Who speaks for you?
Who speaks for Jesus?
Who is Leading Authentic Christianity?
Please watch the following You-Tube videos in full.
A. Bono - U2
B. Dr.Nina Gunter Nazarene General
If you choose "B", Please read the Gospels and return to quiz, Repeat as necessary.
I'd love to hear your thoughts - Steve
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Chastity and Self Control
Those of you who know me, understand that I should not come at this in a pedantic manor. In fact my lack of self-control hangs over my size 40" belt for all the world to see.
With my fundamentalist background, it is very hard for me to not see things in black and white. Is it sin or not. If it is not sin, it is permissible - lets do it.
There is another line of thought that is of some interest to me. If we cannot control these earthly vessels, which are certainly capable of being controlled, how is the Creator to entrust us with a heavenly body. Similarly if we cannot handle our current financial situation, how are we to be trusted with untold riches. (for more on this point see Matthew 25:14-28)
So if we are to abstain from alcohol, trans-fat, or a wild spending spree, maybe we should do it with the above paragraph in mind. Not because a Pizza, a Rum & coke, or a designer suit are sin.
As always - I'm interested in your thoughts.
With my fundamentalist background, it is very hard for me to not see things in black and white. Is it sin or not. If it is not sin, it is permissible - lets do it.
There is another line of thought that is of some interest to me. If we cannot control these earthly vessels, which are certainly capable of being controlled, how is the Creator to entrust us with a heavenly body. Similarly if we cannot handle our current financial situation, how are we to be trusted with untold riches. (for more on this point see Matthew 25:14-28)
So if we are to abstain from alcohol, trans-fat, or a wild spending spree, maybe we should do it with the above paragraph in mind. Not because a Pizza, a Rum & coke, or a designer suit are sin.
As always - I'm interested in your thoughts.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
I WANT COMMENTS
I spent a lot of time thinking about the 4/13 post - I must have a friend or two that has a thought or opinion!!!!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Protest Me?
Just a quick thought. My daughter went to an all weekend Concert and Teaching time that was targeted at teen age Christians. About 30K of them met up in Detroit. On the way in my Daughter saw picketers outside with signs the read "We don't want your Theocracy!!"
My first thought was "How can these people picket us, when there are Muslim extremists out there who really do want a theocracy. What is wrong with America these days?" Just about as soon as I thought it, I realized - that it was the easy thought - the lazy thought - the unintellectual thought - the unimportant question.
Here's the important question: What have we been doing as Christians that would give even the most critical the idea that we want to do anything but love one another and share the amazing truth of the Way of Christ to those that we do love?
Just a thought.
My first thought was "How can these people picket us, when there are Muslim extremists out there who really do want a theocracy. What is wrong with America these days?" Just about as soon as I thought it, I realized - that it was the easy thought - the lazy thought - the unintellectual thought - the unimportant question.
Here's the important question: What have we been doing as Christians that would give even the most critical the idea that we want to do anything but love one another and share the amazing truth of the Way of Christ to those that we do love?
Just a thought.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Particism, Patriotism, Pacifism, and GOD
I was raised in a basic right-wing middle class republican household. The kind of household where you might hear " How can anyone who calls himself a Christian vote for a person that................"
My father in law and I have been having an ongoing discussion about pacifism. He has been doing some research including spending time with a Mennonite pastor.
My final ;) thoughts, as of 12:40 on April 13th are these:
Satan doesn't care if you are a hawk or a dove as long as you confuse it with your religion. As long as you're spending time, energy, and money on rallies & volunteering, Satan doesn't care if its for the Young Republicans or Greenpeace.
He is just pleased that you have found a "cause" and one that is not showing The Way of Christ to the people with whom he plans to spend a rather unpleasant eternity.
As long as he can keep you wrapped up in being a conservative christian, a liberal christian, or even a vegetarian christian - the more time you will spend in discussion, rallies, and protests and the less time you will spend on Charity & Prayer,what Satan most despises.
I write in the above format as it seems a bit easier to sit and say what I think Satan believes. I have a little harder time pulling together the hootspa to say what God wants. But here it is.
