My Experience with the Florida Revival

I am highly skeptical when it comes to televangelists and Benny Hinn-ish "moves of God." The whole "bam" touch on the forehead and the person falls out just was never something I could wrap my head around. It always looked phony to me. Over the last few weeks, I've realized why it looked so fake to me, and I had to repent.

My wife and I have been watching the live revival from Lakeland, FL that is being televised live on GodTV (channel 365 on DirecTV) for about 10 days now. You can read about the revival elsewhere, so I won't go into a long explanation about what it is and what's going on, other than to say that God is radically healing, saving, and delivering thousands through this revival. The Holy Spirit taught me a great lesson about myself. I consider myself a bit of a forward-thinker and someone who doesn't judge a book by its cover. Oh, how prideful of me.

The preacher of this revival is a guy named Todd Bentley. Todd is literally covered from knuckles to neck with tattoos. He has a pierced lip and pierced ears, preaches in jeans and t-shirts (like the one in the picture that says "Jesus Love Me and My Tattoos"), and wears gaudy, biker-type jewlery. No, he wasn't saved out of a biker gang, he got the majority of his tattoos since being saved at the age of 18. He looks nothing like the traditional preacher that I'm used to, and though I know the Bible does not condemn tattoos, it was still hard for me to believe the annointing of God could be so strongly on someone who looks so radically different from what I was used to seeing.

The first time I watched it, this tattooed, radical preacher was calling out various illnesses and diseases, praying against them, and then inviting people who had been healed in the crowd up onto the platform to testify. I was extremely skeptical until I saw a nine year old girl who was visibly paralyzed on her left side (the left side of her face was visibly drooping) due to a brain tumor. Todd prayed, and then asked her if she felt anything. She spoke only spanish, so her family translated to her the question. She didn't reply in words, but rather lifted up her paralyzed left arm with a big smile on her face. Her face was not drooping any more. God healed her right in front of my eyes, live on GodTV. Okay, God...you have my attention.

Anyways, back to the human flaws. This revival didn't look like what I have grown up with in church. The preacher looked nothing like I've come to expect from ministers with that level of annointing. Therefore, I was highly skeptical of it, at moments (before the Holy Spirit gave me a tune-up) almost outraged by what I was seeing. It didn't look "normal" to me, so it had to be fake. The Holy Spirit indeed tuned me up and taught me a life changing little bit about myself. For being a forward-thinker, I still have pride. It's not necessarily my fault...I believe it's a human flaw.

As a matter of fact, I am certain there will be a few individuals that read this, look at Todd's picture, and have a self-righteous fit because "God doesn't look like that. He looks like a heathen. That's of the devil. That's a false doctrine." etc., etc.

Here's what it comes down to. We are to judge things and people by the fruit that is produced, not by appearances. "Well, he looks like the world with all those tattoos, and we are to be in the world but not of it." Grow up. Why does it look like the world? Because it doesn't look like you? Because it doesn't fit in your little holy box? If you are so arrogant and full of pride that you think the only genuine moves and men of God are the ones that look like you or line up with your ideas, you need to get a brand new revelation of who God is and how much bigger He is than any little box you could try and stuff him in.

Many churches fall into one of two dangerous ruts. The one puts God in a little box and unless something looks and sounds like their idea of God, it's not of God. On the other side, the attitude of non-traditionalism becomes the box. If it looks like a traditional move of God, they shut their heart doors. Both are absolutely wrong because they are putting God in a box. The key to receiving everything God has for you is to eliminate the box. Open your mind and judge things by the fruit. Who is being lifted up, man or Jesus? Are people being permanently changed by the power of God or are they wrapped up in emotionalism? Are people coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus and coming to repentence? Are people growing deeper in their walk with God? Don't judge it because it doesn't look or sound like what you think it should. Make your decision based on an open-minded review of the fruits.

So what are the fruits of the Florida Outpouring? Thousands coming to salvation. Thousands being healed. Revival breaking out in other cities (and in my own life). People drawing closer to Jesus. As a personal testimony to the power of God in this revival, my wife and I were watching the worship service one night. We desperately needed a touch from God as we were overwhelmed by several circumstances going on in our lives. As we watched the worship service and prayed and worshpped God, the annointing fell in our bedroom and God ministered to our needs and dramatically touched us and spoke some things to us that increased our faith and gave us hope.

