My hippie side first rang out when I entered Half Priced Books in Kenwood, Ohio.
After I spent an hour drooling over the shelves and shelves of books, I began to truly notice the people: free spirits.
The cashier who completed my transaction had two lower lip piercings, wore thin, silver-rimmed glasses, and it looked like her dirty blonde hair (ahem) had not been brushed in weeks.
Her t-shirt, which was too small for her figure made an earth-friendly statement. Her skirt, which was too short for her legs, flowed and puffed with such freedom that its length and appearance were only small distractions to the overall presentation of her person.
She made me smile and I left with joy in my heart and an extra skip in my step.
Lovely. (Though I will not return to those days of that kind of "hippie-hood.")
When I arrived for my shift at Starbucks the eco-girl I have always wanted to be came floating through the door.
Her hair was a lovely brick red, her eyes were green, and her skin appeared to be blemish free. (Probably because she shops at Whole Foods and only eats organic.)
As she ordered her tall, soy, Earl Gray latte in a "for here" mug, I continued to stare at her face. (These hippie sightings are rare in Ohio. I take them in when I get the chance.)
Her eyes were free from mascara and yet she looked neither sickly nor tired. (Lucky girl.) Though her smile was limp and didn't show much enthusiasm, her lips were a nice mauve and make up for the awkward expression.
She wore comfortable, freely moving garments that made me envy her ability to pull off the look.
Her crocheted hat was the color of Ohio-ian wheat fields in the summer and her knitted cardigan was the burnt yellow I wish I could wear.
Predictably, yet with a freshness in her step, she took her earth-preserving, conservation-providing, recyclable mug to the outside patio where she pulled out her, (I have no doubt,) "tree free" journal and pen to aide her in documenting her life philosophies.
As she sat outside, enjoying the warmth of the sun; I was inside, enjoying the warmth of my mopping technique.
As her skin soaked in vitamin D, my skin soaked in my "vitamin of sweat".
I pulled my eyes away from the happy hippie and back to the mop business at hand.
A mixture of delight and sadness went through my being.
It would seem that the Lord didn't let me go to the University of Oregon for a reason. (McMinamins calls out to me. The streets of Eugene!!)
Ahh well. Granola is not fully compatible with my worldview anyhow.
And yet, I am still delighted to see such familiar faces in Ohio.
Makes it feel a bit more like home.
Glad I had the opportunity to see such a stylish, happily recycling, hippie girl.
(Maybe I can join their ranks...with dreads added...if I don't get a teaching job...)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Thinking of My Old Age
I recently had a conversation with a customer at Starbucks whose husband has Alzheimer's. While everything in his mind is being confused and forgotten he can still remember the names of World War 2 air crafts.
He was in the air force. He loved building model planes. He loved to study planes. Planes were so engrained in his mind that even as his mind is fading, air craft facts cannot help but burst out of him.
My expectation for my old life is that I will get Alzheimer's. I have family history and I myself am already quite forgetful and absent-minded. But, after hearing this story -- I want to be sure that I am preparing my diseased mind to spill out with Scripture and words of grace. I want to so love Him and know His Word that I remember Scripture even when my brain no longer operates properly.
(I have A LOT of work ahead of me...)
At the nursing home I now go to weekly, I see many old people who are sick.
That's coming for all of us. What are we doing with our "youth" (at whatever stage we may have it,) NOW? While we can still move and groove (haha) freely, how are we/am I choosing to use the youth the Lord has given me?
When I am old, I want to be satisfied with how I used my energy. I don't want to regret laziness.
(I best get going then...that's intimidating...Where do I start? Where do I go? How much do I do?)
While reading "Radical" by David Platt I was inspired by an anecdote told about a 70-year-old couple who help with disaster relief in foreign countries. WOW!
Let it be said of me!!!
If I get to keep the powers of my mind as well as my bodily functions -- let me be an example to the young ones! Let me keep on working!! No retirement!!
Even if my brain fails and my body can no longer be controlled by me -- may I glorify the Lord.
Let me invest NOW to produce THEN.
He was in the air force. He loved building model planes. He loved to study planes. Planes were so engrained in his mind that even as his mind is fading, air craft facts cannot help but burst out of him.
