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I follow a blog called “Fjords of Zion.” I’m reprinting the article here as well as my comment. What do you think? Off the rails, or am I missing something good this guy is saying? You decide.
Totally off the Rails
27 Tuesday Jul 2010
Tag Archives: experience
The Dark of Night
26 Monday Jul 2010
Posted in Personal
God perceives the imperfections within us, and because of His love for us, urges us to grow up. His love is not content to leave us in our weakness, and for this reason He takes us into a dark night. He weans us from all of the pleasures by giving us dry times and inward darkness. In doing so He is able to take away all these vices and create virtues with us. Through the dark night, pride becomes humility, greed becomes simplicity, wrath becomes contentment, luxury becomes peace, gluttony becomes moderation, envy becomes joy, and sloth becomes strength. No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the Dark Night.
–St. John of the Cross, as quoted in A Beacon in the Darkness
The Unfortunate Reminder
20 Sunday Jun 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
Alert: this is another gut-level post. You’ve been warned.
So, I’m watching New Moon whilst drinking a Vanilla Coke. And the scene just went by where Bella says something to the effect of, “the pain is the only thing that makes him feel like he was real.” Edward has, immediately previous to this scene left Forks (where Bella lives) and removed all evidence he was ever there in her life.
Sometimes that’s what I feel like. I once had a friend…my best friend. I wasn’t attracted to him, but I loved him. I would’ve moved half-way across the country for him. I’d take a bullet for him.
The Gospel Is Not Your Story
23 Sunday May 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
experience, Gospel, homosexuality, music, Scripture, theology, witnessing, worship
Many folks in evangelicalism who routinely ‘share their faith,’ go about telling their story. They talk about how Jesus has saved them from this or that sinful behavior or thought pattern. Some folks’ sin of choice involves alcohol, some are sidelined by homosexual behavior, others by drugs, anger, or nicotine. Whatever they wrestled with before, they have the victory over now…all thanks to Jesus.
Here’s the problem: even if we are to grant that God has wrought such life-change through sanctification, this is still not the Gospel. Such life-change is potentially a fruit of the Gospel, but the Gospel and its fruit must never be confounded. Someone recently asked me to summarize the Gospel. Here’s what I answered:
That Christ, acting outside of me, apart from my will, died for me in history and that he rose again, giving me his righteousness which covers me like a robe would. His righteousness is always and always will be alien to (outside of) me.
Lost sons and daughters
28 Wednesday Apr 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
culture, experience, Gospel, homosexuality, Jennifer Knapp, music, politics, repentance, Scripture, theology
In view of recent events regarding Jennifer Knapp mentioned on Chris Rosebrough‘s program, I believe the following words from Jerram Barrs, while not being the final word on the subject, are in fact, relevant to the discussion.
The Trouble With Attention
08 Thursday Apr 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
I’m just about as insecure as the next guy. I mean, I hold my own in a discussion, I conduct choirs and orchestras with a minimum of challenges, I speak in front of groups about the Bible with no trouble at all, I can even handle a classroom full of junior high kids for 80 minutes at a time.
But I’ve never gotten past the idea I have about my being physically undesirable. It’s terribly difficult to put myself in situations to ask out girls (which I’ve done three times in my life, being shot down very recently without even as much as a second hearing). I just never think any girl alive (or even guy for that matter) would ever want me. I would categorize myself as clumsy and awkward, even though most people would probably label me as confident.
Churches and Gay Youth: A Response, part 3
18 Thursday Mar 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
The following post is a continuation of Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, which references this news story.
John & Charles Wesley wrote and translated many wonderful hymns.
But their theology stank.
The idea that “Christian perfection” or “the victorious Christian life” or “walking in the Spirit” could actually happen this side of heaven is nothing but garbage. It doesn’t confront the reality that Paul speaks of his life at the time of his writing Romans 7, not in terms of his pre-Christ state. Romans 7, therefore, is the picture of a Christian…not one who “has not yet surrendered his life to Christ.”
Churches and Gay Youth: A Response, part 2
16 Tuesday Mar 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
The following post is a continuation of Part 1 of this series, which references this news story.
Quoting Lucky Severson:
Pastor Heidi Neumark says that condemnation has led to outright discrimination. She says too many churches have created an environment where it’s okay to bash gays or lesbians or bisexuals or transgenders, known collectively as LGBTs.
In this, I would say that Neumark has a legitimate complaint. The types of jokes I’ve heard at churches, the types of references to gay individuals said with a sneer, even from a pulpit!…these are real things I’ve experienced myself. This doesn’t mean that everyone who makes a joke or a derisive comment is liable to drag a homosexual behind his/her pickup truck. I’m not nearly that paranoid.
Churches and Gay Youth: A Response
13 Saturday Mar 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
This news story was brought to my attention by someone who was curious as to my reaction to it, so here are some thoughts regarding it. As always, I welcome comments on my opinions but I ask that anyone who comments to take the time to watch the story and/or read the transcript at the link already referenced so that any discussion can be useful and productive.
Getting to God sans Jesus
09 Tuesday Feb 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
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I keep hearing all these awesome things about a guy named Henri Nouwen. And then a while back in my RSS feeder, I saw this quote from page 51 of his book, Sabbatical Journey:
Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.
Is anyone else who would consider themselves to be an evangelical a little disturbed by such a statement? I want to get this book now and give it a good read so that I can hear his whole argument. If this is ripped out of context, I’d like to see what that context is, because this doesn’t sound much like biblical teaching on this topic (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, etc.).
Gay and Evangelical 