new beginnings res appearances of Jesus
Paul
on the road to Damascus
New beginnings.
This
is a new beginning for paul, and for the Christian movement
The
little jewish sect reaches into the then known world
The amazing nature of saul's
conversion.
Romans
worshiped roman gods
Local
deities were allowed
Jews
could worship the jewish God
Romans
were smart enough to know that people wanted their own Gods
So
along comes this jesus way….
Remember
david Koresh?
Most
jews would have seen jesus as some cult teacher from a little town
Not
a surprise that the authorities went after him
One of the greatest proofs of
resurrection is changed lives
Sauls
conversion is one of the greatest proofs of the resurrection
Everywhere
he went people wanted to see the guy who once killed Xians
On becoming a believer
He
works his theology backwards from his own experience
We
tend to do the same.
I
saw jesus on the road. He must be alive
The
resurrection is true
His
death must not have been bad news for his movement, but good
So
his death must have meaning
He
taught that one must die for the sins of…….
Therefore
Jesus died for us
Those
who put their trust in him find new life
Many of us do this as well
We
work back from our experience
It
happened to me like this so it must happen for everyone in this way
This story messes with me.
I
believe in free will
Does
not appear that Paul had it in this story
Thankfully
it appears that Annanias does have some choice
He
has been around for a while, has a relationship with God
Can
think about what is going on and debate the spirit
The
story of these two men bring up some interesting theological questions
Does
God cause things
Or
do we get choices
The
reformation gave birth to many new ways of understanding Gods work
Calvinism
John Calvin
1509-1564
1. Total depravity – complete inability to save ones self from sin
2. Unconditional election – god chooses some to heaven some to hell
3. Limited atonement – only works for the chosen- not available to all
4. Grace is irresistible – if you are chosen you can’t resist. You have
no choice
5. Once saved, always saved
I love giving people grief who say that God did this or
God did that
All the time
So , you are a Calvinist?
We can say it so much that we sound like we don’t believe
in free will
I believe god does things, but not every time.
There must be room in our thinking for free will
We must take responsibility for our life and our choices
Armininism
Jacob
Arminius1560-1609
1. Total depravity – complete inability to save one’s self from sin
2. Conditional election – those who have faith are chosen
3. Unlimited atonement- all can be saved
4. Grace is resistible- you have freewill
5. Salvation can be lost
What was once clearly divided into
theological camps
Is
not all mixed up in our brains
Like
Reece’s peanut butter cups
People
engage in cafeteria theology, taking what they want and leaving other parts.
Remember.
If you choose to believe free will, god cant be responsible for everything.
Your choices matter
And I think God likes that
Varieties of religious experience
Peter-
nurture
Paul-
radical encounter
Both
still exist
People
today insist you have it a certain way
There
is no formula
God
does not operate on formulas
Some
people try to formulate the holy spirit
The
spirit is uncontainable- he moves like the wind-john 3
Jn 3:1-8 Now
there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish
ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at
night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.
For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very
truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]” 4 “How
can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot
enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly
I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water
and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to
flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its
sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is
with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
|
Stop
trying to figure it out and just open your sails to the wind
Sf
bay and the world cup racing
How
to start and stop a sail boat
Remember
your faith stories
Respect
the journeys of others
Keep
seeking the god who radically changes people’s lives
The
power of god to reach you
The
power of you to choose
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