Thanks for the Comments

Sorry I begged

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!!!!

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.

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

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

?? 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.

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!!