I think every author‘s aim is to make people think. But the thing I like so much about your writing is that you make me think hard. And about the things I like to think about. So, good job on that.
As for your point that the gospel is about Restoration, absolutely. But not only. Maybe we need to back up a bit and use a more encompassing word. I would say that the gospel is about Relationship, of which restoration is a subset. And as for the rest of the subsets, we must be very careful to not leave out the hard knocks in favor of that which is warm and fuzzy. We have to tell the whole gospel, or we may be in danger of telling another gospel. And to that point, people need to know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.“ Our righteousness is like filthy rags, in God’s sight. And Jesus said, “no one is good, but God.“ In other words, we need to make sure people know WHY they need restoration. We need to confess our sins, say the same thing about our souls that God says about us: we are in Rebellion. We have Rejected Him. We need to Repent of our sins, to stop sinning and start obeying Him. I know that you know all of this, but sometimes I worry that our attempts to be excessively diplomatic may turn us into Neville Chamberlains. How far do we go before the world thinks that we are OK with them calling evil, good, and good, evil.
On another thought that you sparked, I wonder if God‘s reason for creating us within a physical realm, rather than the spiritual realm in which the angels live, could be that not seeing him to the degree that the angels do, requires faith and trust. Oh, look at that, we are back to relationship. ( :
I completely agree. In all of the heartache, living in the shadows of death, we have this Jesus who came to give us life to the full. It is truly astounding and hard to explain. I have found it true though. Here is a series on Gnosticism in the church I have been learning a lot from. I especially like the ones on disordered eating and self-hate.
I think every author‘s aim is to make people think. But the thing I like so much about your writing is that you make me think hard. And about the things I like to think about. So, good job on that.
As for your point that the gospel is about Restoration, absolutely. But not only. Maybe we need to back up a bit and use a more encompassing word. I would say that the gospel is about Relationship, of which restoration is a subset. And as for the rest of the subsets, we must be very careful to not leave out the hard knocks in favor of that which is warm and fuzzy. We have to tell the whole gospel, or we may be in danger of telling another gospel. And to that point, people need to know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.“ Our righteousness is like filthy rags, in God’s sight. And Jesus said, “no one is good, but God.“ In other words, we need to make sure people know WHY they need restoration. We need to confess our sins, say the same thing about our souls that God says about us: we are in Rebellion. We have Rejected Him. We need to Repent of our sins, to stop sinning and start obeying Him. I know that you know all of this, but sometimes I worry that our attempts to be excessively diplomatic may turn us into Neville Chamberlains. How far do we go before the world thinks that we are OK with them calling evil, good, and good, evil.
On another thought that you sparked, I wonder if God‘s reason for creating us within a physical realm, rather than the spiritual realm in which the angels live, could be that not seeing him to the degree that the angels do, requires faith and trust. Oh, look at that, we are back to relationship. ( :
One of my favorite comments of yours, Bob. You're actually anticipating next week's post.
I completely agree. In all of the heartache, living in the shadows of death, we have this Jesus who came to give us life to the full. It is truly astounding and hard to explain. I have found it true though. Here is a series on Gnosticism in the church I have been learning a lot from. I especially like the ones on disordered eating and self-hate.
https://citizenschurch.com/resources/sermon/1213
Glad to hear it's being addressed so specifically in that context.