God is so much bigger than our little preconceptions. God is a radical God. Jesus came teaching, preaching, healing the sick and casting out demons. Do you know who hated Him? The holy, pious, religious Pharisees. Jesus came against the spirit of prideful religiosity and the Pharisees hated him for it. So the next time you step out to judge something or someone, stop and ask yourself "Am I being like Saul in persecuting Jesus by persecuting his followers?"

Here are a few links so you can check out the revival for yourself.

http://www.freshfire.ca/

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/29/1075189.aspx (MSNBC article)

Story of a woman being raised from the dead, followed by an article explaining the connection to the revival.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357463,00.html

http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/6496

Cheers, and God bless!
Hoss

The other end of the spectrum...

I was doing some research for an essay/sermon the other day regarding what the Bible has to say about pornography. I googled terms like "bible pornography" and "christian pornography" as well as used http://www.blueletterbible.org/ to research the roots of some of the words in the bible like adultery and fornication. The greek word "pornea" is translated as fornication, and defined by anything sexually immoral, not just premarital sex.



In my searching, I came across some interesting websites (as you might imagine by googleing porn and christianity in the same search). There were a couple of websites that disturbed me and honestly opened my eyes to a few truths about the world in which we live and about the ugly nature of humanity.



The first website I found was about Christian Domestic Discipline. If you are thinking it sounds like a wife-spanking website, you are right. Husbands: your wives disobey, spank them like a 4 year old in K-Mart. They had scripture references to back up their point of view, which was sad for several reasons. The first, I believe they were taking the scripture to mean something completely different than what it actually meant. Secondly, they were using God's word and God's desire for the order of the family heirarchy or pecking order to give the husband the iron fist with which to rule. Biblically, children answer to mom and dad, mom answers to dad, and they all answer to God so the husband/dad better not abuse his authority and must love and resepect his wife and children as is instructed in God's word. That is very plain in the scripture. But in the Christian Domestic Discipline circles, they twist God's word to give the husband the OK to be a tyrannical brute and if his wife disobeys, she doesn't answer to God, she answers to his belt.



While the Christian Domestic Discipline was both amusing (how can people be so silly) and sad (how mislead and ignorant), the second website I came across truly disturbed me. No, there were no naked pictures of any sort. However, there was what I believe to be a false teaching there that was written in a very compelling manor and if people who read the content aren't spiritually and biblically grounded, they could easily be mislead and end up in a deep pit of shame, guilt, and pornography addiction.



The website I found was propagating Christian pornography. You can order DVDs from the company these people were supporting that showed "tasteful" videos of husbands and wives engaging in sexual activities. They used Song of Solomon as a justification, and because the actors engaging in these sexual activities on video are husband and wife couples, it's ok to watch. According to the website, Christian pornography is to educate Christians by example in how to have better sex.



The scary thing is, this article was well written and compelling. It caused me to stop, think, and question everything I've always been taught. The conclusion I reached is much, much different from the one thy were teaching from their website. I believe pornography, regardless of its form or how it is justified, is a sin. Pornography is a sin. It rips apart marriages, destroys families, and enslaves men and women (oh yeah...women look at porn too).



You may say "Alcoholism does the same thing, but moderate consumption of alcohol is not a sin. So wouldn't pornography be ok as long as it doesn't become bondage and it doesn't negatively affect a marriage?" These are two very, very different issues. I believe the moderate consumption of alcohol is a matter of personal liberty. It falls under "seek out your soul's salvation with fear and trembling." For some, alcohol is a stumblingblock because of a former lifestyle or an inability to control themselves, and should therefore be avoided. For others, alcohol is a liberty that can be enjoyed because it can be controlled and because it does not cause sin in that believers life.



As a sidenote to that, believers who feel and partake of that liberty must be careful not to be a stumblingblock to others. That is not to say we shouldn't have liberty at all because of the "perpetually offended" brothers and sisters in Christ. Rather we need to be cautious of the people we share that liberty with. For instance an immature, underaged person who by drinking may not be mature enough to control themselves and would be breaking the law of the land which is a sin against God's commandment, or an alcoholic who could stumble and fall back into sin, addiction, and bondage because of a liberty you feel in Christ.



