GQchris

I just wanted to make a fellowship thread with the Christians on Defend, and I know there are many on here. Just wanted to get to know some people and the impact that their Faith has had on Martial Arts as well as in their personal life.

This thread is primarily for Christians, although every other belief is welcome too so long as we keep it civil.. what I don't want this to be about is a debate about the existence of God, the Bible, or personal attacks on the Faith.

I'll start off, I grew up from a Roman Catholic background and growing up RC almost made me an atheist. It was back in 1999 when I started going through some problems that I got saved and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour and my only regret thus far has been that I didn't do it sooner.

It hasn't been all peachy since I got saved, and I do have some days when I want to just throw in the towel and quit, but when I think back to what Jesus did on the Cross, it puts things to perspective for me and I can get through difficulties. It wasn't until about the 3 years ago that I started getting serious about my Faith. God has changed my life, and he's completely changed my life, he's changed my heart..

I train at a Boxing/Muay Thai gym in Oakland, California and God has given me courage not only training, but also in my personal life as well, and I decided that from here on out that I am going to fight for Truth, fight for Jesus Christ, and not compromise my morals and live for God.

I have gone through a process of growth the last few years and God has even used difficulty to mature me and when I look back, it wasn't fun the things that went through, but because of the refiner's fire it has made me a New Man, and I give God all the Glory for it.

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Owner of a lonely heart.. much better than a owner of a broken heart...

Mike Brewer

This is a great idea, Chris. I'm not one for open displays of religion, especially ones that segment people or further define them as something that is "other than everyone else," but I like the fact that you welcomed everyone else into the fold.

My background is widely varied, and I've attended Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Mormon, Buddhist, Jewish, and other churches in my lifetime. I have found worthwhile teachings in literally each and every one of them. I do not call myself a Christian, because I have indeed found incredible value from other faiths, and so I cannot in good conscience say that I am willing to accept the idea that He is the only path to salvation. I guess I just can't bring myself to believe that all others are damned, no matter what level of good they accomplish in their lives. I am certainly not anti-Christian, however, and I find most of the New Testament to be far more unifying than divisive. In that respect, the Christians and Buddhists are getting it right. It is precisely the acceptance and brotherly love professed by Christianity that appeals to me most, and it is the trait I pursue with more of my "extra-curricular activities" than any other.

I also try hard to separate the faith(s) and its teachings from the people who practice it (them). All kinds of people do all kinds of heinous stuff in the names of their faiths, but the actions of the practitioners do not the faith define. For myself, I pray nightly without fail and mean it, and I have a permanent reminder of my faith and purpose with me at all times. I think that my faith has inspired me to not only live well, but to live well for others. I don't always hit the mark, but I try. I think that faith has taught me no one is really any more or less important than anyone else, and that what's important is what we do with the resources we have.

Ultimately, though, what my faith has taught me is that if I take it upon myself to do right and take the reins of my own life, God is free to do good for those who can't do for themselves. He doesn't need to bother Himself taking care of my whims - I can handle those. In that respect, my God is much like a Father. He loves me, and I love Him. When I need guidance, He's there in all sorts of ways, but for the most part, He respects my independence and lets me walk my own path. I know I can always come home, but I don't want to go until I've managed to make good. When I need tough love, it's right there and in abundance. When I do right, there's always a reassuring, confidence building, "Proud of you, Boy" in the back of my mind.

I've always had a hard time classifying my faith because of the way they don't quite fit into the stencils of religions, and so I tend to fall into that irritating, even infuriating nonsense category of "spiritual but not religious." That doesn't fit me well either, though. I guess I just have to be okay with the idea that God knows where I stand on things.

And by the way, I wholeheartedly share the belief that this thread should stay civil. I will police it regularly and delete any hostile or agitating posts. That said, I'd truly love to see our Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon, (and other?) members pop in here and share their views/faiths/stories.

Good thread, Chris. Kudos, in case I can't rep you yet.

GQchris

Great start, thanks.

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Owner of a lonely heart.. much better than a owner of a broken heart...