I believe God wants us to have interests and passions while we are here on earth.He has placed passion and opinions within us. It is at the point that we confuse them with our relationship with God by using religion to justify this or that - that we move into dangerous ground that can compromise our relation to Christ.
Humbly submitted with some help from my favorite author C.S. Lewis
My father in law and I have been having an ongoing discussion about pacifism. He has been doing some research including spending time with a Mennonite pastor.
My final ;) thoughts, as of 12:40 on April 13th are these:
Satan doesn't care if you are a hawk or a dove as long as you confuse it with your religion. As long as you're spending time, energy, and money on rallies & volunteering, Satan doesn't care if its for the Young Republicans or Greenpeace.
He is just pleased that you have found a "cause" and one that is not showing The Way of Christ to the people with whom he plans to spend a rather unpleasant eternity.
As long as he can keep you wrapped up in being a conservative christian, a liberal christian, or even a vegetarian christian - the more time you will spend in discussion, rallies, and protests and the less time you will spend on Charity & Prayer,what Satan most despises.
I write in the above format as it seems a bit easier to sit and say what I think Satan believes. I have a little harder time pulling together the hootspa to say what God wants. But here it is.
I believe God wants us to have interests and passions while we are here on earth.He has placed passion and opinions within us. It is at the point that we confuse them with our relationship with God by using religion to justify this or that - that we move into dangerous ground that can compromise our relation to Christ.
Humbly submitted with some help from my favorite author C.S. Lewis
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
link
I promised this to my brothers but if you haven't seen them they are worthwhile. Videos are even better if you read the paragraph below each of them first.
http://www.thechurchyouknow.com/ - sorry not hyper - just cut and paste
http://www.thechurchyouknow.com/ - sorry not hyper - just cut and paste
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
?? WHY ??
No answers this post just questions.
I have been asking a lot of questions lately. I know that I associate with many people that would find these questions dangerous - maybe a crisis of faith. For me they are not. No matter what the answers are - I know there is a God, who loves me, and wants good for me.
WHY:
Why do we care that whether the earth is 4000 or 4 trillion years old. Why is it that so many people that know nothing about the history of the Torah and its authors and what Deuteronomistic history / or theory to believe want to say that without a doubt, the bible says the earth is 4000 and some odd years old.
Why do we squabble about what translation of the bible is best and which are wrong or even evil; but don't even research who choose what books would be included and why.
Why do we want to simplify the incredible mystery of God becoming man into a legal transaction (man has sin + God can't live with sin + Christs death = sin forgiven ; will you please work in the nursery next week)
Why is it that homosexuals are outcast's and heathens but divorcee's are an unfortunate product of our current culture (both of which are mentioned in the new testament, but only one with red letters - can you guess which one?)
Why is it that we think its important to get the religious right in power when Christ (much to the dismay of his disciples) was continuously apolitical.
This list doesn't even scratch the surface, but lets stop here and as always I'm hoping for more intellect from the comments than this drifter's keyboard.
I have been asking a lot of questions lately. I know that I associate with many people that would find these questions dangerous - maybe a crisis of faith. For me they are not. No matter what the answers are - I know there is a God, who loves me, and wants good for me.
WHY:
Why do we care that whether the earth is 4000 or 4 trillion years old. Why is it that so many people that know nothing about the history of the Torah and its authors and what Deuteronomistic history / or theory to believe want to say that without a doubt, the bible says the earth is 4000 and some odd years old.
Why do we squabble about what translation of the bible is best and which are wrong or even evil; but don't even research who choose what books would be included and why.
Why do we want to simplify the incredible mystery of God becoming man into a legal transaction (man has sin + God can't live with sin + Christs death = sin forgiven ; will you please work in the nursery next week)
Why is it that homosexuals are outcast's and heathens but divorcee's are an unfortunate product of our current culture (both of which are mentioned in the new testament, but only one with red letters - can you guess which one?)
Why is it that we think its important to get the religious right in power when Christ (much to the dismay of his disciples) was continuously apolitical.
This list doesn't even scratch the surface, but lets stop here and as always I'm hoping for more intellect from the comments than this drifter's keyboard.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
THIN PLACES
I believe that there are two "Worlds" that exists at the exact same time. One, of course, is the natural world. That is, our planet, solar system, universe, etc. The things that exist in space and time that we can see and feel. I also believe that there exists a spiritual world, intertwined but somehow separate from our natural world. In the Spiritual World, space and time are irrelevant and there is a loving God who wants us to know him and "see" him.
