Things I Think…
1. “These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.”
(Proverbs 6:16-19 NKJV)
Somehow, when we’re talking about Old Testament “abominations” we don’t hear much about these…
2. I have a hard time discerning between the discipline of God and the wrath of the enemy…
3. +William Temple on prayer: “When I pray, coincidences happen. When I don’t, they don’t.”
4. More Temple: “Prayer is not the overcoming of God’s reluctance, but the laying hold of His willingness.”
5. I try to conform what I think and how I live according to the Gospels…a “Christian worldview”, if you will. Whatever the subject, I try to think about it in terms of the teachings of Jesus. This does not seem to me to something unusual, but a responsibility. Thus, when someone decries something I write as “political”, it disturbs me that the conversation goes to that level, rather than as an examination of whether I have heard the Word rightly…
6. I don’t identify with any political party…I identify as a Christian and as an Anglican from decades gone by…most of my touch points are from decades gone by…
7. Opposition to Trump isn’t an opposition to conservatives or Republicans…it’s an opposition that is a moral imperative if I’m to love my neighbor…
8. I’ve become a terrible steward of my time…which is foolish when time is running out…
9. “Biblical” masculinity…
“But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.
“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?”
(Matthew 26:51-53 NLT-SE)
10. As Duane wrote yesterday, I’m hopeful not optimistic…because my hope is founded in Christ and the age to come…
#5. What really bothers me is when followers of Jesus read His commands and how He is portrayed in the Gospels through the sieve of modern American culture. That’s arse backwards. “Jesus is Lord” us the correct sieve. Then, “Lord, what will you have me do” comes next. I’m a miserable and conflicted follower. My only hope is in His unfailing love…
regarding #9–I read the other day of David fleeing from Saul and how as he hid in a cave Saul entered to ‘relieve’ himself. Completely vulnerable, David sliced the corner from Saul’s garment and afterward was ashamed of himself for doing so–despite the rebukes from his men that he should have slain Saul–after all, God delivered him into his hands. Those who hold to a ‘biblical masculinity model’ that doesn’t reckon with its complexity and wide ranging set of examples is merely an extreme position looking for favorable evidence.
#1 illustrates the insideousness of cherry-picking scripture while highlighting the section or phrase one wishes to be outraged about. Often, the perpetrator is the same one who shouts “context, context, context!” to blunt the power of another very clear passage.
I can so relate to #8. Yet, I keep allowing myself to fall back into this foolishness.
#7 I get so tired of hearing I should support Trump because he is a “Christian”, God’s chosen, etc. (I will accept chosen in the sense that I do believe God’s sovereignty is at work in man’s stupidity)..I can be respectful of an office and still vehemently disagree with the person in it.
Linn,
These same Christians didn’t say Biden or Obama was God’s chosen (even though Scriptures clearly state that God sets up rulers and kingdoms, etc.). It just proves their hypocrisy and poser status. Their real lord and savior is the Mango Messiah Cheeto Jesus in the White House. If Trump is a Christian, then I am as rich as Warren Buffett, as strong as Hercules and wise as Solomon.
I am an astronaut.