On the TT List you appear (to me at least) to be completely taken with what you call the "larger context" and the
"Christ event". Indeed I am quite taken by these two considerations. The "larger context" is perhaps equivalent to your "in balance and in context" phrasing. To me, the "larger context" is that context which relates to a specific verse or statement of doctrine. The "Christ event" -- to me -- is my way of including all that Christ is about --- His eternal Sonship, His incarnation and ministry, His death, resurrection, ascension and continued life IN the believers (i.e. "the Holy Spirit"). I am wondering how you preach this with some effectiveness, I hope and what the fruit of it would be in the lives of the young ppl are you so above the emotion of "empathy" that you have no idea how I might answer this part of the question? My own children (five of them) have as a central issue in their lives the Living Christ. I think that speaks rather well of the effectiveness of my preaching ------------------ when we speak as of the oracles of God, we will have the desired effect (eventually if not immediately). I mean to be very careful here. I am not putting my children up against anyone's else'. Nor am I putting my religiosity along side anyone's. But I am saying that God has and is working through me to keep my children in a state of spiritual health. If one knew of the real John Smithson -- with all his faults and foibles, you would, then, understand that it is God who is giving the increase. I am confident in the Lord that He can and will work His will through my life and my "preaching" regardless of preceived "failues." So, I approach the office of Parent with great confidence. And I counsel the office of Parent with the enthusiasm that comes from knowing that I am (as are others) in partnership with the Lord -- that it is to Him that I stand or fall and He will make me to stand. You claim all sorts of heresy of me --- putting me outside the circle on many occasions. Fine. The reason I do not buy in to that criticism is two fold: what I see in your attitude on this site and (more importantly) what God is doing and has done for me and my family over the years. I am a believer, as you are.
Look, I have two daughters -- both worship-leaders and with Christ on the brain 24/7. I have one son, the youngest (Russ), who is the same. He is 27 and a full blown minister of Christ -- an avocation while he works as a partner of sorts with me in the cabinet business. And, then, I have two sons (James and Chad). When I am critical of harsh speech and the "ministry of rebuking," I am thinking of these two boys (boys I say -- one is 30 this month and the other is 37). The youngest is a doctor and the oldest a lawyer. If God had not blessed me with openness and half a brain (just to keep things equal ) -- these two guys would be so far out there as to be "lost." One cannot become a doctor or a lawyer without experiencing education at the hands of those who would teach them great harm. I am not their equal -- but they think I am. Fine with me. When I give them an answer to the option of "evolution" or of "situational ethics," it had better be right on. And when I listen to the proponents of "rebuking ministries," I actually get angry, knowing just how many people will be driven away while the rebuker is yelling "and few there are who find it" ------------------ an emotionally stated excuse for their own failure as a minister of the Gospel of Grace. There are no fences to sit on when it comes to this contrast. Not for me. Because I have seen the great harm it has caused. Patience, full acceptance regardless of conduct, well reasoned theology that is mindful of well reasoned objections, and consistency of faith and conviction in my life, all play an equal role in the salvation of these two brothers. Every parent is capable of this -- but some prefer to dictate and brainwash out of fear, plain old
understandable fear -- that if they let go and let God (as they say) , hell is on the horizon for their children.
The promise of "inherited faithfulness" in the scripture is not one of consistency, but one of eventuality. What ??!!! We are promised that if we raise up a child in the way he should go, WHEN HE IS OLD he will not depart from it. We panic when the grandchild says, "Gramps, I don't believe in God, anymore" rather than simply responding by asking that child to "pass the gravy." We tend to worry, praying all night, for the child who has "decided" that the scriptures are nothing special or that "Buddhism has as much to offer than Christianity------rather than relying on the promise of God. We are actually left wondering about the future when our children come home late at night, drunk or pregnant, forgetting the promise. I believe in and will preach this doctrine of reconciliation because, without it, there is no value to this promise (stated above "WHEN HE IS OLD ....."). The teaching that ALL HAS BEEN RECONCILED, ALL IN THE EARTH, ALL IN THE HEAVENS, ALL THAT IS VISIBLE AND ALL THAT IS INVISIBLE, is a teaching that comes complete with the doctrine of the partnership of God the Father in the life of each and every man, woman and child in this earth ---- AND MY BOYS. No matter how far out my boys might be at a given time in their often ridiculous lives, I KNOW that God is at work within them both to will and to do His good pleasure. And you think me a heretic for such a belief --------------- I pity you for that. Or have I misunderstood your belief. Perhaps we really are on the same page. As for me and my house, I have seen the workings of God and know of His power to ultimately defeat any evil in the lives of my own children. AND I HAVE GREAT CONFIDENCE IN THAT WORKING POWER OF GOD. So, while you condemn me to hell (or was it only a "premonition" on my part) , you just might be writing to one of the gate keepers !!! How's that for arrogance !!!!
JD
you may influence from your role in leadership because to me it does not sound much different from what I was
taught early on in the Methodist Church ie that the death of Christ was a historical event that was supposed to
benefit me in some way. No Holy Spirit conviction there at all, just religious dead works. jt Is the above what you heard in the Methodist church? If so, reestablish your membership in a hurry.
