Bring back that loving feeling... don't let it be gone, gone, gone, woo oh oh

Don’t Treat the Gospel Like Your Wedding Pictures | Ordinary Pastor

Too often we function like comfortable married couples that have been together for decades. Older ‘mature’ couples get comfortable. They are not as immature and ‘green’ as those young couples that are smiling at one another, thinking about one another, and bragging about one another.
May God forbid that we get over the gospel! If maturity means indifference and distant then give me another word...!
If we are (and we are) forgetful, lethargic, unthankful, unmoved, unamazed Christians, then, by all means, pull out the gospel snapshots and sit and stare at the narrative. See the completed work of God in Christ for you. And, just like a good bride, don’t stop staring at the pictures until your heart is moved and you find yourself in love and happy in this marriage.

Sometimes I listen to love songs and think, this is what our love for God should be like- or, in such cases as "You've Lost that Loving Feeling", this is what we should avoid our love for God from becoming.

I remember wondering, 'What would happen if people did look at their wedding pictures every month?' Most certainly couples would be reminded of their love for one another, the beauty of their spouse, the changes over the years, and the love that they still have. It could be helpful. It could prevent 'issues'.

And while we're at it, perhaps we (for those of us who are married) should start looking at our wedding photos a bit more often as well. What a terrible thing it is to lose our first love.
Maybe I'm a bit slow sometimes, but I've always thought of the "first" in "first love" as meaning "of highest priority or importance". Thanks to your post, I'm now starting to wonder whether it should also be construed as "from the beginning". IOW, we should remember our love as it was when we were on fire for the Lord and not allow ourselves to become lukewarm.

So bring it on back (So bring it on back),
Bring it on back (so bring it on back).

Seeing a way off the ship of death

What Do You See? – The Gospel Coalition Blog

Like Ezekiel, we step into the pain and death of humanity with eyes wide open, but we must not stop there. We believe that bones can live. Crazy as it sounds---indeed, "foolish," according to the apostle Paul---it is true. The most tentative and enfeebled preacher possesses power to speak life into dead bones. Why? Because Jesus Christ swallowed up death. The Savior who shed his blood and rose victoriously from the grave. He is the true ship to which Lawrence points.
The apple has already fallen, thunderously upon the earth, but the last Adam has fallen with it. Therefore, we need not cower naked in the last branches of the tree of life. We need not build little boats with oars, gathering little dishes and accoutrements fitting for a departing soul. We need not collect little cakes and wine for the dark flight to oblivion. We need not fear the flood, for the Savior has poured himself out as an atoning sacrifice. This is what we see, and, because it is so marvelous, we joyfully proclaim it to the world.

 Nothing much to add to my response:

Speaking of atheism (as this article does), I think one of the problems with the "problem of evil" argument is that it focus too narrowly on the temporary suffering of this life and ignores the eternal life in which "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Revelation 21:4). This is not to ignore the horribleness of death (especially of eternal spiritual death), but to remember that whatever pain we feel here and now will be replaced by a much greater joy- if only we repent of our wrongdoing and ask God to heal us.
And that is our way out.
And the way out for all that want to choose it.

Woot!! My blog inerrantly made #1 on a search on Google.com

ministry success "deof movestofca" - Google Search

1. Grooving With A Pict

deofmovestofca/blogspot.com/

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

1 minute ago – Deof Movestofca: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Third Star to the Right: A ... Ministry success: it's not about "our" success, it's about God's (Pen ...

Okay,so the keywords I was searching for were "ministry success deof movestofca". But, hey, it's a start. Actually I was looking for the following...:

5. Ministry | Clay Jones http://www.clayjones.net/category/ministry-2

Jun 1, 2011 – Last week I talked about the folly of basing your ministry success on the ... Deof Movestofca on If You're Sick, Maybe It's Because You've ...

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

... because it sounded similar in topic to this post (my name shows up there because of a comment I made on one of his pages- see "How sin sunk us into sickness" for details), which I had replied to but then my browser froze (Bad browser... baaaaaaad browser) before I could post a link to it on this blog. making me have to go find it all over again:

2. What Defines Ministry Success? | Parchment and Pen

www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/.../what-defines-ministry-success/

6 days ago – If you do, you are extraordinary. You have a successful ministry beyond your imagination. ..... Again, just a guess? ;). Deof Movestofca says: ...

