Just a little thought...

It is impossible to explain to a blind person who has never had sight what the color green looks like. You can only say that green exists. It is only when they have been given sight that they can understand and say, "ah, now that is green- I see what she meant!"
Trying to explain our faith to unbelievers is the same thing. Until God has opened their eyes, they cannot understand what we are talking about. We can only tell the truth, and say it is true, and pray that God will give them sight.
As frustrating as that can be when we are trying to witness, it is very comforting, too. As long as we are telling the truth, whether the person we are speaking to understands or not, it is all God- He will give them understanding, or He won't. It isn't us, it is Him.

Responses

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1.

For those of us who call ourselves Christians, I wonder what our response is when our sin is pointed out to us?
The natural person's response will certainly be to either deny his sin, or to justify it. He will either say, "I never did that!" Or he will say, "I had to do that, because... Surely God will forgive me, owing to the circumstances."

But the true Christian MUST respond with a broken heart. If we say we have fellowship in God, but do not walk according to His truth- His commandments- we are liars, and the truth is not in us.

There are those people out there who say that because God is love, then we need not fear Him, because perfect love casts out all fear. This is a CLASSIC example of the misquoting of scripture, a twisting of it so that we can live outside of God's law. This presumes on God, when God has been very clear that He hates sin, and sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. When God says "Thou shalt not," He means it.

Yes, God is love- God loves justice, God loves truth, God loves holiness. God loves His children, those who have been clothed in righteousness through the sacrifice offered by Christ of His own blood and body. But God does not have any part or parcel with liars. When we persist in sin, and do not confess them and humble ourselves before God, but instead lie and say we have no sin, that we are "good people" we have proven that we have no part in God. His truth is not in us. We are all wicked sinners, but some of us have been saved by grace, but no one, save Christ, who ever walked on this earth was truly a good person.

One thing that God has shown us over and over again is that he loves a humble heart. God doesn't care about our position in society, or how eloquent, or how smart, or how beautiful we are- He made us according to His will. But those who humble themselves before God, and confess their sins, God is faithful and just to forgive their sins, be they prostitutes, thieves, murderers or the lot. God is faithful and just to forgive breakers of His commandments- adulterers, fornicators, and idol worshippers, covetors, etc, when they confess their sins. God will forgive all sins (except blaspheming the Holy Ghost)- lies, mistrust, fear, unrighteous anger, jealous, bitterness, etc. if people will humble themselves before him and confess and repent. God loves justice, yes, but He loves to be merciful, too.

But in the passage above we see that if we do not humble ourselves before God, and confess, but instead say we have no sin, then we have called God a liar, because the Bible says, "There is no one righteous, no, not one." And Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? No one is good, save God," and Isaiah said, "All we like sheep have gone astray." And Paul says, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" God has been very clear that mankind does not live up to His holy standards. But the only thing required for forgiveness in Him is to humble ourselves and repent, confessing our sin, and trusting the blood of Christ to cover us. No penances. No rituals. No trying to pretend our sin never happened. Just confess, repent, and trust.

The breaking of the heart is a painful thing- when it breaks we realize it was our sin and rebellion that nailed Christ to the cross. It was our lies and deceit that pierced His side. It was for us that he died and was buried. But God gives us new hearts, and we don't stop with the death of Christ- it was for us, wicked sinners, that He died, yes, but it was also for us that He rose again. It was for us that He triumphed over death. It was for us that He was resurrected, so that we could be, too. It was for us that He lived a holy life, so that we could be holy in Him. The breaking of the heart is painful, but living in humility is joy- difficult at times, but there is real, deep and abiding joy in trust in Christ.

So, what is our response? A prideful denial, or justification of our evil; or brokenhearted repentance and trusting, loving confession?
I hope we all find it is the repentance and confession.

Ow!

I admit it, I admit it... I'm a homeschool mom.
However, I was absolutely shocked to find out that other people have made jokes about the "homeschool mom's uniform." You've seen it- denim jumper, sensible shoes, comfy frumpy earth mother look.
I don't fit that mold. Errr... moulde? In fact, one of the first things our pastor asked me when we started attending was if Andrew and I were into motorcycles. I said no, and he apologized, but added, "I was just wondering, what with the boots and the black jeans all the time..." Well... I got the black jeans because graphite doesn't show up on them when I'm "arting" and the boots were just soooooo cool- big old chunky boots that came up well over the ankle, add 3 inches to my height, and cost me a whopping $5 on clearance. Couldn't beat that with a stick.
But it makes me think twice. Should I slip into a denim jumper now and then? If I did, would the store detectives stop following me around? Could I join the throng of the "normals" so that store clerks wouldn't direct me to the "Biker's Weekly" magazine rack anymore, but to the education section at BaM?
***
Pyromaniac (see link to side- need to figure out how to link names in body of text here.... my LJ blog is easier) mentioned that he thought American humor might not translate well to people of other countries, which reminded me of something that happened a good while back.
My sister's ex-boyfriend was from Estonia. He was over visiting one night, and we were all joking around about stuff, and he proceeded to tell us a joke. The poor guy was almost wetting his pants he was laughing so hard about this joke- something about the "loudest sound in Syberia is cars rusting"- and we were all sitting there trying to figure out why it was a joke.
The only thing is, even though we couldn't find the humor in his joke, despite his insistance that it was dead funny, we all thought the fact we couldn't get it was funny in its own way.
So some humor doesn't translate, either because of cultural differences, or because the person receiving the humor offering doesn't have a decent sense of humor themselves.
I'm all for humor provided it is kind and clean, and I've never seen Pyro cross the line. If someone else doesn't get it, that's their problem. There are also too many people are just looking for a reason to take offense. They can take the most innocent thing in the world and blow it out of proportion. So, I hope he keeps up with the humor- I like it.

