoming liberal, the new generation of people are getting uptight about stuff and starting to do stuff about it. I feel like I was born in the '40s or something because I am so conservative. But that is just who I am. I just hope that I can take a stand about what I value while still maintaining peace and and open mind about other people's opinions. A tough line to tow. But I will happily do it for the sake of Christ.

I hope that you have hung in here with me until now. If anyone has any feedback for me I would be happy to hear it. Your opinions, thoughts, other topics, whatever. Just send a comment on here or email me at lebron_2314@hotmail.com.
Thanks for listening to me vent and rant. Later days!!