Quotes
"So much of the church is in survival mode. They are simply trying to get their own desires for affirmation, attention, understanding, validation, and so forth met. But if you are still in survival mode, you can't be in dominion mode." -Andrew Kim
"Being nice is the religious counterfeit to love and being authentic. It tries to say that being a good Christian is to not step on any toes and put on a smiling mask. This is not the life that Jesus, the Apostle Paul, or much of anyone in the Bible displayed. It is an absolute distortion of the Christian life due to lack of vulnerability and genuine connection with God and others." -me
"The religious mind thinks that self-control comes by trying harder and adding more rules and regulations. While one may have to keep themselves from certain places in the process of change (i.e. one who is addicted to gambling may need to avoid driving past the casino), simply adding will-power and rules is really the unbiblical anti-Galatians approach to it. Gal. 3:3 reiterates that much. God's method of trying harder is to remove distraction from our life so as to prioritize relationship with Him, surrender and abide deeply so as to have His strength become my strength through His grace. It should be obvious then why self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not my fruit. Self-control is a descriptive word, just like all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit of what is occurring in and through the life of a Christian in proper relationship, not something one tries to strain and try really hard to get or work up." -me
I was getting in a good discussion tonight with my buddies and we were talking about how all too often the American church seems to have feminized church. First off, I would have to give respect to John Eldredge for his book Wild at Heart for not doing this. However, it seems we now make being a guy at church to be not acting in impurity. While I'd be the first to say that this is important and it is exciting how men are starting to be able to find the church to be a safe place where they can address and get free of these issues, one can fail to see that we have missed the whole point. The Christian life was NEVER meant to be about simply trying not to do something. It was always meant to be going towards something. When one truly embraces the Lord, being in His presence, and impacting those around them, it is an adventure that nothing can come close to comparing to. But since the true pleasure does not get tapped, people put false things in (because they want to feel good). So people become full of gluttony, lust, drunkenness, drugs, codependency, and so forth because they are missing true relationship. Lest one think that saying one prayer at conversion fixes this, they will be sorely mistaken. It is the ongoing delight of authentic relationship with God and being in His presence while loving authentically those the Lord gives me that keeps one from trying to get something from somewhere that they were not ever meant to get. (Of course, I am lumping all of life into one little box, these things are often a bit more complicated, for example, the joy of being in the Lord's presence might look a bit different when one is grieving).
In regards to theological debates...
"We must also ask ourselves another question: How important is this issue to the Kingdom. That is always the million dollar question. Sometimes we fight vigorously for issues that matter little." -Dr. David Seemuth
"Being nice is the religious counterfeit to love and being authentic. It tries to say that being a good Christian is to not step on any toes and put on a smiling mask. This is not the life that Jesus, the Apostle Paul, or much of anyone in the Bible displayed. It is an absolute distortion of the Christian life due to lack of vulnerability and genuine connection with God and others." -me
"The religious mind thinks that self-control comes by trying harder and adding more rules and regulations. While one may have to keep themselves from certain places in the process of change (i.e. one who is addicted to gambling may need to avoid driving past the casino), simply adding will-power and rules is really the unbiblical anti-Galatians approach to it. Gal. 3:3 reiterates that much. God's method of trying harder is to remove distraction from our life so as to prioritize relationship with Him, surrender and abide deeply so as to have His strength become my strength through His grace. It should be obvious then why self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not my fruit. Self-control is a descriptive word, just like all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit of what is occurring in and through the life of a Christian in proper relationship, not something one tries to strain and try really hard to get or work up." -me
I was getting in a good discussion tonight with my buddies and we were talking about how all too often the American church seems to have feminized church. First off, I would have to give respect to John Eldredge for his book Wild at Heart for not doing this. However, it seems we now make being a guy at church to be not acting in impurity. While I'd be the first to say that this is important and it is exciting how men are starting to be able to find the church to be a safe place where they can address and get free of these issues, one can fail to see that we have missed the whole point. The Christian life was NEVER meant to be about simply trying not to do something. It was always meant to be going towards something. When one truly embraces the Lord, being in His presence, and impacting those around them, it is an adventure that nothing can come close to comparing to. But since the true pleasure does not get tapped, people put false things in (because they want to feel good). So people become full of gluttony, lust, drunkenness, drugs, codependency, and so forth because they are missing true relationship. Lest one think that saying one prayer at conversion fixes this, they will be sorely mistaken. It is the ongoing delight of authentic relationship with God and being in His presence while loving authentically those the Lord gives me that keeps one from trying to get something from somewhere that they were not ever meant to get. (Of course, I am lumping all of life into one little box, these things are often a bit more complicated, for example, the joy of being in the Lord's presence might look a bit different when one is grieving).
In regards to theological debates...
"We must also ask ourselves another question: How important is this issue to the Kingdom. That is always the million dollar question. Sometimes we fight vigorously for issues that matter little." -Dr. David Seemuth
posted by Seltzer at 3:58 AM
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