Often times i get criticised for my witness. I smoke to much (true) i spend to much time in the pub (true) i swear to much (working on it) and i spend far to much time with sinners and putting myself in dangerous positions(partly true) the main bulk of the flack comes from well meaning Christians, who rightly in their minds think they have a right to mould me into their image of what a Christian should be. They tell me where my theology is wrong, they tell me i have too much ink, they tell me i'm judgemental (the irony being when they tell me i'm being judgemental, they are judging me) they deal with my perceived intolerance by being intolerant towards me.
These people come from all parts of Christendom, i'm convinced if i published some of the emails i receive from ministers of the gospel of grace, they would probably be ashamed it was made public, but then again maybe not. You see it appears it's ok to publicly put someone down, to belittle them, hurt them, name call and generally bully people into submission, as long as it's called robust debate it's ok to do it, but funnily enough it's not. It's a real shit when you bully people whether it's robust debate or not, you see a bully is a coward, a cast iron coward, it's not actually just about physical violence (that i'm more than happy to deal with) it's about bullying people by words, they cut to the core of a persons being. I'm beginning to actually enjoy more my time spent with my non believing friends than i do in the presence of Christians and that is just stupid. I'm looking forward to the emails and comments i will get on this, maybe that makes me weird (my wife does think i'm wired up wrong) but you know what i don't care, i'm more comfortable in my skin today than i have been for years, i'm comfortable in my relationship with my wife, my friends and family and most importantly i'm more than comfortable in my relationship with God and that gets a HELL YEAH from me!!
Saturday, 20 July 2013
Monday, 15 July 2013
Of course i want forgiveness.... i just don't want to give it to anybody who has hurt me!!!
Forgiveness is a real pain in the butt, we all want it shown to us when we have wronged someone or hurt someone, broken a law etc. But we don't tend to want to give it, we like to receive we just don't want to give it. But what if we did give it unconditionally, without thought of the wrongs done, the hurt caused and the heart ache and break that went with the problem? What if.......?
Could it really help us as individuals to forgive to just let it go and move forward instead of holding onto the past hurts we have and the anger that still goes with them, anger that we tend to point at the people who hurt us and God who allowed it to happen. We need to learn that forgiveness is a release from the prison of our hurts and anger, it releases us from that heartache, that connection to the past which drags us back and stops us being free.
All of us have hurts that have needed to be, or need to be dealt with, part of that process is a desire to forgive the wrongdoer a desire to release them from their guilt and to release us from our hurt. It's not an easy process because we hold onto things like anger and the past more than we need to in all honesty. But i genuinely believe that if we could let these things go no matter how hard it is we can be released into a great wave of love, we can't hold a grudge, we can't hold onto hurt and anger. If we do we build an emotional prison with walls so thick nothing gets through and the only ones it really hurts is ourselves. It maybe time to start removing those bricks in that prison and start letting in some light and some love, then when that light and love is reflected back it brings freedom which cannot be expressed adequately with words.
Peace people
Could it really help us as individuals to forgive to just let it go and move forward instead of holding onto the past hurts we have and the anger that still goes with them, anger that we tend to point at the people who hurt us and God who allowed it to happen. We need to learn that forgiveness is a release from the prison of our hurts and anger, it releases us from that heartache, that connection to the past which drags us back and stops us being free.
All of us have hurts that have needed to be, or need to be dealt with, part of that process is a desire to forgive the wrongdoer a desire to release them from their guilt and to release us from our hurt. It's not an easy process because we hold onto things like anger and the past more than we need to in all honesty. But i genuinely believe that if we could let these things go no matter how hard it is we can be released into a great wave of love, we can't hold a grudge, we can't hold onto hurt and anger. If we do we build an emotional prison with walls so thick nothing gets through and the only ones it really hurts is ourselves. It maybe time to start removing those bricks in that prison and start letting in some light and some love, then when that light and love is reflected back it brings freedom which cannot be expressed adequately with words.
Peace people
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
The God who failed
Metallica are one of my favourite bands, i just love the power they provide in their music. Now one of their songs is called "The God who failed" and is about faith and how it's abused and some of the stupidity that goes with faith. Anyway while listening to this the other day it got me to thinking and the thought pattern was interesting. You see i know a lot of Christians who spend so much time saying God can't won't don't do, that they are full of negativity. Everything has to have a logical answer and everything needs to have the i's dotted and the t's crossed before they listen. They also always think of God in human terms, by this i mean they say well "i could not, i will not, i don't agree" now all these things are good in moderation. Yes we should question things, we should apply our God given brains to the situation but when we start to relegate the king of kings down to a party trickster we fail miserably, God does not fail we fail. You see when we try to put God into our understanding it does not work, we cannot stiffle God we can try but we cannot stiffle him in anyway whatsoever. You see God is above and beyond human understanding not because we are stupid but because God is God and before all things, and we try and stop him doing what he want's because we do not get it.
