http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27 david hayward is an artist trapped inside an pastor's body Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:56:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-28 Sat, 20 May 2006 16:01:48 +0000 http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-28 Okay, wow again! This really makes me feel like the stuff i've been going through with my family is good. "“Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight". i want that for me, to be what i should be in God's sight, and for my family. Thanks Dave. Okay, wow again!
This really makes me feel like the stuff i’ve been going through with my family is good. ““Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight”. i want that for me, to be what i should be in God’s sight, and for my family. Thanks Dave.

]]> http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-27 Sat, 20 May 2006 15:45:39 +0000 http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-27 Tell me how God offers us the red pill. I don't see it. We have no concrete proof of God. For all we know, he is an illusion. The only red pill I know of is death, and no one has come back to tell us whether that pill stands up to its advertised effect. So all we have is the blue pill. I don't see any "grace" in it. Tell me how God offers us the red pill. I don’t see it. We have no concrete proof of God. For all we know, he is an illusion. The only red pill I know of is death, and no one has come back to tell us whether that pill stands up to its advertised effect. So all we have is the blue pill. I don’t see any “grace” in it.

]]> http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-24 Sat, 20 May 2006 14:36:16 +0000 http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-24 We often equate "grace" as a sweet, syrupy, sentimental feeling. But my mind immediately jumps to the film, The Matrix: which pill would I rather take? The blue pill permits Neo to continue on as he always has in the same comfortable, known world that brings some level of security, familiarity, and comfort, even though it is an illusion. Or he can take the red pill that will plunge him into finding out what the matrix is, that is, the truth about what really is. The blue pill, in the case of the church, would be to continue on the status quo of our dreams and expectations about what a community of people should be. The red pill is God's shattering of our illusions to know what is real, the truth. It is a gracious act of God, I would contend (as would Bonhoeffer), to offer us the red pill. In spite of the pain, discomfort, and constant struggle, the dis-illusionment is gracious because it is truth. We often equate “grace” as a sweet, syrupy, sentimental feeling. But my mind immediately jumps to the film, The Matrix: which pill would I rather take? The blue pill permits Neo to continue on as he always has in the same comfortable, known world that brings some level of security, familiarity, and comfort, even though it is an illusion. Or he can take the red pill that will plunge him into finding out what the matrix is, that is, the truth about what really is. The blue pill, in the case of the church, would be to continue on the status quo of our dreams and expectations about what a community of people should be. The red pill is God’s shattering of our illusions to know what is real, the truth. It is a gracious act of God, I would contend (as would Bonhoeffer), to offer us the red pill. In spite of the pain, discomfort, and constant struggle, the dis-illusionment is gracious because it is truth.

]]> http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-23 Sat, 20 May 2006 14:17:21 +0000 http://nakedpastor.com/archives/27#comment-23 OK I got that, but I still don't get how "God's grace" has anything to do with it. OK I got that, but I still don’t get how “God’s grace” has anything to do with it.

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