There are places where where the two worlds are much closer and seem less separated. These are places where the vale between the two worlds is so thin you can feel it inside your being. An author who has had very similar experiences to my own called these "thin places". I imagine they are different places for different people, but for me it has always been in Nature, what I believe to be God's beauty, his artwork. I can remember as a boy watching the sun set over a lake, while the crickets were singing, and the smell of burning wood hung in the air. I had this feeling deep inside that I did not understand. It was like immense pleasure and a subtle sadness all at the same time. I believe I was feeling God's call, a call to know him, to join him, to Love him, to see him.
Nature has always been a thin place for me. From the time I didn't understand it as a boy to times I now purposely pursue it as a man. I never suspected that I would have another type of thin place that was as real to me as nature. This week I found one. I found it on a patio table with my wife, two great friends, and a bottle of wine. No pretense - no defences - just fellowship. A fellowship so pure, so real, that once again I was given a glimpse of the Spiritual World a piece of Heaven in this natural world.
Paul - thanks for letting me write this during your sermon - I'll catch it all tomarrow!!
There are places where where the two worlds are much closer and seem less separated. These are places where the vale between the two worlds is so thin you can feel it inside your being. An author who has had very similar experiences to my own called these "thin places". I imagine they are different places for different people, but for me it has always been in Nature, what I believe to be God's beauty, his artwork. I can remember as a boy watching the sun set over a lake, while the crickets were singing, and the smell of burning wood hung in the air. I had this feeling deep inside that I did not understand. It was like immense pleasure and a subtle sadness all at the same time. I believe I was feeling God's call, a call to know him, to join him, to Love him, to see him.
Nature has always been a thin place for me. From the time I didn't understand it as a boy to times I now purposely pursue it as a man. I never suspected that I would have another type of thin place that was as real to me as nature. This week I found one. I found it on a patio table with my wife, two great friends, and a bottle of wine. No pretense - no defences - just fellowship. A fellowship so pure, so real, that once again I was given a glimpse of the Spiritual World a piece of Heaven in this natural world.
Paul - thanks for letting me write this during your sermon - I'll catch it all tomarrow!!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Jesus Meets a Gay Man
I hate to cut a paste a post - but this moved my heart.
The Scandalous Christ
1 In late July, the Metro Chicago Synod heard that Jesus was attracting more first-time visitors and baptizing more adults than any other ELCA pastor in the city, 2 although in fact it was not really Jesus who had baptized them, but his irregularly-commissioned staff of unordained lay ministers. 3 Now when Jesus learned of this, he left the seminary community in Hyde Park and went back once more toward the ELCA headquarters on Higgins Road.
4 Now to get there, he had to go through an area just north of downtown called Boystown. 5 So he came to a part of Boystown called Northhalsted, not far from the plot of ground where Emperor Mayor Daley had ordained that the Chicago Cubs should play baseball. 6 Cub’s Stadium was near there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey on the Red Line, sat down at a sidewalk café table outside the bar called Hydrate. It was just about lunch-time, and though the rainbow flags were fluttering in the breeze and the music inside the bar was pumping, there weren’t many people around (because it’s often hot and miserable outside, at mid-day in late July, in Chicago).
7 A waiter came to the table, wearing a bright pink “His+His” t-shirt and a “Silence=Death” armband, and raised one eyebrow at the man seated at the table in front of him in the “Come Follow Me” t-shirt. Jesus said to him, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (All the lay ministers had gone down the street to pick up Subway sandwiches for the rest of the journey.)
9 The gay man said to him, “Hey…you tell me. After all, you appear to be a straight Christian, and I’m a gay man. Let’s face it - we don’t get many religious folks in Boystown, let alone places like this. And I’m not only a gay man, but I’m a Buddhist gay man. So where does a guy like you get off asking someone like me for a drink?” (For Christians do not associate with gays, nor with Buddhist if they can help it.)
