Monday, August 21, 2006

Passionate Christianity

Passionate Christianity started yesterday at church. It was a pretty good lesson, but I really don't like the 40 days of...I think it tries to make God into s 12 step program.

In Donald Miller's Searching for God Knows What Miller makes the statement that (I'm paraphrasing now) the Bible is God's love letter to us, and that coming to know Jesus Christ in a personal way is very similar to falling in love with your spouse. I think that is a wonderful way of describing the Christian life. I didn't come up to my wife and try to capture her love all at once, it was a process that takes time and effort. A lasting relationship with Jesus Christ is the same way. Thumping someone over the head with your Bible until they submit isn't the way to win someone to the Lord. It may be a way to force them to say the prayer, as if they wre saying "Uncle". But leading them into a love relationship with the Creator of the Universe and the Savior takes time and can't be packaged into a 40 day journey.

I'll strive to keep an open mind and see where this goes.

1 comment:

Adam said...

rick~ i definately resonate with what you're saying about the "40 days" formula. i think there may be an up side to this as well. what if someone has been living under a legalistic set of rules as a christian for years... and this series compells them to obey out of love, not rules? if the purpose of the series is to get people to fall in love with christ, i totally agree with your assessment. but, if it is a means of priming people to that love relationship, perhaps it could be a good thing? who knows...