Back to the porn (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say!), it does not fall under the "seek out your soul's salvation" category. The Bible is abundantly clear regarding sexual immorality. It is a sin. Period. Watching pornography feeds the lust of the flesh, and that lust is sin and it brings more sin with it. I think the only way God could be more plain about it is if he added a book to the Bible called "Thou Shalt Not Watch" and then named off each porn title he didn't want you to see. "Thou shalt not watch Dr. Do-me-a-little. Thou shalt not look at Busty Babes Magazine." You get my drift.



The larger truth these websites opened my eyes to is the sad fact that people will interpret scripture to mean literally almost anything. On one end of the spectrum, you have the spiritual teetotalers who while acknowledging and putting faith in the redemptive work of Christ, still hold fast to the letter of the law and use the scriptures to actually add to that law more laws that God never intended His word to mean. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are people who justify all the deeds and lusts of the flesh by twisting scripture and inserting their own interpretations. Both are wrong but I don't think both are necessarily as damaging to the body of Christ.



If you didn't know the word of God and weren't grounded spiritually, it would be very easy to read some of the things I read this week and say "Wow. That makes a lot of sense. The bible says it's ok for me to spank my wife and watch "Christian" porn." That is why it is so extremely important to not just read God's word, but to study it. http://www.blueletterbible.org/ is a tremendous resource for seeking out God's word. It has the scriptures in several different translations as well as a Greek and Hebrew word dictionary so you can read what the scripture originally said before translation and read the definitions of the words in their original language. It also has commentaries from other authors, including Matthew Henry, which helps put the correct light on God's word, allowing you to understand what the Bible means and not just go off of what the Bible says. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us to study to show ourselves approved, workers that don't need to be ashamed, correctly and directly teaching the word of truth, God's word.

Long Time Coming...

My, it's been a long time since I've written on here. So much has happened and my life has changed so much since my last entry that there is no way to go in depth and explain everything, so I will attempt to just hit the highlights and important parts.

On January 8th, 2008 at 4:07AM my wife Brooke and I became proud new parents to a beautiful, perfect baby boy. It was an absolutely amazing experience; one far too beautiful and incredible for words. I've had lots of people attempt to explain what it is like to hold your child for the first time but until you actually go through that experience, you never really understand the depth of what everyone talks about.

The first time I held him after the nurses cleaned him off and swaddled him up, something deep within me changed. I suddenly morphed into a father. The very first thought in my head when they handed him to me and I knew he was really here and that he was really my son was a God-given deeper revelation of something I had always known. Jesus said that we as humans know how to give good gifts to our children; how much more will our heavenly Father give good things to us? That scripture had always made sense to me, but when I held my own son for the first time, it took on a whole new meaning to me. I love my son almost more than anything else...the first being God, the second being my wife. I would do absolutely anything to spare him from pain, sickness or heartache, and I long to give him everything his little mind and heart desire. If I feel that strongly about my own son and I am merely a human, what love God must have for me.

Not long after Quinn was born, we had another birth. Through a lot of prayer, talking, and brainstorming with different individuals, my dad and I birthed the idea of having a Saturday night service at the church that is geared for youth, young adults, and those who enjoy a little more modern style of worship. Tonight is the first one, and we are very excited about it. By some of the opposition key players in this service have faced in their lives over the last few weeks, I believe God is going to really bless it and cause it to take off and grow. Some of us have experienced physical exhaustion, financial stress, sickness, discouragement, distractions, etc., and I believe it is all because the enemy of our soul is trying desperately to stop the moving of God through this service, which leads me to believe that hearts and lives are going to be radically changed by God and that a massive revival for our church, community, and world is imminent. In spite of opposition, we are excited to see what God is going to do and if you are reading this today, I sincerely hope that I will see you at church tonight, next Saturday night, and/or some other Saturday night.

Lastly, I have discovered a great truth in life. We have a Savior who is truly touched by the feelings of our infirmities, be it physical, mental, emotional, or financial. If we will simply take the time to get everything in the way of our walk with God worked out and seek God, he hears and answers prayers. He restores faith and hope. He is merciful and full of grace. He deals with us not according to our sins but rather by the blood of Jesus that removes every stain. We've been facing difficulty in our mortgage business and in our finances and we have a mountain that is seemingly impossible to move or overcome. But after spending some time praying, studying God's word, and fasting, God showed me and told me that everything was going to just fine. He opens his hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing, and he promised that our hearts would be satisfied. Ever since God spoke to me my phone has been ringing off the hook with business and God is opening doors that were previously closed. God is good and full of grace, mercy, and abundant blessings.

