Thoughts Following the Sermon

Yesterday the morning sermon was from Romans 1. The subject was how does the Christian face the question of homosexuality. Is it an alternate lifestyle? Is it genetic? Can one change? What is to be our attitude?

Our pastor did a terrific job in handling this very sensitive issue. One statement he made was to "get rid of your repulsion." And he suggested that Christians pray for the people they know who are in this lifestyle.

I wrote in my notes an additional thought: we need to pray for ourselves that we will truly love all people as people and respect them and their choices.

Homosexuality in the scripture is noted as a sinful lifestyle, along with adultery, hatred, and many other sins. I do believe that homosexuality is a learned lifestyle through environment and personal tendencies. I do know a few who have been in this lifestyle and have changed. I also have several personal acquaintances who continue in this lifestyle.

I think the challenge for the Christian is to accept and love the person and at the same time hold to the truth that homosexuality is wrong. That's an almost impossible task. And one reason is that oftentimes the one living in this lifestyle insists that if you really love them, you will see and agree with their view that this is natural and is okay. They fight for acceptance.

I see a lot of the problem as the holier-than-thou attitude many Christians and whole denominations have toward people who say they are homosexuals or lesbians. Sometimes these same condemners are lenient toward heterosexual people who have affairs or who live together before marriage or who are married and have adulterous affairs. That's quite a double standard in my opinion.

In my world and my generation, the condemning of homosexually oriented people was hateful, repulsive, and filled with slurs and bad jokes.

The current generation seems to express total acceptance with no reference to a standard of morality.

The challenge to me and for me is to show grace and love to all (and not only "show," but to really BE loving and gracious from the inside out). And the second part of this challenge is learning how to hold a moral standard and to struggle with the pain of doing this as I also show love and acceptance to the person. Whew!

Is this possible?

"[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you–energizing and creating in you the power and desire–both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight." Philippians 2:13 Amplified

This, to me, is great food for thought and a true reality check.

MB

Mother's Day 2008

Today's a special day of the year, a day in which we honor our Moms. I'm always curious how things started and found the history of Mother's Day very interesting. If you're interested, check it out here: Mother's Day in the US

On this day every year I think of my parenting and ask myself if I did well as a Mom. If I look at my four children and evaluate that way, I would say I was a terrific Mom. Of course, the problem with that is that I don't think Mom's are responsible solely for how their children turn out. In fact, I think Moms do influence children, but there are so many other factors involved with how children end up that I think the kind of Mom you have plays a part, but not a huge part.

Anyway, I'm grateful for my four children of whom God allowed me to be their Mother. I'm glad they survived all my mistakes and hopefully used them to make better decisions and to become better adults.

This is a day to celebrate my Mom and to celebrate motherhood. I am a grateful child and a grateful Mom, counting my blessings.

MB

Switching Themes

I've decided to wind it up on writing about The Shack.

I've read some entries on the Internet that take to task many of the concepts and themes in The Shack.

I don't completely and wholeheartedly agree with the theology presented, but I learned a long time ago that I can glean much from many sources without requiring that the piece be 100% where I am in all areas. I think The Shack really hits readers in the emotional area of relating to God and how to do that in the midst of great heart pain and terrible events. Hopefully, we know how to read and enjoy and accept truths needed by us at that particular time, and sifting through what we might disagree with but not letting that affect our accepting wonderful insights and gaining from what we're reading. 

I like to contrast doing that with thinking, praying, and relating to others with our coded "religious" language. I much prefer the first way, which is what works best for me.

As I end these posts on The Shack, it might be fun to hear from you your bottom-line statement of how reading this book has impacted you. Tell us if you have time and want to.

MB