Reasons why...

...I haven't been updating my blog. I made a promise to myself that I was going to post more often, mostly because I'm excited about blogging but also because I want people to know my heart, and even more, God's heart for the world.

As I sat down to post on Saturday, I realized I had way too much to say. Which got my gears turning...leading to a bigger project that I've been spending my time on. But I'm not revealing anything yet! (Mostly, in case I fail, I don't want anyone to know what exactly, or to what extent, I failed at it.)

It's been hard to gather my thoughts. What I'll say though, is that it all started with a song. A song called "Jesus, Jesus" by Noah Gundersen. A song that is raw and real and is this guy Noah simply asking God questions. He's really troubled by a lot of what he's learned from growing up in the church, and the liberal changes in society and what Jesus would have to say about all of it.

They are questions that so many people nowadays are asking.

It really got me thinking. Then I wondered about how people feel about this God that they don't even admit they might believe in...and realized that most people are mad. Most people are really angry at God, for a whole variety of reasons. I want to address this because anger at God is something that everyone, I think, has experienced, whether they are a strong Bible-based Christian, atheist, or Muslim (etc).

We've all been mad at Him.

Why?

Reason #1:  We don't understand His character.
Reason #2:  We don't understand His plan; we have a very short-sighted perspective.
Reason #3:  We think we deserve something from Him.
Reason #4:  You don't understand how a "loving" God could allow suffering in the world.
Reason #5:  We are upset that He's just "barged" into our lives without our permission.
Reason #6:  We can't understand why there would be so many religions claiming to be the right one. (Like, why couldn't He have made it clear?)
Reason #7:  (Continuation of #6) We are upset that He says that there is only one way to heaven, and all other ways are futile and lead to hell.
Reason #8:  Bad things have happened to some of the best people you know (or you), and you can't understand why.
Reason #9:  You've been mistreated by a group of people who claim to love God.
Reason #10:  We are mad about all the rules in the Old Testament, like against same sex interactions, or the practices that were "okay" back then, that God seemed to "support," like slavery.

There are, of course, more specific reasons, but I think these cover the majority. But I think the main reason people are mad at God is because we don't really understand Him. We don't understand the history of Him and us; His true, loving intentions/His heart for the world; what giving us "free will" meant for Him and for us; or that He has always been here, created us, gave His son to save us, so really doesn't owe us anything and is not some imposition on our lives. We don't understand that He is like a father and sometimes we have to try things and hurt ourselves to really learn the meaning of something or how to do it right.

But that's just a little snippet of what I've been working on. I'll keep sharing, of course!

Random, but admission time.....I've also realized that if I'm planning on attending seminary (and in general for morality's sake), I should probably stop with all the cussing. I don't know why I keep doing it or when I decided it was okay. Gah. It's hard to stop once you're used to it!

That's all for now. Back to studying! Much love.

Peace & Blessings