speaking of Heaven, all our different ideas about Jesus and the Bible and theology - it will all be answered there. not that we won't have questions. but we'll be with the Author and Finisher there, so i'm pretty sure He will work things out.
it's always been hard for me when two people i love and respect clash. the emergent church vs the traditional church vs the charismatic church. the warrior God vs the lover God. Voddie talks about how we've sissified Jesus, and says, my God is a warrior, He's holy, He's awesome! Mike talks about a God who is smitten with love for His bride, who deeply loves His people, who looks at us and sees lovers of God who struggle with sin, not sinners trying to love God.
i think they're both right. i think He's both. in the teaching i listened to on youtube of voddie (brokenness) he talked about The Shack. i read The Shack. i am sure there are things i disagree with about the book theologically. to be honest, i skimmed a lot of that stuff. but i thought the author captured some of the heart of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - in a figurative way. i enjoyed it.
on the other hand, i agree that we've lost that thing of being broken and grieved about our sin. we're not. and i love that he (voddie) is so passionate about what the Bible actually says, and could give a rip about what our culture thinks about it. [for a good laugh, go to youtube and look for voddie bauchem on sarah palin. he gets laughed at (really mocked) by the media-chic and the female Christian person being interviewed with him. but he stands firm on the B-I-B-L-E (yes, that's the book for me).] i love that.
so who is God? is He a warrior? absolutely. is He a Friend to sinners? definitely. is He King? yes. Bridegroom? yes. Lover of my soul, yes. Shepherd, yes. Father, Comforter, Teacher, yes, yes, yes. He is all those things and more. He is compassionate and merciful. He is righteous and holy. His Word is a two edged sword, and He numbers the hairs on my head and collects my tears.
there are people being reached by the emergent church that are not being drawn by the traditional or the charismatic. is enough being demanded of them so that they will be able to withstand persecution? i don't know. but i don't know about that with the traditional or charismatic churches either.
i'm just saying we know in part. voddie's got part. mike's got part. gottherd has part. hybels has part. pat robertson's got part. the guy that prayed at obama's inauguration (i forget his name) has part. catherine kuhlman had part (now she knows in full). hank hannegraff only has part. jack hayford only knows in part. i think rob bell and joel osteen probably know something of God. He will measure their ministries, and mine, and were it not for His blood, none of us would stand.
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