|
| Okay, this article that I am linking to is EXTREMELY long, but as I was
reading it I considered more than once how unfortunately true it is. It
is pretty blunt, and amusingly, it is written by a Democrat and is
largely a critique of Democratic policies on Iraq and war. He doesnt
have much good to say and wont make very many friends in the part he
sometimes supports.
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2007-04-01-1.html
The
whole thing really got me thinking, though, about how easy it is to
give up things such as personal honor in so many different ways. For
example, I was talking (semi-arguing) about a complicated issue with a
friend of mine earlier. And in the end, I ended the argument, said that
a decision had to be made based on what people were comfortable with.
This
is so true, but at the same time, I was either totally wrong in what I
was saying at first, or I was right and I just gave up. What a crappy
way to go.
I think back to the topic of evangelism in this
regard, since Jerel was talking about it last night. Do we really worry
so much that people will think we're nuts that we wont share the gospel
anymore? I hate so much to admit that I absolutely do at times. What an
honorless pig I am to stand before the Holy, Sovereign, Awesome God of
the Universe, claim the name of Jesus Christ and a relationship there,
and then spit in His face saying that I will claim to believe something
that Earth shattering but that my being comfortable is more important
than His Great Commission.
Go and make disciples. Oh how often
we totally screw that up. How often we'll let someone raise a hand,
walk an aisle, stand up, or whatever else, then we shove them off
merrily on their way to do the same thing for someone else. Yeah, they
might make some converts, and those converts might make some, and such
forth. But my WORD, how WEAK is that? DISCIPLES, people. We're not
handing somebody a stack of insurance cards, and it is as sure as
heaven not a "take one and pass it" (I hate that phrase in all possible
ways, but it works).
The greatest thing that this leads to is
a lot of shallow, lukewarm Christ Followers who know nothing about the
name they claim. And that is assuming that their "conversion" is a true
one, which is a whole different can of worms if they arent being
discipled.
The Word of God is a huge thing not to be taken
lightly. It should absolutely be spoken with conviction, and it should
absolutely be spoken as a 100% God-breathed truth from Heaven, and
anyone who looks down on an accurate teaching of Scripture JUST BECAUSE
IT STEPS ON SOME TOES is treading on the dangerous ground of the likes
of Joel O'Steen and Friends that refuse to preach about the truth of
sin, Hell, and Satan, and want to talk about the squishy
warmandfuzzies.
I'll tell you something totally nuts. If there
is a ministry that is bleeding people, everyone is disappearing, and
big changes have happened recently, you can have a pretty good clue
about them; their pastor is almost certainly preaching the absolute
truth of Christ in a profound, honest, and accurate way and people dont
want to hear it. WAKE UP! People loved Jesus when he was all Miracles
and Fun! But when He got to the Gospel Truth about Himself, the fun and
games were over for His followers. They werent impressed anymore. They
wanted to be entertained, nevermind eternal Truth.
They didnt want Jesus Christ, they wanted a magician, parlor tricks and Red Rubber Balls.
It
seems just the same that people dont want Dean Sisk or Jerel Olsen.
Some people dont want Fritz Games. I absolutely love all three of them
and the passion for the Word and the Lord that they share in common.
But that is me. Some people want the wishy-washy, health-and-wealth
Word of Truth crap from people like Joel O'Steen, Benny Hinn, and TD
Jakes. Some people want the EVIL of hateful people like Pat Robertson.
If you look at Scripture for EITHER of those, you are looking in the wrong place.
The
Word isnt there to make you feel good about yourself. I absolutely LOVE
what Fritz has been saying about the Old Testament this semester, that
the stories arent there saying for us to be like those people, it is
there to tell us we ARE like those people. There's a little bit of
David arranging to take Bathsheba and have her husband killed in all of
us. I bit of Jacob, looking for love and acceptance in all of the wrong
places. A bit of Sarah, not trusting God to do exactly what He said. A
little bit of Moses, disobeying out of frustration with dreadful
consequences. A little bit of Jonah, running from our HONOR and
RESPONSIBILITY to God out of hate for a certain group of sinners.
If people are in sin, they need to know it. They also need to know the truth.
Tough cookies folks.
Jesus
Christ is not politically correct in today's terms. People seem to
think that it is intolerant to call something wrong that God clearly
calls wrong wrong. Unfortunately, people look at a condemnation of such
things as homosexuality as homophobia, because as much as we sing the
old song of "hate the sin, not the sinner," MANY OF US STILL HATE THE
SINNER AND WE WONT ADMIT IT. That isnt cool. Not a bit.
This
is really long and really incoherent and definitely chased rabbits from
the original topic. I really dont feel like I'm done, but I've hit a
wall. If anyone has comments or a sharp rebuke for me, feel free to
send it my way. I'm open to correction  | | |
| Christian Responsibility and the Identity of a Christ FollowerThis is written partially in response to a note posted by a friend of
mine, so if anything seems slightly disjointed or a bit random, that is
the reason for it.