What does this all mean?  How should I know?  Just remember I did warn waaaaaaaay back in my original post on this blog (Let's get this party started...) that my choice of theme song "should serve as fair warning of the weirdness to come to one and all."

It's already 4:47* AM and I haven't wished y'all a happy Christmas!

Just where are my manners?  I must rectify this immediately, if not sooner.

HAPPY

HAPPY

JOYFUL
JOYFUL

CHRISTMAS!

Wishing you and yours the Happiest of Christmases... Christmasi... Christmice....  Oh, well, y'all know what I mean (I hope)!

*Official posting time was recorded as 4:49, but what do they know?

Ascension-uating the positive

Amplify’d from Rediscovering the Ascended Life of Jesus - The Gospel Coalition Blog [See this Amp]

If 25 percent of the New Testament has the ascension of Christ as its central event and theological emphasis, why is this the most overlooked doctrine in modern evangelicalism?

While the Bible links the ascension and Jesus' ruling in heaven, I don't think it's absolutely vital for a Christian to recognize such a link as long as he or she accepts both Biblical truths, a point I tried to convey in my response:

I would think the answer to the opening question would be fairly obvious. While most Christians believe that Jesus ascended and believe that He rules in heaven, they don't directly connect the two in the same way they do the crucifixion and the atonement or the resurrection as confirmation of Jesus' teachings. IOW, they see them (Jesus' ascension and Jesus' ruling in heaven) as two consecutive, separate "events". Furthermore, while the ascension might suffice to show that Jesus had (and continues to have) divine favor, this had already been established with the resurrection. Thus, it shouldn't be too difficult to see why some people might consider it as redundant and RELATIVELY (sorry for typing in all caps here, but I wanted to make sure that no one could possibly miss the distinction between "unimportant" and "relatively unimportant" that I am making here) unimportant.

The art of Revelations

Art from the RevelationApp, a digital graphic novel of The Book of Revelation by Chris Koelle.
Link courtesy of Tim Challies.

Sorry, Mr. Shore, you seem to have fundamentalism confused with social conservatism

Tell Me, Christian, That You Hear This Boy | JohnShore.com

Tell me that your belief system didn’t help but the hot tears on this kid’s cheeks. Tell me that the bullies who torment this kid aren’t in any way encouraged or empowered by your tacit approval of their actions. Tell me that the shame this kid feels about himself has nothing to do with the shame that you believe all gay people should feel for themselves.

I am not going to dispute that there are those who call themselves fundamentalists who tacitly, if not openly, condone such treatment suffered by the young man in the video.  What Mr. Shore fails to demonstrate, however, is how such approval is inherent to fundamentalism- or even to those who think that homosexuality is sinful.

Sorry, but as a fundamentalist, I refuse to fit your stereotype.  I do, however, call anyone who has sinned- including myself- to repent.  And it is up to each person to decide for himself or herself whether to do so or not.  Any attempt to coerce another person to do so, whether through physical violence, derogatory language, or other means, would result, at best, in false repentance.  If God does not force anyone, including me, to repent, then what right do I have to try to force someone else to?
Furthermore, we were all created human.  To treat another person as non-human, to try to dehumanize another person, to act or even feel like another person does not deserve to be treated like a human being is a lie and thus an affront to the Creator.  I feel nothing but moral repugnance for the treatment this young man has suffered.  Whatever sins another person has committed does not in any way abrogate a Christian's duty to treat him or her as a fellow human being.  To ignore such a duty is a sin and, if left unrepented of, is just as liable for judgment as any other sin.
"Tell me that the bullies who torment this kid aren’t in any way encouraged or empowered by your tacit approval of their actions."
Tacit approval?  How much more strongly do you want me to condemn such behavior?
"Tell me, please, how you love this kid."
I love this kid.  He is a fellow human being.  The same salvation that has been offered to me has been offered to him.  If he has not found it, I hope he does.

"Tell me how you understand his pain"
I don't claim that I can understand anyone else's pain.  As much as I might feel or have felt similar pain, each person's pain is their own.

