Sadness

Those who I love not believing in what I love. God, my first love, how shall I proceed?

There is a large part of me that never wants to always be a Mennonite.

I love my brethren. Mennonites have such a huge commitment to community and to obedience. So so good.

and they can sing too!

The Hermeneutics of Obedience

"the prerequisites of understanding [scripture] are seen to lie in the attitude of the one who comes to the Scriptures. Very briefly this attitude must be marked by obedience . . . , a willingness to be instructed both by the Spirit and by the brethren and a personal application in seeing the truths as they apply to everyday life. . . . Wrongdoing . . . blinds people so that they do not understand" (Poettcker, 1966, p. 115).

Shout Mennonite Names

Link: Shout Mennonite Names

What a great guy!

"Writing for adults often means just increasing the swearing – but find an alternative to swearing and you’ve probably got a better line."  With reference to shows he wrote in the 90s and 00s that were more sexual in nature: "You could say they were adult. Or maybe they were more childish than what I’m writing now." - Steven Moffat 

 Writer of Dr. Who and Sherlock

My reaction to Open Theism

My response to Open Theism is based upon its proposition that: God is not timeless, but rather God is ‘passible’ or ‘moved’.

Does God change in time? God is “changing in relation to us” (Openness of God), but rather “I the LORD do not change.“ (Malachi 3:6), and “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever“ (Hebrews 13:8). The Open Theism statement has God changing, but rather it is the relation that changes with regard to us, based on our sin nature. The relation changes, not God. (Seems finicky, but it is important!) 

But what about God’s emotive responses? Open Theism reacts to a misunderstanding, thinking that God being unchanging and impassible requires God to be without passions or emotions. Rather, ”God is always active, always dynamic, always relational. … He cannot change because he cannot possibly be any more loving, or any more just, or any more good. God cares for us, but it is not a care subject to spasms or fluctuations of intensity. His kindness is not capable of being diminished or augmented” (DeYoung). 

So we impact him and his emotions? “God… lets what we do impact him” (Openness of God). No, God cannot be moved, “Emotions do no not just happen to him, such that he is forced to act in a certain way in order to make himself happier or change his mood from bad to good. God is completely free” (DeYoung).  He DOES feel differently toward different things, but he is the unchanging God, always righteous, good, happy, just loving, etc. He cannot be affected, nor suffer. This is why Jesus became a man, so that he could share in the suffering, thus being the perfect sacrifice and a merciful high priest (Hebrews 2).    

From what I understand, science supports this. Time cannot exist apart from matter, and God is not made of matter, thus He is without time, and cannot change, since change requires a succession of states within time. I do not hold to this argument as my foundation, but it makes sense to me.

The Sovereignty of God

After having spent so much time working through it, I have come to the point where it is now an underlying doctrine that fuels everything else. It required looking at things from an outside of time perspective, and settling on the paradox of omnipotence and a will. Now I can rest in God’s grace, knowing that he has begun it all, and will sustain me through it all. I can move forward in faith of all the future graces he has prepared, of which I have yet to experience.

Future Grace Seminar!

Loving scripture!

"Studying theology does not move us beyond our starting point; it merely helps us to understand that starting point better."

"I start by confessing with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in my heart that God raised him from the dead, and I never actually go any further. All my theology, all my study, is simply reflection on what lies behind that. Thus, I never move beyond praise, never leave behind the beauty of adoration of the living God; I simply learn more and more about the deep foundations upon which that praise and worship rest, which all believers share from the most brilliant to the most humble. …

Studying theology does not move us beyond our starting point; it merely helps us to understand that starting point better.”

-The Importance of Not studying Theology, Carl Trueman

I asked a professor how he would respond when somebody says, “Well, it doesn’t really matter since it isn’t a salvation issue, right?” He walked slowly up to my desk with Bible in hand and said, “Tear out anything that you don’t think is a salvation issue.” Scripture is our highest authority. We cannot take it lightly.

I am so confused! To baptize or not to baptize (infants)!

Praise the LORD!

My computer fan is working again! After much labor and just enough prayer!