Churches find themselves in a pretty pickle
sometimes. They find themselves fighting every direction because of
differences in opinion and “needs” of different ages. Old people want
to sing “How Great Thou Art” and nothing else, while the hooligans
dispersed through the congregation want “Shout Unto God” and “Song of
the Redeemed.” When all is said and done, someone always feels as
though they haven’t been engaged. They feel as though the church is
ignoring their “needs,” not doing things in a certain way that best
involves them.
To put it simply, good for the Church.
I
enjoy “Shout Unto God” as much as the next hormone-laden college kid,
but when “Joyful, Joyful” (or “Your Grace Is Enough” or anything upbeat
and catchy, just so I‘m not cracking on just the oldies J) is played in
Sunday worship, my response isn’t dissatisfied or irritated. It is
worship to God.
For once, the problem is less with most churches
than it is with the Church. People go to church looking to be engaged,
excited, whatever else. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being
engaged, excited, not even a problem with whatever else. It’s when that
is the desire, the reason for going into the church.
A Believer,
simply put, is not going to go into a local body and find identity and
purpose if their reason for going into the body is to find identity and
purpose. They are sorely misled, and strongly diverted from the right
track. Seeking after God’s heart should be the true focus of a Believer
going into a church. When a person finds the right focus on Jesus in
their heart, the identity and purpose will be added to them. It isn’t a
matter of us knowing who we are so that we can focus properly on our
purpose and Jesus. Jesus IS our purpose and our identity. If He isn’t
our goal, the rest will fall to shambles. If a church is preaching the
TRUTH of Jesus Christ in a responsible manner, and spreading that Truth
further is their goal, then an issue of identity and purpose lies not
with the church, but with the Christ Follower in question.
A
reformation is a burning desire in the heart of many of God’s Children,
and in God’s heart too as He wants none to perish, and to that end,
Christ Followers should mobilize strongly in an effort to spread Truth.
Setting goals like a billion people, is, unfortunately, quite
foolhardy. Now, should we reach a billion (heck, we should reach 6.5
billion!) people with the Word? My goodness, yes. Setting goals on the
work of the Holy Spirit, unfortunately, comes across as arrogant and
presumptuous on the part of those organizing the efforts.
Church
is a family. It is a place to worship an incredible, sovereign God. It
is NOT an event, an obligation, or a building. The Church is the Bride
of Christ. As Christ Followers, the Church is life, and to live is
Christ. Do we all need to buck up and apply what we learn? Yeah, we do.
THAT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY. It is not that of Dean, Jerel, Fritz, Belle
Aire, AO, RUF, or any other minister or ministry. OURS. The great
commission is to Believers in general, not to simply to churches or
organizations (though they are a great conduit for accomplishing it
more efficiently and on a grander scale).
I’m not intentionally
stepping on anyone’s toes, but there is a selfish attitude aloof in the
Church that needs to stop. The Church is about the identity of Jesus
and God’s purpose, not who we are or where we’re going. That said, what
should concern us the most is simple. We are at all times a witness for
Christ and need to live like it. If that takes debating a point of
morality (yeah, I said it), putting yourself in between an attacker and
a victim, opening a door, or flat out speaking the Gospel of Christ, we
need to reach everyone we know and make sure that we can be held
blameless for their knowledge or ignorance of Truth. | | |
| SovereignI think that when it comes to God, we like to forget that sovereignty means absolute authority and control.
I think that is an uncomfortable thought. Not only does that mean that
God DOES let bad things happen (they COULDNT happen, in fact, without
His allowing them to), it really does make a lot of other issues a lot
weirder, especially the question of the doctrine of election, better
known as predestination.
In a discussion on predestination, a question occurred to me. If
election isnt true, if God doesnt already know precisely who will or
wont be saved (which, Him knowing that means that it MUST happen, which
could be seen as choosing), if that isnt in His hands, then God is NOT
all-powerful and NOT all-knowing. We know that God is both of those
things, right? I'm not saying that I'm absolutely right, but the logic
is painfully and irritatingly obvious.
So what about free will? Simple answer is that I dont know. According
to Psalms, every step of our life was written out by God before our
birth. That means He knows every sin, every joy, every mistake, every
single thing that we will do before we even think a coherent thought.
Once He knows something, that is the way it is. There are no "what if"
games with what God knows, no room for Him "knowing where each of our
choices could lead." To be all-knowing, He MUST know every answer
already. By Him knowing it, it MUST happen that way. That means that
though we have free will, we have no choice at all and we dont even
realize it.
As frustrating and ego bruising as that is, I find that I dont really
care that much. More than He cares for us, Yhwh desires His own glory.
If it is in His plan that He is glorified by my one path, then so be
it.
Darned peculiar thought process. I'm reasonably certain I intended to be in bed almost an hour ago.
| | |
| Hi Causchy! It's been 1286 (wow, that's a big number) days since you joined Xanga... won't you support us by going Premium? | | |
| Missing Bruce for 1 year . . . .
| | |
|
