It’s Not You, It’s Me

I don’t think I’m going to blog anymore. Sorry everybody. And by everybody, I mean the 3 of you who read this. Sorry especially to you Mike, since I know you will probably hate me and leave a mean comment. Then again, maybe you already deleted me off your blogroll, and if that’s the case, I’m assuming you won’t see this…  so you should know I’ve never really been all that into your style of dress.

I’ll still totally be reading and commenting on all of your blogs though. <3

P.S. I didn’t really mean that about your fashion sense, Breza. You always look h-o-t-t.

XY…. Why?

Truth: Most men are freakin’ weirdos. The rest, for the most part, are relatively normal except that in secret, they are also freakin’ weirdos. The last category is reserved for the few, the true, the all- around decent good guys. 

(Don’t worry, most of you reading this blog I would willingly place in the 3rd catgeory).

Before you all go a-protesting my sweeping generalizations, case in point: I’m wearing a skirt (not too short) with tall black boots. A man in a parking lot feels the need to say to me “Those are the best looking legs I’ve seen all winter, makes me miss summer.” That = freakin’ weirdo. Men, you should never EVER feel the need to stop, unsolicited, and remark on a random woman’s appearance. She will assume you want to cut off said legs, and put them in your trunk.

I Blame the Polar Ice Caps Melting on Your Horrendus Gas

Just when I think the news already stinks.

Do you ever think about the kids who talk about how they want to be doctors and firemen and ballerinas when they are little, and yet grow up to study gas? Or wonder what their parents tell their friends when they ask about little Johnny?

In Like a Lion (Always Winter)

I don’t want to just post this song and not write about it, but mostly I just want you all to find the song and give it a listen. (You need the music to do it justice). Relient K wrote this for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; and even though it didn’t make the movie soundtrack, it still made their new christmas album.  I don’t know… something about the concept of how it’s always winter, and you feel like things will never change, is really timely for me right now. Everytime I really give this song a listen it just brings tears to my eyes.  

 In Like A Lion (Always Winter)
              -Relient K

It’s always nice to look out the window
And see those very first few flakes of snow
And later on we can go outside
And create the impression of an angel that just fell from the sky

When February rolls around I’ll roll my eyes
Turn a cold shoulder to these even colder skies
And by the fire my heart it heaves a sigh
For the green grass waiting on the other side

It’s always winter but never Christmas
It seems this curse just can’t be lifted
Yet in the midst of all this ice and snow
Our hearts stay warm cause they are filled with hope

It’d be so nice to look out the window
And see the leaves on the trees begin to show
The birds would congregate and sing
A song of birth a song of newer things

The wind would calm and the sun would shine
I’d go outside and I’d squint my eyes
But for now I will simply just withdraw
Sit here and wish for this world to thaw

It’s always winter but never Christmas
It seems this curse just can’t be lifted
Yet in the midst of all this ice and snow
Our hearts stay warm cause they are filled with hope

And everything it changed overnight
This dying world you brought it back to life
And deep inside I felt things
Shifting everything was melting
Away oh away
And you gave us the most beautiful of days

Cause when it’s always winter but never Christmas
Sometimes it feels like you’re not with us
But deep inside our hearts we know
That you are here and we will not lose hope

Hawthorne Heights

I really like Hawthorne Heights. On Saturday, one of the members of the band, Casey Calvert, passed away in his sleep.

I was thinking about posting about them, or something. I’ve been listening to their cds now all week. But in wanting to write something, I started reading their lyrics. I mean, I love the band, music, etc… and usually the lyrics are my favorite part of whatever band I listen to. But in reading their lyrics I realized that’s not why I like this band. I like this band because of the screaming and intensity. Casey Calvert was the screamer.

Now the Delight of Love Awoke

The following excerpt was taken from George MacDonald’s book Donal Grant.

His heart was so full of love and the joy of love, that they had made him very still: now the delight of love awoke. He took her in his arms like a child, rose, and went walking about the room with her, petting and soothing her. He held her close to his heart; her head was on his shoulder, and his face was turned to hers.

