Hi everyone.
First of all, I'm so happy (blessed?) to have a few cool friends care about if I post or don't. The truth is, I just haven't been in the mood to blog recently. On the one hand, I really wanted to have a nice big and really good piece for the next post. But on the other hand, like Kiaya said, it doesn't have to be profound. But you see I was (am) on the verge of such a great topic. I am on the verge of a potentially major-life-style-changing sort of post, and so I wanted to see if that pans out. I'll probably know in a week or two. Then I'll really have a post. Or not. We'll see.
But as for this one, I think I'll just do a rambling/stream of conscious cop out. Forgive me, for I have no creativity and am slightly cranky right now. Here goes:
I had ALOT of fun at the hike. What can I say, I just LOVE the crazy cool ilk that Agape seems to attract. I had some great conversation and alot of fun times.
Some times in the past, things I'd see around me would lower my hope for humanity and dreams I'd see inside of me would raise them. Now, things I see in people around me raise my hopes and respect for humanity, and things I see within myself lower them. I don't know exactly how to take it. Its not a witty nugget of wisdom; its just a reflection.
Salvation- once saved, always saved vs. Worked out by faith debate. Ageless, endless and yet ever so pressing. This topic came up at the dinner table strangely enough, and I avoided answering for awhile, mainly because I disagreed with myself. By my sense of justice, I would say that certain people shouldn't be forgiven, or that at least, if they were forgiven and then got worse later the grace that was extended to them would seem to be void. For example, I can grasp God ransoming someone who killed others, I can understand that person being reformed and forgiven (Like Paul), but someone being ransomed by God and then going out and killing, I just sort of have this kneejerk gut reaction against them being still "saved". Not that my instincts make it right.
Perhaps it makes sense to think of the free gift of salvation as not a one time use gift- maybe something like a beverage. Maybe an antidote; yes that works. So if you accept this antidote for a year or two for free, you're great. But you can take the gift and then not use it for awhile, at point your in trouble. In this way of looking at it, it is simply a matter of USING the free gift.
I know, there were zilch scripture references in that, which I suppose makes it a large bunch of pointless speculation. Very well, treat it as such. I really am just wondering things out loud.
Uhh, what else.... I have discovered some music recently that I really don't like. That, no matter how much I try to find the cool artistic intent behind it, I can't think of anything good to say. Yes, it was on the radio.
Cliche ahead warning: When God shuts a door, he really does open another. Its almost like he's trying to lead me somewhere (Mock sarcasm: NO! rEEALY?). But its true. The Agape thing (disclaimer: even though basically my fault) really broke me for a bit, but I bounced back from it for the better. I hope that all can do the same. Its ironically enough gotten me on a better path for finishing up my education and POSSIBLY even- oh right, that I was going to save for later if it panned out.
Uhh... Speaking of pans. Bed pans make me think of oil pans, or actually vice versa.
I think we should turn some of our frickin huge amounts of coal into artificial Gasoline and stick it to our enemies over in good ol' midEa. Having your enema hold the purse strings to your economy is basically stupid. If you allow major opportunities to regain control of the purse strings, possibly even treasonous.
I do believe in Bigelow- I do, I DO!
Is
Update:I just posted this by accident. I think it was a sign. I am tired, I am through. I am tired, how bout you?
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11 comments:
See? That wasn't so hard!
w00t!! A post!
I'm all excited for this new post that you speak of!! I can't wait.
I wrote a post like this yesterday. Only not on Xanga. Heh.
Rambling posts are fun, just hard to follow. But it's cool to watch your thought process when you wrote this. I can see it going UP and DOWN and UP and down. It's neat. :)
yah, gwyn ist using mac...yah. (read that w/ a german sing-song accent.) i didn't partition.
i actually use a combination of photoshop and graphic converter...PS allows for super easy batch renaming...and, as great as tags are supposed to be, i've never gotten into them...maybe i should try that more?
i just have too many programs...i want to simplify. i mean, i've got flickr and my website (which is in process)...albums on my website...etc, etc. ugh. computers get so cluttered so easily...i hate it.
(ps: i knew you'd love that post!)
I won't engage you in a conversation you don't want to have, BUT you did drop a few Blog Bombs that I found very hard to resist.
"Some times in the past...and things I see within myself lower them."
OK. That statement really got my attention. I had to read it a few times to actually understand what you were saying. I am still wondering what it actually means. Care to elucidate?
"Salvation- once saved, always saved vs. Worked out by faith debate...I really am just wondering things out loud."
Oh, it's so good to wonder!
"But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened." (Luke 24:11-12)
What do you think of the following quotes? They are not from me, but from a theologian.
1. "If man is saved only as long as he maintains a flawless life, then salvation is not of grace, but of works!"
2. "The believer is not in a revolving door, moving in and out of the grace of God! He is secure in the hand of God, and neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate him from the love of the Father!"
