I went to training this weekend for the Truth Project. It seems like it will be a great experience.
Some of the things that are presented in the curriculum are things that God has spoken to me in the last few months I think that is really cool when He does that, then confirms it through someone else like that.
The premise of the curriculum is that we have been and are bombarded by a world view contrary to the biblical view. So much so that most people who call themselves Christians don't think along the lines of what the Bible actually says. The church seems to have been conformed to the world. This is simply a systematic presentation of comparisons in worldview. Truth and Lies are pointed out in a clear manner. It is right up my ally. I hope everyone else feels the same way.
I am going to be leading a small group through this "study" as soon as we work out the details of time, place and such. I just found out about all this, this week. I got a call about leading a group, and getting trained to teach this curriculum all the same day. I spent all day Saturday at the church for the seminar then stayed for the weekend service afterwards. I got to hang out and talk to some people, it is very cool to actually be getting to know some other Christians, I would love to be able to have some believing friends that I could share some of my thoughts with and discuss things deeper. That would be great, I am hoping this all works out, and it seems to be so far.
I have been away from God for so long, ministry and Christians even longer, I didn't think I would enjoy going back so much.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Anglican
I was doing some searching and reading today about the Anglican church. What I found was a lot of very interesting stuff that I didn't know. This started by reading a post by the iMonk where he mentioned having a set of Anglican prayer beads. I did a search and then some more. I found that they don't recognize the Pope as there head, that I already knew. Surprising to me I found that they don't believe in purgatory, the immaculate conseption, transubstantiation, and they allow priests to marry. They have only two sacriments, the same two as protestants; Baptism and Communion. They consider Mary to be the highest of the saints but they don't require prayer to her, just respect. There seems to be a lot of variety and flexibility amongst different segment of Anglicanism.
One thing I wondered is, "If we have Anglicanism what is the real need for Protestantism?" I'm sure there would be a big list of reasons but I know my biggest problems with Catholism is the Mary as intorcessor, purgatory, transubstantiation, requiring celebacy for priests, and the whole Pope thing. There are others too, like priests as intercessors when Jesus is our intercessor and high priest, prayer to saints. That might be it.
Another question I was having today is; "If something like the Anglican church as it exists today is a good choice/option/compromise, Does the reason for it's existance matter in the decission?"
Even if it were found that it was the best option, does the fact that the reason that it exists is because the King needed a way to bypass the rules of the Pope so he could marry someone that he wasn't allowed to marry?
So if something good were to end up coming out of a sinful decision is the final thing to be judged according to what it is, or by the sinful act that resulted in the final existance?
Any input?
Friday, September 12, 2008
My Church
My church is right now in an iffy place. It is kinda a smallish medium "mega church". The pastor is pretty good though about not wanting to do the "mega seeker church thing". He tries, but I think he is not the only one making decissions and sometimes some of that stuff slips through. He has made it clear lately to the church that he has recently decided that of the two ways to go, "Seeker/Mega" or Gods way, he is gonna go Gods way. I have accually been impressed and started bringing my Bible to church again cause we accaully use it now. He is trying to get people to "really" worship God, in community and not just clap and sing the words to songs. They are also right now prepping people to lead more small home groups, but this time as shepherds not facilitators. That should be good. I tend to lean more toward finding a roll in a church and work under someones authority than to just go out and start something new and unaccountable. I have been through that phase in my past, almost an entire church was destroyed through that endevour and I'm not sure how many of the people involved are still faithful to God. I know I wasn't for a few years and am now just getting back to him. At least He is always willing to take me back. I hope that I never leave Him again like that. Anyway, so my church is kinda in a middle place I like the direction that the pastor is pointing and I pray that God would continue to protect him against the ones who might want to put a stop to it and take us back the other direction. I think it would be cool to have a "mega church" that is full on in the right direction. Thats the way they do it in South Korea, so it can be done.
Mission Space
We went to Epcot this weekend. I havn't been there in at least 15 years. I went on the sissy version of mission space. It was totally fine, I'm thinking I might could do the real thing next time, I just want to get the DR. to say my heart is ok first, I like rides but none of them are worth accually dieing over. I think the flight simulator I did at Kennedy Space Center pulled more Gs than Mission Space but I want to make sure first. Other than that it was a cool trip, the park has changed a lot and I got lost at least 8 times. I remember there not being much to do there, we didn't even get to 85% of the park.
old, new, maybe
Are there really some people today who are just now figuring out the truth of christianity and the church? Has every christian church leader since Peter been wrong until now? Yes there are some problems with the church today, but should it be discarded?
What about the pagan roots of some christian practices? Is it because the christians came out on top and the pagan converts brought along there stuff into there christian practices? Is it some sort of sneeky back door trick of the devil to bring the church down from the inside?
Whatever reason things are the way they are is it that big a deal? Maybe it is a huge deal and requires drastic changes on our part to set things right. Maybe we should just find what is comfortable for us personally and disregard the new people who now have it right after 2000 years?
Who really knows the truth? Are we able to figure out who is right? Has anyone asked the head of the church what He thinks?
I don't know, was just thinking.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
LORD - YHWH
I was just thinking, the Psalms are songs right? At least most of them and they say song of.... right in the title of most. According to the Bible translation notes in the front of a lot of Bibles it says that the propper name of God "YHWH" is translated as "LORD" or in some cases "GOD". Now my question came up when I noticed that "LORD" appears pretty frequently in the Psalms. Aren't songs sung? Havn't we also heard that the word "YHWH" was considered by Jews to be too holy to be spoken verbally? If this is the case what was done with this word when singing the Psalms/songs. I have never heard this discussed by anyone before. Since they would be reading and singing it in Hebrew they wouldn't use the word "LORD" like we do. Any input?
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