Homosexual ban

I was thinking this morning about the nationwide debate on homosexual marriage. I was thinking about the whole issue of separation of church and state. In my mind, I am trying to decipher what exactly this means.

The first ammendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

There are so many different interpretations of what this means. There are ideas everywhere giving their interpretation of this ammendment. Discussions include the historical context for the ammendment. What did they mean?

I am not for sure what they meant.

I hear some Christians saying that they think that we are moving into dangerous ground if we let the government ban homosexual marriage. Others say that we are on dangerous ground if we don't ban homosexual marriage. I would be curious to sit in on a debate between these two different camps. Well, maybe not a debate but a discussion - a conversation.

What do I believe? Well, I do believe that homosexuality is a sin before the eyes of God. But I don't believe, like some of my brothers and sisters, that homosexuality is the "supreme" sin of our nation. I think for the most part, we (Christians) have become more homophobic than anything else. We talk about loving the person but hating the sin, yet I think too often we do just the opposite. Think about your personal attitude towards homosexuals right now. Are you loving towards them and willing to reach out to them? Or are you pretty "icky" about them and don't really want anything to do with them.

This is where I want to be careful. I know in my own heart, I have been homophobic and probably still have the tendency. But I also know that God wants me to love them and reach out to them. Most homosexuals don't know that God loves them. Seriously. All they see is "God's people" yelling at them, killing them, and telling them that they are wrong all the time. Now, yes I do understand that God calls us to stand up for what is right and what is wrong, but doesn't God call us to love and to be servants. I think homosexuals would listen to "Christianity" more if we would quit yelling at them, serve them, listen to them, and make friends with them.

I know I need to. God has called me to love others regardless of who they are. He did the same to me. I know my heart, yet Christ saved me. He reached out to me, a ragamuffin. Maybe, just maybe He wants us to be His hands and reach out to homosexuals. Not yelling and condemning but loving and caring. Then, maybe they will see Jesus in a whole new light and well we don't know what will happen after that. We can only hope.

I don't want same sex marriages to be allowed. I believe that marriage is a sacred event between a man and a woman. But when this comes to the whole "legal" arena, I don't know how to respond. I am not sure the legal aspects of this and therefore cannot say what is legal and not legal. I guess that depends on one's philosophy of law and religion. I know what my hope is, that they would see Christ in me and that I would be able to share the love of God with them.

Inerrancy of the Word?

Last night, I had a great conversation with Chris about whether or not one needed to believe in the inerrancy of the Word of God (Bible, scriptures) to become a Christian? If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God then does that mean we must believe in inerrancy to be saved? How about this: we only know Jesus from scripture, but if scriptures are full of error then how do we know Jesus?

Now let me state from the very beginning that I believe in the inerrancy and infalliblility of the Word of God. I don't want anyone to get even the notion that I don't believe in the inerrancy of the Word of God.

That being said, I think that this is a good question: does one have to believe in the inerrancy of the Bible to be saved? I believe that this ultimately leads to another question: what does it take to be saved? Do we have to know certain doctrines? Do we have to say a certain prayer? Do we just believe and follow? Do we have to work for our salvation?

What does it take to be saved?

Here is a scenerio: a man lays on his death bed having grown up in a "liberal" church that does not believe in the complete inerrancy of the Bible. He never "believed" and was a member by name only. At his death bed, his pastor realizes that this man has never followed Jesus with a personal faith. The pastor then leads this man to believe in Jesus and trust Him for his salvation.
The man does so with a sincere heart.

Is he saved although neither the pastor nor him believe that the Bible is completely inerrant?

Well some questions that we may bring up are: can we know Jesus from a "tainted" and "error" filled Bible? Is that Jesus the Jesus of salvation? If the Bible is full of error then how can we know that the way to salvation is in fact not in error?

I have an answer to the question. Well at least an answer from my perspective. I believe that one is saved by believing in Jesus and trusting Him for their salvation, and in turn following Him. That is salvation. I become hesitant to say that we have to believe certain things before we can become a Christian. Can one here the gospel from someone who doesn't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and be saved? Absolutely. Do I have to believe that the Bible is totally without error before I can be saved? I don't believe that one must believe that. Think of all those that are in Africa who never understand the concept of inerrancy of the Word of God. Think of when we share the Gospel, do we share that the Bible is God's Holy word and that there is no error in it? One must believe in Jesus and trust in Him alone.

