Teapot Trepidation

At times, my journey from guilt to grace has been so difficult, confusing and frightening that I almost turned back to the old, familiar ways of my world inside the bubble. There I could fall back on the teaching of men I had once respected, hang around with those of like faith and dress and talk and walk and desperately work to maintain the fragile integrity of my filmy cage.

But I can't, I just can't go back. The freedom I find in the light of His grace sits too sweetly on my lips. That light draws my eyes upward to Him and my eternal home making this world, especially the one in that bubble, dark and murky with guilt. This rich fellowship I enjoy with Him even in the midst of a storm of depression far outweighs the familiar and tedious tasks of working to be a good citizen of the bubble.

However, there is a scary side to this journey. Even while we begin to realize the full joy of His grace, we look around to see things that we once held as truth disappear into the murky abyss of our former guilt. Questions flood our minds and fill us with doubt.

What to do? First, realize that it is okay to question everything. When we question and find answers it solidifies what we believe. Why do we say the Bible is God's word? Why does God allow suffering? Did God really create the universe? Can we really know God's will or is it a guessing game? This first stage leaves us vulnerable and second guessing everything we believe. In my experience this was the scariest time. I was unsure of myself, unsure of my faith and . . . angry!

Anger? Yes. It seems to be the second stage of the process. How dare those preacher and teachers lead congregations to believe that embracing their own particular set of preferences led to being a good Christian! How dare the preacher say that having a dog in the house was sin and that working on Sunday was wrong while he ate out in restaurants after church! How dare they define how we live, vacation, entertain, dress, sing, etc. based on their interpretation of the Scriptures! How dare they take over the job of the Holy Spirit! How dare they preach and teach and say they love God and cheat on their spouses and act like sinful humans and carry on like it wasn't their fault! ARGH!

I still have many moments when this feeling wells up inside me as I come across yet another man made rule credited as doctrine, but I'm also learning how to handle it with God's help. God doesn't leave us in the midst of doubt and anger. In my next post, I'll discuss how to question without losing faith, and how to discern Biblical preference from man made reasoning.

Asking Him questions and receiving His answers,

Teapotjan

Assembly Line Teapots

Teapot after teapot after teapot rolls down the conveyor belt, each like the first and the one right after. One design, one plan, one mold for all the teapots sitting side by identical side on the shelf. All shiny, and clean, just like the teapot designer wanted. All the same. All the same. Maybe a different colored flower there, and a slight change of a leaf there, but pretty much the same. Ah, bliss! No aberration, no decisions, just a teapot like all others.

I must confess that if I received one of those teapots, I'd have to paint it or ding it or something to make it different. We thrive on individuality. God made each of us different so it must be part of His plan. He doesn't want His children to be "cookie cutter" Christians. He wants us to chose Him of our own, God-given, free will. And then serve Him with our unique, God-given talents.

Look at the world He created and the variety of His creations! I doubt that He expects us all to be the same and to worship Him the same way. I know I said that I would talk about how Christians should react to the unsaved today, but a few things have come up, and I feel this is a pressing matter. My heart is burdened over a schism among His children, and I want to do what I can to help close it.

Those of you that have read this blog know that I have left big "F" Fundamentalism behind me as part of my journey from guilt to grace. But I have not left Christ or His service. In fact, I feel closer to Him now than any other time in my life. I found that I don't have to be the same as all the other "good" Christians. I don't have to wear the same clothes, I don't have to use the same Bible translation, I don't have to listen to the same music, and I don't have to worship God exactly like anyone else does. 

Recently, a Christian university in the northern part of the US made the shift to allow worship style music in their chapels, camps and programs. Some of the dress standards have relaxed-not to the point of immodesty--just more casual. It's a move I applaud. There are no doctrinal compromises. There is no desire to become more worldly. It is a move to bring the the school into the present pushing aside outdated cultural preferences. Yet many pastors and many leaders in other more conservative schools have felt the need to speak out in disagreement with the change. 

Why? Will the cause of Christ suffer because a group of people who believe the same Bible and worship the same God changed their worship style? Will Christ be more glorified if we disagree publicly with others who claim His name and serve Him? Will "compromise" send the entire Christian population down a slippery slope into Hell? NO! It will not. God's love and salvation is bigger than all of our disagreements. He deals with individuals. He leads Christians differently, and we have no reason to doubt the leading of the Holy Spirit. And we would be committing blasphemy if we dare to dictate how the Holy Spirit works with anyone other than ourselves.

Will we do more damage to the cause of Christ by separating and criticizing each other over cultural differences? Yes. Most certainly. The only thing worth complete division is a corruption of the Gospel of Christ and the foundational doctrine behind it. That's really it. Seriously. Even then, we are dealing with people who are possibly unsaved, and any division should still be handled with care for their eternal soul. As for separating from those who criticize and and divide the body of Christ, they've already done that for us. But, I stil believe we should uphold them in prayer and let the Lord do His work with them.

We aren't going to be assembly line Christians. We shouldn't be assembly line Christians. God made us individuals and He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us on how to use our individuality and talents to serve Him. We are handcrafted one of a kind works of art fashioned by our Creator.

Speaking of one of a kind, has anyone seen my cow teapot?