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3:29:00 AM EST
Feeling Chillin'
SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT...
I COULDN'T SAY IT BETTER IF
I WROTE IT MYSELF!!
EXCERPTS FROM DONALD
MILLER'S SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT:
"...AS A CHRISTIAN I BELIEVE JESUS WANTS US TO REACHOUT TO PEOPLE WHO ARE LOST AND, YES, IMMORAL-IMMORAL JUST LIKE YOU AND I ARE IMMORAL; AND DECLARING WAR AGAINST THEM AND STIRRING UP YOUR LISTENERS TO THE POINT OF ANGER AND GIVING THEM THE FEELING THAT THIER COUNTRY, THIER FAMILIES, AND LIFESTYLES ARE BEING THREATENED IS ONLY HURTING WHAT JESUS IS TRYING TO DO. THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE. IF YOU DECLARE WAR ON SOMEBODY, YOU HAVE TO EITHER HANDCUFF THEM OR KILL THEM. THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO WIN. BUT IF YOU WANT THEM TO BE FORGIVEN BY CHRIST, IF YOU WANT THEM TO LIVE ETERNALLY WITH JESUS, THEN YOU HAVE TO LOVE THEM. THE CHOICE IS YOURS AND MY SUSPICION IS YOU WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE BY GOD, A JUDGE WHO WILL KNOW YOUR MOTIVES. SO GO AHEAD AND DECLARE WAR IN THE NAME OF CONSERVATIVE AGENDA, BUT DON'T DO IT IN THE NAME OF GOD....
... PAUL WAS DECEIVED WHEN HE PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS, THINKING HE WAS DOING IT TO SERVE GOD, BUT GOD WENT TO HIM, BLINDED HIM, AND CORRECTED HIS THINKING. AFTER THIS, PAUL LOVED THE PEOPLE HE HAD PREVIOUSLY HATED; HE BEGAN TO TAKE THE MESSAGE OF FORGIVENESS TO JEWS AND TO GENTILES, TO MALE AND TO FEMALE, TO PAGANS AND PROSTITUTES. AT NO POINT DOES HE WASTE HIS TIME LOBBYING GOVERNMENT FOR A MORAL AGENDA. NOBODY IN SCRIPTURE WHO KNEW AND FOLLOWED JESUS WASTED THIER TIME WITH ANY OF THIS; THEY BUILT THE CHURCH, THEY LOVED PEOPLE....
...WE CAN LEARN A GREAT DEAL FROM THE APOSTLES...
...IN MY OPINION, IF YOU HATE SOMEBODY BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU, YOU BEST GET ON YOUR KNEES AND REPENT UNTIL YOU CAN SAY YOU LOVE THEM, UNTIL YOU HAVE GOTTEN YOUR SOUL RIGHT WITH CHRIST.
I CAN'T SAY THIS CLEARLY ENOUGH: IF WE ARE PREACHING MORALITY WITHOUT CHRIST, AND USING WAR RHETORIC TO COMMUNICATE A BATTLE MENTALITY, WE ARE FIGHTING ON SATAN'S SIDE. THIS BATTLE WE ARE IN IS A BATTLE AGAINST THE PRINCIPALITIES OF DARKNESS, NOT AGAINST PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT FROM US. IN WAR YOU SHOOT THE ENEMY, NOT THE HOSTAGE....
... SOME CHRISTIANS, WHEN CONSIDERING IMMORALITY IN CULTURE, CONSIDER TWO ISSUES: ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE.
MORAL IDEAS PRESENTED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, AND EVEN FROM THE MOUTH OF CHRIST, HOWEVER, INVOLVE LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS, BEING ONE IN THE BOND OF PEACE, LOVING OUR ENEMIES, TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN BUSINESS BEFORE WE JUDGE SOMEBODY ELSE, FORGIVING DEBTS EVEN AS WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, SPEAKING IN TRUTH AND LOVE ELSE WE SOUND LIKE CLANGING CYMBALS (TURN ON FOX NEWS TO HEAR WHAT CLANGING CYMBALS SOUND LIKE), AND PROTECTING THE BEAUTY OF SEX AND MARRIAGE....
...I WONDERED IF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IN AMERICA HAD NOT BEEN HIJACKED AS WELL, HIJACKED BY THOSE SAME TWO ISSUES: ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE. HOW DID A SPIRITUALITY SUCH AS CHRISTIANITY, A SPIRITUALITY THAT SPEAKS OF ETERNITY, OF A WORLD WITHOUT END, OF FORGIVNESS OF SINS AND A MYSTERIOUS UNION WITH THE GODHEAD, COME TO BE REPRESENTED BY A MORALIST AGENDA AND A TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMIC THEORY? AND MORE IMPORTANT, HOW DID A MAN BORN OF EASTERN DESCENT, A MAN WHO CALLED HIMSELF THE PRINCE OF PEACE, A MAN WHOM THE SACRED WRITINGS DESCRIBE EATING WITH PROSTITUTES AND PROVIDING WINE AT WEDDINGS AND HEALING THE SICK AND IGNORING ANY POLITICAL PLOT, A MAN WHO WANTS US TO TURN THE OTHER CHEEK AND GIVE ALL OUR POSSESIONS IF WE ARE SUED, BECOME ASSOCIATED WITH--NO, BECOME THE POSTER BOY FOR--A WESTERN MORAL AND FINANCIAL AGENDA COMMUNICATED THROUGHT THE REHTORIC OF WAR AND IGNORANT OF THE DAMAGE IT IS CAUSING TO A WORLD LIVING IN POVERTY?
