02-25-2018, 03:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-26-2018, 03:35 PM by IainH.
Edit Reason: Clarification
)
".....and the home of the brave!!!!!!" YAY!! EVERYONE CHEERS!!! The USAF fly's over WaaaOOOOOSSH!!! YAYYY!!!! Everyone goes bananas. Pick your occasion it's the same thing Superbowl, yeehaa Daytona 500 boys! or Indy 500! Yes! Milk with Vodka! Billy Graham's funeral, well okay maybe that's a bit much but, my darling boy who just turned 17 (the terrible two's for teenagers, not quite there yet but, they think they ought to be) on the 22nd, told me that in Morganton, NC. LEO's and firefighters had blocked off one lane on bridges that cross I40 so people could sit in lawn chairs to observe to solemn procession transporting the great Evangelist's mortal remains to DC. I may break my no news watching policy to watch as much as I can stomach. Fox News, of course, as a good patriotic 'Merkan Christian should. Now, where I'm from BG and Lil' Frankie have a big footprint. Samaritan's Purse is based in Boone, NC, I have a friend who works in the employees cafeteria kitchen. I don't suppose they see the big cheese very often. My wife sees Franklin once a year when he comes to the clinic for his flight physical, he's a pilot you know. I pass by Samaritan's Purses' training and conference center almost everyday on my way to the grocery store to "get something for supper". It's a lovely building, originally conceived and built by Blowing Rock Stage Company as a theatre just before the collapse of 2008. BRSC was great, I love theatre and every season we would go to at least one performance in the auditorium of Blowing Rock School, they had big plans for their new facility but, alas it was not to be. Still, I got to see one play and saw Guy Penrod which was wonderful. But, I'm not here to talk about SP.
I do not hold to the decision theology of modern America, to which, the late Dr Graham was it's greatest exemplar but, even he, said this "being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion, it is like a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ". The problem I have with this approach is that it makes obscene, the sacrifice of Christ. What do I mean by this? I believe scripture is clear that salvation is purely a work of God. Nowhere does Jesus say " If you like what you hear, come join us" or "heaven or hell, the choice is yours", to the contrary Jesus speaks of those the Father has given him and the sheep hear MY voice. A choice is a work of the human mind, which is fallen so, to make salvation a mere human decision is an obscenity. Check your Bible and find me one instance where "the individuals right to choose" has a positive outcome and I will buy you a box of Krispy Kreem donuts*. Find me an instance where the "individuals right to choose" has a negative outcome and you get nothing because, the Bible is chock full of them and that's because when people get to choose, they generally choose sin. Now if you can point back to where your journey began, that's great, if it was at a Church altar, that's great too. For me, it was the living room of a small apartment in Vista, California, was I "saved" that morning? Heck no, within a month I was back to old ways but, God had his hooks in me and he kept reeling, two years later I was baptized, was it then? No, I was marked before the foundation of the world. What I'm trying to say is salvation, American style where you just decide one day after listening to someone talk, "okay, that sounds good, I'm a Christian now" is false and a money racket. Salvation is God pulling you on a level that your mind, no matter how you cut it, can pin down. The Bible calls it a mystery, it also speaks of the heart as the conduit through which God speaks. If you are called by Him, on some level you sense it as indescribable and unexplainable but, it's there you feel it, you know it. It is inherently mystical, now don't get scared and run off. All we try to do here is explore the mysteries of faith in Jesus Christ through the faculty of our hearts and that's how it should be, how it was in our ancient past, how it will be long after we're gone and how it will pass into eternity. Amen.
Phew! That was a long'un.
* Artistic license I ain't buying nobody donuts! Although if I ever knock on your door I'll make sure I bring some.
I do not hold to the decision theology of modern America, to which, the late Dr Graham was it's greatest exemplar but, even he, said this "being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion, it is like a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ". The problem I have with this approach is that it makes obscene, the sacrifice of Christ. What do I mean by this? I believe scripture is clear that salvation is purely a work of God. Nowhere does Jesus say " If you like what you hear, come join us" or "heaven or hell, the choice is yours", to the contrary Jesus speaks of those the Father has given him and the sheep hear MY voice. A choice is a work of the human mind, which is fallen so, to make salvation a mere human decision is an obscenity. Check your Bible and find me one instance where "the individuals right to choose" has a positive outcome and I will buy you a box of Krispy Kreem donuts*. Find me an instance where the "individuals right to choose" has a negative outcome and you get nothing because, the Bible is chock full of them and that's because when people get to choose, they generally choose sin. Now if you can point back to where your journey began, that's great, if it was at a Church altar, that's great too. For me, it was the living room of a small apartment in Vista, California, was I "saved" that morning? Heck no, within a month I was back to old ways but, God had his hooks in me and he kept reeling, two years later I was baptized, was it then? No, I was marked before the foundation of the world. What I'm trying to say is salvation, American style where you just decide one day after listening to someone talk, "okay, that sounds good, I'm a Christian now" is false and a money racket. Salvation is God pulling you on a level that your mind, no matter how you cut it, can pin down. The Bible calls it a mystery, it also speaks of the heart as the conduit through which God speaks. If you are called by Him, on some level you sense it as indescribable and unexplainable but, it's there you feel it, you know it. It is inherently mystical, now don't get scared and run off. All we try to do here is explore the mysteries of faith in Jesus Christ through the faculty of our hearts and that's how it should be, how it was in our ancient past, how it will be long after we're gone and how it will pass into eternity. Amen.
Phew! That was a long'un.
* Artistic license I ain't buying nobody donuts! Although if I ever knock on your door I'll make sure I bring some.