Those Christians who spend all their time on the side of the fence of God can't, tend to be negative, they tend to always want to pick an argument, they rarely admit to a change of view because in a lot of cases because God did not do for them they are hurt and bitter and drag it around with them.It's about time we started spending our time discussing GOD CAN, not GOD CAN'T, you see when we start doing God can we see changes, yes sometimes it will not work and we may look foolish. But if we actually got out of the boat and tried to walk on water we would be surprised at how great it can be. Once we get into God can our perspective changes, we become doers as well as speakers, we see lives touched for the better, we see people healed and our faith is strengthened. From now on in i'm going to try and spend more time on God can, than God can't because the negativity that goes with it drags me down. I'm going to listen to some Metallica now as i want to play my custom built Air guitar.
Peace peeps
Those Christians who spend all their time on the side of the fence of God can't, tend to be negative, they tend to always want to pick an argument, they rarely admit to a change of view because in a lot of cases because God did not do for them they are hurt and bitter and drag it around with them.It's about time we started spending our time discussing GOD CAN, not GOD CAN'T, you see when we start doing God can we see changes, yes sometimes it will not work and we may look foolish. But if we actually got out of the boat and tried to walk on water we would be surprised at how great it can be. Once we get into God can our perspective changes, we become doers as well as speakers, we see lives touched for the better, we see people healed and our faith is strengthened. From now on in i'm going to try and spend more time on God can, than God can't because the negativity that goes with it drags me down. I'm going to listen to some Metallica now as i want to play my custom built Air guitar.
Peace peeps
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Worship and toast
Last night while unwinding after a very good and exciting gig i was having some Tomato soup and toast, which got me to thinking about a conversation i had with a mate about folded toast and unfolded toast. His point was he folds his toast, because it's thicker that way and he feels he has more as it's thicker. I keep my toast unfolded even when dipping with it, and this triggered the final thought process for a service i lead on Sunday 7th July on the subject of worship and how different forms still do what it says on the tin. All to often if something is different or out of our comfort zone we dismiss it. If it's new we dismiss it, if it is not within our theological spectrum we dismiss it out of hand, and can get quite nasty about how someone else worships God. There are certain biblical parameters for worship, one often quoted is Jesus saying" the day will come when true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth". This statement is 2 fold it's partly prophetic about how it will be when we are before the throne of God, no bitchiness, no backbiting, no i'm right your wrong because you like guitars, i like an organ. It also has an element of the now in it, it's how we need to worship. Now this is where it gets a bit cloudy. My truth and worship works for me the way i honour God in that worship is truthful to me, and truthful to God, my spirit soars when i worship God, it takes flight and i know i'm happy with what has happened, whether that is corporately or in my private times. Another aspect of worship is it requires a sacrifice from me, that sacrifice can be in many ways but it requires me to do something which i'm not very good at and that is to humble myself before my God and King. You see as people we are not by and large humble, we are right and that is that. Differing views are not welcome, don't make me think outside of my box of comfort and you sure as heck will not make me think that i could possibly be wrong or need to be humble, how dare you do that.
You see Our worship is a requirement of the Christian walk, it's not an option, i'm going to use another word now which will offend many, but our worship is a commandment from God, it's not a case of if i want to, it's a case of i have to do so. As long as i'm true to God and myself how i choose to worship is entirely up to me, i'm learning not to inflict my style of worship on people, and i don't want other styles inflicted upon me. Yes i will try new forms of worship, if i don't like how you do it, it does not make me wrong it means we differ in our walk. It give neither of us the right to backbite and tell each other we are wrong. We can be different as long as our focus is on God i don't have a problem with your liturgy, just have the grace not to have a problem with the way i do my worship. If we can respect each other we can actually do far better than continually moaning about ABC. I'm gonna try and fold my toast tomorrow, try something different with it, i may like it i may not but i'm willing to give it a go. Because after all it's toast which ever way i fold it or unfold it.
Peace people
You see Our worship is a requirement of the Christian walk, it's not an option, i'm going to use another word now which will offend many, but our worship is a commandment from God, it's not a case of if i want to, it's a case of i have to do so. As long as i'm true to God and myself how i choose to worship is entirely up to me, i'm learning not to inflict my style of worship on people, and i don't want other styles inflicted upon me. Yes i will try new forms of worship, if i don't like how you do it, it does not make me wrong it means we differ in our walk. It give neither of us the right to backbite and tell each other we are wrong. We can be different as long as our focus is on God i don't have a problem with your liturgy, just have the grace not to have a problem with the way i do my worship. If we can respect each other we can actually do far better than continually moaning about ABC. I'm gonna try and fold my toast tomorrow, try something different with it, i may like it i may not but i'm willing to give it a go. Because after all it's toast which ever way i fold it or unfold it.
Peace people
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