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The God Who Wants to be Found – Pt. 2
If you read yesterday’s post, then you know that I am treading on some shaky ground according to some conservative Christians. Asking some slightly heretical questions. 😉 That’s okay! Questions are good! Let me clarify some things before I continue. I don’t believe that sincere faith in just any religion guarantees access to heaven. I do believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father. I do believe in a literal hell. But I also agree with C.S. Lewis. “We do know that no person can be save except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him.” C.S. Lewis, Mere…
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The God Who Wants to Be Found – Pt. 1
Is God truly loving? And if He is, then how can He condemn millions of people to hell? If God is really good, then what about all the people in the world who have lived and died without ever hearing the gospel? How can people be responsible for their sin if they never knew anything different? What if they were sincerely following their religion? Shouldn’t that count? If God condemns people to hell who aren’t responsible, then He can’t be good and loving. He must be angry and horrible. Who wants to believe in that kind of God anyway? “The space between doubting God’s goodness and doubting His existence is…
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But Jesus isn’t White…and Why it Matters
Back when my husband was a youth pastor, one of his favorite object lessons was to print a bunch of images of Jesus and lay them on the floor. He would ask the teens to choose a picture that they resonated with and stand by it. He found some really crazy Jesus’s as well as more traditional ones. Sweet Jesus in white robes, surrounded by children. Tough Jesus, arm wrestling Satan. Gentle Jesus, holding a lamb. Powerful Jesus, calming the storm with one outstretched hand. Bad Ass Jesus, with his sleeve rolled up showing a “love” tattoo on his muscular arm. Hot Jesus, tall and handsome with a confident stride.…
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Christian Religion is Not Enough
I just finished a book called, Unveiling Grace, by Lynn K. Wilder. It’s the true story of a family finding their way out of Mormonism and into a relationship with the real Jesus. Amazingly, Lynn and her husband were converts to Mormonism as adults even though they were exposed to Christianity as children. Their story proves the burden on my heart. Christian religion is not enough. Attending church or Sunday school is not enough. Living a “good life” is not enough. I’m afraid the corporate American church is horribly broken. I’ve met a lot of people lately that agree with me. People who have left, and people who have stayed. Frustrated,…
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Fireflies, Chili, and Hope
“You are the light of the world…No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket…” Matthew 5:14-15. How strange would it be…if you sat on your porch one summer evening and watched as one firefly after another flew into an open container. Instead of floating free, blinking their lights in the summer dusk, the fireflies huddled together. Willing captives in a jar. And yet, I think many Christians do the same thing. Somehow, protection and safety have become more important than being the light of the world. They huddle together around common ideology and values. Protecting good things like marriage, family, the sanctity of life, and moral…
