October 2007 - Posts

• The Space In Between Us

  If I wanted to go somewhere, I'd need to know several things, first and foremost of which is "where in the world am I?"  The same is true with the Gospel...   we need to know where we are to begin the journey to the Cross.  And that's where the bad news starts...  where we are isn't a nice place, and it all comes back to a single event.  It all begins in Genesis.  Now, while there are tons of theories about the process of creation - theories that I categorically refuse to get into pointless debates over, the primary thing that seems to be important about the first chapters of Genesis is that it paints a picture of Who God is, what our world is supposed to be like, and what happened to send it down the tubes.  God, in these first few chapters, is Creator, Father, Lawgiver, Judge, and Gracious, all in one.  Our world is, for lack of a better word, perfect.  And us human beings are in a perfect relationship with God and the world around us.  We are caretakers and servants of a God that we delight to serve in a world that is beautiful and wonderful beyond measure. So what happened? Simply put: we screwed up.  Adam and Eve chose Sin over Beauty, and in doing so, ensured that it was Sin that ruled our world.  The effect of their Fall was total - it devestated the world around us and ruined our relationship with God, who cannot look upon Sin.  It was so complete that it didn't just ruin Adam, Eve, and the critters in the garden - it ruined the entire planet.  Earth became a hopeless mess that had been completely seperated from the God that loved it so much (John 3:16). Worse yet, it condemned us all to a spiritual death (Romans 7:9-13) and ensured that we were absolutely incapable of turning back on our own   In fact, Sin helped to ensure that not only are we incapable, but that we are in active rebellion against God...   it's not just that we're not God-focused or that we're just slightly off-kilter - we are in active, total, and complete antipathy towards God.  We are completely and totally helpless and hopeless on our own. Fortunately, we're not on our own.  Posted Oct 31 2007, 10:40 AM by 5minutes with no comments Filed under: Original Sin, The Gospel, The Fall, Total Inability

• The Gospel

  The problem is obvious: the world is a dark, screwed-up place.  Everywhere we look, we see death, destruction, anger, and hopelessness.  We keep writing stories and watching movies about worlds that are so much better than ours because we know, in our bones, that this world is not what it should be. Worse - we know that we're just as screwed up as the rest of the world.  The Bible tells us that no one is righteous - no one has the right to stand up and set themselves up as an example of being holy.  It also tells us that God expects us to be holy, and that those of us who aren't holy will be thrown out of His presence, sent to be seperated from Him forever. It sounds like we're screwed.  There's no way we can do it.  We're too messed up.  We can't impress God with our good behavior because even our best behavior is like a pile of used, nasty, filthy rags.  We just can't do it. But He can.  He did.  That's the Good News - that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price for us - a price we couldn't even begin to pay.  He calls us, and all He asks in return is that we repent and believe on Him.  The Bible describes Jesus as knocking on the door of our hearts, and a good way for us to start repenting and believing is by praying and believing a simple prayer that says "Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of my sins.  I'd like You to come into my heart and save me."  This is a good first step.   It's not an easy process - in fact, it'll take the rest of your life.  There will be times when you find it hard to believe. There will be times that your friends laugh at you and abandon you.  There will be times that you wonder if it all really matters.  But it does matter.  God has and will never abandon you.  The message is simple: the Bible tells us that those who believe on Jesus will be saved.  Repent and believe in Him.  This is the Gospel.  Posted Oct 24 2007, 09:32 AM by 5minutes with 3 comment(s) Filed under: The Gospel