10 Jesus answered him, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Hey, mister,” the gay man said, “I’m the waiter here. I don’t see you with an order pad or a serving tray, and it’s tough for customers to even get close to our fountain-drink station, let alone our bar. So how are you going to get anything for me to drink, let alone ‘living water’? Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you somehow greater than the folks who own this place, who let us drink have free water and soda (and snitch the occasional mixed drink) whenever we want?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks your water, or your soda, or your beer will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The gay man said to him, “Yeah? Mister…you know what, I have no idea who you really are, or even what the heck you’re talking about. But you’re the first Christian man in 20 years that hasn’t spit on me, or called me ‘an abomination’ to my face. Somehow, I think I want some of what you’re offering. Give me some of this water you keep talking about, so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to get something to drink.”
16 Jesus told the man, “OK - just call your wife and come back here, and we’ll talk.”
17 “Who are you kidding?” the gay man said. “Don’t you know where you are? You’re in Boystown, for cryin’ out loud. I don’t have a wife, or a girlfriend. Heck, right now I don’t even have a boyfriend,” he replied.
Jesus said to her, “You’re right when you say you have no boyfriend. The fact is, you’ve had five boyfriends, and the guy you’re living with now isn’t even your boyfriend. He’s just a guy you picked up in the club - some guy who doesn’t even know your real last name.”
19 Whoa, buddy,” the gay man said, “that’s pretty intense! How’d you know that about me?” Jesus was silent. “OK…I get it. Maybe you’re one of those folks who can see right through people - maybe one of those guys with ’second sight.’ Maybe you’re one of those folks who ‘have the Spirit,’ like those televangelists say. 20 I don’t know anything about that. My family - my people (the ones who are observant, anyway) - think that you have to meditate on the Buddha to get that kind of power. The rest of the people I know don’t even bother with that spiritual mumbo-jumbo…they just think you have to work out a lot, look good, live fast, die hard and leave a good-looking corpse. And all the Christians I’ve met think that I have to pray their way, and start living life their way, or I’m ‘going to hell.’ Either way, my day-to-day life is so empty, I’m not convinced that I’m not already in hell. What’s a guy supposed to believe?”
21 Jesus said, “Believe me, my friend, a time is coming when you won’t worship God under the Buddha tree, or in the gym, or in the club, or in a church sanctuary. 22 You and your friends worship what you think you know, but do not know. Christians worship what they do know, for salvation is promised in Scripture. 23 Yet a time is coming - and has now come - when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The gay man said, “I know that the church folks say that their Savior is coming. Maybe when he finally gets here, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “Then wait no longer. I’m the one they’re waiting for.”
The Irregularly-Commissioned Lay Ministers Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then the lay ministers returned and were more than a little surprised to find Jesus apparently talking with a gay man - one who appeared to be Asian in origin, to boot. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with him?”
28 Then, leaving his tray and his order pad behind at the table, the gay man went back to the bar, and even next door to the gym and to the other clubs, and said to the people, 29 “You gotta come and see this… come see a guy who told me everything I ever did, and didn’t run away or act disgusted. Could this possibly be ‘the Christ’ all those religious folks keep talking about?” 30 People came out of the gym, and out of the bars and clubs, and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile the lay ministers (the ones who considered themselves Jesus’ disciples) kept saying, “Hey, padré, you may walk on water, but come on - even Michael Jordan’s gotta eat something.” 32 But Jesus said to them, “I have a source of energy that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Did someone slip him some Mrs. Field’s cookies while we weren’t looking?”….Many Gays and Lesbians Believe
39 Many of the gays and lesbians who gathered from all around Boystown believed in Jesus because of what the waiter said: “You gotta come and see this… come see a guy who told me everything I ever did, and didn’t run away or act disgusted.” 40 So when the people of that area - gay men, lesbians, bisexuals (even people in civil unions from Vermont and Episcopalians visiting from New Hampshire) came to him, they urged Jesus to stay with them. So rather than continuing the ride out to Higgins Road, the irregularly consecrated lay ministers found some rooms at a nearby bed-&-breakfast, and he stayed in Boystown - amidst the people with whom most Christians would not associate - for two days. 41 And because of what Jesus spoke to the men and women there, many more became believers.