My expectation for my old life is that I will get Alzheimer's. I have family history and I myself am already quite forgetful and absent-minded. But, after hearing this story -- I want to be sure that I am preparing my diseased mind to spill out with Scripture and words of grace. I want to so love Him and know His Word that I remember Scripture even when my brain no longer operates properly.
(I have A LOT of work ahead of me...)
At the nursing home I now go to weekly, I see many old people who are sick.
That's coming for all of us. What are we doing with our "youth" (at whatever stage we may have it,) NOW? While we can still move and groove (haha) freely, how are we/am I choosing to use the youth the Lord has given me?
When I am old, I want to be satisfied with how I used my energy. I don't want to regret laziness.
(I best get going then...that's intimidating...Where do I start? Where do I go? How much do I do?)
While reading "Radical" by David Platt I was inspired by an anecdote told about a 70-year-old couple who help with disaster relief in foreign countries. WOW!
Let it be said of me!!!
If I get to keep the powers of my mind as well as my bodily functions -- let me be an example to the young ones! Let me keep on working!! No retirement!!
Even if my brain fails and my body can no longer be controlled by me -- may I glorify the Lord.
Let me invest NOW to produce THEN.
Twenty Five Years
I am now 25 years old.
WHOA DUDE!
A quarter of a century.
As the day passed -- I wanted to be able to "reflect" a bit with the blog.
The opportunity for that has not come until now.
Do you realize that if I were to live 75 years (is that the "average life expectantcy?) I am already one-third of the way there.
If I were to die tomorrow I have not been the best steward of my time.
As I look back on my 25 years of living -- what have I done that will last in and for eternity?
If I were to die right now and the Lord set my works to burn in testing -- what would stand?
The Lord -- He has been faithful and purposeful. He has not wasted me. He has molded me and shaped me.
In the last 25 years -- what have "I" accomplished?
...A lot of schooling...
Overall, I learned and soaked in this world. Grew and developed in concepts and understanding.
Spiritually, I learned about the Lord, was reborn/adopted, realized who He is, grew in knowledge and trust and love for Him...
So, these years have been the preparatory years. This has been the time of spring -- the seed growing, feeding on the nourishment, fighting through the weeds that could choke, pressing on through God's grace, growing strength in my roots while the rains pour down, wilting, growing -
Then I wonder...what will happen with the next part of my life (depending on how long the Lord has given me)?
Now I have this as a stewardship. The Lord planted my soul in fertile ground.
What fruit has He been preparing for me? What good works should I pursue?
Maybe, though, the next section of my life won't be the focus of "what fruit will I bear," but, "how will the Lord prune me?"
In order for me to bear much fruit -- and see my treasure in heaven -- this young, crazy bush must be still shaped and trimmed. He's already started to use His shears (HALLELUJAH!) they are sharp and He is sure. With each rip and tear (though they have been minor, comparatively,) He calls out, "I love you! Trust Me more! Love Me more! Know more of Me!!"
With more of these experiences I see the reality of His promise to complete the work and present me blameless. With CA to WA's chop -- I rebelled. From WA to OH's pruning -- I went willingly but did not rejoice.
Now I see -- REJOICE.
He's my all in all. (Do I believe that?)
ALL to Him I owe. (Do I give Him all?)
Sin had left a crimson stain -- He washed it white as snow.
By His grace ALONE, I will choose to abide in Him. I will pursue the opportunities for Him to chop me.
For twenty-five years I have been taught and now (it would seem,) I must act.
Lord, guide me to my gray hairs and beyond!!
WHOA DUDE!
A quarter of a century.
As the day passed -- I wanted to be able to "reflect" a bit with the blog.
The opportunity for that has not come until now.
Do you realize that if I were to live 75 years (is that the "average life expectantcy?) I am already one-third of the way there.
If I were to die tomorrow I have not been the best steward of my time.
As I look back on my 25 years of living -- what have I done that will last in and for eternity?
If I were to die right now and the Lord set my works to burn in testing -- what would stand?
The Lord -- He has been faithful and purposeful. He has not wasted me. He has molded me and shaped me.
In the last 25 years -- what have "I" accomplished?
...A lot of schooling...
