I guess sometimes we wish that mistakes could be 'repaired' easily. But in life, that is not always the case. When i think about it i wish that there was a magic wand that we could twirl around and 'presto', what was broken is now mended. I confess that sometimes i myself want instant results, instant mending.
Sometimes i wish that God would just make things right in this wrong world. I mean mend it. Like broken lives, hurting people, poor people, broken families etc.
We long for God to hurl the evil and bring the good.
But this all takes time (a lot of time and patience). God is there, but he doesn't work in the way of our culture's 'instant noodle' mentality.
This is one of the reasons that there is the community of God's people (the church, and i dont mean the building). We all need mending and support in this world. We need a place or people to turn to. To me the mendings and healings for humanity should be found in God's community. This is the community that knows and has it's trust in God. The community that shares a common message; that there is hope and there is healing and there is truly LIFE.
The conversion of Reformed, Emergent/ging and Neo-Charismatic reflections on Church, Theology, Spirituality and Culture With the Intention of Deconstructing the Monkey by a 4th generation Kelabit Christian
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Love and Hate
I just finshed watching the movie "The Kingdom". It coincides with something that i have been recently looking into; love.
It disturbs me when Christianity is projected in the form of 'total truth', 'uncompromising', 'full repentance', 'total obedience' and etc. Sometimes we sound militant. It makes Christianity sound so rigid, so strict. And so unattractive.
As i have read, in a book entitled "Jesus Creed" by Scot Mcknight, I find that more and more love has lost its grip on Christianity. Love has left at some point. I like what Mcknight calls Jesus' creed was; Love God, Love neighbour. The basis of spiritual formation is Love, loving God by followig Jesus, and loving others.
Connecting that with the movie i watched, the conclusion speaks volumes. At the end a question as raised, "what did you wisper in .... ear...?" to which the answer was "we will kill them all". It talks about vengence. And judging by how the movie ends with that conclusion, was vengence served? No. In other words i think the main message of the movie was to state that war is not the answer.
Now what would be the answer, in a world seeking vengence?
It is something hard to answer, but i can say that forgiveness and love is the answer.
To me, if christianity is saying that it is the truth, then love should be its main characteristic.
I leave you with these verses:
Romans13: 8 Let love be your only debt! If you love others, you have done all that the Law demands. 9 In the Law there are many commands, such as, “Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others.” But all of these are summed up in the command that says, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” 10 No one who loves others will harm them. So love is all that the Law demands.
Galatians5: 5 But the Spirit makes us sure that God will accept us because of our faith in Christ. 6 If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others.
James 2: 8 You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. 9 But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.
10 If you obey every law except one, you are still guilty of breaking them all. 11 The same God who told us to be faithful in marriage also told us not to murder. So even if you are faithful in marriage, but murder someone, you still have broken God’s Law.
12 Speak and act like people who will be judged by the law that sets us free. 13 Do this, because on the day of judgment there will be no pity for those who have not had pity on others. But even in judgment, God is merciful.
It disturbs me when Christianity is projected in the form of 'total truth', 'uncompromising', 'full repentance', 'total obedience' and etc. Sometimes we sound militant. It makes Christianity sound so rigid, so strict. And so unattractive.
As i have read, in a book entitled "Jesus Creed" by Scot Mcknight, I find that more and more love has lost its grip on Christianity. Love has left at some point. I like what Mcknight calls Jesus' creed was; Love God, Love neighbour. The basis of spiritual formation is Love, loving God by followig Jesus, and loving others.
Connecting that with the movie i watched, the conclusion speaks volumes. At the end a question as raised, "what did you wisper in .... ear...?" to which the answer was "we will kill them all". It talks about vengence. And judging by how the movie ends with that conclusion, was vengence served? No. In other words i think the main message of the movie was to state that war is not the answer.
Now what would be the answer, in a world seeking vengence?
It is something hard to answer, but i can say that forgiveness and love is the answer.
To me, if christianity is saying that it is the truth, then love should be its main characteristic.
I leave you with these verses:
Romans13: 8 Let love be your only debt! If you love others, you have done all that the Law demands. 9 In the Law there are many commands, such as, “Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others.” But all of these are summed up in the command that says, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” 10 No one who loves others will harm them. So love is all that the Law demands.
Galatians5: 5 But the Spirit makes us sure that God will accept us because of our faith in Christ. 6 If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others.
James 2: 8 You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. 9 But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.
10 If you obey every law except one, you are still guilty of breaking them all. 11 The same God who told us to be faithful in marriage also told us not to murder. So even if you are faithful in marriage, but murder someone, you still have broken God’s Law.
12 Speak and act like people who will be judged by the law that sets us free. 13 Do this, because on the day of judgment there will be no pity for those who have not had pity on others. But even in judgment, God is merciful.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Greetings
Just to start it all off, just like to say hi to all!
This blogging thing is a new experience (that makes me sound old). Basically what i want to do is talk about serious stuff (most of the time) and coupled with things that are easy on the side. Well i hope that i dont run off steam too fast...but lets see how things are going.
Basically im gonna be blogging a lot on Christianity and things that are connected to it. I just want to post out some of the things that i am thinking. Most of the stuff would be what i believe, hence 'mycreed'. But i'm an eager learner and that means i want to learn from the comments that you give.
Well that's about it for the time being. In a few hours i'll be off to a prayer meeting. Wow. Something that i have to learn to love (haha, it has not been that easy to love prayer, confessions, confessions). Ok adios. My sister is breathing behind my back, thinking how weird it looks that im blogging!!! well i'll show her!
Bye!
This blogging thing is a new experience (that makes me sound old). Basically what i want to do is talk about serious stuff (most of the time) and coupled with things that are easy on the side. Well i hope that i dont run off steam too fast...but lets see how things are going.
Basically im gonna be blogging a lot on Christianity and things that are connected to it. I just want to post out some of the things that i am thinking. Most of the stuff would be what i believe, hence 'mycreed'. But i'm an eager learner and that means i want to learn from the comments that you give.
Well that's about it for the time being. In a few hours i'll be off to a prayer meeting. Wow. Something that i have to learn to love (haha, it has not been that easy to love prayer, confessions, confessions). Ok adios. My sister is breathing behind my back, thinking how weird it looks that im blogging!!! well i'll show her!
Bye!
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Hopeful Theo
- Tremonti
- OIL TOWN, SWK, Malaysia
- I'm a student of Theology (currently and will always be one). I'm a student of culture and a student of music as well. I guess you could say life is a never ending journey of learning. Because of that we never stop being students. Just a little something about this blog: Deconstructing The Monkey is all about being a safe space for emerging conversations