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grew up Christian, left for years. my reconversion was my brain finally getting the picture that i could have a thinking Christianity, and still be Christian. The fundies try to corner the market...and i could never see myself using their terms.
My surprise is that those terms aren't the property of the fundies. Sin is about broken relationship, the same old story of destruction....not the violation of a carefully watched code of laws. Grace is about God's real and wild love for all creation...not some divine lottery. Judgement is about God coming in to our lives and showing us what is broken everyday....not a moment in the future.
I'm lucky to have found worship communities that are theologically grounded, and do a lot of work to show where it is that we draw these ideas. Unlike some faiths i've experimented, it's not a "pick and choose" deal...or an idolitrous worhsip of the self's goals.
It's a fine line...we need ourselves to come to faith honestly, to question and wrestle with it. But we also can't ever tell ourselves we have all the answers...revelation comes from outside of us, and may tell us things that are uncomfortable and unwelcome.
I'm now preparing for ministry...which is a nervous and joyful thing. You could not have surprised me more if you'd told me that 4 years ago.
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For God so loved creation, that God sent God's only Son that whosoever believed should not perish, but have everlasting life.
-John 3:16
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