Overall, I learned and soaked in this world. Grew and developed in concepts and understanding.
Spiritually, I learned about the Lord, was reborn/adopted, realized who He is, grew in knowledge and trust and love for Him...
So, these years have been the preparatory years. This has been the time of spring -- the seed growing, feeding on the nourishment, fighting through the weeds that could choke, pressing on through God's grace, growing strength in my roots while the rains pour down, wilting, growing -
Then I wonder...what will happen with the next part of my life (depending on how long the Lord has given me)?
Now I have this as a stewardship. The Lord planted my soul in fertile ground.
What fruit has He been preparing for me? What good works should I pursue?
Maybe, though, the next section of my life won't be the focus of "what fruit will I bear," but, "how will the Lord prune me?"
In order for me to bear much fruit -- and see my treasure in heaven -- this young, crazy bush must be still shaped and trimmed. He's already started to use His shears (HALLELUJAH!) they are sharp and He is sure. With each rip and tear (though they have been minor, comparatively,) He calls out, "I love you! Trust Me more! Love Me more! Know more of Me!!"
With more of these experiences I see the reality of His promise to complete the work and present me blameless. With CA to WA's chop -- I rebelled. From WA to OH's pruning -- I went willingly but did not rejoice.
Now I see -- REJOICE.
He's my all in all. (Do I believe that?)
ALL to Him I owe. (Do I give Him all?)
Sin had left a crimson stain -- He washed it white as snow.
By His grace ALONE, I will choose to abide in Him. I will pursue the opportunities for Him to chop me.
For twenty-five years I have been taught and now (it would seem,) I must act.
Lord, guide me to my gray hairs and beyond!!
Writing Bug
Well guys, I have the writing bug. In order to rid one's self there is only one solution: write it out.
I want to praise the Lord. I want to declare His goodness, His faithfulness, and His love.
I want to spread these words through the nations.
I want to show these actions that the world may know who He is.
And yet, will they hear?
Will their hearts be softened?
Jesus said to pray that the Father would send out more workers to the harvest. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Sometimes I am disinclined to believe that.
Pray more.
I want to praise the Lord. I want to declare His goodness, His faithfulness, and His love.
I want to spread these words through the nations.
I want to show these actions that the world may know who He is.
And yet, will they hear?
Will their hearts be softened?
Jesus said to pray that the Father would send out more workers to the harvest. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Sometimes I am disinclined to believe that.
Pray more.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
First Response to Greg Boyd's Romans 9 Article
In this article Dr. Boyd makes some sweeping statements that I cannot agree with. I do not think his 6 points stand when held against the light of Scripture. I also think that he is not choosing to hold “determinism” (as he uses the word) and “free will” in balance.
Why does he choose the word "determinism"? This brings a connotation of no true human - God interaction. Which then immediately is false and unbiblical bringing the "predetermination" view in an immediate "bad light".
He first states that a deterministic God is NOT love.
How does he define God’s love?
Is God’s wrath not a piece of His love? Why not?
Then: when God exercises His wrath is His love absent?
In Ezekiel 33:11 God declares, “’I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?’”
And then we ask the question: How can any of us turn from our evil ways? Isaiah 64:6-8 – We are all dead in our iniquities. None of us turn to the Lord. All that we are is a work of the Lord.
Jeremiah 32:39 – the LORD will give them a new heart so they can make an everlasting covenant. All of Jeremiah is about this balance between God giving them opportunity to repent (His love and grace) while knowing that they will not repent, but He will save some – the remnant because He will choose to give those elect a new heart that can follow Him.
Psalm 14, Romans 3 also helps us to see that their unfaithfulness does not show the unfaithfulness of God to choose to act and save, but it reveals that He is justified in His words and that He prevails when He judges.
God HAS given us responsibility. He has determined what He will give us and we do have a responsibility within that stewardship. God is sovereign overall. If He has given to some man a hard heart – that is what God has determined for His own glory and that is good.
We are all condemned under the law. We are all given a responsibility to respond appropriately (in humility and with a heart of worship,) but where does this ability (to have faith) come from? God alone.
Can we create our righteousness? We are all as an unclean thing. We are all DEAD in our transgressions. Can the dead bring themselves back to life? God alone can give us salvation. God alone can awaken our souls.
