SavedByPiercing

11.2.2001

This is what's going on in my neck of the woods. It kinda makes me wanna...I don't know... um... BARF.
-11:47

10.31.2001

My New Motto:

"In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity."
-Augustine
-13:47

10.30.2001

Note to self:

Don't give blood any less than 24 hours before a scheduled exam in a very hard class. As blood volume is lost, circulation of oxygen and other compounds essential to maintaining homeostasis and brain function are greatly reduced. This may disorientation, vertigo, slurred speech, blurred vision, and stupid answers on said test. Also, do not lift heavy objects, play with knives, post to your blog, or operate heavy machinery under any circumstances.

-20:21

"...Such worship as Faber knew (and he is but one of a great company which no man can number) can never come from a mere doctrinal knowledge of God. Hearts that are "fit to break" with love for the Godhead are those who have been in the Presence and have looked with opened eye upon the majesty of Deity. Men of the breaking hearts had a quality about them not known to or understood by common men. They habitually spoke with spiritual authority. They had been in the Presence of God and they reported what they saw there. They were prophets, not scribes, for the scribe tells us what he has read, and the prophet tells us what he has seen.

The distinction is not an imaginary one. Between the scribe who has read and the prophet who has seen there is a difference as wide as the sea. We are today overrun with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the Church waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God. And yet, thus to penetrate, to push in sensitive living experience into the holy Presence, is a privilege open to every child of God."
--A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
-16:20

Hey. I'm back. Did you think that I went nuts and retreated to a cave only to live off of locusts and wear animal skins? I'm doing a lot of thinking... maybe too much. Pray for me that I don't go off the deep end and abandon orthodoxy in the name of a "personal experience with God."

A.W. Tozer is blowing my mind. I have started reading "The Pursuit of God." This is a must for all Christians. It will transform your relationship with God; it has transformed mine.

I think that my problem is that I really feel burned by the church [I didn't use a capital "C" becuase I don't mean the body of Christ, I mean our modern religious structure]. Everything that I have ever been taught has been misguided, misunderstood, or just plain wrong. I suppose that this could just be directed at Southern Baptists [where I draw most of my experience], but I really don't think so. Tozer says,

"Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all."

I suppose that Mute Troubadour's post about disillusionment [10.29.01 16:30] applies here.

I don't know what I'm getting at. I need something. We need something. At least now I know that I can get it from God Himself, instead of from man. I suppose that He's the only one that truly has anything for us.

Here's an interesting site on Home Churches

I suppose that I should mention that I gave blood for the first time less than an hour ago. That may have contibuted to the "disillusionment" that you have witnessed in this post. Forgive me if I have frightened you. You may want to check up on me if I don't post again soon, I may be looking for a good cave...
-16:06