God Ponderings
Thoughts about God, religion, the Bible, etc.
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Knowing (Experiencing) Jesus
This is a condensed repost of two earlier blogs I wrote a couple years ago. It was on my heart again. 🙂 There is a huge difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing them. I write and talk a lot about legalism and religious Christianity vs a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It sounds good in theory. I’d much rather have a friendship than a list of rules to follow! But how does it work? God often feels like a celebrity to us. We know (or think we know) a lot about Him. We read articles, blog posts, and books about Him. We listen to sermons, podcasts, and…
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A God to Fear
Why are we so quick to stuff God into our little “god boxes”? Explain Him, minimize Him, dismiss Him… Too often we act like we have God all figured out. What if we are wrong? What if we are terrifyingly wrong? I’m sitting here feeling inadequate to even write this. But, I am SO passionate about Christians, believers in Jesus, really meeting God, really experiencing who He is, that I have to say something. In youth group last Wednesday we watched a short video with Francis Chan. The topic was fearing God. I used to hate that phrase… Growing up in my Christian cult, we had a fear of God,…
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Let’s Be Honest…
2016 was not my favorite year. And from what I see on social media, I’m not alone in that feeling. I came across this great meme a while back on Facebook: This image pretty much sums it up for me! Yikes! That’s not to say that there weren’t great moments and fabulous people in my life, because there were. I have many blessings that I am grateful for…but it was still a hard year. I’m normally a pretty optimistic, positive, hopeful person. And I normally look forward to a new year with excitement, anticipation, and a sense of adventure. However, on New Year’s Eve, as I enjoyed some quiet after…
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What Now? How to Live After the Election
It was a rough political season. Tuesday was a hard, divisive election. Now we are dealing with the emotional, draining aftermath. At least we are on the internet, specifically social media. I cringe before going on Facebook right now. If you read my other election post you will know that I have hidden a bunch of my more political friends. Still, my news feed is full of political articles, political comments, and political arguments. Do you know what I see and feel on Facebook right now, even from some of my Christian friends? Hatred, Fear, Worry, and Pride. Christian brothers and sisters, This. Is. Not. Right. Hatred – For some reason, people…
- \'rant\ : to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner, And Then I Met Jesus, Exposing Legalism, God Ponderings
Clickbait, Disagreement, and Choosing What is Right
This week I got into an online discussion over on Jefferson Bethke’s (author of Jesus>Religion and It’s Not What You Think) Facebook page. He posted an article called “9 Sins the Church Is Surprisingly OK With as Long as You Love Jesus” and asked what we thought. I thought it was a stupid clickbait title with a clickbait image. (Definition of clickbait – content on the internet of a sensational or provocative nature, whose main purpose is to attract attention and draw visitors to a particular website.)Â But I perused the article anyway. I didn’t get further than their supposed nine sins: fear, apathy, gluttony, worry, flattery, comfort, consumerism, patriotism,…