By implication, then, this would have to mean that those He does not choose to soften, He chooses to harden. That would be in line with Romans 9 – Pharoah, Esau and Jacob, etc. In Acts it speaks of those who were APPOINTED to salvation believed. In John 17 Jesus speaks of those God has GIVEN to Him. He wasn’t praying for the whole world, but for those who believed in Him and those who would believe in Him.
2.) Chapter 9 is about individuals. Again, Boyd seems to be going to far to the opposite extreme. It is a “yes” and “yes”. Individuals are the ones that make up the nation. True, I don’t know if Esau went to hell or not (Hebrews seems to indicate that he did,) but the INDIVIDUALS are the ones that make up the nation. Why else would Paul be talking about Jacob and Esau and Pharoah? Paul Is writing to INDIVIDUALS. This is not just to demonstrate some historical point. (Besides, God never saved the WHOLE nation of Israel – Hebrews 3:16-19.) Again, that passage (as does the whole book,) points out the BALANCE between “determinism” and “free will”. There is an interaction between the predestination of God and our responsibility to correctly respond to what He has given us. With that God has written who we are and how we will act according to His purposes and plans and we cannot act outside of that. How this works is NOT explainable.
In point 2 Boyd even says that God will “choose whomever He wanted to choose.” Precisely. That is an individual and it’s who He wants.
Boyd also says, “Paul was not concerning himself with the eternal destinities of people. His concern was solely to show God’s sovereignty in electing people to a historical vocation.” Really?? Romans 9:1-5 and 10:1-4 – Paul is weeping over and praying for PEOPLE who make up a nation, but his focus seems to be on the PEOPLE themselves.
Again, I will come back to Paul is writing about both – the NATION as the ones who had the law, etc and the individuals. 10:5 is good for the individuals and 11 is good about the nations, but (again) Paul comes back to the individuals when he talks about how will they hear, believe, go preach, etc.
Also remember 9:14-18 – individuals.
11:19-24 demonstrates a good balance.
Boyd also brought up Jeremiah 18:1-4 and said that this demonstrates the potters flexibility. Why then does verse four end with, “as seemed good to the potter”?
God DOES interact with us. (Jesus is the biggest interaction demonstrated, of course). He especially interacts with those He has chosen – He disciplines, corrects, grows, provides the Spirit, etc, but this is all ACCORDING TO HIS WILL.
Jeremiah 11:4-11 – is declaring and demonstrating His grace and His goodness. But He knows and He is the only One who can allow us to repent.
Point 5 paragraph 3 I “agree with” until Boyd writes that God changes His mind. Coming to the Gentiles is in accordance with His plan as shown through out the Old Testament (Isaiah really comes to mind.) Our reactions that will happen are in accordance to His plan. He is not waiting for us to repent. He is not wondering whether or not we will repent or who will repent – He knows because He has already predestined us according to His will (Ephesians 1:5). Looking at Revelation, He has determined some who will experience His wrath. He has predestined those who will experience His mercy – this is all to demonstrate who He is – in order to bring Him glory. THAT is the good He has planned. That is so that all will be astounded by His love and for those of us who are chose we should be AMAZED and HUMBLED at what He has done and motivated all the MORE to go out and share the Gospel because we DO NOT KNOW who has been chosen, we DO NOT KNOW if (though we do have assurance of salvation,) if we are deceiving ourselves. We have been given a HUGELY GREAT stewardship and the knowledge of His predestination should motivate us to PRESS ON and work HARDER.
A huge issue I have in point 5 paragraph 6, “the people God chose to have mercy on are those who have faith…” Say WHAT?! So, when I was dead in my sin and wickedness I started seeking after Him and then He said, “OH! Look at how amazing Alicia is for choosing me! I will reach out and choose her. Good job, Alicia! You get salvation because you chose to have faith.”
Ahhh – that is IMPOSSIBLE. I was DEAD in my transgressions. (Ephesians 2) I was BLINDED in my sin (2nd Corinthians 1-5) The wickedness of my heart DECEIVED me. (Jeremiah 17:9) Whatever good that may work out of me is from God and the grace He has shown me.
