Which Movement Are You Part 2

When I took that quiz it was early in the afternoon and I've since returned home and had time to think about it.

I'm such a hodgepodge of faith backgrounds that I don't think any particular "movement" would accept me. I've "grown up" in the Restoration Movement and even went to one of their colleges. I've since moved on from a lot of their traditional doctrines and would probably be ousted from the movement if they knew where I stood on some of the issues (although I still stand on their basic premise that we should restore church and should not consider ourselves the 'only Christians').

Anyways, I have no idea how I've come to my current standing on doctrinal issues. I read a lot, both of those I agree with and disagree with. I'm not a HUGE fan of Brian McLaren, but I do like a lot of what he has to say. I guess I could put it this way: I could spend the day with McLaren and the next with John MacArthur and be perfectly fine.


I'm weird.

Simplicity

I had one of those moments yesterday while teaching Sunday school that I come into a new realization about something.

We got onto the topic of predestination...or with our class...*I* got on the subject of predestination and salvation. We talked about how some people make our salvation a difficult thing. You have to agree to a certain amount of doctrine, you have to give so much money to the church or attend a denominational conference, etc...People make up these lists of how you are seen right in God's eyes.

But it's so much easier than that.

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." - John 3:16 from The Message Remix

It's that simple.

Faith in Jesus.

We have all this "You have to live a holy life..." or "You have to have good works..." those things are products of our sanctification. As we come to know Jesus, he trims away the excess of who we were and puts in place himself. The process takes more than a lifetime.

There isn't a list or creed we have to memorize or recite or a list of things to do. It just comes down to knowing Jesus. Simple.

The questions kids ask

A couple of weeks ago I started a "series" in our Junior worship (1st grade through 5th grade) about "Questions about God". I challenged the kids to write down a question that they had about God or the Bible or anything in the church and I was pretty excited that they accepted the challenge with an amazing gusto!

The first question I got? "How can God be three different people?"

From a 4th grader. We have a young theologian in our group!

But I wanted to focus on the question that I got this morning from a third grader. She asked: "Why do we do bad things that we know is (are) wrong?"

Good question, I wish I knew the answer to that. If I did, I'd sell more books than Rick Warren!

Paul kind of struggled with the same question in Romans 7:15

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing."

To sum up, we are evil creatures. This is the only part of my theology where I come close to being a Calvinist. I believe that we are totally and utterly depraved, unable to do any good EXCEPT through the grace of God. Only God allows us to come to him and accept his love and grace.

I often think about the decisions I make in life and ministry. Am I making this decision because it is what I believe God wants? Or am I doing this because I want the glory of it? The eternal struggle between what I want and what God wants is nothing new, it's been going on since day 10* of creation.

Only when we get to heaven will we finally be able to live in total and complete righteousness.

*Day of the first sin is only an approximate...but you knew that already.