:: Some thoughts... ::

:: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 ::

A Tuesday Morning:

Anyways, I was listening to Christian Music Radio this morning as I do
some mornings, and they had one of those things where the guy who I've
heard before on Sunday morning one time giving a talk, related a story.
Basically it was about a lady who due to absent parents was molested
repeatedly by her brothers. And this guy says ya know, how is this
possible? Apparently he met her and she was very happy and raised her
children very well. SO he said he asked her husband, and he said in
college she found Jesus, so to speak and was able to bury her past and
she was now free. That just reminded me of passages in the Bible about
how we are free, yet the apparent contradiction is that we have all
these "rules" to follow, so how can we be free in the sense of liberty?
I realized in my own heart what that meant I think for the very first
time. Even though we experience the most terrible of things, and are
broken down, destroyed inside, through the grace of God and the love of
His son we are indeed free. Free from the past that burdens the very
depths of our souls, we are free from the hurt, the pain, the sorrow,
there is truly hope for those who believe. You know the passage in Rev.
21. It makes perfect sense. So, that's how I came upon my exhortation
topic, "The Saving Name of the Lord Jesus Christ." It was related to one
I had been tossing about, the primacy of love.
So I sat there and thought about it, and realized I had missed the point
all along. I was too caught up in what's right and what's wrong and had
missed the whole point of doctrine, even in my own dwellings on that
point. It had been a point of rhetorical argument rather than a true
feeling. I knew what we were missing but I didn't really understand it.
I could deal with tragedy and rationalize it, but it didn't quite hit me
till right then. It coincided also with my run with this morning, and my
own thoughts before that.

So I thought that is what is missing. While we are focusing on doctrines
and on "proper" beliefs, have we gone to far? Have we missed the forest
while staring at the trees? My own personal thought is that the other
churches have taken this too far in that direction. Where the focus is
centrally on emotion, but we have made it so clinical so dry, so focused
on proper belief that we have maybe gone too far in embracing
rationalism and missed out on theme of the gospel, which is one of love
and indeed of hope. Read the last verse in 1st Corinthians 13, and you
will know what I mean.

This is of course the age old struggle of man since the beginning of the
period of Enlightenment. The reaction to the Enlightenment was the
period of Romanticism. Humanity often follows this pattern throughout
history.

So as Dad once mentioned about COGAF that some of their doctrines were
created in response to arguments with Christadelphians. The more they
argued the sharper the disagreement and the more tightly a position was
held. We pretend we are immune to this. I don't think so. As other
churches have drifted away from the true word of God and embraced a
sentimentalized version we have reacted to this by tightening the screws
on doctrine and embracing a policy of separation. I am not sure what
drives this separatism as it is different in different regions, but I
have noticed the larger the concentration of Christadelphians the more
inward looking they become. Why is that? I am not sure if there is a
correlation doctrinally but where Christadelphians are larger in number
the greater tendency to embrace separatism as a way to maintain
"purity." Which one of us though is pure? As I think from the story I
related, I realized fundamentally that we cannot make ourselves pure, or
cleanse our past, or erase away our tears, fears and struggles. Of
course, I knew this intellectually. We all know it intellectually, but
how many of us know it in our hearts. For a guy like Gary for instance,
how much would it help him to understand that God is giving him a second
chance right now, that God is opening his arms to him if he would only
open his eyes. So there we are, and that's the rub.

It becomes painfully obviously to me here in semi-isolation. And so
clear at this moment what I am missing.

:: Nathan 8:27 PM [+] ::
...

An Update:

Well since, my dad informed me that people might actually read what I have to say, I decided I would post something a little more current. First a brief overview of where I am and what I do.

I work for a company called Beneco. We deal with Prevailing Wage type 401(k) Plans. If you have to ask what that is, it isn't really worth knowing. My true interests career wise lie in Economics and Business. One of the "next big things" will be aquaculture, specifically Tilapia. The Economist magazine declared them the next chicken. So if you live in one of the warm states, Southern California, New Mexico, Arizona, Lousiana, Texas or Mississippi. This should be something you should keep an eye on.

As you may or may not know I live in lovely Phoenix, Arizona.

I have been living here since last year and I should be here for the foreseeable future. I strongly encourage you to move or at least come visit.


:: Nathan 8:27 PM [+] ::
...