Calvinism and the 3rd Wave

Last night I received a phone call from a friend venting about Calvinism. He said that Calvinism highlights how bad God is instead of focusing on how good God is.

Generally, from my work on a campus, people who need Christ could care less about some of these issues that receive a lot of heat on different web forums (look up names like Ken Silva, Jack Deere, Rob Bell to investigate some of the issues in controversy). For instance, while in college, eschatology was our big thing. We were stanch pre-tribulation pre-millennialists and were quite against anyone who believed otherwise. I'm familiar now with the pre, post, and a-millennial views, but the average guy in the frat house could care less about the issue. However, they think it is important that Jesus will return.

But there are some issues that should garner little debate from those that hold a high view of scripture - like the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. In reference to my friend who called last night, my first thought is to not get too hung up on these issues, but rather to help those around you walk with Jesus - that these issues can consume too much time.

After spending an hour or so myself this morning reading articles and listening to some web casts, I realize that I'm quite ignorant of these hot issues. So here are some of my questions:
- Does Calvinism remove any free thought or will from man?
- Why is the Emergent Church a threat?
- If I'm constantly around guys who have no spiritual background, what is vital for them to do or know in order to be on the path of walking with Jesus all the days of their life?

I know more questions will arise, but that should be enough to get us going. Thanks for input.

The beat goes on

Why might we be afraid of anyone challenging our idea of truth? I think of Copernicus:

Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician who was a proponent of the view of an Earth in daily motion about its axis and in yearly motion around a stationary sun. This theory profoundly altered later workers' view of the universe, but was rejected by the Catholic church.

But nevertheless, truth prevailed.

Jesus never worried about proving His deity to the religious leaders of the day who constantly asked Him to show signs or something to prove His claims.

Am I scared of someone proving me wrong? Truth cannot be overturned. Perhaps I actually don't believe that which is true. How can we know?

God is Judge

Is the fact that God is the ultimate judge a good or bad thing? That we are accountable for every action?

It is the best thing that God is the judge. Because He is the judge, He is also the one to make provision for mercy and to provide a substitute that satisfies His justice. There is no guessing as to what it takes to appease Him. He did it Himself. Also, this means that if God declares you or me as guilt-free then we are truly guilt-free.

Suppose you had received a speeding ticket (wrongly, I'm sure:) ). Then we cross paths, and I tell you that you are no longer accountable for your ticket. It has been forgiven. While that might sound great, I have no authority to really do anything about your ticket. Even if I pay for it, you will still receive points on your license or have to attend a safety driving class.

Romans 8:28-38 asks a couple of questions:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Who can bring any accusation...? God is the one who justifies.
Who is the one that condems?

So, God as the Heavy actually turns out to work in our favor (assuming of course that we've cried out for mercy to God). Once He forgives and provides substitution, there is no more red tape to go through.

God is the judge of all people. Pass on the good news!

A challenge

A speaker shared from Psalm 90 where David says that he will, he will, he will. David makes no mention of things that he might do. As I thought of my lack of commitment, I thought of Brad. We're wanting to make a documentary, and he wants me to fly up to Rhode Island over Christmas. Actually, I think that I mentioned the time frame. But then it's easy to keep telling him maybe and letting the date approach slowly. I told him that I would give him a definite tonight.

All this talk of "I might" to "I will" has made me consider to what I proposing my time. It drives me nuts to have so many things hang in the balance, but I do an outstanding job of helping people to dream... and then not really committing to anything. Their spirit says, "Argh."

So, I am moving toward saying, "I will," a bit more often. Thoughts, rebuttal?

Discipline

I can't believe that I'm just now beginning to see the need for discipline in my life. If I don't schedule something in it does not get done. I was about to say that life is busier than it's ever been, but who decides whether or not it is busy? What is the primary thing that I go after? Can I say what it is? Am I going after it?

Where there is freedom, there is responsibility. The scriptures say that in Christ, we have freedom. We have the responsibility to do right, not what necessarily feels good.

Continue on

Welcome to Sunday night. It's interesting how I can do things and develop a big complex over whether or not people respond to what I say. But since this site fights against being a victim, I will continue on and continue to do things. I shared my testimony with a group of people and just had tough-to-read response. Was I a failure? Who cares! I shared about how much the love of Jesus has affected my life. I'll continue to do that.

Why wait?

I've found that I consistently wait for someone to tell me what to do. Do you notice that that lacks initiative? I am beginning to make recommendations to the higher-ups and the powers that be. It requires much more brain thought and takes a bit of risk to pull off. Why? Because what if someone likes my idea and lets me impliment it. Will I succeed? And that is where my famous line of "risk failure" comes into play.

Risk big; win big!

A New Year

It's been over a year since the last post, and it's high time for a fresh post.

I would like to mention the word, "victimization." They should have come sooner. This should not have happened to me. It never works out for me.

These all imply that certain things are due certain people. What are those certain things? Who are the certain people? Who decides? Because if there is some standard that we agree on, I can almost guarantee that we will be light-years ahead of most of the world. Is it our responsibility to help others? Because of his theories on the Superman, Nietzche said that Christianity needs to be destroyed because of its notion that the greatest are those who serve.

However, others are always our responsibility. To suggest otherwise become survival of the fittest. Maybe we should begin to discuss what is meant by being selfish and just how much needs to be provided for self before self can help or serve others. And is serving others really a good thing?

September

Probably one of the biggest questions that gets asked is, "What does God want me to do?"

Now, we're probably all familar with the spiritual gifts inventory and our natural abilities, our SHAPE. So we press on in that direction. Consider Abraham. God initiated. Same with David, Job, Jonah, Jeremiah, Paul, and you see the point. And back to David - God prepared him for the journey as well as having him run for his life for years to break him and form into a usable mold. And at age 30, he was ready. And Jospeh has a similar story.

Why would God's call on our life be so intense or mesmorizing or empherical. Is God's call being cloudy even biblical?

As for me, God has laid on my heart the nations and I plan to do missions all throughout my life. I have seen God's hand quite clearly on my life in His guiding and more importantly, in His training.

Thoughts?

The life of a blog

It only took three minutes to create and that is the reason that I now have my own personal blog. I wanted my name to appear in a post on a friend's site instead of anonymous.

Well then. I've titled this site "No Responsibility" (I think) because most people spend life trying to prove that all they do is actually not their fault. The end of all this is that they are not accountable for their life. But think about it? Lawyers, blaming, complaining - the fault lies somewhere else, doesn't it? The line is taking forever because there are so many people in it. I would have been on time to person X's house if they had been ready to leave at person Y's house to get to person X's house. My life would not suck if I had married this person instead of this person. Or maybe you have problems with a team that you are on.

Well, the old cliché goes something like - you can't change others, only yourself. Great! What does that mean? PMA? Is that all that's needed?

So anyway, this Blog will be dedicated to the quest of "What is my role in this story of life?"

Good luck - Joel