Knuckles&Knees

That sounds like JKD. [chuckle]

I'm not sure where I stand with religion. Sometimes I think of eventually pursuing a path of developing some sociological union between community, martial arts, and modern world realities within Catholicism.

I mean different movements emerge at different times to address new issues and problems. The Jesuits had a beginning and a cause and purpose the same thing with the Knights Hospitalars or with the more modern Knights of Columbus or Catholic Knights Insurance in the United States (and abroad as well for the K of C).

I'm not looking with the vision (envisioning) of something like the secretive and conservative Opus Dei or with a clerical religious order like the new Marine Corps style Legionaries of Christ. Stellar as those groups may be, respective toward their mission that is.

I'm much to liberal for all that for one thing. I like the musical sound of Capoeira and I enjoy seeing the female hips of nicely built women dancing the samba. I like the Tango - and its ballroom clothing and even the cut up denim worn on the ass of some dirty blond chick jamming to rock in her rusty Chevy. And I might not have problems with dressed up dolls of Santeria.

And I do have a visual appreciation for three-quarter naked women, peppering the beaches, soaking in the warmth of the sun. So, I realize this does contradict the principle of modest dress eloquently expressed in the clothing of many modern, Islamic women of the Middle East or typified in the clothing of the most wonderful, motherly, holy Senora residing in the bosom of the blessed Holy Trinity. But what I can't stand is burka so complete it hides the face in veil, or the Protestant styled t-shirts brandishing the name of Jesus or an image of a fish looped across the front, and I'm most certainly not fond of chessy Southern Catholics in the U.S. pasting plastic cheaply made, scented, Mary statues on the dash boards of their cars.

True religion - in my opinion anyways - finds the sort of expression that would be in finely carved, wood rosary beads or in silk draped across tits (harden nipples a plus).

So, I admire many things of the Shaolin Buddhist monastery or of the structure, community, solitude, and even Gregorian chants of the Christian monastic traditions. But how can one reconcile that into the lifestyle of a lay worshiping community that lives within bustling modern metropolises?

I'm sexually depraved or at least disordered or perhaps perverse by traditional Christian standards. That is I don't mind sodomizing my wife (I don't have one though), or receiving a blowjob just for the sheer hell of it and pleasure of it (no need for a procreative end). I certainly don't mind the company of a beautiful and sexy pre-op transsexual (a plenitude it would seem in Thailand and Brazil).

I don't know, life is complex, and the post-modern or post-Industrial world even more so than any other period of mankind. The Industrial Age as just about every major sociologist on both the political left and right have agreed upon, greatly distanced the individual man - person - from the sanctuary of small, rural, community bonds and customs that gave a person an assured place, purpose, and dignity within his or her specific community. From the Industrial urban age on, man would have to rip, tear, claw, and fight for whatever little dignity or honor he could get, which was once freely given in times past by the men and women of small rural communities.

Post-Industrial times are first all environmentally cleaner, but they are also more creative centered, and focused upon service driven economies be they low or high paying fields. I believe the Jesuit anthropologist De Chardin (spelling) was correct when he envisioned the 21st century heading for the paradoxical reality of greater individuation and greater global community. The internet helps in this as does greater modern economic and social emphasis on individual creativity.

For me the written literature of the Bible or Koran or Hindue and Buddhist sacred texts are not all that more or less moving, respectively, from each other. They have a certain co-equality for my own literary and intellectual appreciation. Perhaps the Bible has more of central spiritual focus or inspiration or shaping in my life because I come out of a Christian, and more specifically, American-Catholic background (more specific within geographical and cultural American terms: USA. Even more specific in that Midwestern [which is less conservatively traditionally, than East Coast U.S. Catholicism])

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But most religion today does not adequately address the urban realities I face - this is how I feel anyways.

Violence, the threat of violence, community and family break downs, meanness, and the impact of narco-trafficing cartles and super-gangs like the GD's, VL's, and LK's impact my life (I think drugs should be legalized and treated as health rather than criminal issue by the way). Emergence of Neo-nazi gangs, and the rise of hyper-violent prison gangs like the Aryn Brotherhood effect culture in this new world I live in.