“I love you,” he said, “and love you to all eternity! I have love enough now to live upon, if you should die to-night, and I should tarry till he come. O God, you are too good to me! It is more than my heart can bear! To make men and women, and give them to each other, and not be one moment jealous of the love wherewith they love one another, is to be a God indeed!”

So said Donal- and spoke the high truth. But alas for the love wherewith men and women love each other! There were small room for God to be jealous of that! It is the little love with which they love each other, the great love with which they love themselves, that hurts the heart of their father.

If I Could Have Seen the Shore

The following quote was taken from Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven.

In 1952, young Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of the mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was the fog…I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.

Faith Like a Child

 Probably the two most important writers in my life are CS Lewis and George MacDonald. And it makes me so sad that everyone reading this site probably has some idea who CSL is, and possibly no one knows who GMD is. (Yes, I know both of these men well enough to get away with abbrev’ing their names!) My favorite thing about CSL is The Chronicles of Narnia. Hopefully a ton of you have read them, and hopefully you’ve read them more recently than the 5th grade. Anyway, new personal blog goal: Remind everyone why The Chronicles of Narnia rock, and hopefully convince at least a few of you to pick up some of GMD’s stuff.

“There is a childhood into which we have to grow, just as there is a childhood which we must leave behind. One is a childishness from which but few of those who are counted wisest among men have freed themselves. The other is a child-likeness, which is the highest gain of humanity.” -George MacDonald

C.S. Lewis  said this about George MacDonald: “I dare not say that he is never in error; but to speak plainly I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself. I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him.”

 In the Chronicles of Naria, CSL drives home what George MacDonald means in the above quote. The contrast between Lucy and Edmund is so great. Consider Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- sulking, and desiring only the comforts of Turkish Delight. And more importantly, consider Lucy. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Edmund explains who Aslan is to Eustace and indicates Lucy’s close relationship to Aslan: “He is the great Lion, the son of the Emperor over the Sea, who saved me and saved Narnia. We’ve all seen him. Lucy sees him most often”.

Jesus called a little child to him and stood the child before his followers. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you must change and become like little children.  Otherwise, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the one who makes himself humble like this child.”

Matthew 18:2-4

For more on this, read this  paper.

Last Thoughts on Divorce

Alright, here’s the last blog on divorce. My pastor, Todd Philips, recently preached a sermon on what the bible says about this. (He’s currently going through a series at Frontline- part of McLean Bible Church in Washington, DC- on controversial issues in the church. Namely: Divorce, Homosexuality, Abortion, Alcohol Consumption, Capital Punishment, and Suicide. It’s been great. I recommend anyone interested in hearing sermons on this topic visit the Frontline link on my blogroll to read up on what he’s saying. He posts each sermon so you can listen to it, and also follows up answering questions on the blog.)

 So before I write this, I want to say first, that obviously everyone doesn’t agree on this topic, but I do believe there is truth to be found out there. Also, if you and I happen to disagree, that’s okay. No big deal, we’re under grace. Finally, I’m dropping this topic after this post.

To summarize Todd’s sermon, he said that the only biblical reasons for divorce are when an unbeliever leaves a believer, and in cases of adultery. Then he wrote the following blog to answer some popular questions a bunch of people at my church emailed. At the end, I’ll also include where he answered my questions, specifically. Please note that anything indented in this blog are his words, not mine.

1. Under what circumstances can a Christ-follower get remarried?I’m going to start with the issue of remarriage. There are two possible scenarios that should be dealt with here (I seem to be a fan of lists, don’t I?): 1. A Christ-follower who has been divorced for the reasons cited in the sermon (divorcing an unrepentant adulterer or divorcing an unbelieving spouse who deserts the believer).2. A Christ-follower who has been through a divorce for a reason other than the two biblically permitted situations.

For the person who has been through a divorce for the two Biblically permitted reasons, the answer is simple – this person is not bound to the relationship any longer and is free to remarry, remembering the all-important fact that these two ‘allowances’ for divorce are NOT excuses to get out of a marriage but rather they are allowances from God for the most extreme circumstances of unrepentance on the part of the offending spouse and are to free the offended spouse from bondage.

