Things I Think…
1. I think we need to accept the possibility that Trump “wanting to get to heaven” may be a work of the Spirit and pray accordingly…
2. Ironically, if Trump truly converted and started behaving as a follower of Jesus, his current “Christian” base would abandon him in a heartbeat…
3. We’ve had some thoughts about “deconstruction”…I welcome it as a corrective to generations of poor teaching and worse behavior…
4. Deconstruction has to happen when the object of faith becomes anything but Jesus…and popular evangelicalism is wrought with idols that blur the vision…
5. When people dispense of idols they often do so carelessly…while the Bible has been wrapped in much about it that isn’t true, it is still the primary place where God speaks to his people…unfortunately, there is often a difference between what God said and what we hear…
6. The key to reconstructing a real faith is to wrestle with Jesus until you understand Him as well as you can…then filter everything else though what you’ve learned…
7. It is utterly irrelevant to real faith whether Adam and Eve were the first people, if there was an Exodus as described , or a real flood. What matters is what God was communicating in those stories…
8. Frankly, I still don’t know what God was communicating in the flood story…or the narrative of what happened soon thereafter on dry land…I assume God will enlighten me in time…
9. I no longer pretend to understand the mechanics and mystery of salvation…but I truly believe that taking works out of the equation has led to all manner of evils…
10. We have a new P.O. Box for correspondence…putting my home address online put other people in jeopardy…some folks don’t like me…
Michael Newnham
P.O. Box 1207
Jacksonville, OR 97530
Re: thoughts 1 and 2…indeed if he is being honest and not just baiting, definitely a time to pray for Trump to find real faith. We all know he won’t be getting any helpful answers from his spiritual advisor (that’s the impression from where I sit). He does not appear to be in good health. We should see this as a time of opportunity for prayer. And if his base abandons him, all the better.
Dan,
My nature ,as you know , is cynical.
That isn’t going to help.
If there is a chance he truly converts it could save literally millions of lives…so I’ll pray it’s so.
Thank for joining me…
You’re welcome Michael!
What do you mean with #9?
Jeff,
I mean quite a bit.
The complete degradation of the importance of works has led to them being ignored or neglected and once saved always saved is just a get out of jail free card…in my opinion.
I have to cook dinner now…
I just watched this very recent interview with Mark Driscoll. Most of the comments responses. I just don’t see it. are glowing. My sense is that Driscoll has a lot of stage persons gifts, but runs very shallow in some important character qualities. When asked what he learned from the MH debacle, he barely answers the question. I’d be curious to hear other perspectives.
https://www.youtube.com/live/zRE9rHltSZo?si=iUSY7iY0rOD_nffG