Love as Transcendant and Primal

Pastor Jim Cymbala yesterday described love as both transcendent and primal.

What a beautiful picture.

As transcendent, God is love. It is beyond our greatest expectations and beyond our control. It surpasses any law that we could create and invades our space so that it own law may be obeyed. It is the ultimate expression of the only rule is that there is no rule in its flexibility and its boundary. Where it binds us, it frees us. Where it limits, it provides new opportunity. Where it strikes, it heals.

As primal it is part of our deepest instincts and needs. We cannot live without it. Indeed it controls us in many ways and yet we must endeavor to consciously search it out. It lurks in our unconscious and moves us in ways that we may never understand. It is beyond the question of why even as we seek it out. Our very means of continuance is driven by love even when the expression falls short of transcendent expectations.

And we are here in the middle of this expression of Love, neither transcendent nor primal.

Knowing 1

Knowing means access to information at one or more levels instantaneously.

This is someting to ponder and expand upon.

One insight is that properties of the knowledge change as it is related to more an more information. This of each "piece" of knowledge as a letter in an alphabet. All the complexity of language is now available for expression in an almost infinite types of media.

Thus it is important to never consider a "piece" of knowledge as final in application and balancing this fact with the notion that you'll have to move on if you really want to find and experience new and more complex uses for that "piece."

Touching the World for Jesus In a Place That Doesn't Want Him

I have been thinking about how one goes about touching the world for Jesus in a place where He isn't really wanted.

This is my dilemma. I want to worship where I live. I should not have to travel 20 miles to have fellowship in a church service.

Maybe this is about me. Maybe it is about loving where I live. Maybe it is my own stubbornness. Maybe it is about a commitment to truth that I cannot shake. I can ignore it, push it down, push it aside, but it always rises back up.

I have been thinking about how to go about this and the bottom line is earnest prayer and fasting. There is no other way. In this I believe wholeheartedly.

My desire is "the truth" which is a curse word these days. Mention it and people say it doesn't exist or that we can only address parts of it. I can no longer wait for someone to lead. I must start. I don't want to. I'd rather someone else do it and I'll follow along. It hasn't happened.

It seems like no one wants to discuss truth and move forward on that path, changing what we say, how we say it, leaving behind mistakes, especially when they are public, and continually revamping and recognizing the context. All within 5 miles of where you live.

I will be putting myself out on a limb in a way I have never fathomed. I seem to have few alternatives. I am certainly open to suggestions and will be waiting on God.

I have to believe that there are others like me nearby willing to work together despite the fact most don't seem to care.

Jesus and the Crowds

Jesus attracted people primarily because he was doing the impossible. Followers remained by revelation.

Perhaps this is the formula pastors should follow in their evangelistic and discipleship practices.

I offer this as a beginning to an alternative way of looking at church, not as a fully formed framework.

For me it really puts the onus back on believers to really believe and not move toward humanistic methods for life, living, and relating.

On Biblical Inerrancy

There is a claim that the bible is inerrant.

I propose that at better phrase be used to describe the situation.

It is better to say that no errors in the bible detract or in any way mitigate the central themes of sin, love, and salvation.

I say this because there are copyist errors and a variety of differing manuscripts that comprise the source material.

While this may not be a popular position with purists, it reflects the reality of the situation and allows for forward movement concern the proclamation of the Gospel, without needing to endlessly revisit the topic.

Feelings and Action

The primary purpose of feelings is to empower action.