LRC, Houston - the weekends-free church in Houston, Texas
How you choose to see a thing, is how it becomes to you!
Perception is as powerful as reality- in the near term. And since so much of our American lifestyle and culture is lived in that arena, we are short-changing ourselves long term. As I said in yesterday’s commentary, one of the ways that I interpret or see the Bible is “sacramentally”. It is for me the most cherished book ever written.
Continue reading ‘Perception’
I’ve never understood why the Bible was not treated as one of the ‘sacraments‘. It brings me into the presence of God, dispenses and mediates grace, and otherwise meets the requirements of a sacrament. Regardless, one of the ways that we (I) interpret the Bible is ’saramentally’. It’s the most cherished and unique book ever written. It’s sacred in status (canonicity) and function (Transforming power), but not in origin (written by human beings). Yes, they were guided by the Holy Spirit; however, God didn’t let them opt out of free will! God didn’t go back on His Word of giving FREE WILL to everyone, even those who wrote the books of our Christian canon.
Continue reading ‘Wanna Change Your Life?’
For my first Saturday free in awhile, I slept in til 9:30, and then spent five hours with the birds. A St. Francis of Assisi I am not; however, it’s interesting to see how nature will come to you when you just sit quietly in their element. It works that way for many things in life. Trouble is, we Americans aren’t a waiting or patient people. Our culture is exemplified in the way we say we RUN a business (and life is a business), while the Japanese SIT their business.
Continue reading ‘St. Francis of Assisi’
I believe there comes a time when you can actually see the path behind.
I see and remember the days when I was fearful of God: the images of the OT God burned in my mind, and the words of my well-meaning Sunday School teachers could still be heard, “Be good and God will love you”. You know what the rest of it was. Sin used to bother me because I thought it kept me from God. I hadn’t yet grasped the meaning of Rom. 5:8. Now, I know that it’s the lack of communion, my estrangement, that keeps me from God (not He from me though). He’s an incomprehensible loving Father. Unbelievably so!
Continue reading ‘The Path Beyond’
The more I dig into the Word, the more I trouble the waters of belief for a few.
There are many positives coming from even that though. My musings have caused people to go to the Bible to prove me wrong, while others have taken the Berean approach. And then there are those who know what they know and they will not let facts get in their way. Much like a church I was at more than a decade ago. A Biblical point that I made ran counter to their denominational beliefs, to which they informed me, “Biblical or not, it would not trump their denominational creeds”. Whatever!
Continue reading ‘A Magic Ride’
An interesting thing happened on the way to evolving Christianity. Paul went West and with him the core of Christianity became a SALVISTIC message. Those that went East took more of a WISDOM bent, and so it is today, nearly two thousand years later. For me, it’s only WISE to accept the grace of SALVATION.
Continue reading ‘We Need a Demonstration’
February 12, 2006 - That which we should be most familiar is that which we know the least.
A Bible that’s progressive and its followers who are not? Tell me it ain’t so!
Sound like an oxymoron? A paradox? How about just not right? There are some who say we went from an OLD to a NEW Testament and so we went from Catholicism to Protestantism. Progress! While I can buy the former, what’s the point on the latter? Luther brought some needed changes into Christendom; however, it didn’t take long to fall back into some old paradigms and Luther led the way. His use of Joshua 10:12 to prove a geocentric world view was quick evidence of religion’s hatred of change. A heliocentric world? How dumb!
Continue reading ‘A Progressive Way’
It seems that we as human beings are slow to learn, especially in spiritual matters.
Themes that resonated throughout the Old Testament era, still ring our bells in this post-modern world. Even just a brief review of the OT books and prophets reveal deep concerns about the nature of life and many of them are left unresolved today. From the pessimism of Ecclesiastes to the dark fear of the apocalypists, we see a nation, a people, struggling with the reality of their faith. And to bring life down to Eccl. 2:24 is where way too many in life have landed.
Continue reading ‘Slow to Learn’
Revive Us Again!
Okay. Nothing controversial today: take a break!
An interesting thought occured to me yesterday as I was sitting on the couch and contemplating the state of the American church. The church in America has changed greatly in the last 100 years and I am afraid not for the better. Over the last few weeks especially, I have been reading books that were written 75-100 years ago. Most of my most recent reads and purchases have been by books out of print. Probably half of the last dozen or so books that I have purchased come with old library check out pockets and cards in the back of them.
Continue reading ‘Revive Us Again!’