More Random Thought Offerings...

I'm wondering why...

... believers insist on replacing Israel with the United States of America. What makes America greater than Britain, which has Christianity as its official religion? What makes it better than Ethiopia, which also has Christianity as its official religion and a direct tie-in to the Bible? They say America was founded by Christians who wanted Christians to worship without government influence. This is a half-truth. America was founded by a mixture of Deists (who denied the deity of Christ), agnostics, and Christians. The author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was not a believer in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Neither were Franklin, Adams, and a few other fathers. I find it fascinating that there is no mention of Jesus in any official U.S. document of that period. Why? Because the founding fathers wanted all religions to have freedom to worship in America, including Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and all cults related to them. How we Christians have distorted this truth in a effort to place America in a covenant with God! Only Israel was in covenant with God. Now He makes one covenant with individuals -- the covenant of grace.

... that believers close to me and unknown take exception at the previous statement and I cannot reason with them. They see the whole world in black and white while I see the Gospel in black and white. There is a lot of gray in this world. And I'll go gray trying to argue that with them! It does no good for any of us. Argue over the Gospel, not politics.

... that we believers have a bad habit of labeling things. This applies to both theology and politics. It applies to music, art and church life. We just love putting things into boxes and forcing them to stay there regardless of what anyone else says. A "liberal" is a demon, a "conservative" a saint. "Reformed" is deceptive, "grace" is pure truth. A "Catholic" is going to hell and one "born again" is truly saved. Why do we do this? I quote Saint Paul: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:26)." Liberals can be Christians, conservatives can be heathens, reformed theologians can be loving and "grace" theologians can be cold. What matters is not what we do on the outside -- it's what we do on the inside. Stop labeling people!

... that the inside of my car is my "safety zone," where I can fuss, yell, cry, and sing without fear of reprimand. I've had so many "upset" conversations and prayers in my car with no one present but myself and the Lord. And I'm so glad no one else is there! And I'm glad my car cannot speak. If it could, I'd be ruined!