(no subject)
Reasons why I love my God:
1. He loves me unconditionally
2. He's let the world know that everyone has value, especially people whom you don't expect to have value
3. He's shown me how to live a life that's meaningful and good
4. The way He communicates with people - has and does
5. The complexity and intricacy of that recorded communication
6. He saved me from death and gave me life
Not a complete list and there is no particular order to what came out. It's very late and I woke up from a not-very-restful sleep and I finished reading High Fidelity for my class (which might explain the list) and then I still couldn't sleep and found myself thinking these thoughts.
I've been talking with people at my church about baptism. The point of view that many people have at Miller is that baptism is necessary for salvation. I don't know what any of you guys think about this stuff, I don't really know what I think about it. I figure that all any of us can do is our best to understand and then respond. You know? Anyway, I wasn't sleeping a little while ago and I was thinking about loving God and also about this baptism thing. I was thinking about Naaman (who I had to look up to figure out his name and stuff because I'm terrible with that kind of thing). Naaman was a big shot in an army but he had leprosy so he asks Elisha to cure him and Elisha says "Go wash yourself in the Jordon river." Apparently the Jordon river wasn't the most pleasant of places to wash so Naaman had a fit and asked why he couldn't wash in some other river. But he goes and washes in the river and is healed.
So, in thinking about this I realized a couple things. First, sometimes God asks us to do things that don't make sense. Why would washing in some filthy river heal one of leprosy? There's no logic to it. Second, the river didn't have any miraculous qualities to it, the river wasn't what healed him, God healed Naaman. The reason why Naaman was healed because he acted in Obedience and Faith. But do these two epiphanies contradict one another? Do they answer my question about baptism?
So that's my 3 am revelation. Might sound a bit rambling but I think it gave me a sense of peace.
1. He loves me unconditionally
2. He's let the world know that everyone has value, especially people whom you don't expect to have value
3. He's shown me how to live a life that's meaningful and good
4. The way He communicates with people - has and does
5. The complexity and intricacy of that recorded communication
6. He saved me from death and gave me life
Not a complete list and there is no particular order to what came out. It's very late and I woke up from a not-very-restful sleep and I finished reading High Fidelity for my class (which might explain the list) and then I still couldn't sleep and found myself thinking these thoughts.
I've been talking with people at my church about baptism. The point of view that many people have at Miller is that baptism is necessary for salvation. I don't know what any of you guys think about this stuff, I don't really know what I think about it. I figure that all any of us can do is our best to understand and then respond. You know? Anyway, I wasn't sleeping a little while ago and I was thinking about loving God and also about this baptism thing. I was thinking about Naaman (who I had to look up to figure out his name and stuff because I'm terrible with that kind of thing). Naaman was a big shot in an army but he had leprosy so he asks Elisha to cure him and Elisha says "Go wash yourself in the Jordon river." Apparently the Jordon river wasn't the most pleasant of places to wash so Naaman had a fit and asked why he couldn't wash in some other river. But he goes and washes in the river and is healed.
So, in thinking about this I realized a couple things. First, sometimes God asks us to do things that don't make sense. Why would washing in some filthy river heal one of leprosy? There's no logic to it. Second, the river didn't have any miraculous qualities to it, the river wasn't what healed him, God healed Naaman. The reason why Naaman was healed because he acted in Obedience and Faith. But do these two epiphanies contradict one another? Do they answer my question about baptism?
So that's my 3 am revelation. Might sound a bit rambling but I think it gave me a sense of peace.