NOW! I will say – that after salvation we do have that choice to press on.
I will also repeat myself to say that he has given us the responsibility to respond appropriately to salvation and to His “Godness”. If we choose to harden our hearts (as the Israelites did in the day of rebellion, and as Paul describes in Romans 1 and warns against throughout the letter,) we will receive strict judgment.
God is just even if He chooses.
God is love even if He chooses.
Why does His choice negate these things?
Are you too heavily influenced by the thoughts and definitions of man and human philosophy?
I know I was when I was battling this.
Can God be God if He did not choose?
Is what Boyd is saying even possible? – If God chose me because I showed faith, isn’t that salvation by works? Our works come AFTER salvation to PROVE our faith (James and Romans --- and the whole of the Bible.)
The covenant in the Old Testament was, “if you do good --- you will be blessed; if you do evil, you will be cursed.” But who enables us to do the good? Who hardened Pharoah’s heart? Who hardened the kings in Babylon? Who hardens and/or softens anyone’s heart?
Does the potter’s clay get to jump off the wheel? No. The potter can smash it however he wants. This Potter has made the clay and knows how He will use it and knows how He wants to use it. He DOES interact with us, but it is also in accordance with His will.
There is a balance. We cannot fully understand this balance, but accepting the balance pushes us to trust more in GOD and less (LESS!) in ourselves and our understanding.
Why does he choose the word "determinism"? This brings a connotation of no true human - God interaction. Which then immediately is false and unbiblical bringing the "predetermination" view in an immediate "bad light".
He first states that a deterministic God is NOT love.
How does he define God’s love?
Is God’s wrath not a piece of His love? Why not?
Then: when God exercises His wrath is His love absent?
In Ezekiel 33:11 God declares, “’I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?’”
And then we ask the question: How can any of us turn from our evil ways? Isaiah 64:6-8 – We are all dead in our iniquities. None of us turn to the Lord. All that we are is a work of the Lord.
Jeremiah 32:39 – the LORD will give them a new heart so they can make an everlasting covenant. All of Jeremiah is about this balance between God giving them opportunity to repent (His love and grace) while knowing that they will not repent, but He will save some – the remnant because He will choose to give those elect a new heart that can follow Him.
Psalm 14, Romans 3 also helps us to see that their unfaithfulness does not show the unfaithfulness of God to choose to act and save, but it reveals that He is justified in His words and that He prevails when He judges.
God HAS given us responsibility. He has determined what He will give us and we do have a responsibility within that stewardship. God is sovereign overall. If He has given to some man a hard heart – that is what God has determined for His own glory and that is good.
We are all condemned under the law. We are all given a responsibility to respond appropriately (in humility and with a heart of worship,) but where does this ability (to have faith) come from? God alone.
Can we create our righteousness? We are all as an unclean thing. We are all DEAD in our transgressions. Can the dead bring themselves back to life? God alone can give us salvation. God alone can awaken our souls.
By implication, then, this would have to mean that those He does not choose to soften, He chooses to harden. That would be in line with Romans 9 – Pharoah, Esau and Jacob, etc. In Acts it speaks of those who were APPOINTED to salvation believed. In John 17 Jesus speaks of those God has GIVEN to Him. He wasn’t praying for the whole world, but for those who believed in Him and those who would believe in Him.
2.) Chapter 9 is about individuals. Again, Boyd seems to be going to far to the opposite extreme. It is a “yes” and “yes”. Individuals are the ones that make up the nation. True, I don’t know if Esau went to hell or not (Hebrews seems to indicate that he did,) but the INDIVIDUALS are the ones that make up the nation. Why else would Paul be talking about Jacob and Esau and Pharoah? Paul Is writing to INDIVIDUALS. This is not just to demonstrate some historical point. (Besides, God never saved the WHOLE nation of Israel – Hebrews 3:16-19.) Again, that passage (as does the whole book,) points out the BALANCE between “determinism” and “free will”. There is an interaction between the predestination of God and our responsibility to correctly respond to what He has given us. With that God has written who we are and how we will act according to His purposes and plans and we cannot act outside of that. How this works is NOT explainable.
In point 2 Boyd even says that God will “choose whomever He wanted to choose.” Precisely. That is an individual and it’s who He wants.
