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Archive for forgiveness

Jul
13

No Jumping Out Windows

by Rong

So, what do you write to your 20 year old when their world comes crashing down around them?

Son,
I’m writing because I know I won’t be able to say the things I’d want over the phone.

Am I disappointed, sure but probably not half as much as I know you are. If you’re anything like me you’re sick to your stomach with all the uncertainty that stands in front of you. I’d like to say the old cliche, “been there done that”, and while it’s true that I’ve found myself in the same type of gut wrenching situation, I know that doesn’t make yours any more palatable. The reality is there is nothing that I can say or do that is going to relieve the discomfort that you’re going to go thru until all of this has been resolved; one way or the other.

But I do want to offer you hope. I want you to remember that no matter what the outcome you are loved by many people and that doesn’t change because of your circumstance. Circumstances in life; come and go, can be good or bad, but they in themselves do not define who we ultimately are. Sure, they can point to areas in our lives that may need improvement but DO NOT let allow them to define how you view yourself. Always remember that by the redeeming blood of your Lord, you are a reborn creation. That is WHO you are and that is WHAT you are. Never forget that. THAT is what defines you, not any poor decisions you have or may make. While this may be a monumental moment at this point in your life, it’s a barely discernible blip on God’s eternal plan for you.

And I want to offer you something that you can always take to the bank; my love. I love you and that will never change. So be strong and know that I will be praying for you.

Always here,
Pops

0 Categories : forgiveness, ponderings
Jan
4

Homosexuality and the Church

by Rong

NOTE: I originally started this post in 2008 and it's been sitting as a draft until today.

Oh yeah you know that's a title that'll put you on one side of the stadium or the other. You might find yourself trying to sit near the end zones but everyone knows you can't really be participating in the game from there. Is there a much more polarizing discussion than this? It's one that for personal reasons I've shied away from, but not the IMonk, nope he's gone deftly in where some fear to go.

So in case your part of the blogdom doesn't normally get you there please take the time to read these articles. If this is at all something that you are interesting in (from either perspective) I think it will do you a great deal of good. At least it will make this post make sense.

The post that started it all -  What do Gays and Lesbians Hear?

Here are a series of three posts that Michael Spencer wrote in response to a comment.

Responses to Nicki (1)
Responses to Nicki (Part 2): The Bible and How We Interpret It
A Response to Nicki: Acceptance (3)

I believe Michael does a very good job of explaining both sides of this issue.  He is as humble as possible and willingly takes a look at the plank that most evangelicals refuse to see in their own eyes. In the end though scripture wins out against feelings and while we may have ended the battle with no blood shed (the comments were all quite civil) there is a divide which must remain.

One of the commenter's remarks sounded very close to my own regarding this issue. So I started to add my own comment but figured it was getting to be too long…

Read More→

0 Categories : forgiveness, piety, ponderings, rants
Nov
25

The Pain of the Cross

by Rong

This all started with a thought on the way into work this morning.

  1. If God is the originating author and creator of time…
  2. And as such if he, like many past theologians have believed remains (*in his fully godly state) outside of time.
  3. Then how does he perceive time?

Without trying to argue this point for I believe far greater minds than mine have done all the wrestling that man is able too; reference Augustine, Edwards, Ockham and the list goes on and on.

My question to myself was and remains, how does Jesus Christ my Lord, the Second God Head of the Trinity view the Cross? We (Christians) love to use phrases like, “returning to the cross”, “throwing myself before the cross”, “holding on to the cross”, etc. All of these are present tense. We understand the Cross of Christ as something that happened 2 millennium ago and yet at the same time we see it in it’s on going power to forgive not only my present sins but those yet committed. In that sense as Christians we see that one incident (the Cross) in time spanning not only our own past but the past before it occurred and then forward thru all eternity.

So if we see that incident, that act, flowing thru time past, present and future; how does God see it, He who resides outside of the flow of time?

My thought as well as what leads to my question is that God “sees” all time as now. If God sees all time as now, then God sees the Cross eternally. It has always been before him and always will be.

Maybe you’re saying to yourself, “OK, so what?” Isn’t the “so what” then the fact that God is not only seeing it but is in that sense reliving it eternally? We see Christ’s act upon the cross, past tense. God has seen Christ’s act upon the Cross and will see it thru all eternity. Christ’s atoning sacrifice was only a one time action to the man Christ. To Christ of the God Head it’s an on ongoing act.

Now I’m not trying to bring up some heresy that’s already been discounted and which I know nothing about, no what I’m trying to point out in all of this is that when I sin. When I fall short and grieve the Lord my God. I am responsible for putting him back on that cross again. Over and over and over until he comes once again in final glory.

And maybe that’s the way it is until the end of time. Until that day when time itself ceases to exist and eternity is all that remains. Perhaps at that point the Cross will also cease to exist for there will no longer be a need for it.

Until then.

 

*I believe that as the “man” Christ, God fully experienced linear time in the same manner that we do.

4 Categories : forgiveness, ponderings, ramblings

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