How Rich Am I?

Found this site. All you do is type is how much you make annually and it tells you how rich you are in relation to the rest of the world. Kayla and I are within the top 98% of the world. That seems a little rediculous. Apparently I'm mega rich. Who knew? What about you? Take the quiz. I hope this inspires us to love open handed with our finances and realize that our generation has the capabiblity to put an end to extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as peoples living on less than $1.25 a day. How often do I spend that amount on useless garbage? There are around 1.4 billion people living in these conditions. That's around 20% of the world's population. Over 50% of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day. And we have the responsibility to spread God's Great Gospel and meet the spiritual and physical needs of the world.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_poverty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_percentage_of_population_living_in_poverty

I'm the 59,029,289 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>

Sola Fide,

Daniel

p.s. Jared is almost done!

Where is Jared?

You may have read my post breaking the news of Jared's arrival to this blog. I tried to manufacture as much enthusiasm as possible while posting this. I with much anticipation foretold of his very first post. What a magnificent post it would be!! The heavens will sing!! Doves will fly!! Poverty will be abolished!!

But this has not happened. I'm sad to say that Jared has yet to post a single blog. Where are you Jared? The nations are silent in humble anticipation of your words. Your intellect is admired through the world wide web. Please come to the aide of this site!!

Sola Fide,

Daniel

The Pinnacle

At 22 I've reached the American Dream. I own a house in white suburbia. We have 2 cars which are paid for. I married my high school sweetheart. She has a fabulous job making more than most of our peers parents make. She is educated. I am an educated man. I am pursuing more education, which only leads to more wealth. When in log into our banking info, I'm shocked at how much money we have/have the capacity to save. I have a fenced backyard (all it needs to be complete is a dog). Flat screen televisions, electronics, furniture, closets full of clothes. My parents (and most likely yours as well) told me those things are what comprise the good life. Love your wife, pay your bills, and raise up your children, get a raise, come home and watch t.v. I've done all of this (with the exception of kids). At 22, I've reached the pinnacle of the American Dream. The dream that the culture has bought into, as well as God's church. I was told that all of these things would make me content. But, they do not. I reached the dream and it wasn't what I thought it would be. My life is filled with all this stuff. But I feel empty. There has got to be more. I've been plauged by this new discovery. That my happiness is not contengent on my social status or my net income. And this is not a new concept to me. I've known this for what seems like eternity. You can't truly understand this until you yourself are placed in this situation.

More to come.

Sola Fide,
Daniel

BTW, Curtis suggested I add this picture to the blog. I think it is fitting.

School Begins

My last semester at Auburn University. Many claim this moment is bitter sweet. The accomplishment of completing a degree yet the loss of friends, the college scene, etc......
I hear students remark of how surreal it is to reach completion.

I don't feel that way. I'm just ready to be done. At this point, my bachelors degree only seems like the object that stands in between me and my future. I'm ready for that object to be removed.

New Member

Good news, JaredPete will now join me in my venture to rule the world of blog. It used to be me, all alone, the lone wolf. But now, I've added a new member to the pack. Wish Jared a warm welcome. He's working on his first post now. Should be interesting.....

Daniel

in response to @danielbeckworth

It seems that my blog post has not been to popular with some of you. I've receieved a few comments, a lot of direct messages and emails in opposition to the content that I previously posted. I've been told content of my blog is not loving, not uplifting, not true, no fun, no compassion, etc.........What I like most about all the opposition is that .........
1.) I mostly posted a ton of bible verses and tried to keep commenting to a minimal so the verses could speak for themselves. The bible is like a lion, unleash it and it will defend itself.
2.) Based on this, those who oppose the post don't really have a problem with me, but with the bible itself. or...
3.) I used a systematic approach to present the material. Systematic is kinda boring to some. I also hear that some people didn't really understand the material. They also attribute this the systematic approach. I admit that the issue is somewhat confusing and the manner in which it was presented could be hard to comprehend upon first reading it.
4.)People have said, " You only talked about wrath, but didn't talk about Love"
Maybe you just missed some of my blog. I even reposted the bottom half that dealt with love/atonement/expiation. I believe that some read the first few paragraphs, got mad, and assumed I continued with the sad verses. Please read the entire content. Love is crucial. No one said it was not. But in order to better see God's love, let us see it in the light of his Holiness. Let's pool together all the attributes of God rather than isolating Love by its self. Some will only say God loves you in order to not offend anyone by saying harsh words like sin, hate, wrath, wretched, etc........ But if you leave out sin, and the absorbing of wrath by Christ on the cross, if you leave out blood, how can there be remission of sins? Without the hard truths of the bible, you don't get the full gospel. And a partial Gospel is no Gospel at all. If you refuse to preach the Gospel to the persishing, you only show your hatred for them. If you truly loved them, you'd think of their souls and not so much their feelings. I'm not against being cool. If you can have cool music, sit on a stool in a dark lit room while drinkin' java and preach the full Gospel and remain faithful to the word, and people are coming to Christ, then I'm all for it. Keep up the good work. Free Coffee For All!! But hanging with people is not necassarily loving them. The Gospel is word and deed. We have to care for people, and meet there needs, but we must also proclaim the good news (and yes, things like wrath, and sin are included in the good news, It shows what we are, and what Christ is saving us from) that we are utterly sinful, and God hates sin, and in order to reconcile us to himself, He sent his Son to die the death he didn't deserve on a cruel cross, in him we have the absorbing of wrath, by his stripes we are healed. There is LOVE!!! The glorious amazing thing about God is not that He damns, but that He'd save any of us who repent and place faith in His Son!!! I better understand the love that God has for me by examining His holiness. I better understand God's love, I am in awe, when I contemplate the fact that I am totally depraved, I can't do good, and yet, Christ died in order to remove my crimes, and was raised from the dead that I may now live life on mission. What a great Love with which God has loved us!! He is redeeming his enemies (you and I). My good friend Jared Pete recently said this...."When Jesus says to "love your enemies"...He is speaking from experience...Jesus loves His enemies."
5.) I've been told that I'm un-loving. Is posting a bunch of bible verses unloving? or do we immediately grow defensive when our agenda or teachings are challenged, even if challenged by scripture? Perhaps it's not the content, but the manner in which I presented it. Once again, I say read the entire post.
6.) I've also noticed that of the responses I've recieved, I don't think the Bible has been used once to "correct" me. I've had some philosophy or a few pithy zen statements about why I ought not mention these things. But I place little stock in opinion. I want fact. So if you bring some bible verses to me (in context please) then we'll look over it and I'll talk with you. But don't bring me any of that trash saying we shouldn't mention this kind of stuff, or that God doesn't get mad. Please. I'm not shooting for the "most relevant christian of the year" award. I want to be found biblically faithful in all matters. Even the not so popular ones.
7.) We've also had quite a few that had further questions. People who had no idea that verses like this existed. And I understand that it's hard to convey meaning through written word without two-way conversation (especially hard for me). So if you have further questions, just message me or give me a call. If you live in Auburn, or in the local area, we'll meet and I'll buy you breakfast/lunch/ or dinner and we'll talk as friends.
8.) It has not been my intention to come off as mean or angry. I'm simply amazed that this God is so in love with me in spite of who I was. I am a new creation. He has changed me and continues to change me. Let us all embrace the word of the Living God!

