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BaptistDancer
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Name: JennyBeth
Gender: Female
Interests: Church, dancing, and being an oxymoron (hence the username); swimming, cats, novels, sunsets, purple, sunshine, thunderstorms, chocolate, Mexican food, stars, Christian Contemporary music, hanging out with friends and family, ice skating, hiking to waterfalls, and most of all, getting into God.Things that I really despise but use anyway: zippers, caffene, electrical cords, alarm clocks, wrong turns, unreliable pens
Occupation: Disciple of Jesus Christ; coll
Message: message me
Member Since:
2/28/2006
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| I've been reading Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey. Her insight into the thought patterns of American Christians is critically needed. I wish every Christian would read this book before going to college, faith-based or secular.
Here are some of her points I have found most impressive:
“ . . . no system of thought is a product purely of Reason—because Reason is not a repository of infallible, religiously autonomous truths, as Descartes and other rationalists thought. Instead, it is simply a human capacity, the ability to reason from those premises. The important question, then, is what a person accepts as ultimate premises, for they shape everything that follows. If you press any set of ideas back far enough, eventually you reach some starting point. Something has to be taken as self-existent—the ultimate reality and source of everything else. There’s no reason for it to exist; it just “is.” For the materialist, the ultimate reality is matter, and everything is reduced to material constituents. For the pantheist, the ultimate reality is a spiritual force or substratum, and the goal of meditation is to reconnect with that spiritual oneness. For the doctrinaire Darwinist, biology is ultimate, and everything, even religion and morality, is reduced to a product of Darwinian processes. For the empiricist, all knowledge, is traceable ultimately to sense data, and anything not known by sensation is unreal. And so on. Every system of thought begins with some ultimate principle. If it does not begin with God, it will begin with some dimension of creation—the material, the spiritual, the biological, the empirical, or whatever. Some aspect of created reality will be “absolutized” or put forth as the ground and source of everything else—the uncaused cause, the self-existent. To use religious language, this ultimate principle functions as the divine, if we define that term to mean the one thing upon which all else depends for existence. This starting assumption has to be accepted by faith, not by prior reasoning. (Otherwise, it is not really the ultimate starting point for all reasoning—something else is, and we have to dig deeper and start there instead). In this sense, we could say that every alternative to Christianity is a religion. It may not involve ritual or worship services, yet it identifies some principle or force in creation as the self-existent cause of everything else. Even nonbelievers hold to some ultimate ground of existence, which functions as an idol . . . Faith is a universal human function, and if is not directed toward God it will be directed toward something else.” (41-42) “The implication [of the Bible] is that no part of creation is inherently evil or bad. ‘Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,’ Paul says (1 Tim. 4:4). Being spiritual cannot be defined simply in terms of roping off and avoiding certain parts of creation—whether movies, cards, dancing, or makeup. Once we understand this, Christians will never come across as negative kill-joys. While hating sin, we should exhibit a deep love for this world as God’s handiwork, seeing through its brokenness and sin to its original created goodness. We should be known as people in love with the beauties of nature and the wonders of human creativity.” (84). “This ‘secular revolution’ affected every part of American culture—not only higher education but also the public schools, politics, psychology, and the media. In each of these areas, Chrisitianity was privatized as ‘sectarian,’ while secular philosophies like materialism and naturalism were put forth as ‘objective’ and ‘neutral,’ and therefore the only perspectives suitable for the public sphere. Of course, they were nothing of the sort. There is nothing neutral about the claim that the only way to get at truth is to deny God’s existence. That is a substantive religious claim, just as it is to affirm God’s existence. Yet because of the secular revolution, even many believers came to believe that speaking from a distinctively Christian perspective was biased—that to be truly objective they must bracket their faith and think like nonbelievers in their professional work.” (98-99)