"Tell me how when he cries, you cry."
When he cries, I cry.

"Tell me how you want to do everything in your power to make sure that no one, ever again, feels free to in any way victimize a young gay person."
No problem.  I want to do everything in my power to make sure that no one feels free in any way to victimize a young gay person ever again.

"Tell me that the shame this kid feels about himself has nothing to do with the shame that you believe all gay people should feel
for themselves."
Actually, I think it's the shame I believe all people- and I include myself here- should feel when they sin.  Then again, you seem to believe that the people who victimized this young man should feel shame that they did so.  If you do, why do you condemn others who also believe that those who sin should feel shame?  The only difference between you and them is what each side considers to be sinful.

"Tell me that your belief system didn’t help but the hot tears on this kid’s cheeks."
Let's turn this around and suppose that a fundamentalist reading what you wrote about him or her causes him or her to cry.  Would you agree with the accusation that you are somehow guilty for causing such tears or would you claim that it is not your fault that truth is sometimes painful?

"Tell me that you can’t comprehend the connection between your conviction that God finds homosexuals repulsive, and the fact that this kid finds himself so repulsive that he habitually cuts his own flesh."
Again, sin should be repulsive.  I am repulsed by my own sins, but that does not cause me to cut my own flesh.  Rather, it leads me to repentance.  Thus the problem would seem to be an improper response to the revulsion, although I am well aware that there are other factors that contribute to such behavior which you failed to mention in your question.

 Oddly enough, Mr. Shore makes the following statement three posts later which explains exactly why my sister doesn't feel threatened by my beliefs (emphasis added):

What fun we will have, imagining a world in which what a person believes is considered completely irrelevant compared to what they actually do.

Sartre was wrong: Hell isn't other people, but one's decision to reject God's love

jesus the radical pastor | exploring the life and mission of the 1st century Jesus for our 21st century » Blog Archive » LOVE MEANS NEVER SAYING THE WORD "HELL"

A friend of mine remarked that the new defintion of God’s love means unconditional, endless tolerance and affection. Sweet, but so much wishful thinking. Discounting the perichoresis of the Trinity, the hard edge of love that compelled Jesus to voluntarily lay down his life for sinners is considered ‘bad parenting’ by God the Father, even divine child abuse. You can read it in many popular expressions of the new, soft, fireless, judgmental-less love. I think many of these new "God is love" proponents learned their definitions of love from Sesame Street rather than from the biblical text. What I think they mean when they say "God is love" is "God is nice."

In response to a comment the author added near the end of the post ("I’m totally open to exploring all current ideas about judgment, hell, gehenna, hades, lake of fire and separation from God forever."), I wrote the following:

My own belief on the matter is that the "punishment" in Hell is the undeniable knowledge of the God's love and the price He paid through the blood of His Son to redeem us.  I don't think there is a torment that God could possibly add to the realization of the unrepentant of how callously he or she has rejected such a gracious offer that could make that person's suffering any worse.

It's the end of the world as we know it (or maybe not), and I feel fine (either way)

So when do I think Jesus is coming back?  Well, maybe not today.  Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of my (after)life, although I reserve the right to add the following proviso: God's view of "soon" might differ from yours or mine.  One should not mistake my tone as disinterest in the subject when I have a great concern over the final destination not only for me, but for my fellow human beings as well.  Instead, it is based on the following realizations:

• God has His own timeline regarding the end of the world, and nothing I or anyone else can do can change it;
• others have to decide for themselves whether or not to follow God and however much I or anyone else might be able to influence another's choice, it cannot be forced; and,
• I can see one of two scenarios occurring: first, I die before Jesus returns and either my name is written in the Book of Life or it isn't or, second Jesus returns before I die and either my name is written in the Book of Life or it isn't  Ultimately, the second part of either scenario (whether my name is written in the Book of Life) is of far greater importance to me than the first (whether I'm still alive when Jesus returns).

A related myth is that fundamentalists look forward to the end of the world and the punishment of sinners with anticipatory delight.  Like the issue of theocracy,  while such a view might be held by some fundamentalists, it isn't held by all of them.  Speaking for myself, I think heaven is going to be one big party with the theme "the more, the merrier".