MY ONLY ANSWER IS SATAN IS CRAFTY INDEED.
I REALIZE THERE ARE PEOPLE READING THIS WHO WILL AUTOMATICALLY DISMISS ME AS A THEOLOGICAL LIBERAL, BUT I DO NOT BELIEVE A PERSON CAN TAKE TWO ISSUES FROM SCRIPTURE, THOSE BEING ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE, AND ADHERE TO THEM AS SIN, THEN NEGLECT MUCH OF THE REST AND CALL HIMSELF A FUNDAMENTALIST OR EVEN A CONSERVATIVE. THE PERSON WHO BELIEVES THE SUM OF HIS MORALITY INVOLVES GAY MARRIAGE AND ABBORTION ALONE, AND NEGLECTS HEALTH CARE AND WORLD TRADE AND THE ENVIRONMENT AND LOVING HIS NEIGHBOR AND FEEDING THE POOR IS, BY DEFINITION, A THEOLOGICAL LIBERAL, BECAUSE HE TAKES WHAT HE WANTS AND IGNORES THE REST....
...RETURN TO THE SORT OF CALL CHRIST HAS GIVEN US, TO OBEY HIM AND EXPERIENCE INTAMCY WITH HIM THROUGH SHARING OUR FAITH, LOVING OUR ENEMIES,SERVING AND FEEDING THE POOR AND THE HUNGERY DIRECTLY, AND STOP SHOWING OFF ABOUT HOW MORAL WE ARE AND HOW THAT MAKES US BETTER THAN OTHER PEOPLE. I ASSURE YOU, ONCE WE LEAVE THE FIGHT OVER OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE AND ENTER THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE FOR THE HEARTS AND SOULS OF THE LOST, THE CHURCH WILL FLOURISH, AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL GROW. GOD IS NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF BROKERING FOR POWER OVER A NATION; HE IS IN THE BUSINESS OF LOVING THE UNLOVED AND PULLING SHEEP OUT OF CRAGS AND BUSHES.
THE GREATEST COMFORT I CAN FEEL IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS IS THAT JESUS DID NOT LEND HIMSELF TO WAR CAUSES, TO TAX ISSUES OR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS. FOR THAT MATTER, HE DID NOT LEND HIMSELF TO RAISING MONEY FOR EDUCATION OR STUMPING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. IT WAS IF HE DID NOT TRUST US TO BUILD A UTOPIA. HE KEPT IT VERY SIMPLE, IN FACT. FOLLOW ME, HE SAID. I HAVE NO OPINION ABOUT WHAT COLOR THE PAINT SHOULD BE IN THIS PRISON. FOLLOW ME.
IS JESUS ANGRY? SOMETIMES. DOES HE SPEAK OF SIN AND MORALITY? YES QUITE FREQUENTLY. DOES THE CONTEMPORARY EVANGELICAL MODEL OF SIN AND MORALITY REFLECT THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST? AS A FLEA IS A PART OF A DOG, BUT NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE DOG ITSELF. IS JESUS FRUSTED WITH SINNERS? YES. HE HE FRUSTRATED WITH RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS WHO USE HIS FATHER'S NAME TO BUILD BUSINESSES OR SUPPORT AGENDAS? HE IS VIOLENTLY FRUSTRATED. IS THERE A PENALTY TO PAY FOR REJECTING HIM? YES, APART FROM CHRIST WE WIL DIE AND ARE DYING. DOES JESUS LIKE LIBERALS MORE THAN CONSERVATIVES? HE WILL BE NOBODY'S FLAG.
I SUSPECT ANY LACK OF LOVE OR FEELINGS OF ANGER WE HAVE TOWARD THE CULTURE AROUND US ARE NOT FEELINGS THAT COME FROM GOD, BUT RATHER OUR SOULS ARISING AGAIN TO CAST ROCKS AT A WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY. WE SHOULD NOT EXPECT CHRIST TO RESPOND ANY DIFFERENTLY TO US THEN THE MORALISTS OF HIS DAY:
THEY DROPPED THIER STONES AND WALKED AWAY, FEELING ASHAMED THAT EACH OF THEM HAD BEEN PROVED A SINNER, TOO. AND JESUS WENT OVER TO COMFORT THE WOMAN, TELLING HER, "GO AND SIN NO MORE." (SEE JOHN 8.)...
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