waking up

Huh. Taken from Simon, who took it from his friend. Thanks.

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don’t think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 86% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 64% Fundamentalist 43% Modern Liberal 43% Classical Liberal 43% Roman Catholic 36% Charismatic/Pentecostal 32% Reformed Evangelical 25% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Funny how I am equal parts liberal and fundamentalist… hahahaha. I guess it is a good quiz, cuz I don’t really know, myself. I also found out that the man ni the picture is Brian McLaren, a man whose books I plan on reading soon.

Some of the questions are a little unclear. For example, they ask you how much you agree or disagree with the statement, “The use of spiritual gifts is essential in worship,” or some crap like that. You KNOW they mean the charismatic gifts (because they are trying to single out all the Pentocostals), but in essence, with deeper definitions of “spiritual gifts” and “worship,” no Christian would hold anything against this statement at all. So I just said “I agree.”

I don’t really feel alienated from “older forms of church,” yet I believe tradition holds little value. And I’m also not sure about relationships RATHER than crusades or altar calls, but I do stress their importance. How else would I cope with the fact that I never lead anyone to Christ “officially?”

Here’s the bent in God’s heart (refer to previous entry).

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1 John 4:8-10
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

To the apostle John, God is love. God showed His love in Jesus.

I’ve been reflecting on this a bit, but it’s interesting how John is giving this little section on God’s love in verses 7-12. It reminds me of the last supper in John’s gospel.

John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John has the flip-side of Jesus’ command. Jesus gives the instruction because He already knows why, and John gives the explanation and because He figured it out.

God is love and that won’t change. It’s difficult for me to get this.

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I realize that Haven and whatever job I’m going to get will become just another routine in my life unless I stop to wake up to the bigger picture. Friends and all that will come, and I am patient enough, but true friends are friends who will help you wake up, too. And when everyone is awake, everything is going to be much better.

Yeah, I miss everybody from Los Angeles, but it’s not what I thought it would be. It’s a lot different from the kind of thing where you remember someone or something that you were very fond of and just cry… it’s like a deeper kind of pain. It’s the abstract kind of pain where you’re in a place and don’t know what to do, and you just move forward, hoping things will come together. It’s not at all pessimism or desperation, but it’s a place of recognizing the human condition: always needy for others, always needy for God.

I know now that I can never go back to the days when I was in college, somewhat free and safe. People were watching my back and I often chose to stay in my routines. But this is the very thing that kept me from the greater reality; that while I’m seeking spiritual growth and blessing and ministry maturation, I miss the bigger picture… God, God, God.

Who He is… not how powerful He is, not His sovereignty, nor even the fact that He supplies all my needs. Just His heart. What kind of things are in His heart… what kind of person is He? It’s beyond what makes Him sad and what makes Him rejoice. What I’m interested in is knowing His unchanging heart.

I’ve been asking myself this question recently: In what ways does the unchanging heart of God have a mighty and eternal bent? Meaning my God is not really like anything else I know, so what is He like?

I know I’m probably going to forget this in about ten minutes, but isn’t it important to stop yourself and have a little time to remember who God is? Only then can you really know who you are, and how you fit in to this crazy story we call Redemption. I want to tell myself this every day, or else this new chapter in my life will be squashed to nothingness by lies and unbelief. It’s so much better to live in the truth, because then you are free.