what legalism can do

warning! please read the whole article before making any opinions. these are some of my experiences throughout my lifetime. they may not be the most correct view at times but i have always seen growth to get to where i am now in my beliefs.

in high school i had many catholic friends. they were some of the greatest friends. however i saw things in some of their lives that didnt seem right. even though they proclaimed a faith in the same God i followed it did not seem to change their lives. not that i can really talk because in high school i really did live out my faith like i should have either.

in college i took a class which we talked about roman catholicism. it was a great class that opened my eyes a little to my legalist view on the catholic church. prof. horst opened my eyes to be a little bit more accepting of the catholic faith then just what i had learned and accepted of them from my experiences with a few of them in high school.

in ministry i have met many former catholics that now attend our church. they talk about the lack of the gospel talked about in church and how they never experienced the love of Christ until after they had left the catholic church. i am still trying to understand the catholic church. in many ways i can see the goodness and hope that it provides. but if so many former catholics havent found out about the gospel then how can this be? were they catholic by name only? or did their parish only teach from the "other books."

until the other day i never thought of how roman catholics view us (protestants). i was out to lunch with a someone who used to go to our church now turned catholic. i have come to the point where this is okay. if that is where he needs to be then more power to him. i did ask him during the time that we were together why he left the church.

we then went on to discuss the four pillars of the church, martin luther, freedom, baptism and more. he then went off on me because i continue to be wesleyan. he said that he accepted i was a follower of Christ but then went on to tell me that i would never be able to live my faith out to the full. he told me i was in rebellion to God because i was not part of the "one church."

i went on not to condemn him but how i worried that this legalistic view could hurt his realtionships with his friends and his wife (who still attends our church). i told him that i didnt worry about him leaving our church to become catholic but that i worried he would shut everyone out of his life that did not have the same beliefs he did.

i went on to tell him that he and i would have to learn to focus on the majors of christianity rather then the minor stuff that we didnt agree on. he continued to tell me that there were only majors in christianity and if i didnt see that then.

i then asked him how his back was doing as he is on disability because he just had back surgery a month or two ago. unfortunately he missed the point. and i definately do not want to put any other catholic in the same boat as he is in. but at the same time there must be others who believe the same as this man. and my heart hurts.

please help me pray for this man.

withdrawal

i dont think you can realize how much you will miss something until it is already gone. i needed it. i was addicted. i loved it with all my heart. when i said good bye i thought i was going to cry. i felt like i had lost all my super powers.

almost six years i bought my first car. it wasnt anything flashy or sporty. it wasnt the nicest car but it ended up being the most dependable car. i spent $4400 on it. it was a white honda civic. during the six years i traveled quite a bit. i am originally from maine and went to college in indiana. so i am not sure how many times i made that drive. i had an internship in delaware for a summer and drove back and forth twice with a trip to maine in the middle. i lived in south carolina and drove to indiana a few times from there.

overall i put about 80,000 miles on the car. i bought it with about 115,000 miles on it and when i sold it for $1500 this past friday. my only regret was that i wont be the one drive 200,000 mile. it is kind of ironic really that i sold it to a college student who will also be driving back and forth to iwu and is also a ministry major.

some of the memorable moments:
driving through multiple snow storms
my first accident happened when i was driving jenny (now my wife) home to meet the parents.
road trips with friends to concerts, spring break and a last minute drive to michigan
it has been pranked with oreos and toilet paper
blown tire on the way to myrtle beach
stopping at a truck stop to catch a quick nap on the way back from a wedding

i ended up buying a caravan to replace it. i figure i would need it to tote around all the kids. i should say teens from my youth group. hopefully non of you thought jenny was pregnant.

the var gave me everything and more i could have ever asked of it. and averaging 40 miles a gallon it saved me a lot of money. good but old friend.

speaking and the heart

last week i was approached by a friend after playing basketball at the local high school. he attends our "band of brothers" (tuesday bible study for men.) he asked about some comments that were said in the previous weeks study. i cringed before he said it because i knew exactly what he was going to mention. the week before some how we were on the topic of iraq and other muslims. in life a lot of time we make general statements that can be offensive. how we bring together and bash that group of people. for example, all muslims are bad.

obviously that is not true. i think we all know we can not say general statments like that. 1. it isnt true and 2. it seems hateful and spiteful to group all muslims in the same group as those who flew into the world trade towers. 3. we are christian who need to show love rather then hate.

it is all dangerous. because it shows what is "overflowing from our heart." sin is obviously a dangerous thing that in times in our life seems out of control. but it is these sins that show our true character and integrity.
we all deal with different types of sin and none of it being good. in my life i have conquered sin of wanting to pick up a porn magazine, the potential of drunkeness as well as others. but does that specifically mean i no longer sin. no, i just deal with other types of it.

before i was married i thought i was a great christian. then i realized after a few months of it that i was a very prideful person that needed to learn to be more compassionate and loving. things we say are an overflow from our heart. if i say something hurtful to jenny, it can be traced right back to my heart.

we all know people that struggle with things in their life. while it may be drunkeness, self control, homosexuality or are just lost because they do not know Christ. the example brought up this morning was, maybe we are joking around about being gay. but in that same group there is someone who struggles with the attraction to the same sex. will we ever be approachable by that person to tell us that they are struuggling in that issue.

we talk about loving Christ and our neighbor, but sometimes with one joke we can lose all credibility that we had. we need to learn to love through "all" we say and do as it is an overflowing of our heart.