42 The people who heard Jesus said to the gay man who first encountered him, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
**This article was first located on http://ragarambler.blogspot.com/2005/02/just-how-shocking-is- gospel.html and was discussed on the ooze here.
The Scandalous Christ
1 In late July, the Metro Chicago Synod heard that Jesus was attracting more first-time visitors and baptizing more adults than any other ELCA pastor in the city, 2 although in fact it was not really Jesus who had baptized them, but his irregularly-commissioned staff of unordained lay ministers. 3 Now when Jesus learned of this, he left the seminary community in Hyde Park and went back once more toward the ELCA headquarters on Higgins Road.
4 Now to get there, he had to go through an area just north of downtown called Boystown. 5 So he came to a part of Boystown called Northhalsted, not far from the plot of ground where Emperor Mayor Daley had ordained that the Chicago Cubs should play baseball. 6 Cub’s Stadium was near there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey on the Red Line, sat down at a sidewalk café table outside the bar called Hydrate. It was just about lunch-time, and though the rainbow flags were fluttering in the breeze and the music inside the bar was pumping, there weren’t many people around (because it’s often hot and miserable outside, at mid-day in late July, in Chicago).
7 A waiter came to the table, wearing a bright pink “His+His” t-shirt and a “Silence=Death” armband, and raised one eyebrow at the man seated at the table in front of him in the “Come Follow Me” t-shirt. Jesus said to him, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (All the lay ministers had gone down the street to pick up Subway sandwiches for the rest of the journey.)
9 The gay man said to him, “Hey…you tell me. After all, you appear to be a straight Christian, and I’m a gay man. Let’s face it - we don’t get many religious folks in Boystown, let alone places like this. And I’m not only a gay man, but I’m a Buddhist gay man. So where does a guy like you get off asking someone like me for a drink?” (For Christians do not associate with gays, nor with Buddhist if they can help it.)
10 Jesus answered him, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Hey, mister,” the gay man said, “I’m the waiter here. I don’t see you with an order pad or a serving tray, and it’s tough for customers to even get close to our fountain-drink station, let alone our bar. So how are you going to get anything for me to drink, let alone ‘living water’? Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you somehow greater than the folks who own this place, who let us drink have free water and soda (and snitch the occasional mixed drink) whenever we want?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks your water, or your soda, or your beer will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The gay man said to him, “Yeah? Mister…you know what, I have no idea who you really are, or even what the heck you’re talking about. But you’re the first Christian man in 20 years that hasn’t spit on me, or called me ‘an abomination’ to my face. Somehow, I think I want some of what you’re offering. Give me some of this water you keep talking about, so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to get something to drink.”
16 Jesus told the man, “OK - just call your wife and come back here, and we’ll talk.”
17 “Who are you kidding?” the gay man said. “Don’t you know where you are? You’re in Boystown, for cryin’ out loud. I don’t have a wife, or a girlfriend. Heck, right now I don’t even have a boyfriend,” he replied.
Jesus said to her, “You’re right when you say you have no boyfriend. The fact is, you’ve had five boyfriends, and the guy you’re living with now isn’t even your boyfriend. He’s just a guy you picked up in the club - some guy who doesn’t even know your real last name.”
19 Whoa, buddy,” the gay man said, “that’s pretty intense! How’d you know that about me?” Jesus was silent. “OK…I get it. Maybe you’re one of those folks who can see right through people - maybe one of those guys with ’second sight.’ Maybe you’re one of those folks who ‘have the Spirit,’ like those televangelists say. 20 I don’t know anything about that. My family - my people (the ones who are observant, anyway) - think that you have to meditate on the Buddha to get that kind of power. The rest of the people I know don’t even bother with that spiritual mumbo-jumbo…they just think you have to work out a lot, look good, live fast, die hard and leave a good-looking corpse. And all the Christians I’ve met think that I have to pray their way, and start living life their way, or I’m ‘going to hell.’ Either way, my day-to-day life is so empty, I’m not convinced that I’m not already in hell. What’s a guy supposed to believe?”
