Forgiveness

We are always astounded (are we not) by those who have been the most wronged, who have forgiven so completely, it appears as if they have forgotten as well.

So it is with Jesus Christ... He has been the most wronged and yet He has so freely forgiven us... Not only that, but He paid our penalty for those things that we all need forgiveness for... To not forgive means that on some level, pride, fear and power (over others) are what motivate us... This does not mean that we are to be naive or foolish and to trust those people who continue to demonstrate they are not capable of being trustworthy. But it does mean that trust should always be commensurate...

We are forgiven because He is gracious... We should forgive because we live in grace.... It works both ways, backwards and forwards... To imitate Christ is to forgive and to learn how to trust again...

Forgiveness is rarely an event... Although it begins that way... Like most things in life it is a process that demands commitment and perseverance. But this is also the part that "unconditional love" plays as well... There can be no true love for another if pervasive fear, personal pride, the will to power and trust are the dominant issues... Is there ANYTHING that the world needs more than a better understanding of than these issues?

HUMANLY speaking: If the severity of God's "JUSTICE" isn't a true and ever present certainty, then the beauty of God's "GRACE" can't be an ever true and meaningful reality. DIVINELY speaking: JUSTICE and GRACE are eternal and irreducible divine attributes - THE celestial polestar points on an equally balanced axis. To marginalize the function of one is to compromise the nature of the other....

Confession

True Confession Before Christ

Necessarily Means Embracing The Kind of Inner Honesty

For Which Eternal Separation Becomes

Not Only A Vivid Possibility,

But A "JUST" One As Well.

On The Other Hand,

The ABILITY To Truly Confess

Also Necessarily Means That The Confessor

Is Now Bathed and Swathed

In The Surpassing Grace Of A Loving God.

My Thoughts Of What The Church Should Be

The Church

The church [ecclesia] is a group of people 
   graciously called by God the Father
into right relationship(s),through Jesus Christ 
   living as a dynamic "incarnational" [Christ in 
   our flesh] presence within the world, 
rooted in and emanating out of 
  an authentic and transparent community 
   [koinonia], 
dedicated to reconciling and restoring all things 
  over to the image and purpose of Jesus Christ…

• Illuminated by the Holy Spirit
• Instructed by the Scriptures
• Informed by Church tradition

rsg (May of 2009)

Ongoing Thoughts... a.k.a. My Personal "Pensess"

Socialism....

Socialism Works Well 

Only For Those
Who Have Lost Their Will

In The End It 

Allows For Victims To Survive
And Survivors To Become Victims


SPIRITUAL PATHOLOGY
A Life Issue 

By Which You Are You Are
Dually: Driven 

By Fear and Motivated By Hope
At The Same Time
r.s.g. 5/15/08
WatershedsThere Are Two Great Movements, or Watersheds Within The Christian Faith: 

These Have To Do With Salvation and Discipleship...

Each Side of These Watersheds  Shape Our Individual Faith... Life Long...

Shape The Nature of The Institutional Church Within The World To Choose the One, 
Versus the Second, Can Mean The Difference Between That Which is 

Spiritually Vapid and That Which Embraces the Essence of Life and Eternity 

Itself

Salvation: 1. You Are Either "Saved From Hell" or, 2. Saved To Christ"


Discipleship: 1. Taught to Merely "Manage Your Sin" or, 2 Devoted Yourself to "Become 

Like Christ"

The Seeking of The First Only Never Ensures The Outcome of the Second...

Blow-Back in Burden Sharing

"When Taking The Deep Inner Walk
Into Another Person's Life
To Help Them Confront Their Depravity, Brokenness and Woundedness

Their Insidious Darkness That Troubled Them
Tends To Rub Off, And Can Now Trouble You...

It Becomes Yours...

It Sticks, Morphs and Becomes "Meaningful"

To Those Ways That Are Insidiously Particular... To YOU Only

This is What Is Meant, In No Small Significant Part

'To Bear One Another's Burdens'"

r.s.g.
02-/19/2008

When Discussing "Hell," And While Talking To People About Coming to Christ... Remember...

Jesus Christ Stands On The Merit Of Who He Is
And If That Is Not Sufficient
Then Why Should Hell Be Any Better?

r.s.g.
02/12/05


Your Past Unfolds Before You
Your Future Lies Rooted In Your Past

r.s.g.


You Are Done With Your Past
But Your Past Is Not Done With You

Film: Magnolia


Whatever is Has Already Been,
And What Will Be Has Been Before,
And God Will Call The Past To Account

Eccl. 3:15


You Make Your Choices
And Your Choices Make You

Then... Your Choices Make Others

r.s.g




Beauty Is The Only Apologetic
For God
For Which The Experience Is All That Is Needed
And Words Are Not Necessary

r.s.g. 12/14/05






Most People Live For Those Ways In Which They Are Dying
Rather Than Dying To Those Ways In Order To Live

r.s.g. 03/06/06


There Is Enough Of The Image Of God In Us
To Know That Things Are Not As They Should Be
There Is Not Enough Of The Image Of God Left
To Know How To Fix It.

Therefore We Intuitively And Instinctively Gravitate
Towards Those Things In Life
That Most Resemble That We Sense We Are Missing

The List Is Endless.. Desperately We Self-Medicate
The Results Not Withstanding

r.s.g. 2004


Sumul Estes Et Pecater

"Simultaneously Sinful and Justified"

Martin Luther



You Are Your Actions
But Your One Action Is Not All That You Are

or

I Am My Sin
But My One Sin Is Not All That I Am

r.s.g. 2005