Cheers, and God bless!

Hoss

Oh, My God! What grace!

I've grown up in church. I've heard the following passage of scripture countless times. But every once in a while the cobwebs and dust get shaken off the thought and it becomes shiny and new in my mind and heart all over again. Today has been one such day.

In Luke 23, we read of the crucifixion of Christ. There He was, the king and savior of the world, beaten, bloody and bruised beyond recognition, hanging on a rough wooden cross with a thief on either side of Him. One thief says "If you're the Messiah, save yourself, and save us while you're at it." It wasn't a genuine request for physical salvation; it was more mockery and disbelief.

In verse 40 we see the start of something amazing; something precious; something beautiful. The other thief tells the mocker "Shut up! You and I deserve to be up here because of the things we've done. We're guilty, but this man is innocent." He then looks at Jesus and says "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."

There are several implications in the words of the humble thief that paint a beautiful portrait of salvation as well as subtly imply the great truth that God looks on our hearts and not necessarily our words. The thief never directly said "I'm a sinner, and I ask you to forgive me. I believe that you're the son of God and that you will die and rise again." However, his heart found a way to express the model of salvation in an implying manner through his words.

When the thief told the mocker that Jesus was innocent but they were not, he was implying step one of salvation; admitting to being a sinner. When he looked at Jesus and said "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." he was saying two things. First, he was acknowledging that Jesus was truly the son of God. If he did not believe Jesus was who he said he was, why would he have asked Jesus to remember him. Second, he was asking for mercy and forgiveness. "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." He was saying "Please don't leave me out of heaven."

Here is a man hanging on a cross next to the savior of the world and openly demonstrating sorrow, remorse, and humility. Although he was receiving the punishment that justice demanded, Jesus brought to him the mercy that he couldn't earn and didn't deserve. I believe Jesus lost track of his own pain and suffering for just a moment, and with tears of compassion in His loving eyes He said "Today, this day, you will be with me in heaven."

Oh, my God! What grace! What mercy! Words cannot possibly convey the flood of emotion that bursts out when this beautiful painting of salvation becomes reality. We are all so completely undeserving of life everlasting, much less life in general. Yet when in our hearts we recognize how sinful we really are, acknowledge that Jesus, through His death, replaced justice with ultimate mercy, and ask Him to forgive us, he gives us healing, provision, and life everlasting.

There is no ceremony to perform. No holy writ to be recited. More than any physical action or verbal sounds, it's all in the heart. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is the son of God who died for your sins, that's it. Jesus has done the rest.

Oh, my God! What grace! What love! What mercy!

Study to show thyself approved...

Yesterday morning my dad preached a message at church about rightly dividing the word of God. He started out by quoting a few of the "easy amen" verses about God's word. "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!" and the congregation replied "Amen!" "I believe the Bible says what it means and means what it says!" and the congregation shouted "Amen!" with clapping and hands in the air. Little did they know that they were about to be blasted with some awesome truth that they desperately needed to hear...and I needed them to hear.

If the Bible says what it means and means what it says then Jesus preached cannibalism and women are to keep silent in church. He then broke it down and gave three important keys to studying God's word. More specifically, three questions to ask when trying to understand scripture: why was it written, to whom was it written, and how does it apply to me?

As he preached, there was only a small corner of the church that was shouting "Amen!" with him. It was those of us who are thoroughly annoyed by the judgement coming from religious people who have not studied the scriptures they so quickly throw out to condemn. It was quite entertaining for me, although I know that's not exactly the best attitude to have.

He didn't dive into debunking the religious misunderstandings in Leviticus, which is probably wise since it would have turned a 45 minute message into a 7 day series. However, I sincerely hope that people will follow these three keys when studying God's word. More specifically, I'd really like it if they would follow these three keys when trying to tell other people that they are in sin.

On a different note, Saturday night Alex, my new friend Angel, and myself played worship, and it was surprisingly great. We didn't get to practice much, so I was worried that it was going to suck, but it was actually a lot of fun and I think it turned out pretty great. We had a whole lot of fun...Then Sunday after the morning service we stuck around and had worship practice, and that too went really well. We ironed out 3 songs, 2 of which were brand new, and I think they're going to be a lot of fun to play.