Now mind you, this is only my opinion...

(I always get worried when people say that, but I think this is innocuous enough to not raise hackles, I hope, maybe...)

but I don't think people should be able to put their avatars on their sites CROOKED.
It's just wrong. It makes me itchy. I want to straighten them. I tilt my head, but then the avatar is straight up and the rest of the world is crooked.

I don't like crooked pictures, wrinkled fabric, lint, strange parts in people's hair, or cupboard doors that don't close right.

And I think I may need to get a life.

Cage Stage

Original post from: http://www.livejournal.com/users/elsbet_vance/

Hehe. In Scott McClare's Crusticon (where he teaches one to speak Curmudgeonese) he speaks of Cage Stage Calvinists- this is the definition: "Many new Calvinists go through a period during which they become hyper-zealous for the cause of Calvinism and attempt to convert their Arminian friends more aggressively than most Jehovah's Witnesses. Theologian and philosopher George Grant calls this period the "cage stage." New Calvinists ought to be locked in a cage for about the first two years, or until they mellow out and realize John Calvin isn't God, the Reformers weren't infallible, and the Westminster Confession is not a Bible."

Amen.

Some of you know that I am a Calvinist (though I don't like to take the name of anyone but Christ, I simply use this to explain my system of belief), a Reformed Presbyterian. Possibly some of you think I belong in a cage, too.
But thankfully, I passed through the "Cage Stage" about 10 years ago. Man alive, I was obnoxious.
Now, mind you, my beliefs haven't changed very much since then, except where I've grown in knowledge, BUT... Using the Word like a hammer and trying to beat other people into submission just isn't right. That's the trouble with youth. And a young Calvinist can be 88 years old- it has very little to do with temporal age.

The reason this can be such a problem is that the doctrines of the Reformed faith are so simple, so Biblical- they take the whole counsel of God into account, from Genesis to Revelation- the understanding of the Abrahamic covenant- the Covenant of Faith under which we are saved, and the understanding of the Mosaic Covenant of works from which Jesus delivered us through His perfect obedience, and how these things all tie together. Once a person sees the stark clarity of this (oh, some things are still obscure- God gives us what we need to obey and understand in His word, but He has hinted at mysteries, too- we are finite and cannot fully understand an infinite Mind) it is hard not to be zealous.

And we should be zealous, but as Reformed people, we also need to remember that God is Sovereign. The word can be spoken in zealous harshness, used as a hammer, and God will use it, but Jesus was very clear that it was the meek and the humble who would have the greatest blessings. The Word spoken in zealous love for God and loving compassion for man may be used with equal effectiveness.

Young Calvinists remind me of obnoxious Americans in foreign countries who think if they only speak louder someone will understand.

We need to remember the words of Christ: Matthew 11:27 "All things have been handed over to me by the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
Until the Holy Spirit quickens a man's heart, he cannot receive Christ. He is "dead in his trespasses in sin." (Ephesians 2:1) The dead cannot respond to sound. (I am NOT speaking of Arminians here... except unsaved ones. But this goes for total unbelievers, or those who call themselves Calvinist, Catholic, Lutheran, etc. and who have not truly been quickened.) You can shout in the ear of a dead man all day and he will not answer you.

But we have hope: God, who created us, who is the Author of life, can create in us new hearts that can respond, when our dead, condemned hearts could not. Ephesians 2:4-10 says: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We were dead, but God raised us, as Christ was raised- our spirits were quickened. It wasn't the work of men- it wasn't the witness of Calvinists or Arminians, rough or humble, that made that person respond- it was purely the work of God. He merely uses our witness to teach these new babies in Christ, so that they can respond, and begin to understand- we are like the doctors who used to smack a newborn's bottom to get them crying and breathing, responding to the new world around them. The doctor didn't make the baby, or give it life.
Sometimes true words, the Word of God, can smart and sting, even when spoken in love and concern, but it is better to have a moment's conviction and pain, than to remain like a stillborn baby. As Christians we can't withhold the full counsel of God- true, we can't speak it ALL at once, but what needs to be said must be said. Unless a man is convinced of his sin, he can see no reason to be saved. Our job as Christians is first and foremost to proclaim the sinfulness of man, and the grace of God, and that salvation can be found in Christ, without EVER forgetting we were once dead, too.
So... truth and humility should be our motto, not truth and humiliation.