21 Jesus said, “Believe me, my friend, a time is coming when you won’t worship God under the Buddha tree, or in the gym, or in the club, or in a church sanctuary. 22 You and your friends worship what you think you know, but do not know. Christians worship what they do know, for salvation is promised in Scripture. 23 Yet a time is coming - and has now come - when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The gay man said, “I know that the church folks say that their Savior is coming. Maybe when he finally gets here, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “Then wait no longer. I’m the one they’re waiting for.”
The Irregularly-Commissioned Lay Ministers Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then the lay ministers returned and were more than a little surprised to find Jesus apparently talking with a gay man - one who appeared to be Asian in origin, to boot. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with him?”
28 Then, leaving his tray and his order pad behind at the table, the gay man went back to the bar, and even next door to the gym and to the other clubs, and said to the people, 29 “You gotta come and see this… come see a guy who told me everything I ever did, and didn’t run away or act disgusted. Could this possibly be ‘the Christ’ all those religious folks keep talking about?” 30 People came out of the gym, and out of the bars and clubs, and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile the lay ministers (the ones who considered themselves Jesus’ disciples) kept saying, “Hey, padré, you may walk on water, but come on - even Michael Jordan’s gotta eat something.” 32 But Jesus said to them, “I have a source of energy that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Did someone slip him some Mrs. Field’s cookies while we weren’t looking?”….Many Gays and Lesbians Believe
39 Many of the gays and lesbians who gathered from all around Boystown believed in Jesus because of what the waiter said: “You gotta come and see this… come see a guy who told me everything I ever did, and didn’t run away or act disgusted.” 40 So when the people of that area - gay men, lesbians, bisexuals (even people in civil unions from Vermont and Episcopalians visiting from New Hampshire) came to him, they urged Jesus to stay with them. So rather than continuing the ride out to Higgins Road, the irregularly consecrated lay ministers found some rooms at a nearby bed-&-breakfast, and he stayed in Boystown - amidst the people with whom most Christians would not associate - for two days. 41 And because of what Jesus spoke to the men and women there, many more became believers.
42 The people who heard Jesus said to the gay man who first encountered him, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
**This article was first located on http://ragarambler.blogspot.com/2005/02/just-how-shocking-is- gospel.html and was discussed on the ooze here.
Friday, January 19, 2007
On The Rebound
In 1789 the french monarchy had put the country into financial ruin, depleted the treasury and was looking for a way to collect more taxes. After striking out with the nobles and clergy (who were exempt from taxation) King Louis XVI, made a bit of a mistake. In a final act of desperation, Louis XVI decided to convene the Estates-General, an ancient assembly consisting of three different classes that each represented a portion of the French population. One of the three classes were the commoners. While no answers came from the Estates-General it did give the commoners the confidence to revolt. You know the story; the Bastille was stormed, Louis lost his head, etc. etc. What happened next, of course, is the most interesting part of the story. The revolutionaries, were so focused on the "sins of the past" and so paranoid about the present, without a clear vision of the future; that they became much worse than the government that they overthrew. 15,000 people lost their heads to the guillotine in one year during this reign of terror.
Why the history lesson. Simple. Because many of my brothers have stormed the Bastille of legalistic holiness or fundamental Calvinism. The natural human reaction is for us to now rebound to another extreme that could be just as harmful and ungodly as the former. I want us to somehow skip the cycle and move directly into the life that God wants for us.
Fellow rebels from Wesleyan Holiness abuses - don't forget that Christ reminds us that if we love him we will keep his commands.
Rebels from fundamental Calvinist abuses - well you know from what you have rebounded too far.
All this is easier said than done - but its a part of my journey - Thanks for joining me.
Why the history lesson. Simple. Because many of my brothers have stormed the Bastille of legalistic holiness or fundamental Calvinism. The natural human reaction is for us to now rebound to another extreme that could be just as harmful and ungodly as the former. I want us to somehow skip the cycle and move directly into the life that God wants for us.
Fellow rebels from Wesleyan Holiness abuses - don't forget that Christ reminds us that if we love him we will keep his commands.
Rebels from fundamental Calvinist abuses - well you know from what you have rebounded too far.
All this is easier said than done - but its a part of my journey - Thanks for joining me.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Balance
I went to a Catholic Mass last year and to a certain extent it changed my life. The beauty of the Church set the tone of awe and reverence. Seeing Christ on the cross immediately filled me with emotion and a deep sense of gratefulness for his sacrifice.