That's all. I know this blog isn't exactly like my typical religious or political rant, but I'm pleased to say that at this moment, I don't really have anything to rant about. So, until something else pisses me off...

Cheers and God Bless!

Hoss

Benitez Family Seeks Instant Access to High Society

Meridian police responded to a 911 call placed by a member of the Benitez family in the evening on May 13th. The father and separated-husband, Ricardo Benitez was in need of medical help and not in his right mind according to the family. Nevertheless, the police showed up and Ricardo had a bread knife. He lunged at the police officers, showing physical, deadly aggression. The police drew their weapons and three bullets ripped through the chest of Ricardo Benitez, killing him at the scene.

The family called the police because he was a danger to himself and others. He lunged at police officers with a potentially deadly weapon, and they shoot him. Now, the family has taken legal action and is filling a lawsuit against the City of Meridian, the Meridian police department, the former and president police chiefs and the State of Idaho. The lawsuit is in the amount of $5 million dollars.

When I heard this on the news last evening, I was completely furious. While I'm sure the family misses their husband and father, this is a shameless attempt to bleed the local and state governments so the family can drive a Cadillac or buy a new house in a $500,000+ subdivision.

Shame on the family. Shame on the snaky lawyer representing these greedy leeches. People need to take some friggin' responsibility for their actions and quit blaming everything on everyone else. If you pee into the wind, you're going to get wet. If you pull a weapon on a cop, there's a good chance you're going to get shot. It's not rocket science and there really aren't any exceptions to the rule. Police have a hard enough time dealing with situations just like this without having to worry that if they pull the trigger to preserve their own lives or the lives of their colleagues that they could end up losing their jobs, costing the city or state millions, or ending up in jail themselves. If the local, state, and federal governments don't stand behind the actions of their officers, that's exactly what will happen. They will simply stop doing their jobs because no one has their backs; they will not protect us because no one will protect them from the fallout.

If you pull a weapon on a cop, you're going to get shot. If you're walking along through the forest and a bear attacks you, you shoot the bear. But what the Benitez family is doing in this case is saying "You shouldn't have shot that bear. He didn't know what he was doing. It's not his fault that he attacked you, even though we thought he was scary enough that we needed to call you."

What would've happened if the police hadn't used their weapons and this psycho killed one of them? Where would the outrage be then? And better yet, how would the Idaho un-Statesman spin the story to make the police department out to be the bad guy? Would the government give the dead cop's family $5 million in damages? Fat chance.

If it were up to me, the friggin' Benitez family wouldn't see one red cent. And further, I'd see to it that the family and the lawyer paid for every cost in fighting this stupid, greedy lawsuit. While I'm at it, why not through the friggin' liberal Idaho Statesman in there too. I'm assuming left-wing spin writing pays pretty well, so let them shoulder some of the load.

Or better yet, make the family, the lawyer and the Statesman pay every one of the police officers for psychological damages from having to use deadly force. You can be sure that the communist ACLU would make a trip to the great state of Idaho to see to it that that one got spun into some sort of racial issue or something.

Cheers, God bless, and thanks for reading my rant!

An interesting look into Christians and swearing...

I have found myself a bit grumpy these last few days, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I had a good weekend, I've got a full yet fulfilling week ahead of me, both in and out of work, and yet I just couldn't seem to shake this gray feeling; this sort of tired blase` that I just couldn't get rid of, much to my wife's chagrin.

Well, today I figured it out. I don't know if it makes any sense at all, but I took a break from working on loans and started studying a scripture topic. The more wrapped up in this wonderfully written article about Christians and cursing (or cussing or swearing, however you prefer to say it) the happier I become and the more the gray blase` lifted off of me. So, I decided I was grumpy because I was not working on what I should have been working on at the moment. And with that, I would now like to share with you what I've found.

I read through this article about Christians and cussing; more specifically, good and bad reasons to refrain from using vulgar language and times when it is a sin and other times when it's not a sin, but rather just rude. The author actually likened swearing to cutting loose a big, loud, obnoxious fart in that it isn't necessarily a sin, but frowned upon in most social situations.

I'm not sure that I'm 100% convinced that swearing is not a sin. I have to do some further research into what the Bible means when it speaks of idle words and swearing. But the author definitely had a few very good points of interest that I'd like to highlight before I send you on your merry way to read the article for yourself.

