About
On December 23, 2002, Linus started blogging on the newly formed livejournal.com. Then, he was known as “Mike”. Blogging was fairly new back then. In fact, blogs were a little more than public journals that chronicled their owners lives in intimate detail. Linus used this new medium to share his thoughts and feelings about being a new Christian.
During this time, “Mike” was a student at the University of Maryland majoring in Film Studies in the English Department. In addition to being a student, he began working part-time at the church that embraced him with open arms.
A few years later, as graduation came closer, “Mike” realized that livejournal did not offer the flexibility and control he wanted with his content. So in March 2006, mikesoh.com was born! This new web site not only continued his honest reflections but now contained many of his memories! Pictures from these years became instantly available for all to see!
But as time went on, age and wisdom set in, making mikesoh.com a hodgepodge of intimate thought as well as social commentary. Suddenly, two personalities emerged and one was silencing the other. It was through this conflict that a new web site was born: linuslive.com!
Today, two sites exist: the original mikesoh.com, which hosts Mike’s editorial content and linuslive.com, which hosts Mike’s spiritual content. These two sites, authored by the same person, offer a rich variety of prose that was never clear or organized under the one web site. Additionally, friends that know “Mike” as Linus now have a place to read his blogs without the added confusion as to why his web site is mikesoh.com when his name is Linus.
From humble beginnings, both mikesoh.com and linuslive.com hope to enrich the lives of all netizens by giving not only notes on his spiritual journey, but his social commentary as well
Statement of Faith
I think there needs to be some clarification. Sometimes I wonder how informed people are really are about the Christian faith (or any faith in general). When people confuse tolerance as acceptance, a grave injustice is done and really shows what people care about.
The one that comes to mind is, “All religions are the same” when in reality, each religion is vastly different. Statements like this does not show tolerance; they show ignorance.
In a recent article by Reuters (printer friendly version), the question of “what do they really believe” has never been more important in today’s world. And, sadly, it is also very misunderstood.
While I will not even suggest that I know everything about every religion, I will put in my two cents about Christianity. I do not claim myself as an expert. I don’t know a lot about church history or the differences and nuances about each denomination. My hope is to be able to describe openly what Christianity is and what it is not. The basic principles of Christianity are:
- God is an infinitely perfect being of unimaginable characteristics. (Isaiah 64:4)
- There is only one God, eternally existing in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Geneses 1:26, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30)
- Man, created by God, chose to disobey God, thereby alienating him from his Creator. (Geneses 3)
- Jesus, is the Son of God, who was born into a world of sin, was perfect in every way. Jesus, having committed no sin, took it upon himself to become sin for the world and suffered it’s wrath for the benefit of man. (Romans 3)
(Please note that there many other biblical references. The ones listed here are to provide a starting point.)
While I could add more principles, it’s important to note that even within these four, there is wide arguments to which are true, which are not. However, there is a very distinct principle that separates Christian-dom: The Bible is the inerrant word of God, fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and it is the final authority in faith and life. Some faiths choose to view the Holy Bible as an interpretive document that must be viewed through the lens of the current world. I am not of this belief. I believe that the Holy Bible is complete and without fault. Yes, there are sections that are confusing and some just plain contradicting. But this does not mean that the Bible is wrong. It simply means we are not reading correctly.
About Bible Verses
One thing that you may notice is that I rarely cite biblical verses. I do this intentionally. I believe that God has woven his truth throughout the universe. Everything from the laws of physics to the ocean currents has God’s fingerprints. While I do believe that the Word of God is important, I do not believe that they are the only source of truth. While I will make the occasional side-reference, I will often use anecdotes to make points. In fact, Jesus did this all the time. The large majority of his teachings came in the form of a story. Additionally, I enjoy the challenge of finding God’s truth in my everyday life.
This style of writing is based on C.S. Lewis. Many of his apologetic writings rarely included bible verses. He made every-man arguments that were simple and easy to understand. He has written many books and essays about the Christian faith that often challenge even the most established Christians. And all this without preaching a verse.
Yes, scripture should be the basis of all Christian study. But when your audience is those who have never read the Bible, it does very little to support your argument simply because “the Bible says so.”