I was watching ecumenical TV last night and the Priest was talking about the dangers of consumerism attached to many Contemporary Churches - The danger of thinking "the Pastor / Priest was a bit dry today" or " Man I just didn't get anything out of that today" - when what we need to be doing is consecrating ourselves to God and remembering what he has done to pay the price for our sins.
At the same time that Catholic culture has produced many that do not understand how to dig into the word of God on their own and have a limited knowledge of the incredible treasures that reside in God's Word.
Please understand, to discuss any contrast you need to make generalizations and I don't mean to paint all Catholics or all Protestants in any certain light. Certainly that could have the exact opposite effect of what I am attempting to discuss.
As I strive to figure out what I want in "Church" I know that I want BALANCE. Sometimes I want to see Christ on the Cross to remember what he did for me. I want to humbly come before a God that sacrificed all to be in a relationship with me. Sometimes I'll want to see it empty to celebrate his resurrection and omnipresence. I will want a new revelation or "take" on a scripture that I have known since I was a child.
I guess I want a lot but I think God wants a lot for us - and we are not even scratching the surface.
I was watching ecumenical TV last night and the Priest was talking about the dangers of consumerism attached to many Contemporary Churches - The danger of thinking "the Pastor / Priest was a bit dry today" or " Man I just didn't get anything out of that today" - when what we need to be doing is consecrating ourselves to God and remembering what he has done to pay the price for our sins.
At the same time that Catholic culture has produced many that do not understand how to dig into the word of God on their own and have a limited knowledge of the incredible treasures that reside in God's Word.
Please understand, to discuss any contrast you need to make generalizations and I don't mean to paint all Catholics or all Protestants in any certain light. Certainly that could have the exact opposite effect of what I am attempting to discuss.
As I strive to figure out what I want in "Church" I know that I want BALANCE. Sometimes I want to see Christ on the Cross to remember what he did for me. I want to humbly come before a God that sacrificed all to be in a relationship with me. Sometimes I'll want to see it empty to celebrate his resurrection and omnipresence. I will want a new revelation or "take" on a scripture that I have known since I was a child.
I guess I want a lot but I think God wants a lot for us - and we are not even scratching the surface.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
B 4 Somthin'
Considering my last post, you may think that I spend some time and effort rallying against the institutional church, well I don't.
Two reasons really. The most obvious is that to a certain degree, they work. With all their flaws, God has used and continues to use churches to occasionally change the eternal destiny of a soul.
The second reason is much more interesting (to me anyway) and I'm sure its just because I believe in it so strongly. That is, great men (people) - people of substance, are for something rarely are they just against something.
I would, for example, never spend an afternoon picketing an abortion clinic, but I would spend a weekend volunteering at Lifeline (an abortion alternative).
If we look to Christ as our example, I think the idea holds up. Three years of; providing the wine, healing the sick, saving the condemned adulterer, feeding the masses and one moment of tearing down the corrupt market that dishonored his fathers house.
So what am I for - how should I be worshipping and serving God. That is my question - my struggle - my journey. I have a small group of brothers on the same journey. I hope to record some of the answers our Lord gives us on this sparse little blog.
May the Lord bless and lead our Adventure.
Two reasons really. The most obvious is that to a certain degree, they work. With all their flaws, God has used and continues to use churches to occasionally change the eternal destiny of a soul.
The second reason is much more interesting (to me anyway) and I'm sure its just because I believe in it so strongly. That is, great men (people) - people of substance, are for something rarely are they just against something.
I would, for example, never spend an afternoon picketing an abortion clinic, but I would spend a weekend volunteering at Lifeline (an abortion alternative).
If we look to Christ as our example, I think the idea holds up. Three years of; providing the wine, healing the sick, saving the condemned adulterer, feeding the masses and one moment of tearing down the corrupt market that dishonored his fathers house.
So what am I for - how should I be worshipping and serving God. That is my question - my struggle - my journey. I have a small group of brothers on the same journey. I hope to record some of the answers our Lord gives us on this sparse little blog.
May the Lord bless and lead our Adventure.
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