I haven't finished it yet, but so far I haven't found anything I outright disagree with. Some of it may be a bit imbalanced, but that is natural, considering she is trying to correct massive errors in Western Christian way of thought. Find it in a library or amazon page near you. | | |
| When I was twelve or thirteen, I read Pilgrim’s Progress all the way through, and it was a little beyond what I can handle. For starters, I was reading the original version, not one put into modern English. Emotionally, it was even more trying--I was filled with horror by the time I finished. With all those overwhelming dangers and obstacles that the book said faces a Christian, and all those temptations to turn back, what if I didn’t make it? What if the tests were so hard I would some day give up the journey? Surely it would be better to never exist. That was not the first time that I feared for the certainty of my eternal place with God. Each such experience of serious doubt shook me to the core for fear of missing the Kingdom of God. My only comfort was the assurances of my Baptist parents that salvation is permanent. Still, I was for years uncertain. What about Matthew 12:32, or Hebrews 6:4-6? I am too frail to believe that any transgression is beyond me. The devil once took great advantage of this frailty, and my immature understanding of those verses, doing everything possible to convince me that I had indeed done the unpardonable and lost my salvation forever. During that time, all I can say is that, though I thought I was no longer saved (there was evidence and logic to back this up), I somehow knew I was, though I scarcely dared to acknowledge it. What I told myself, to keep from killing myself, was there was not point in going to hell any sooner than necessary. But the only thing that really made life bearable in that dark time was a belief, deeper though unfortunately less perceptible than the logic, that somehow God was still holding on to me. Otherwise, I could never have borne the thought that I had lost all that is hope and goodness, that I was separated from everything worth living for. Those experiences brought me to the point that I must believe that salvation is irrevocable, because the alternative is far too terrifying. I think that to say that salvation is insecure is to cheapen it. After all, can a new creation of God’s be unmade by me? Jesus was raised never to die again—if we have His life, how could we die? Indeed, the Bible describes the new life of salvation with words like “immortal” “incorruptible” “eternal.” Additionally, God makes with man a very particular type of relationship—a covenant. Covenants were recognized by ancient cultures to be the most solemn, unbreakable, everlasting relationships possible. They were understood to be stronger than family relationships and all other duties, unbreakable by life or death. God Himself was invoked to enforce it. So in my view, God did not spill the blood of His only Son to initiate the most sacred bond in the universe so we can walk out of it at any time. We sing that His grace is greater than all our sin—it was enough to initially forgive us and bring us into a relationship with Him, and it is enough to maintain it, however we fall. My relationship with God is secure, because I am already forgiven of every sin I will every commit. I know the arguments to the contrary: faith without works is dead, so if someone is no longer showing works, his faith has died. I know there are those who have walked away from Christianity. All I can say to that is, I believe they will either come back, or they never really belonged to Christ to begin with (1 John 2:19). The Most High keeps my soul. I certainly cannot keep myself in Him; but I am persuaded that He can (2 Tim. 1:12). His lovingkindness prevails over me (Psalm 117:2). No one can snatch me from my Shepherd’s hand (John 10: 27-29), and nothing can separate me from His love (Romans 8: 35-39). | | |
| "The Bible is not a rule book. We do find lots of rules in it, but they are not clustered together in one place and they do not cover every exigency. Jesus did not give us a one-size-fits-all formula. To a literalist, He will always prove to be the most elusive of teachers. In fact, there is very little of the letter of the law in what He tells us. A rule-bound system simply cannot keep up with His darting illumination. Had He meant for us to follow a prescription for every behavior, no relationship would have been necessary beyond the relationship with the pages of a book. The Law, says the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, is incapable of bringing anybody to maturity. Rules, codes, and policies are deadening. They cannot stimulate growth. No organizational policy, no set of tacit assumptions from your culture or religious group, will lead you to the full freedom of mature character that your sonship will do--characterized by independent, freely-given obedience."