“...And indeed we cannot grasp or exhaust Christ, the eternal Righteousness, with one sermon or thought; for to learn to appreciate Him is an everlasting lesson which we shall not be able to finish either in this or in yonder life.” - Martin Luther

Daniel
wdb0002@auburn.edu
334-759-0320

Love (Since some of you are upset)

This is not a new post. There have been quite a few peeps who got pissed about the previous blog posting. People have claimed that I never mentioned love, mercy, or any good news. Apparently you didn't read the entire blog. Scroll down past the first paragraph and read the transition. It's all about the cross (in case you didn't know, God proved his LOVE there) ( i even use the love word ever now and again).

On the cross, It was Jesus who bore our sins. 2 Cor. 5:21 puts it so elogantly....
2 Corinthians 5:21 (New International Version)
21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Perfect Jesus came to earth, willfully went to the cross, took all our sins, and was crushed.
Isa. 53 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
He bore in his body your and my crimes. He didn't deserve it. But He was obedient to the will of the Father and it is Him alone that redeems us from the law of sin and death thereby removing the wrath that is rightfully ours. The Hate is gone. He was crushed. Look above at Isa. 53:5. It was His punishment that brought us peace. We are HEALED by his wounds. Read Isa 53. It speaks a lot about wrath. That God hates sin. The measure of how much He hates sin is the cross.
This next piece taken from 2006 Desiring God Conference by Baucham
"The supremacy of Christ in truth and redemption is found in His exclusivity. There is no other means by which man can be justified. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18, ESV). “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
How can what is wrong be made right? The Bible says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV). There came a day when God the Father crushed and killed His one and only Son in our stead in order to satisfy His wrath, “so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26, ESV).
The spotless, sinless Lamb of God is crushed, rejected, and killed to pay a debt that He did not owe on behalf of sinners who could never pay Him back.
Can you hear the rhetorical questions from Calvary? Was that enough for your sin? Was that enough for you to recognize the supremacy of Christ in truth as it relates to redemption? Nothing else could have been done that would have allowed God to be both just and justifier. But in the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus Christ we find the resolution to the question, “How can what is wrong be made right?”
Listen as the hymn writer proclaims: “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains” (William Cowper’s “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” 1772).
How can what is wrong be made right? The spotless, sinless, Lamb of God is crushed, rejected, and killed to pay a debt that He did not owe on behalf of sinners who could never pay Him back." Voddie Baucham Jr. http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v4/n2/life-questions
Isa 53:10 10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes [c] his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand

The punishment that is rightfully ours is now forgiven in Christ.
Ephesians 1:7-8 (New International Version)
7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

We are justified through the blood of Christ alone. And it is this very justification that removes the wrath of God from us.
Romans 5:9 (New International Version)
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

Let us embrace the full truth of the Gospel!! Let us not be cowards or men of deception, only telling half-truths. Let us love the gospel. Let us carry the message of salvation to those who are perishing. To tell a non-believer that God is not angry concerning their sin is an absolute lie. A heresy. Un-biblical. Foolishness. Let all believers remember that Christ has absorbed the wrath of God that was rightly due to us all. When we deserve hell, He predestined us for life. I rejoice in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. Expiation - While we were whores, Christ dresses us in white. The cross has made us white as snow!! 2 Cor 5:21 We have recieved the righteousness of Christ!! Not because of the great things we have done, but inspite of the horrible people we are!!! The real love of God is only understood correctly when viewed in light of his Holiness, our wickedness waging war against his holiness, His hatred of sin (and sinners ps 5:5), and the means in which He is rescuing the elect!!