Monday, May 28, 2007

Somebody HAS to be wrong ...

I am a member of a private USENET group. Recently we began discussing a significant difference in the practice of our faith. Earlier this week I added the following thought in response to the comment in the second line.



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Someone wrote:
> Someone HAS to be wrong.



Could it be that everyone is wrong?



Scripture teaches that we are all broken - first, because as a created being we are not God and therefore limited in what we know and what we can do. Second, we are also broken because of the fall - the fall teaches every area of our lives has been touched by man's fall. We are not as bad as we can be, but there is not an area of our lives that has not been effected by the fall. This includes our theology.



Our goal is to understand God to the best of our ability, but because we are broken people, we can be assured that conclusions that we come to are not perfect.



All of us will do the best that we can do, but it is only God that knows how it really all fits together. For me, this means I hold tightly to my conclusions; but at the same time I must show enough grace to allow that others may be more right and me more wrong.



When I get to heaven, I will ask God to help me to understand how it is really supposed to fit together. In the meantime, I will do the best that I can and trust that others will do the same.



Yours because His,



Pastor Patrick

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Joshua and Pain

Some thoughts Joshua and the problem of pain


  1. We all deserve to die
  2. Part of what makes us so mad is that we want everyone to experience God's grace - but God never promised this
  3. The stories standout because they are the exception - not necessarily the norm
  4. Grace is offered to all - but we must be willing to accept it.
    1. Rahab
    2. Gibeonites
    3. lots of small towns that were not destroyed.
  5. In spite of the flaws, we want God to let us be us
  6. Instead, we need to let God be God