3. "Having stressed the sovereignty and grace of God, it is also imperative to bring the free will and responsibility of the believer into focus. God does not withdraw the power of choice from the person who believes. By the exercise of free will the believer becomes a child of God, and by the continued exercise of free will he remains a child of God. To keep on believing is the believer's responsibility."
4. "As the believer who has sinned turns to Christ, he turns not with the despair of a lost soul, but with the secure knowledge that as a son of God he has an Advocate with the Father--who is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness."
5. "God does not let anyone go easily. (See Romans 10:21 where Paul was speaking of Israel, but the principle applies.) But a believer can be lost if he disregards the continuing checks of the Holy Spirit and reaches the point where he rejects Jesus as his Saviour. It is possible to believe for a while and in time of temptation to fall away (Luke 8:13). It is possible for the weak brother to perish for whom Christ died (1 Corinthians 8:11). It is possible for a name to be written in the Book of Life and then removed from the Book (Revelation 22:19). It is not always possible to determine whether a person has already turned his back on Jesus as his Saviour. Therefore it is well to leave judgment of these matters in the hands of the omniscient God."
6. "Of this we can be certain, however; if God does not give up in His efforts to bring the prodigal back, neither should the church of Jesus Christ. Too often people write off an individual when God has not written him off at all. The Bible does recognize the possibility of forfeiting salvation, but it never ceases to offer hope for anyone who wants to respond to the entreaty of the Holy Spirit. Jesus' invitation is without qualification. He speaks to all when He says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28)."
"Uhh, what else.... I have discovered some music recently that I really don't like...I can't think of anything good to say."
LOL! If we accept everything someone dishes out as art, we end up eating a lot of junk food, huh?
"Cliche ahead warning: When God shuts a door...if it panned out."
Nice to hear that. God is good. I hope all can do the same, too---eventually, and for their own sake.
Z, you have exhibited grace under pressure. This is commendable, and refelcts a good character. However, I believe you have also forgiven injustice, and that is mercy, a refelction of a right spirit.
Sorry for the long post, Dude, but it's really not my fault. That darn theologian talks a lot!
Hello. That philosophical, random and obscure, happy, sad and um...all around cool post makes me happy.
^_^
Please come comment. I miss talking to you. =p
Zeke's not Dead.
So na, I have never read Oasis or whatever that thing you asked me about was. Is it a manga or something? That's what it made me think of.
So I hope it is OK that I throw my two cents in on the theological subject you brought up. The thing which causes the most red flags in my head to go off with the lose your salvation thing is that we are made into a new creature when saved. If salvation was just an invite for entrance into Heaven when we die, it could probably fluctuate depending on if we live "worthy of the calling", during our life here, but it's not. A new being is created. So it seems to be difficult for me to see God unmaking and then making us again every time we even consciously walk away from Him. In a sense you're right, salvation is a cure, but only I think as a figure of speech, and not really as an analogy of what really happens. The problem of the analogy of salvation being a cure for something is that we never see a heart being fixed or mended, only remade ("create in me a clean heart"). The gift is the gift of a new beginning, a new person coming into being which never existed. Our hearts, before Christ, are deceitfully (incurably) wicked, so they can't be fixed.
I think God knows, because he can see our future as we "pray the prayer of salvation", whether we really meant we want to put away our old life and follow Him. I think it has almost nothing to do with how successful we are, only that we really want to have him end this life and give us a new birth. People will get to various levels of "working out their salvation" by the end of their lives. Some won't get very far. But if they really look to God and say "I don't want to be like this forever", He'll make us a new person who won't be.
Ah Zeke, I would like to thank you for some enlightenment about God leading us places.
Don't we wish it was all that easy :)
did you mean to say enemy holding your purse strings...??? I'm not gettin the enema thing ;)
dude.
Ya, I like to fight against swearing. I find I mostly do this by saying things which sound so close people think I'm gonna say the real thing and so they think it and so I pretty much swear in essence anyways, except technically I didn't, so I am OK. But it's fun to substitute for stuff which sounds close, but doesn't have anything to do with the real swear, so it is just funny. Like the classic "got dandruff!" (you may have to have someone else say it to you real emphatic like to get the full essence of that) I had a friend who was the master. I am his pupil. He was a mother father genius. (again, outloud, maybe add stress to the f in father. it's an art)
OK. Forget the "big" sins, like murder. They trigger too many emotions in us humans for us to possibly be objective. What about someone who tells lies or is prideful?
"By my sense of justice, I would say that certain people shouldn't be forgiven, or that at least, if they were forgiven and then got worse later the grace that was extended to them would seem to be void. For example, I can grasp God ransoming someone who lied to others, I can understand that person being reformed and forgiven (Like Paul), but someone being ransomed by God and then going out and lying, I just sort of have this kneejerk gut reaction against them being still "saved". Not that my instincts make it right."
What do y'all think?
if you come visit sometime between 10-15:15 on a saturday, i'll take you to the dump. :-D
yes, there are designated areas, and i saw old computer stuff, but...the swap shop is like a garage w/ all the stuff sorted...it's like salvation army, but free. and yes, there were computer things there, too.
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