1. God is good.
2. God has a purpose for your life.
3. Happiness is not guaranteed.
4. Are you pursuing the purpose God has for you?
5. When your time is your own, it's not really your own - are you mastering it? Or is it mastering you?
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
A hard read and Matthew 5:17-19
My last post was light and airy. This one is not.
This blog installment is by a college friend of mine and it is a long and hard read. Here's why it was hard for me:
1) It is evidence that we live in a broken world that is far removed from God's original design, and it is continuing on that continuum until Christ returns (Lord, please come quickly.)
2) We all need Jesus - and the most important thing about us is that we know Him, deeply. This applies to all, from any "walk" or lifestyle.
3) My head is spinning to think what this person, this human, made in the likeness of God, has suffered, not just from choices, but from experiences and abuse as a child.
4) Is it not a stretch to take the referenced Matthew 19 passage and come to the conclusion outlined in the article?
5) Sin is sin. Sin is defined by the unchanging God, not by our own changing and shifting viewpoints and experiences.
6) I do recognize the source of this article - Rachel is very far down the path of "progressive Christianity" - that said, I have a hard time "peddling backwards" to find a starting point where she stopped interpreting Scripture correctly.
7) As I pray for dear people in my own life who struggle with gender identity issues, I do pray that they first would come to know Jesus in a real way, because that would then transform all the rest. Maybe instantly, maybe over a lifetime, but the transformation would begin. (Please note that transformation is a very different word than transition, especially in this context.)
8) I listened to a sermon this morning and took comfort in this passage:
This blog installment is by a college friend of mine and it is a long and hard read. Here's why it was hard for me:
1) It is evidence that we live in a broken world that is far removed from God's original design, and it is continuing on that continuum until Christ returns (Lord, please come quickly.)
2) We all need Jesus - and the most important thing about us is that we know Him, deeply. This applies to all, from any "walk" or lifestyle.
3) My head is spinning to think what this person, this human, made in the likeness of God, has suffered, not just from choices, but from experiences and abuse as a child.
4) Is it not a stretch to take the referenced Matthew 19 passage and come to the conclusion outlined in the article?
5) Sin is sin. Sin is defined by the unchanging God, not by our own changing and shifting viewpoints and experiences.
6) I do recognize the source of this article - Rachel is very far down the path of "progressive Christianity" - that said, I have a hard time "peddling backwards" to find a starting point where she stopped interpreting Scripture correctly.
7) As I pray for dear people in my own life who struggle with gender identity issues, I do pray that they first would come to know Jesus in a real way, because that would then transform all the rest. Maybe instantly, maybe over a lifetime, but the transformation would begin. (Please note that transformation is a very different word than transition, especially in this context.)
8) I listened to a sermon this morning and took comfort in this passage:
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
9) I am uncomfortable with the implications of the referenced blog post, uncomfortable with my own wrestling through it, but comforted by the words in Matthew 5 above.
10) It is good to wrestle through all this. Even when it's hard.
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