Jesus walked among armed men carry swords (look to the garden story and ear being cut off) and he even stated at the Last Supper that if a man did not own a sword he should sell his cloak and buy one.

I'm not suggesting Jesus was advocating the world arm itself inside its homes or advocating that he future NRA was or is right. On the other hand I'm not sure he meant a person must "Turn the other cheek" at all times. And I'm not sure he meant for "Turn the other cheek" to be applied to the social contexts in which Sao Paulo gangs in modern times de facto function as domestic terrorists, attacking police stations, banks, and setting city buses on fire.

But I was happy to hear that this current Pope has publicly noted "new" sins so to speak to our modern eras problems... e.g. drug trafficking and environmental pollution.

Blue Wave Gym

I read this awhile ago but did not say anything because I couldn't think of anything to say. I have one question for my protestant brothers. What is going on in the protestant church. The liberal protestant churchs are disapering because the stand for nothing and the other denominations have become wealth and proseprity churches what is going on.I love to watch religious programing on tv, almost all of the services are protestant but I feel equally at home there(and in your churches) as I do watching(and going to) catholic mass. I know there are many good bible beliving protestant churches out there so why is tv 50% or more wealth and prosperity churches?

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Tiens, voila du boudin,
voila du boudin,
voila du boudin
Pour les Alsaciens, les Suisses, et les Lorrains
Pour les Belges, il n'y en a plus,
pour les Belges, il n'y en a plus
Ce sont des tireurs au cul. Tireurs au cul

eXcessiveForce

I am a Christian. Raised MO Synod Lutheran, and all. I do not attend a church as this moment mostly because I haven't found one that I feel is walking the walk.

I am a decided Christian, in that I made the decision to live according the the teachings of Jesus whether or not God exists. This does not hinder my faith, only says that even if one could prove conclusively that God did not exist. I would still live my life the same way as I do now.

I have studied many religions, and treat many more like philosophies that religions. I can see some things in them that I agree with but I subscribe to only 1 view of God.

I'm also a pretty lousy christian, but I am one none the less.

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eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

shaolin-warrior

Chris,
Good thread. I was also brought up in a Roman Catholic Church. My mother comes from Italy and My Fathers family comes from Germany. I am first generation American. I spent the first 14 years of my life in Catholic schools. Funny thing is, after all the sacraments, first communion, confirmation, I didn't have God in my life. I met my wife in the Air Force, I was A Staff Sgt., she was a Captain. I started going to her Church, it was Southern Baptist. I was in disbelief. Preacher screaming and jumping up and down, People shouting amen......It was like a Saturday Night Live Skit. We got out of the Air Force and moved to Connecticut where we began attending a Methodist Church. I liked it, the Christian fellowship was there, but still no God for me. I had started a small construction company and was to busy selling my soul for a buck to be thinking about God. Then my sister got cancer, sick for a couple of years, newly wed., two little kids, she knew God her whole life. She was strong, stonger than anyone I've ever met. I felt bad, but business was good for me. Money, cars, hot wife (spoiled, but hot).
I'd call her or visit, but my life went on, what the hell, I was busy spoiling my kids. Her church was fantastic....my wife and I started to go with my sister and her family because I wanted to spend more time with her. We felt like we found a home, and we had. My sister has since passed, we still attend St. Johns, and we've found God. He is an immense force in my life, he helped me to realize that the money and the toys were not mine. That He gave me resources and epected in return that I become a responsible steward of them. Spending wisely,living usefully, not excessively. I realized that I was put here for a greater purpose. So I got together a group of men, who are contractors and we fix the homes of the elderly or single parent family, we dont ask anything in return, we are silent witnesses of Gods love. Sometimes it is better to show someone that God works through the church, than to tell them. I had always said in the past " once you sell your soul to the devil, you cant get it back"' sure hope I was wrong.
Peace S.-W.

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