Post by
Michelle Dowell, Co-Contributor
To truly be able to lead and live well, it's important to truly understand what you believe. A lot of people say that they are a Christian and assume that means they know what they believe, but may not live or think much differently than the culture around them that is not Christian these days. We live in a postmodern culture, where this is acceptable to the culture: it's viewed as good to not strongly believe anything because postmodernism is more okay and fine with everyone's beliefs.
If someone were to ask you why you're a Christian, do you know what you'd say? If they asked you what is different abut your religion compared to other religions, would you be able to answer? Does your religion cause you to live differently than people of different religions or those who don't have a religion?
A major difference in the Christian religion compared to others is that it's not our works that get us to Heaven. It's Christ's perfection and faith that does.
Some people think that feeling/emotion is most important in religion and that thinking hinders religion. For instance, feeling that God is for them in that moment, or they made God happy is what they aim for. They feel like that's all they need. But not working to truly understand their beliefs of God and what God wants--that may cause them to feel things to be true that are not true: A person may feel happy and in some sense that makes them feel like God is happy with what they're doing--but really they could be happy in that moment because the sun is shining that day or they had a great meal the day before.
The way for them to truly know that God is happy or accepting of a choice is to truly understand the Bible as much as they can. To think about it. Some people may live in the thought that they can never please God because they feel crappy and nothing seems to go as right as they envisioned it, but really understanding God's true acceptance of us would help them feel like God is still okay with them. Our feelings don't always match the reality of the situation. We are fallen and there are so many factors to what makes us feel certain ways (the weather, how much we eat or sleep, what's going on in the world and in our lives).
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
True Freedom
Augustine wrote of the pleasure of stealing fruit simply for the pleasure of stealing it. Often people are pleased to do wrong simply because it is wrong.
You see man is angry against law and there is a part of him which wishes to break law for the sake of breaking law. Man wishes to express his freedom.
You see man defines freedom in having things his own way. He is free if he can do what he pleases and he is never truly free.
You see only under anarchy could man truly be free if freedom is having things each man’s own way. And in anarchy the strong will have their way over the weak so no one can ever be truly free in this definition.
Often freedom is rephrased into an ability to choose. You see even here there are issues.
Man would often choose this car or that house but they belong to another. You see if each person is free to choose than many cannot choose since of a limit of supply.
Really the man who wishes to have freedom in this way is never free. He is always in one way or another outmatched. He cannot have absolute freedom.
Christianity redefines freedom. Freedom is the ability of man to do God's will.
It seems sort of laughable to man that man's freedom is service to God. But you see man was made for this purpose.
I have found that doing God's will often leads to happiness and breaking God's will often leads to sadness. I suppose it is what you would expect if you accept the Christian teaching that God created man.
If God created man to be most free in doing God's will it is not surprising that he also created man to most enjoy doing God's will.
Many people of course say that the church is boring and a place of suffering. It is true in a sense it is a congregation of men who have barely woken from spiritual death and some may still need awakening.
Often we confuse feeble religion or fake religion for the real thing. Feeble religion is real but at a low form. It is often the lowest forms of religion which are critiqued.
It is if we reject music as potentially beautiful upon hearing a sampling of 5 middle school concerts. You see there are very few who get far in the faith.
The way is narrow and we tend to see the masses that are off the path or barely a few miles down it. True deep religion is infinitely beautiful. Shallow religion beautiful but often in many sense painful as well.
You see man is angry against law and there is a part of him which wishes to break law for the sake of breaking law. Man wishes to express his freedom.
You see man defines freedom in having things his own way. He is free if he can do what he pleases and he is never truly free.
You see only under anarchy could man truly be free if freedom is having things each man’s own way. And in anarchy the strong will have their way over the weak so no one can ever be truly free in this definition.
Often freedom is rephrased into an ability to choose. You see even here there are issues.
Man would often choose this car or that house but they belong to another. You see if each person is free to choose than many cannot choose since of a limit of supply.
Really the man who wishes to have freedom in this way is never free. He is always in one way or another outmatched. He cannot have absolute freedom.
Christianity redefines freedom. Freedom is the ability of man to do God's will.
It seems sort of laughable to man that man's freedom is service to God. But you see man was made for this purpose.
I have found that doing God's will often leads to happiness and breaking God's will often leads to sadness. I suppose it is what you would expect if you accept the Christian teaching that God created man.
If God created man to be most free in doing God's will it is not surprising that he also created man to most enjoy doing God's will.
Many people of course say that the church is boring and a place of suffering. It is true in a sense it is a congregation of men who have barely woken from spiritual death and some may still need awakening.
Often we confuse feeble religion or fake religion for the real thing. Feeble religion is real but at a low form. It is often the lowest forms of religion which are critiqued.
It is if we reject music as potentially beautiful upon hearing a sampling of 5 middle school concerts. You see there are very few who get far in the faith.
The way is narrow and we tend to see the masses that are off the path or barely a few miles down it. True deep religion is infinitely beautiful. Shallow religion beautiful but often in many sense painful as well.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Grace
Grace is undeserved. People often wonder why God chose them. Why me and not someone else?
Usually the answer people give is God could have chosen anyone. He is free and it is not something in yourself.
That is true and mostly on track. But the point is that grace is always undeserved. You see you do not deserve grace and no one deserves grace..