Lets not make people believe certain things (Trinity, inerrancy, abortion is wrong) for them to become Christians. Lets let salvation be salvation.

Any thoughts? Leave comments.

God's Love

God's love is amazing. I sit here, not fully grasping it. Can I fully grasp it? It's too vast for me. Questions flood my mind, right or wrong. Why does He love me? I know me. I know the inside of my heart and the wickedness of it is embarrassing. I know the sinfulness of this ragamuffin and I can't help but be in awe that God would even consider loving me. Why?

I am overwhelmed this morning. I can't fully put into words what I am feeling. It's got something to do with God's love being too great and me undeserving. To think that this God of all the universe has an intimate love for me. Not just a passing love that we tend to have for others and not some limited love that we have...but a love that is infinite and everlasting. He loves me. He loves me for me. He doesn't wait on me to do my devotion to say "I love you." He has already said it in the work of the cross and longs for me to live in this great and awesome love. I don't have to "do" to be loved by God. It's not some love that you earn by the things that you do. It's a love that is beyond our comprehension. It's an unconditional love. Obviously, it's a love that is unfathomable.

This morning, my heart just wants God to know how much I love Him. It longs to express the affections that it has for its creator and sustainer. My heart longs to run to Abba and embrace Him with all that I am. I just want to express my love this morning.

Why do I have such a hard time? Is it my sinful heart that turns to idols and gods of this world? Is it my fallen nature? Is it my inability to fully express my heart's longings?

It doesn't matter. All that matters is: I love you God. You are my Father- my everything. Let this heart express its desires to rest in you and accept your warm embrace.

Crazy Weekend

This weekend has been a little hectic, or at least it seemed so. Friday me and Resa went out to eat at Tumbleweed (yum) and then went and got groceries. Oh yeah, we stopped off at Books A Million. I love that place. I could go there and hang out everyday. Always something to look at or read.

I love to read.

Anyway, Saturday morning I got up and went with Jake to the Hancock Invitational. I love going to watch my youth participate in things that they like to do. I think I had around 4 youth involved Sat. so it was really cool. The girls and the boys high school won and the girls middle school won second place. Overall it was a nice morning and I had a good time.

Saturday night, I went "out" with Jake, Matt, and Tim (Jake's roommate.) We went to the batting cages where we all took our turn swinging at little round balls with a round bat. And I am supposed to hit it squarely? Yeah right. It was fun. All three of those guys are great athletes so I felt like I was in great company. They all play collegiate sports so I was proud to be one of them. I got a couple of blisters on my hand from the bat. Man I miss that. I miss playing so bad. We then went to get something to eat and then we watched a movie at Matt's - Black Sheep with Chris Farley. He is too funny. Him and David Spade team up again in this movie. They work great together. It was a good evening. I had a good time. Good fun, good food, good conversation. It was all good.

I am tired today.

Brokenness?

This has been something on my mind as of late. Brokenness before God. What exactly does it mean? Think about it. Say it to yourself. Brokenness.

I think that this is one of those words that we have a hard time defining. I mean we all "kinda" know what it means. Let me tell you what I think of: I think of being completely "broken" before God. I think of ultimate humility and honesty about who I truly am on the inside. Not who I try to be and not who I appear to be, but who I really am. I recognize that before God, I am nothing. As Isaiah said, my good deeds are like filthy rags. As Paul said in Romans, there is none good no not one. I am in that category. And brokenness to me is the point you get to, not out of pride but out of true humility and authenticity, when you say "God, you are everything. I am nothing before you and you and you alone are worthy to be exalted. I am sinful and fallen. I present myself as this sinner to you, for you to love."

I long for this "brokenness." I long to be humble before God and to be able to be honest about what I really am on the inside. Although I know I am sinful, it almost seems like I live each day forgetting that I am sinful. Brokenness takes our heart and reveals the true desires. Brokenness shows that, apart from Christ, we are NOTHING! This is what I want. I want to get to the point where I can live each day in the truth of who I am and what God has done for me. I am not perfect. I can't be perfect. Yet I spend excessive energy trying to be just that way.

Why can't I just be broken?

This is a desire that has been continually building in me. Everyday, I think more and more on this topic. Sometimes it rules my thoughts. It needs to, to make up for all the time that I have pushed the thought of brokenness out of my mind.

Do you desire brokenness? Do you want to be left "open" before God and are you prepared for what will happen when you get to this point?

"Brokenness, Brokennness, it's what I long for. "