Oh Theology class...

Warning: Possible rant ahead.

Today in theology we talked about special and general revelation. During the part on general revelation, my professor (as well as some other students) stated that while God does reveal himself through nature, and while we do have internal knowledge of God since we are created in his image, neither of those are good enough to have a relationship with him, due to the fall.

To this point, I would agree. Yes, for one to know God and Jesus and have a relationship with them, one needs community, more knowledge, in addition to nature and the internal knowledge.

However, my class took it one step further: You need Scripture to go to heaven.

Oh. I see.

"So what then," I ask, "happens to the people in Africa who neither have access to a Bible nor can read?"

"Good question. What does the Bible say?"

Some people responded with verses such as Rom 10:17 which talks about not being able to have faith without the message from the Word of Christ.

One person mentioned how it may not seem fair that the tribal people in Africa don't go to heaven because they don't have the Bible, but then again, it isn't fair that we go to heaven because really we don't deserve it anymore than we do.

All I could think about was about how BLESSED we are to have access to the Bible and even the ability to READ. And why do we have those things? Because we're rich. And white. Mostly because we're rich.

And then I began to see how I view God compared to how the class was viewing God. Do we honestly believe that God would damn people to hell because they didn't read the Bible? Do we think that God is SO SMALL that he only saves those who have read the Bible? Is God SO SMALL that he is INCAPABLE of speaking living truth into the hearts of people even though they cannot put a name to it?

I do not serve a small god who is confined to a book. I do not serve a god who can be predicted or who has allowed us to figure out who is in and who is out or who sends the poor and desperate to hell because they haven't been reached by white people.

I serve a God who is mysterious, whose ways still confound people today. A God who is BIGGER than the Bible (he created it after all...creators are bigger than their creations). A God who isn't confined to what people say or think. I serve a God who is STILL speaking and STILL moving and STILL showing himself to his creation.

The Future

:: Begin excited post ::

Ok so I am applying to go Chicago for next fall to take part in the Chicago Semester program (great name, huh?). I am working on the application and the nasty little essay questions they have. One of them is "discuss your educational and career goals for after graduation"

Well I have been considering the idea of going to grad school sometime after I graduate, but I had not really been set on it. I requested information from Eastern University for their program and got excited over my opportunities there. I just revisited their website and I found their tagline:

Faith. Reason. Justice.

Seriously?? It is calling my name. Who would have thought that a Christian university would have reason, faith, and justice all in the same statement? Not me.

I cannot wait!

:: end excited post ::

I want to be.

I don’t want to go.
I’m always going.
I’m sick of going. Running. Searching. Fighting.

Ready to move on, but my heart won’t let me.
It holds on to things that hurt.

My heart needs to go.
It needs to search. Run. Fight. Find.

Rest.
Hope.
Love.
Enough.

That’s what I want. Need.

I’m alone in the race.
A race I don’t even want to run.

I have a choice. Hurt. Or Run.

I don’t want to go.
I’m always going.
I’m sick of going. Running. Searching. Fighting.

Run the race marked out.
Perseverance.
Win.
I must win.

France has a Secretary of State for Human Rights.

I want to move there.

I've been learning...

the hard way.

Every day I am given the choice to love or to hold on to hurt and the past. Wow, talk about a hard choice. In Ephesians, Paul talks about how we need to love unconditionally because that is what God does. Wow, talk about a hard choice.

When I am hurt, I can love and forgive or I can hold on to the hurt and let it fester.

For some people love comes more naturally. Their hearts are built to hold a lot of people close. Mine is not one of those and so this is hard.

God is in control, though. And I'm choosing to believe that love wins.

I guess I need to choose
But today I am confused and losing ground
Is this part of some plan? The rise and fall of man?
I can't be sure.

When I'm away from my source of peace
Something fills that space in me
And it feels like I don't need you
It's easy to get by
When I don't even try to find the truth

Today I learned that faith
Is not to be obtained like a place I can go
It's more of a choice than a feeling
More of a wound than healing
The act of believing in you

And I guess I need to choose
But today I am confused
And losing ground

But maybe this is where I grow
When I admit that I don't know
When belief becomes the only way to you