--Elisabeth Eliot, Be Still My Soul, "Walking with Jesus." | | |
| (Title from the song "How Could I Ask for More?" sung by Cindy Morgan, I believe) I miss . . . The presence of God. Not that He is ever apart from me, but that I am so far from Him. I miss the intimacy, the ecstasy, of perceiving Him. When His holiness permeates everything and captivates me. I miss those occasional tastes of heaven He gives, and I miss the fullness of Him that I have yet to experience. My husband. Whoever, and wherever, he is. . College Heights Baptist Church. Truly a church home to me. Mariah, David, and their baby I haven’t even met (face-to-face) yet. You have been the source of such joy to me. Gregg and Ana—dang, I need to shoot something! How fond are my memories of pizza, sugar highs, karate fights, looking for lost keys, Broadway Brew, the best Italian food ever, and many, many movies. Sarah McVey—my sister, with whom I could share anything. So many sweet conversations, about God, time and burritos, writing ambitions, and skittles ;) Ariel Walden—I haven’t seen you in too long, girl! (except briefly) Tommy and Teresa—prayer meetings, food, hugs, and lots of delicious arguments. I even miss the puppies. Brandon Basham—yeah, I miss you too. Seriously. The Care Inn nursing home residents. They occupy a very special place in my heart. Jimmy Storrie. Alex Vasquez. Life seems a little too tame without him. The streams of Colorado. They are positively amazing, and I can never leave them without quickly wishing to return. School. I’m glad to be done, don’t get me wrong, but I so love to learn. And to goof off in a dorm. The stuffed animals my siblings and I used to play with—“Shaving cream—it’s still just for shaving!!!” Schlitterbahn. When it’s not busy. There are so many other people, places, and things. I am so thankful for all God continues to give me, if only for their proper times. My life has been so full. I look forward to many other blessings to drink in from His wonderfully gracious hand. *Note: I decided to do two simpler posts instead of one intellectual one this week. | | |
| One of the strangest aspects of being a Christian, in my experience, is being caught between heaven and earth . . . trying to remember the glory of what will be when surrounded by troubles now. Our role is to somehow believe that the glory of what will be comes, not just in spite of, but from the grief of what is. Sometimes, in a quiet place with God, as I worship Him for all His goodness and promises and faithfulness, I laugh, for it feels that nothing could ever be wrong again. How could there be such thing as disaster, when such a loving and faithful God oversees it all? Then other times, I am sick with despair . . . when the same old enemies still afflict me or my loved ones; when mountains don’t seem to have moved, when beloved ones are still STILL in bondage to destructiveness, after so much advice, so many tears, so much prayer. Then it is crushing to think of all the other people in the world under God’s righteous wrath, trapped in the enemy’s lies and their own self-centeredness, pride, indulgence, desires. Perversion permeates, wrong prevails, ambitions fizzle, Christians fail. How can I rejoice, when I pray so long and desperately, and this is what I see? But I know. God is still the Lord mighty to save. He is blessed forever, meaning He will accomplish His good pleasure. He will be faithful to complete His work in Christ Jesus. He who created us for His glory, gave His Son that we may be made like Him, will not see this purpose fail. Surely He has not done all this in vain. Every tear will be wiped away, our hope will be seen, and the kingdom will be spectacular. Then we will see the truth of what we try to convince ourselves of--that the destruction that ravaged the Lord’s chosen ones has not kept Him from making us a beautiful bride for Himself. That the prayers that seemed so fruitless have perfumed every corner of our new home; that from everything that was working for evil God has made into something good indeed. But, for today, my God, let more of Your grace be poured out . . . to give our elders dreams, our younger soldiers Your Word, our persecuted brethren steadfastness, us as free believers boldness. Give us that bitterly convicting grace to take away every excuse we try to make. Oh, God, humble us in prayer. Give us vision, wisdom, patience, perseverance, devotion. Oh, Lord, purify us! And please help me continue to believe that You will make all things new in time.
Ashira l'adonai ki ga'oh ga'ah
Ashira l'adonai ki ga'oh ga'ah
Michamocha, ba-elim adonai
Michamocha nedar-bakodesh
Nachitah v'chasd'cha, am zu ga'alta
Nachitah v'chasd'cha, am zu ga’alta
Ashira, Ashira, Ashira...
Translation:
I will sing unto Adonai for He has triumphed gloriously.
I will sing unto Adonai for He has triumphed gloriously.
Who is like You, O Adondai, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness?
In Your mercy, you lead the people You redeemed.
In Your mercy, you lead the people You redeemed.
I will sing, I will sing, I will sing... (from The Prince of Egypt) | | |
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