Boyd also says, “Paul was not concerning himself with the eternal destinities of people. His concern was solely to show God’s sovereignty in electing people to a historical vocation.” Really?? Romans 9:1-5 and 10:1-4 – Paul is weeping over and praying for PEOPLE who make up a nation, but his focus seems to be on the PEOPLE themselves.
Again, I will come back to Paul is writing about both – the NATION as the ones who had the law, etc and the individuals. 10:5 is good for the individuals and 11 is good about the nations, but (again) Paul comes back to the individuals when he talks about how will they hear, believe, go preach, etc.
Also remember 9:14-18 – individuals.
11:19-24 demonstrates a good balance.
Boyd also brought up Jeremiah 18:1-4 and said that this demonstrates the potters flexibility. Why then does verse four end with, “as seemed good to the potter”?
God DOES interact with us. (Jesus is the biggest interaction demonstrated, of course). He especially interacts with those He has chosen – He disciplines, corrects, grows, provides the Spirit, etc, but this is all ACCORDING TO HIS WILL.
Jeremiah 11:4-11 – is declaring and demonstrating His grace and His goodness. But He knows and He is the only One who can allow us to repent.
Point 5 paragraph 3 I “agree with” until Boyd writes that God changes His mind. Coming to the Gentiles is in accordance with His plan as shown through out the Old Testament (Isaiah really comes to mind.) Our reactions that will happen are in accordance to His plan. He is not waiting for us to repent. He is not wondering whether or not we will repent or who will repent – He knows because He has already predestined us according to His will (Ephesians 1:5). Looking at Revelation, He has determined some who will experience His wrath. He has predestined those who will experience His mercy – this is all to demonstrate who He is – in order to bring Him glory. THAT is the good He has planned. That is so that all will be astounded by His love and for those of us who are chose we should be AMAZED and HUMBLED at what He has done and motivated all the MORE to go out and share the Gospel because we DO NOT KNOW who has been chosen, we DO NOT KNOW if (though we do have assurance of salvation,) if we are deceiving ourselves. We have been given a HUGELY GREAT stewardship and the knowledge of His predestination should motivate us to PRESS ON and work HARDER.
A huge issue I have in point 5 paragraph 6, “the people God chose to have mercy on are those who have faith…” Say WHAT?! So, when I was dead in my sin and wickedness I started seeking after Him and then He said, “OH! Look at how amazing Alicia is for choosing me! I will reach out and choose her. Good job, Alicia! You get salvation because you chose to have faith.”
Ahhh – that is IMPOSSIBLE. I was DEAD in my transgressions. (Ephesians 2) I was BLINDED in my sin (2nd Corinthians 1-5) The wickedness of my heart DECEIVED me. (Jeremiah 17:9) Whatever good that may work out of me is from God and the grace He has shown me.
NOW! I will say – that after salvation we do have that choice to press on.
I will also repeat myself to say that he has given us the responsibility to respond appropriately to salvation and to His “Godness”. If we choose to harden our hearts (as the Israelites did in the day of rebellion, and as Paul describes in Romans 1 and warns against throughout the letter,) we will receive strict judgment.
God is just even if He chooses.
God is love even if He chooses.
Why does His choice negate these things?
Are you too heavily influenced by the thoughts and definitions of man and human philosophy?
I know I was when I was battling this.
Can God be God if He did not choose?
Is what Boyd is saying even possible? – If God chose me because I showed faith, isn’t that salvation by works? Our works come AFTER salvation to PROVE our faith (James and Romans --- and the whole of the Bible.)
The covenant in the Old Testament was, “if you do good --- you will be blessed; if you do evil, you will be cursed.” But who enables us to do the good? Who hardened Pharoah’s heart? Who hardened the kings in Babylon? Who hardens and/or softens anyone’s heart?
Does the potter’s clay get to jump off the wheel? No. The potter can smash it however he wants. This Potter has made the clay and knows how He will use it and knows how He wants to use it. He DOES interact with us, but it is also in accordance with His will.
There is a balance. We cannot fully understand this balance, but accepting the balance pushes us to trust more in GOD and less (LESS!) in ourselves and our understanding.
Friday, April 01, 2011
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