Quote, Support, Unquote

Today was a pretty normal day. I got up, went to class, chilled in the dorm's common room, ate from UNCW's superb dining hall (they have a place where you can make your own Belgian waffles, how cool is that?) I was also invited by some friends to go to the Ab Workout Class in the Rec Center...or as I shall now call it...Fifteen Minutes in Hell. The instructor was a perky redhead who cheerfully welcomed the class by saying, "By the end of this you'll be wishing for your life to end, but you'll look fab!" She wasn't wrong on either count (but then again, I always look fab ;-)

After my tortured abdominals had a chance to cool down, I checked out what was going on at Townhall.com (I know, the nerd alarm's going off, sue me). Earlier that morning I had submitted myself to another one of Mike Adams' rants (call me a masochist, whatever). This time I left a comment. Disagree with Adams though I do, many of the commenters on his column--conservative and liberal alike--tend to be a more rational (and more fun) bunch than he is. After introducing myself as "ex-gay" I talked a little about my disagreement with Adams calling homosexuality a mental illness. (I know the ex-gay title isn't technically true, but for the sake of simplicity I used it). If you want a transcript of the article and the comments, click here. I am "Jay in NC," by the way, not "JayJay." Let me also warn you that some of the other comments are less-than-Christian, if you know what I mean.

I received several responses from people who had only good things to say about me overcoming my temptations to sin. There was one commenter who called himself "Jerubaal." He and I disagreed on a few issues, but in the end I had to thank him for his support. He replied back, saying "Jesus Christ is your support, I'm just celebrating along with you."

Of course he was well-meaning in his reply, but I was a little curious about this attitude. Isn't the support (i.e. encouragement and prayer) of other Christians akin to the support of Jesus Christ? Indeed, is it not a little more effective, since it is certainly more tangible (physically, at least). What do you guys think? Does all of our support come from Christ alone? Is the support of Christians just Christ supporting us through his followers? Or are Christ's support and Christians' support two separate entities? Which is most important when it comes to overcoming a sin or temptation?

On a side note, I encourage everyone who likes politics to become part of the commenting community on Townhall or a similar political blog. It's really a fun place to discuss issues (though conversations can get heated sometimes :-) If you're going to use Townhall, let me warn you to turn off all the "Mailing List" options when you register. Otherwise you'll get a ton of spam.

Hope everyone has a good night,
Jay