Generally my blog consists of my sermoins from the previous sunday...I don't know if anyone ever reads them, the lone exception is some chinese person that has attempted to spam attack my comments and has caused me to begin comment moderation.
However, recently, a friend of mine asked me to occasionally post thoughts, rants or general nonsense so I will attempt to a little bit this evening.
I am a lurker! I lurk around on the blogs listed at the right of this post and check out what "the other guys" say and what is said about the other guys thoughts.
Recently discussions have centered around revival and randomness, AWANA and Arminianism even perplexing questions and peculiar quandries. All of which have led to quite a unique take on things. Here is my take on a few of these issues:
Revival is needed and it only comes from the people of God availing themselves to the Will of God so they will be faithful and committed to the work of God!
AWANA...if a Church would like to use AWANA, Discovery, Revolution or any other "program" it is that Churches business. The Lord will not remove the candle out of its place for such. Bottom line, God blesses His Word when it is delivered! NOW, if the program does not present the plan of Salvation correctly a Church would be wise to cease using it.
Arminianism is bad and a majority of Methodists practice it without even knowing it. Arminianism is the opposite of Calvanism. Calvinism is bondage of the Will while Arminianism is freedom of the Will. The main difference is that God is IN everyone but the Arminianist believes that they must choose to work it out while the Calvinist believes God is in a select few "chosen" and they have no choice...it will be worked out!
As far as random questions and quandries...I wonder how far we should take the scriptures admonition to avoid foolish fables and endless geneoligies? I know that I am not as wise as Jesus and niether is ANYONE who reads our blogs so who has it all figured out? I know that many questions will never be answered THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN and many of our answers are best guesses at best.
I will say this...the paths that the old cows took to the barn is a good path for a reason. Our forefathers were not uneducated hicks with no clue about biblical truth. The same Spirit that leads us into truth is the same one that lead them. If you are the 1st person to come up with a new truth or never heard from idea before, a red flag goes up for me and it should for you as well.
Anyway...that is my thoughts, rants and general nonesense (to satisfy Bro. Adrian).
Wait a minute...this just in...need a general nonsense thingie in here...Friday night April 30th...I am getting my Master's Degree from the Seminary! How's that for nonsense?
Funny funny.....I had no idea you would respond so fast....lurker!
ReplyDeleteThis comment is from JamesCharles and I am posting for him...
ReplyDelete"The red flag is a great thing. If something sounds new, it should only be considered with caution. However, it should be considered strongly and in an unbiased fashion. As you said, we don't have it "all" figured out on this side of Heaven, so while our forefathers may have been both wise and led by God's Spirit, they did not have it all figured out. I dare say that both they, and we, do not know half of the Bible. It is for this reason that we must not dismiss something in closed-mindedness before comparing it with the Scripture. Another thing to consider is that some things our "forefathers" teach are only taught by our "forefathers" for fifty years (mid-trib rapture), a hundred years (gap theory), a couple of hundred years (pre-trib), etc. Many of these teachings our "forefathers" taught may have been new teachings/doctrines when they accepted them. Just like you said, they weren't a bunch of country hick bumpkins but instead were much like us. They probably studied the Scripture much like us. They probably disagreed with one another, just like us. Many of them probably disagreed with teachings such as pre-trib rapture, mid-trib rapture, or the gap-theory when they came out. Yet the only things we know our "forefathers" taught are those things that are taught today. That makes them neither right, nor valid. It just makes them accepted. And being humans just like we are, they (like we) more than likely accepted falsities and lies.
Let no one think I am "downing" or "dissing" our forefathers. I thank them for what they did very much. They held the faith of salvation fast. I just wanted to make it clear that I don't believe they were all that different from the saints of today. I believe they added new things that would have been rejected by their forefathers as well, such as the piano/organ/hymnbooks/fellowship halls/Sunday School/ and my personal favorite - the bathroom."
Speaking of "forefathers," one time in History class I stated the first sentence or two of the Gettysburg address. "Fourscore and seven years ago our forefathers..."
ReplyDeleteI overheard a kid in the back of the room ask another kid (both of which had a room temperature IQ) "Dude, how did Lincoln have four fathers??!" "I dunno, man..."
I lost it :)
Nice Brother Bear.
ReplyDelete