On religion

Scandals in the church.
As I ponder on what the hell is going on, I can't help but feel some sense of betrayal. Actually, I have never heard of pastor Ted prior to this sex scandal, but I still feel betrayed knowing that he professed a bible believing faith (notice there is a distinction between bible believing faith and simply religious faith).
The rest of us are what you could call students, not saying it is an excuse to sin, but a lot more weight is placed on someone who refers to himself as a teacher. Drugs? Prostitution? How do you reconcile?
Taking a step back, is it possible that he succumbed to a battle that was fashioned to personally destroy him? Or, was he just plain conniving? Who knows? May God in his infinite mercies forgive us all, both student and teacher, in Jesus' name. Amen

On to a broader issue...here's a question I have been pondering for years now. What exactly is freedom? Quite frankly, I don't know and there is not one response that satisfies me as of yet. I mean, can one actually achieve complete freedom? There is a transition between stark bondage and proportioned freedom. Think of a number line. You move from negative towards positive, but you never hit zero. You get in the proximity and then you go right back to extremely negative numbers. Here's where I am going with this: When you "perceive" that you are absolutely free, you find that you are enslaved to this so called freedom. Once again, we return to bondage.

Now, on freedom AND religion (not freedom OF religion).
Why is it that most of the "free" people of today (yep, the western world) insist on identifying with a religion they cannot tolerate? It has now become the right of people (freedom) to refashion religions that are as old as age itself (hyperbole) to suit their lifestyles.
This is how I see it, if the bible says homosexuality is a sin, you better agree that you're sinning if you indulge in same sex activities and call yourself a Christian. In the same vein, if the Quran says there should be a Holy Jihad, you better be yielding your instrument of conversion or perhaps war if you confess Islam. If you don't agree with these issues as is found in the great books though, then why not just transition into a new age religion? Like say, Scientology?
Here's another one, why must Catholic priests get married? If you want to be married as a priest then go protestant. You knew the law was there before you confessed Catholicism, so why is it now your right to get married? Or why must the church marry a gay couple? Or pray tell, why is the episcopal church trying to run it's own mission? Now, there's nothing "wrong" in what it confesses, but in the context of the bible it is dead wrong.
No wonder the west is considered a basket of infidels. I don't see a Buddhist monk clamoring for satellite TV or insisting to get married have kids and move them into the monastery.

The new definitions of infidel as it applies to today's world.
1. Infidel: A person whose life has an adverse relationship with his or her faith with the knowledge of such a relationship and yet no remorse.
2. Infidel: A person who professes a faith and yet opposes everything the faith holds true.

*feeling guilt pangs. It appears definiton 1 capture most of the human race every once in a while. Including yours truly?
God truly is merciful.