You see the questions like "was there something about me which caused God to chose me?" are wrong by definition. You see God chose not based on the facts, but contrary to the facts.
You see the good news is it is not about you. God is happy to save and he always saves apart from the facts of people's lives.
You see salvation is based on union with Jesus through faith. It is Jesus' blood that covers our sin and Jesus' life that fulfills the perfect obedience that God desires.
We make this so hard at times. We tend to get exasperated over the details and why this or that. But we need to realize God is free.
The name of the Lord "I Am" denotes pre-existence. Everyone notes that, but there is more. It denotes freedom. God will do what he pleases and when he pleases.
He doesn't need man to approve or care if man approves. God is perfectly good, but his goodness is not like what many men consider God. Many people view bad as good.
Ultimately God wants man to accept and follow him, but he will not be different than he is for men to come to him. He sets a very clear way.
He sent his only son eternally God and man into the world. When Jesus came into the world the last days began. The cross is the ultimate place of glory.
It is a choice. To choose God's ways and be foolish before man, this is to choose Jesus. Or to choose to be wise before men and reject God.
Usually the answer people give is God could have chosen anyone. He is free and it is not something in yourself.
That is true and mostly on track. But the point is that grace is always undeserved. You see you do not deserve grace and no one deserves grace..
You see the questions like "was there something about me which caused God to chose me?" are wrong by definition. You see God chose not based on the facts, but contrary to the facts.
You see the good news is it is not about you. God is happy to save and he always saves apart from the facts of people's lives.
You see salvation is based on union with Jesus through faith. It is Jesus' blood that covers our sin and Jesus' life that fulfills the perfect obedience that God desires.
We make this so hard at times. We tend to get exasperated over the details and why this or that. But we need to realize God is free.
The name of the Lord "I Am" denotes pre-existence. Everyone notes that, but there is more. It denotes freedom. God will do what he pleases and when he pleases.
He doesn't need man to approve or care if man approves. God is perfectly good, but his goodness is not like what many men consider God. Many people view bad as good.
Ultimately God wants man to accept and follow him, but he will not be different than he is for men to come to him. He sets a very clear way.
He sent his only son eternally God and man into the world. When Jesus came into the world the last days began. The cross is the ultimate place of glory.
It is a choice. To choose God's ways and be foolish before man, this is to choose Jesus. Or to choose to be wise before men and reject God.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
To Have One Thought
Often we will face a choice. Whose opinion do we care about?
We are often faced with the need to make a choice. Because the opinions in the world are nearly infinite.
Mankind has a basic agreement on very few things and even those few things we will fine people who disagree on them.
Even more of an issue is that often mankind agrees on certain things which God has expressed displeasure about.
We have a priority of our beliefs. Maybe we are not aware of the priority but we can see the priority at some moments.
Who will we please first God or our friends. The state or God. Our friends or the state.
You see that we cannot please everyone. Some people will play the fence and try to please everyone in every circumstance.
Really they have given up on truth. Unity is all that matters and not truth.
The bible places a great importance on unity but also on truth. There is a certain tension in these concepts which is why the bible says that that is a time for peace and a time for war and a time for everything under the sun.
We always need to act with wisdom but have a sense of priority. The reality of life is that as long as we seek to love God and our fellow man we cannot go much wrong, but we will find that we will be caught up in many tensions.
We will be placed with principles against each other. People will often try to make the bible in conflict with the bible and God in conflict with the church.
You see people always wish to twist the bible. It would seem simple that we should do good on the Sabbath, but men will wish to suggest we should only rest and never do God.
People always wish to make God a liar and in this way dismiss what the bible has to say. Really often we simply find issues with clear teaching which is sensible because we do not like it.
The reality is we often believe to be true what we like and the bible does not often say what we like. This is why we need a new birth to see as beautiful what we had not seen as beautiful before.
We are often faced with the need to make a choice. Because the opinions in the world are nearly infinite.
Mankind has a basic agreement on very few things and even those few things we will fine people who disagree on them.
Even more of an issue is that often mankind agrees on certain things which God has expressed displeasure about.
We have a priority of our beliefs. Maybe we are not aware of the priority but we can see the priority at some moments.
Who will we please first God or our friends. The state or God. Our friends or the state.
You see that we cannot please everyone. Some people will play the fence and try to please everyone in every circumstance.
Really they have given up on truth. Unity is all that matters and not truth.
The bible places a great importance on unity but also on truth. There is a certain tension in these concepts which is why the bible says that that is a time for peace and a time for war and a time for everything under the sun.
We always need to act with wisdom but have a sense of priority. The reality of life is that as long as we seek to love God and our fellow man we cannot go much wrong, but we will find that we will be caught up in many tensions.
We will be placed with principles against each other. People will often try to make the bible in conflict with the bible and God in conflict with the church.
You see people always wish to twist the bible. It would seem simple that we should do good on the Sabbath, but men will wish to suggest we should only rest and never do God.
People always wish to make God a liar and in this way dismiss what the bible has to say. Really often we simply find issues with clear teaching which is sensible because we do not like it.
The reality is we often believe to be true what we like and the bible does not often say what we like. This is why we need a new birth to see as beautiful what we had not seen as beautiful before.
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