Denominations et al (Andy's question)

Andy Atkinson said...

"Ok here's a question for Mr Jon and I hope it doesnt fall into the anal categorie but its an interesting thought provoking one..... Taking just christianity into the picture as a whole , do you think that God is pleased by the efforts of people in different denominations thinking maybe "ok they were wrong on that bit there but there heart was good and they tried there best to serve me" or is there only one way to please God and the rest is blatantly going against his commands?"

Glad to see that we have a nice easy question to start off with. Cheers Andy (with heavy sarcasm), you wouldn't believe how long it has taken me to get something of a coherent answer to this in my head.

My initial thoughts on this were as follows; Heart is the most important thing. However, there are several things that I feel are important and worth mentioning:

1. The issue of Truth (with a definite capital T).
   
   A lot of people are obsessed with the idea of Truth and theological correctness, and on one level I would naturally fall into this category. Yes, it is important to look at things and to make sure that we are living correctly. However, I feel that a lot of the time we become too obsessed with getting things right (and making sure that everyone else is following the letter of the law). Jesus was definitely not big on condemnation and pointing the finger (see the woman caught in adultery, John 8), except when it came to the Pharisees, (and again, I think this was down to a heart issue).
   
   My point here is that all this seems to come at the expense of the relationship with God and other people, and can often become elevated in people's minds to the highest priority. So whilst there is a need for us to examine the Bible, and make sure we are living by what it says, the bigger priority is to love God and have a heart after him. (See King David for being a prime example of this, as he is remembered in the New Testament as being "A man with a heart after God", Acts 13:22). I would also recommend checking out this link where they talk about not having a clear cut "Statement of Faith".


2. Fundamentals
   
   I think there are certain very clear cut issues that do need to be set aside though, because they are the very underpinnings of Christianity.
   
   
   • That Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus is God himself (as opposed to being a prophet). Certainly any arguments that claim Jesus was "just a good teacher" etc do not hold at all. Jesus expressly claimed to be the Son of God, and in the words of CS Lewis, "He was either correct in who He said He was, or on a par with a man who claims that he is a poached egg"
   • That Jesus is the only way to Heaven, through His death and resurrection. You cannot be saved by any other means, for example praying to the virgin Mary (who is often an underrated person, but that is for a separate occasion).
   • You need to be baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
     

If people want to sit there and squabble over small petty differences, then a) I do not have the time of day for it, and b) I think it really gets in the way of our walk with God. I am not entirely sure that I have clear cut answered you question, but then again, the answer would always have to start with and "it depends...". We are called to have a relationship with God, and I really feel that if we pursue that as our first priority, God will sort out the issues along the way in his own time. Not to say that we don't have to work at it, but that we don't have to get our knickers in a twist about it.

Please discuss. This is by no means the diffinitive reasoning on the subject, and I am always up for a bit of learning.

Shopping (or at least trying to)

Unlike a lot of blokes, I really quite like shopping. However, I do have one frustration, in that normally I will not be able to afford to buy all of the stuff I really like. (I know that this is not all that profound, but hey).

Yesterday was different, because yesterday I had a reasonable amount of money to spend (which was nice). Could I find anything interesting or funky in 4-5 hours of shopping? Of course not. Up and down Cheshire Oaks I dragged Beqi and Joanna, as my willing fashion advisors, but to no avail. I got one or two things, but with the intended aim of overhauling my wardrobe, it was a pretty poor show.

Oh well, looks like a day out in Chester on Saturday is called for, what a shame. . .

Any Suggestions?

Ok, something that I really do like doing is being given a topic, and then getting to talk about it. So here is the challenge:

Give me a topic to talk about, that either you are interested in, or that you think I might be interested in. I will then do my utmost to write something interesting, and hopefully profound on it.

There is only one caviat: no theologically anal questions. Apart from that, I am game for anything. I may not manage to do something on every suggestion immediately, but I will try and do something on all of them.

CS Lewis, You Rock My World, (part 2)

Since adding the Wikiquote page, and actually reading through it, I have been struck by the elegance of many of Lewis' points, and also the weight that they carry. So much so, that I wanted to share a couple with you:

• "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." ~Is Theology Poetry?


