5 Beautiful Doctrines

5 Christian doctrines that I believe to be beautiful:

1. Trinity

2. Grace

3. Jesus brings the new-Exodus

4. missio Dei

5. Spiritual gifts

Jesus The Transsexual

A new play has come out in Glasgow called 'Jesus - Queen of Heaven' (see here) where Jesus is portrayed as a transsexual. The artist wrote it to describe his own personal journey as a transgendered person.

As you might expect, 300 Christians held a protest outside the theatre to show their concern over the play...I wish Christians would stop doing this.

Gregory of Nazianzus wrote, 'That which he (Christ) has not assumed he has not healed.' In other words, on the cross Christ represents all people everywhere. He died for all people everywhere.

I think that it is a bold statement to portray Christ in this way.

Audi for sale

So I'm selling my Audi....

I had one of those moments when God spoke SO clearly that I knew I couldn't ignore him.

Since I returned from India I knew that my soul had been deeply touched by all that I saw, heard and experienced while I was there. I knew that I was a slave to consumerism and materialism and needed to change. I knew that I had to live a simpler life. I knew that my attitude to the poor, to my community and to the planet needed to change. My soul was touched deeply. Yet my mind and my heart were falling to catch up!

On Sunday night I shared about my time in India at church and as a result of that time I knew my mind, heart and actions needed to catch up with my soul. So yesterday, I was driving to college having a pray and felt God clearly say to me to sell my Audi. When I brought it I knew I was just feeding my greed. I didn't need a car as big and powerful and expensive as that, yet I still got it. I rang Sarah and told her what I felt God was saying and she told me that all morning she had felt the same way. So that confirmed it.

I need to live a simpler life and need to model that in whatever community I find myself in. Driving around in a plush Audi is not modelling that. Things need to change for me!

So if you're interested in an Audi...! ;0)

Something Bigger Than Us

A Challenge to Churchy

I met up with my twin bro yesterday. We had a good chat. He used to be a Christian but would now describe himself has an atheist who wants to believe God exists. He's an atheist because he can't come to any other conclusion based on everything he sees and has experienced. But he would love it if God existed.

We were chatting about church when he said something that really impacted me. It was along the lines of:

'Christians do these events, big and little, so they can be deliberately 'churchy' and have a rest from being 'missional'. It makes me think that anything missional that churches do is just and act or facade. Church in these scenarios seems to be fake. It makes me wonder if the expressions of love in these situations is actually genuine.'

A real challenge. Do we love for loves sake? Or are people just a target to convert?

Also, can church communities be a place where we are always being real about who we are and therefore allow others who we meet be real about who they are? Can we ever drop the 'show' and be who we are called to be?

5 Deeply De-Christian Doctrines Meme

Thanks to David for prompting me to do this as a meme:

List 5 doctrines that are taught within the Christian church that you believe to be deeply de-Christian.

I tag David, Sam, Tim A, Banksy and Tim

Those that I listed were:

1. The doctrine of penal substitution

2. The belief that Genesis is a literal account of creation (i.e that the world was created in 6 literal 24 hour days)

3. The doctrine that believes woman should not be in church eldership/bishops

4. Calvin's doctrine of divine election/retribution

5. The doctrine that 'salvation' is about going to heaven

Random Beliefs

Banksy tagged me with this. 10 things I believe to ethical, philosophical or theological:

1. I believe marriage is one of the greatest gifts given to humanity, yet has been so abused we have lost sight of its beauty.

2. I believe that identical twins share a deeper bond than science could ever reveal

3. I believe films can touch our souls, both positively and negatively

4. I believe the church in the West is in 'Babylon' but are largely unaware of this.

5. I believe that the church must understand how vastly different tomorrow looks from today to engage meaningfully with our culture with the Gospel. It's failure to do this is one of the reasons it is in exile.

6. I believe God is far more loving and gracious than we could ever begin to imagine.

7. I believe fundamentalism is evil

8. I believe children to be a precious gift to our world and we therefore have a huge responsibility to love and care for them properly.

9. I believe wherever there is truth there is God and wherever there is love, there is God.

10. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I tag Tim A, David and Tim

5 Deeply De-Christian Doctrines

5 Doctrines that I believe to be deeply de-Christian:

1. The doctrine of penal substitution

2. The belief that Genesis is a literal account of creation (i.e that the world was created in 6 literal 24 hour days)

3. The doctrine that believes woman should not be in church eldership/bishops

4. Calvin's doctrine of divine election/retribution

5. The doctrine that 'salvation' is about going to heaven

Do You See?

Vivid Dream - Strong Building

I had a very vivid dream on Monday night...

Sarah and I were in a field surrounded by hills in the middle of nowhere. It was a very dull and overcast day. We were looking at an old building that was falling down and in need of serious renovation.

Two of our friends were there who were instrumental in my obedience to God in pursuing the calling to ministry that he has given me. They had a photo album on them and were showing us photo's of our past. Some of the photo's were of really happy times since we were called to ministry. Others were of the difficult times. Others were of sin in our lives that we need deal with.

Sarah and I then collect some materials to try and restore this building. The materials we are using don't seem to be good enough, yet suddenly another man joins us and begins to show us how to use these materials. He tells us they are good enough if we use them properly. We discover he is a master builder. He shows us how to build properly.

He then warns us. He says that we need to listen to him and build properly because a mighty wind is coming that night and will blow so powerfully. The wind will be so strong that it will show up everything that is lacking about the building. It will expose the weaknesses in it. We need to build properly.

Sarah and I listen and keep building. We then crawl into the building. It seems so small and low now. And we wait.

I believe this was a dream from God. I shared it with some of my mates from college and one of my tutors. They are going to pray and let me know if they have an idea about what it may mean. My tutor said he was sensing ruach/pneuma type imagery in it.

Anyone else got any thoughts?