There was never a soul yet that sincerely sought the Saviour, who perished before he found him. No; the gates of death shall never shut on thee till the gates of grace have opened for thee;…
Charles Spurgeon
What wonderful words of encouragement for those who sometimes question their justification and salvation.
A little layman theology.
In the analogy of the drowning man some would contend that we are already dead, face down in the water. There is no way for us to help ourselves in any way because, well because we are already dead. The only ones saved are the ones who are hauled out of the water and given emergency CPR.
Another view is that we are in a vast ocean dog paddling wildly about and while you would assume that we'd all eventually drown, we won't, because we've all been given life jackets. The only people who will drown are the ones who have removed their life jackets shouting back to everyone else that they can float on their own.
In another analogy we are all dog paddling and we are all destined to drown, however there are life preservers spread out every where and it's simply a matter of one reaching out and putting a life jacket on in order to be saved.
Finally we come to an amalgamation of all these positions. We are in the water, dog paddling. We are weak and know that ultimately we will die. There are no life jackets or life preservers and most people would say they don't believe in them. In and amongst this line of thought you suddenly find an object floating in the water next to you. It's actually moving towards you. It's the life jacket that you've heard about be never thought you'd actually see, let alone touch. All you have to do is be willing to put it on.
Personally, I'd like to have some Navy Seals swoop in on a big Sea Stallion but that's doesn't quite fit into my theology.
I wish I lived closer to Edmond, Oklahoma which is where you can find the Credo House, which is the new headquarters of Reclaiming the Mind Ministries. Credo House is apparently a coffee house / Christian library / ubber cool hangout. From the pictures I can imagine sitting near the fireplace sipping a latte and hanging with the guys from my men's group. I actually came across these (two in the same) websites while searching on iTunes for reformed podcasts. I'd decided that with my 40 minute commute I had an opportunity to learn that I wasn't taking advantage of. While searching for podcasts I first ran across the White Horse Inn which is another great program for reformed thinking and then subsequently came across Credo House.
Reclaiming the Mind Ministries (wearing it's various hats) has been creating podcasts for years now. There are currently 118 podcasts available for download on iTunes. Every week Michael Patton and Rhome Dyck along with radio host and general sidekick Greg Cromartie discuss various topics centering Christian theology and apologetics. They cover everything from listeners written in questions to topics like hermeneutics, or women in ministries. Both Michael Patton and Rhome Dyck are both graduates from Dallas Theological Seminary with M. Div. in Theology. The discussions they have are done as friends talking to one another that just "happen" to be recorded. As such I've found it quite entertaining to listen to them as at times they can be quite humorous with the numerous light hearted jabs they make to each other. While their positions lean towards that of the reformed traditions their critiques of the various topics they cover are done with a great deal of respect. As someone who was raised in the Catholic church and who's family remain so, I appreciated the tone and honesty in which they've looked at the differences between the Protestant and Catholic beliefs.
One of the other things that I've found of great interest is the online Theology Program that is offered. It's designed for lay people like myself and is done as a 10 week program. If you've ever wanted to have a better understanding of your faith I think you owe it to yourself to at least take a look at what's offered. Check out my link for them in the right side-bar.
Now to try and figure out how to get Credo House to franchise their operations so I can build one here.
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