At 09:28 AM 3/13/00 -0600, Wendee Holtcamp wrote:
>I didn't say powerless, but *relatively* powerless. I absolutely agree with
>Josh McDowell. I thank God that He allows us to use our mind along with our
>heart and soul to love the Lord!
With the wisdom of hindsight, I wouldn't believe the young-earth nonsense I
ghost wrote for him.
>I still believe that is only a part of the picture. Probably more realistic
>is that your former boss didn't believe God really loved him personally.
>Maybe he struggled with a continual sin he couldn't renounce. It's a lot
>easier for your former boss (or whoever) to simply say they no longer
>believe in the truth of Christianity than to say "I have been struggling
>with pornography or an affair with this woman or ...(insert whatever sin)
>and although I know it's wrong in God's eyes, I really enjoy it.
I know this man. I have traveled with him and when you travel with someone
and they are away from home, you find out what they are really like. My
boss had no such problems. He was very proud of the fact that he had never
had cheated on his wife. And he would look at famous christians who did
that and wonder why. I know this, he simply came to beleive that
Christianity wasn't true. For us to place other motives into people,
motives which they don't say is IMO a way to solve a real problem we have
without really solving it.
I really
>just am not ready to give it up. As a Christian I hate myself that I can't
>seem to find the power of God to free myself from these chains that bind me.
>Where is God? Why isn't He helping me? Therefore I no longer believe in
>God."
My former boss was one of the most unstruggling people I have met. I am a
type A big time. He accomplished a lot but he didn't seem to struggle
against things like I do.
>
>This is just a scenario but I'd be hard pressed to believe turning away from
>Christ isn't more complicated than your former boss (or whoever) would like
>to let you believe. That is where acceptance and love of the person without
>condoning the sin is critically important for Christians! It's so much
>easier for the church to just condemn certain sins and the people committing
>them, than to love the people and believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to
>work in their lives to bring about their own repentance, in God's time not
>ours. Where people are weak, suffering, struggling, that is where God lives
>and works.
See, I would never describe that man as suffering or struggling. He was
enjoying life in a way few christians do. When he was laid off, he had a
tremendous optimism and started his own company which is doing well.
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
Lots of information on creation/evolution
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