Sunday Evening Thoughts

I am trying to get back into the habbit of blogging; even though I am pretty well convinced that it is mostly just for my puking forth of ideas. I don't really expect anyone else to take this too seriously since I have a hard enough time with it myself.

I am currently sitting here watching an old BBC DVD put out by 4 or the 5 mates who would later go on to give birth to Monty Python's Flying Circus. The show is called Do Not Adjust Your Set. It is interesting to say the least. My opinion is that it is not nearly as funny as MP but I don't know that it was aiming for the same thing. You know, kind of like one of those mediocre ideas that ends up turning into something great.

Other than that, life is coming and going at the same rate that it always does.

Super Bowl XLI is now on the books and the Colts now have the title. The world will be back to normal again tomorrow.

We went to church this morning. I didn't want to leave the house. I don't know that any of us really wanted to. It is hard to be motivated when it is -12 outside. Even as I write this, tonight has thus far brought us down to -7. I have stopped doing the whole wind chill or heat index thing. I now just take either the hottest number in the summer or the coldest number in the winter and just say that.

It is so cold that our fireplace just isn't keeping up. The furnace also keeps kicking in. I am afraid of what our gas bill is going to be for this month.

While sitting in church this morning I had an onslought of thoughts and questions. The topic this morning was the issue of grace being a free gift and how grace ties into the issue of eternal security, or not being able to lose one's salvation.

On the one hand, we believe firmly that salvation comes by grace through faith; that is has absolutely nothing to do with our works. I was reminded quickly of other references from the New Testament that speak clearly of those who have been saved as having been "predestined" or "called" according to God's foreknowledge. Romans 8 says that those whom he foreknew he predestined, called, justified, etc. Ephesians 2 states that even the faith to believe in Christ is something that was given before it was manifest.

So still this dichotomy- Only faith will save....You are not saved by works....Even faith can become a work. Salvation is supposed to be something that is completely God's doing. So then why all the instruction. Why all the debate? Why isn't the issue settled?

Another issue that has put me back in the oven on the issue [forgive me, I'm not exactly sure what that phrase means...I just threw it out there.] is this guy that responded to one of my wife's blog posts on MySpace. She had written something about praying for patience and working through that and God allowing suffering. Then some "faith-cop" felt the need to email her about it and say that he didn't like the post because God doesn't make people wait or suffer. The long and the short of it was that he was convinced of his perspective. He was one of those Word of Faith/Name It-Claim It/Blab It-Grab It guys. He could be found as a "friend" on the pages of Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Andrew Wommack, and many others in that camp.

I wrote him a 4 page letter in response telling him why I thought that his theology was bad....but I even stated in it that I didn't expect him to listen or understand right now. I used to be like him. I was right and everyone who disagreed with me was wrong. And when they were wrong, then I felt it was my duty to correct them in whatever the matter was.

So many franchises of things to believe or subscribe to regarding spirituality.

I am starting to believe more and more that we should probably each just do our own thing and leave well alone. It is just ironic because at one time I believed that any friendship should ultimately have "God" at the center of that. But what the hell does that mean anymore? A lot of that, I can only assume, is that one's ideas about God are to be at the center of the relationship. After all, how can God be at the center if neither of the participants has any personal relationship with Him/Her? And how can they know that their "personal relationship" is really either personal, or with God. At very best we can only assume that the things that we experience can be described as encounters with God.

It seems that the only way to successfully have God at the center of relationships is when there is agreement about what that means. Unfortunately, as a result I have now come to the conclusion that relationships seem easier without such monopolies. Sure it can be a topic of conversation, so long as the parties are open; but there is no room for the competition of ideas in the name of truth.

The whole issue rings true with my wife and I. We have not really ever agreed on much spiritually, though we had both claimed to be Christians. Often conversations would turn into disagreements that would then turn into arguments that I didn't feel were worth sacrificing the quality of the relationship for the sake of spiritual disagreement.

Ironically, I feel kind of like this amount of skepticism that I have right now makes it easier to be more objective in answering any questions that she has because I don't feel like I have any particular agenda that I'm pushing. If she asks where a verse is I can just tell her without trying to turn it into some kind of a lesson. Though it is also difficult because I have not told her the extent of the things that I write about here. She seems to be "growing" in her faith for the first time that I've ever seen and I don't want to be a stumbling block for her on purpose about anything.

I just wish that it took more than faith. I just wish that something could and would happen to settle my issues once and for all...but the chances are dim. I imagine that even if something did happen that I would either miss it or misunderstand it.

Faith alone, so they say....but right now faith alone is just lonely.