I think it is important to also note that even though a person gets divorced for a Biblically allowable reason, this does not mean that this person ‘should’ remarry. The Bible actually encourages singleness or reconciliation of the marriage over remarriage. We find this in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth:

“10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not
separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else
be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.”
1 Corinthians 7:11

Paul then goes on in this passage to explain that a believer is not bound to an unbelieving spouse who abandons him or her (as we’ve already discussed). Yet, at the same time God gives grace to the offended party and allows for them to remarry and for the remarriage not to be considered adultery.

The more difficult question is whether or not a Christ-follower can remarry if they have been divorced for reasons other than the two given in Scripture. As I look at Scripture, it is clear that:

“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery,
and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Luke 16:18

God desperately wants us to reconcile with our former spouse even if a long amount of time has elapsed. This is God’s plan on all occasions with marriages – reconciliation. This pursuit of reconciliation with the marriage is a life-long pursuit and remarriage blocks that pursuit.

If a person obtains a divorce on unbiblical grounds and one of the parties then gets remarried, they have committed adultery against the spouse that has remained single. The spouse who has remained single is now freed from that marriage for Biblical grounds and is free to remarry.

McLean Bible Church and Frontline have a “Divorce and Remarriage Statement” on our web site that I would recommend to all Frontliners. It says much of what I’ve explained here but has some additional information that applies specifically to new believers.

This is what our church teaches.

Now here’s what he had to say when answering questions more specifically related to my original blogs.

You bring up the question that I hear most often…What do we do with a Christian who has divorced his or her spouse for reasons other than the biblically allowable reasons? We’re left with a seemingly “no win” scenario. Is the person who remarries then living a life on ongoing adultery? Bottom line - ending a remarriage through divorce would be just as sinful as ending the first marriage in divorce. I could go into detail from Leviticus 20:10, then to Deuteronomy 24:1-4 to show that nowhere in the Bible does God command a person who remarries to divorce. (I’ll leave that to those of you who are more studious). Instead, let me say that once a person remarries they should do all they must to live out their remarriage in a Christ-centered, Christ-honoring way. (Eph 5:22-23).

Todd later asserted that the difference in the homosexual couple and remarried couple is that the homosexual couple can never be under the marriage covenant as established by God. A remarried couple is, and while it may have been sin to marry, they are also expected to honor that covenant.

The difference is this…the remarried couple must ask for forgiveness and go through a process of restoration but they must now remain in the new marriage and attempt to honor God in their new marriage from now on. The homosexual couple however is called to stop engaging in the relationship because the relationship and the act of sex within the relationship go against God’s Word.

Wow, that was a long blog. Again, I’m simply reporting what my church teaches, for thought and reflection. The deeper significance of what these past few blogs are about is how we as a church tend to slowly change our interpretation of scripture based on changing social standards. We can either hear what the bible has to say and change our lifestyle, hear what the bible has to say and discount it as irrelevant/oudated/subject to interpretation, or hear what the bible has to say and ignore it. (For more on this, read my blog “An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce” and the comments Jason and Tim posted.) Thanks to everyone who has participated in this journey of better understanding what the bible says about divorce.

An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce?

Yeah, it’s a headline on Yahoo! News today. How timely.

This part of the article I found especially intriguing. And I quote:

Still, the controversy suggests that even the country’s most rule-bound Christians will search for a fresh understanding of scripture when it seems unjust to them. The implications? Flexibility on divorce may mean that evangelicals could also rethink their position on such things as gay marriage, as a generation of Christians far more accepting of homosexuality begins to move into power. (The ever-active Barna folks have found that 57% of “born-again” Christians age 16-29 criticize their own church for being “anti-homosexual.”)

Have they been reading my blog? Just kidding.

Expect an update on the topic from me today (or tomorrow if I get busy), as I’ve been learning alot about it since my original post a month ago.  Tip: Read the comments after the post. That’s where we get into the really tricky questions.