• "God will look to every soul like its first love because He is its first love." ~The Problem of Pain


• God is not proud...He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him." ~The Problem of Pain


• If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." ~Surprised by Joy

On one level, these are all very well crafted and very clever statements, but for me they touch something much deeper. They really do touch the me at a heart level, because whilst they are products of superlative reasoning, they are really about the heart. As someone who has to use a lot of reasoning both in my job and on my degree, there is a natural tendency to use it far too much in the things of the Spirit, but in such a way that I end up bogged down in theology. Here we see the reverse, reasoning used to show in such concise form the very nature of ourselves and God. That at least gives me some hope!!

If you have been sitting comfortably, you should probably take a short walk around the room to stretch your legs.

Bank Holiday Weekend

As you will all be aware, there is a bank holiday coming up on Friday. As of the moment, I do not have anything planned, and I am on the scrounge for suggestions/invites. Anything of interest, then let me know (as long as it doesn't involve small children).

C.S. Lewis, You Rock My World

C.S. Lewis is someone often overlooked by the hip and trendy of the Christian literary world, and all anyone seems to talk about is The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. However, he also wrote loads of really good books on being a Christian (The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity), and life (A Grief Observed, The Four Loves). They are all packed with many insightful comments on who we are and why we do things.

What prompted it was this post that I found from a random clicking of links. It really sums up what is going on behind Love, and also goes some way towards giving me a mental prod/kicking in the right direction. Most of the time, we are all too scared to show how we really feel about people (and this is not about people that we fancy, etc). For me, this is partly because I am worried that people might think I am coming onto them, and also partly because in secular culture it is very bad form to show that you actually care for someone around you.

This unwillingness to be open often also leads to self-doubt in some people, because they never get the confirmation they need that people love them and appreciate them for who they are.

In the church environment, things are somewhat better (or so I feel), but I think we have a way to go before there is complete freedom. In the meantime, let me encourage you all to push the boat out a bit, and tell some people that you love them (obviously don't say this if you don't), and then maybe we can all lead a slightly less pressured existence. Lecture over.

If you have been, then may you continue to do so.

The Music in my Head

I know this is a post about music, and that my tastes are unconventional, but this is about an altogether different phenomenon. Yesterday, I decided not to take my MP3 player to work with me, just for a change. What happened however was that on the bus I sat and listened to a Matchbox Twenty album in my head, without doing anything conciously to achieve this.

Can anyone relate? Do I need sectioning under the mental health act? Or do I just need to stop listening to quite so much music? (The last one may be impossible, lol).

Congratulations to Luke who comfortably won both of our 10 pin bowling games yesterday.

Work, work, work.

Thought I would post a little bit about my new job as well, as it has managed to achieve quite a notable exception to all the other ones that I have had. Namely, I am actually enjoying the work that I have to do (websites and programming type things).

I have found that this makes a huge difference in my attitude and how I approach the work I have to do. It also means that I don't have the money I am earning as my focus, which is really good, because I can become somewhat obsessive about how much I earn at times.

To see the current project, take a look here, although remember that it is still a work in progress (and I didn't do it all, by a long shot. Also, please ignore the Latin). I will provide an updated link when the site goes live.

Beyond - Spring 06

Well, I had better start actually writing some stuff here, otherwise you will all end up bored to death. Beyond was such an awesome time for me, on many different levels. On a somewhat simple level, it was really good to catch up with people that I haven't seen for a while, what with living at the other end of the country.

The most significant thing for me was (unsurprisingly) the Sunday morning meeting, (talk about an emotional rollercoaster). From the scariness of having a room full of people singing at you, all the way through to the utter elation that I felt by the end of it all. Knowing that it is me and God going back down to Exeter puts such a different spin on my attitude to the people there, and also just how successful I think it will be.

In the beginning...

This is going to have to be quick, as I have to start work in about 3 minutes time. Dean and Andy have both mentioned their blogs here on blogspot, and suggested that I set one up myself, so that I can keep you all in the know about life, especially when I am in Exeter. So hopefully, regular updates will follow. Enjoy.