The first and most inspiring thing the author said was regarding legalism. He defined it better and more eloquently than I have ever heard anyone do before. He said "My beef with legalism is its rigid and blind insistence on following a code for the sake of following a code, ignoring any other aspect of thinking and reasoning on the subject...daring anyone to challenge...it." Pure poetry. I couldn't in a million years think of a better definition. And because legalism, hypocrisy, pharisaicalism and willful ignorance of believers are the things that fire me up the most and are the things I've decided to battle against in ministry, I think this gentleman's definition is going to be an awesome tool in my toolbox.

Along with that, my whole life I've heard about "a standard." "You represent our church and you need to hold a standard." "Our youth are different from other churches because they have a standard." My reply to that for the longest time has been "Well, then what's the standard?" But in reading the author's definition of legalism I quoted above, I found that "standard" is simply a positive-spin word for "legalism." When people are saying "You represent the church and you need to hold a standard." what they are really saying is "You represent the church and you need to look, talk, think, act, and worship like I do because that's the way it's always been and any other way is wrong." If that isn't legalism, I don't know what is.

Another excellent point, and one that I often forget about, is taking God's name in vain. There are many ways to do that and it doesn't just mean god@mmit. Personally, I believe that by claiming to be a Christian and living any way that would reflect opposite of that is taking God's name in vain. The word "vain" in this instance means without power or authority, and when you claim to be child of God and live like God does not have authority in your life, you are taking his name in vain.

All that being said, speaking the name of "God" or "Jesus" in a way that renders those names meaningless is wrong. And sadly, it is something that is overlooked by many Christians, including myself. "Oh my God!" is a frequent expression of surprise, shock, or disgust in my vocabulary. I've heard very righteous, holy people say "Jesus" in much the same manner, and although they are still righteous and holy (in my opinion and as much as any sinner saved by grace can be) they are still in the wrong when they take God's name in vain.

It can be argued however that "God" is not taking God's name in vain. After all, what is God's name? I'm a man, and people often say to me "Hey, man!" but "man" is not my name. So, there's definitely some further studying that needs to be done on my part before I reach an absolute conclusion, but the principle remains the same regarding not taking God's name in vain; without power or authority.

In another article (which led me to the article I've mentioned above) I read about Evangelical speaker Tony Campolo who starts his speeches off by saying "I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a sh*t. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said sh*t than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night." Good point, huh? We Christians, in our legalistic minds, so often have a tendency to focus on the minor issues with an ant-in-the-magnifying-glass intensity, yet we overlook the whole reason we are here. We get so wrapped up in our "No drinking, no gambling, no swearing, no tattoos!" that we neglect the biggest commandment in the Bible, to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.

While swearing isn't always a sin, it's definitely not always a good thing either. All things are permissible (except where expressly prohibited by God's word) but not everything is beneficial. A time when cussing is definitely a sin (in my opinion) are when it offends someone else or it turns someone else off to Christianity. On a sidenote to that, you cannot live your life according to someone else's convictions. That's a hard lesson I had to learn. Yes, Paul said that if eating meat offered to idol gods was a stumblingblock to his brother, or that it would offend his brother, he would refrain. But I've found in my own life that there are "professional offendees;" people who are offended over every little thing that they don't agree with. There is a very fine yet very real line between not offending your brother and you being a slave to what other people think. If you allow it, there are people out there who will subject you to their personal standards and convictions, and while those standards and convictions may work for them, they are not necessarily yours or mine. Seek out your own soul's salvation with reverence to God.

The article actually ends with the idea of living to your own personal convictions which come from God. Even though the scripture isn't necessarily cut and dry regarding cussing, alcohol, tattoos, or many other things, it needs to be remembered that whatever is not of faith is sin. That simply means that if you can't do it with a clear conscience, you are sinning. Now why you don't have a clear conscience about the matter needs to be sorted out before you can truly decide what is of faith and what is sin, because if you can't have the liberty to do something because of someone else's legalism, the matter might necessarily be a sin, but the fact that you are living in bondage under someone else might be.

Ah, the fine lines we must walk. The Bible says to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. Sometimes I think it would be easier to not question the status quo and just blindly follow what I've always been taught. Ignorance is bliss, but curiosity and truth-seeking can bring true liberty.

You can read the articles I based much of this blog about at:
http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/C/cuss1.html
http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/C/cuss2.html

Cheers, and God bless!

Hoss