If Grace is true: Why God will save every person

I heard about a book recently, and it grabbed my attention because it had a very interesting title: "If Grace is true: Why God will save every person." And at first I got a little angry because I felt like, if that were true, then what are we even doing here? I mean as Christians. If everyone gets to heaven, then what's the point? But to be honest, I gradually became even more disgusted with my own reaction than the title of the book...

How long have I reduced God's salvation for us to a free ride ticket to heaven? What was Jesus coming to save us from? What if he came to save how we love one another, or how we see ourselves, or how we love God? Didn't he come so that we might have life and to the fullest? Maybe he came to save us from that feeling of meaningless meandering about this earth. This is why I love Phillipians 2:12 so much now, salvation isn't some cataclysmic event that happens in one moment then is over, in fact the typical "conversion" is really just an introduction to the process of salvation. We are to continually work out our salvation!

So what does this make evangelism look like? What if we weren't simply trying to "save them from the fires of hell" but rather "helping them to unlock real life"? Maybe we need to change how we think of salvation.

This is hot

Hey everyone. This is just me saying that the hottest thing since the Great potato rebellion of 1266 has just started his own blog. Well... he's been blogging for a while but no one reads myspace blogs haha. Check him out!

On the pier

There are always certain truths that I believe we will have to be constantly reminded of throughout our life, and I think I might have just been reminded again of one of those.

One handsomely dark evening, I found myself chatting with a friend on the pier about my thoughts, and about the beauty of community in spite of stark differences that seem to face us as Christians in the body. Although I rarely am able to see the error in my ways, I try to be open to the reality of my constant imperfection; and what I came to conclude had nothing to do with our dialogue directly but was so beautifully represented accidentally through that dialogue. As I listened to myself, I started to hear a hollow sounding voice that didn't resound the Truth that I was so dearly seeking after.

I'm not saying that I was wrong about everything I was saying, but I didn't feel any life in it anymore. Something that used to be a passionate throbbing in my heart for these ideas (and some might call ideals) had turned into nothing more than the very empty and heartless logic I was trying to fight.

Have I been ignoring the fellowship with his Spirit in favour of arguing my good ideas? Have I been neglecting the true nature of community with Jesus and His church in favour of arguing about it? Don't we all sometimes?

Fundy vs Pomo... next on UFC!!!

Over the last few months, I've been brought to question my behaviour several times in the light of seeming somewhat heretical to some. Are they just getting over zealous with their fundamentalist weapons of mass judgment? or am I throwing my call to holiness to the wind in favor of some postmodern idealistic sentiments? And contrary to popular belief, this isn't something that I pretend to have completely figured out yet.

In typical Reid fashion though, I will call to a quote I read recently that sheds some light to my internal conflict.

While the holiness movement has put a great emphasis on the Christian’s need to live an righteous life—a life worthy of the calling they have received--I think perhaps we need to remind ourselves that our only true righteousness comes from Christ. If we’re really serious about doing the things Jesus did, then maybe we need to focus more on the incarnation, and less on its imitation.

- Spencer Burke

Two words stick out to me here, and those are imitation and incarnation. How often do we simply try to imitate Christ by acting out holiness in our actions? How different is that from what the Pharisees did? They did everything right and then felt challenged when the possibility arose that there was more to it than being "right." Do you act like the Pharisees did when you are confronted with someone who acts according to a different set of standards than you? Is imitation of Christ or the incarnation of Christ our end goal?

Farewell

I'm officially stepping down from the leadership team of the Sidney Pentecostal youth group. It was an amazing eight years. I will also be finding a new church in Gordon Head were I can grow into community with the people I'm living with. The reasons are mostly personal but that's not to say that I won't tell you, but you'll just have to ask me yourself in person sometime. Maybe over coffee. The internet is just too impersonal for some things.

ps. I like it when people buy me coffees.

my Gut says "Hells yeah!"

I love when for some reason my soul leaps for joy, but my mind can't find the words to describe it, or even better understand it. And this is the sensation that I get when I think about the three guys I'm going to be living with for the next portion of my life. Ben Badke, Cameron Courtney, and Trevor Robinson (in alphabetical order of course.)

At least I don't think I'm under the influence of their poetically lustful good looks... (because I can assure you they are all extremely beautiful young men) but there's something more. It's like we don't need to prove to each other what we are anymore. They don't let the things I do, define who I am. If I screw up, the first thing on their mind is what they can do to help, and the last thing on their mind is passing judgment. What do we gain from judging each other anyways? So why bother. We get judged enough from our jobs, our schools, our churches... Let's make some room for love. That's the community I'm excited to be a part of.

Roommates kick butt.

Personalized truth, or Personal truth

When people have bombarded me for years with this idea that truth is a concrete unchangeable concept, and my post modern edge wants to think it’s different for everyone, I’ve been unable to reconcile these two opposing factions in my mind. It always seemed like one had to be right and the other had to be wrong. I’m not so convinced anymore.

Truth is not personalized to us, it doesn’t try to make us happy or be what we want it to be. But truth is personal.

As I was thinking about truth, and what Jesus meant when He said “I am the way and the truth and the life.” So Jesus is truth. Truth is personal. Truth is personal to each person it meets because Jesus knows that no one person is the same. Jesus was always the same person on earth, but he acted and treated different people differently. Truth never changes, but is always personal to every single person on earth.

So maybe when two people argue about truth, maybe they are really arguing about how they know the person of Jesus. Maybe they had different encounters with the same person? Maybe we need to approach truth as a person with a personality, not a bunch of rules written in stone.