Comments on: Riffs 11:07:06 Bryan Chapell on Brokenness; Julie Bogart on Truthfulness

By: DawsonL

DawsonL — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 18:10:58 +0000

I think that we need to hear the Julie Bogartâ€™s of the world. And I fully agree that there is no “promise” of transformation. But there is hope that we can be transformed. I’ve struggled with sin issues and could say that the Gospel has failed me. But when I am honest I realize that I’ve failed the Gospel.

I know God’s love and grace for me. I see my failings as a reason to give grace to those who also struggle. I see my failings as a reason to stay humble and to cry out to God.

However, I don’t see my failings as an excuse to quit or give up hope. The reality is that the Holy Spirit can transform me. The hope is real and there is a “promise” that He can save my Spirit and my Soul.

I read Julie Bogart and have sympathy for her not condemnation. But I must ultimately disagree with her that Christianity can’t cure addiction.

I agree with your first point that we cannot promise transformation. That is because transformation is a transaction between a person and the Lord. But we can promise that God is faithful and His hope is true.

By: irenicum

irenicum — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:20:57 +0000

Thank you for posting Bryan Chapell’s funeral sermon. I appreciate it. The Christian life is so much more complex than what we’ve been sold. It’s so much worse and better than anything told. Thank you again.

By: Togenberg

Togenberg — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:11:33 +0000

In the grandest arc of time, existnece is a comedy for a Christian, this in the classical sense of a postive resolution, a denouement, a working out. But, man, when people expect things to work out positively NOW it is a setup for intense heart-break, suffering, and false guilt. Expect a miracle, sure, but I don’t think life is happiness drive thru even if you have tons of faith.

And amen, Julie Bogoart. Who said everything was going to be okay in the here-and-now?

I was struck by this when reading Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence, of the almost wholescale destruction of Early Modern Japanese Christianity. No easy resolution there, as most Christians were murdered, fled, or apostatized. One is forced either to 1) condemn all those Christians as weak, ‘not real Christians’, not of the Elect, etc.; or to 2) admit that things are awfully complicated and messy.

By: Michael Spencer

Michael Spencer — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:31:05 +0000

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/how-we-sound-to-those-who-dont-believe

By: MikeTaylor

MikeTaylor — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:55:47 +0000

What happened to the more recent “Hearing ourselves as others hear us” post?

By: tanegeel

tanegeel — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:35:49 +0000

The problem that these writers hit upon is the reluctance of most evangelicals to deal with the devastation of the real world in its own terms. When you hang it out there in most evangelical churches — that you’re using pornography or addicted to a substance or breaking off your marriage — most responses look like crossing to the other side of the road instead of bandaging the wounded. Folks promise to pray for you. I wish when I am hurting someone would just cry with me.

By: David McKay

David McKay — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 02:53:30 +0000

Michael, thanks so much for posting the funeral sermon for Petros Roukas. It expresses the hope of the gospel very well, and is a tonic to me as I have an all-too-often suicidal family member in hospital right now.

I also really appreciated Michael Horton’s funeral sermon for Timothy Brewer, another depressive minister who took his own life. I can’t find that sermon on the net now, but it has the intriguing title of When Christianity Doesn’t Work.

By: Peaches

Peaches — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 02:02:17 +0000

It seems to me that Bryan’s words are full of hope and humility. These words admit the possiblity of our healing eithr now or later, as God chooses. These words are words of life. I see broken people clinging to each other in hope, repentance and humility.
Ms. Bogarts words have the ring of real human experience and the dissapointment, cynicism and anger that we all find there. However her words are words of poverty and despair, broken people clinging to each other but nothing more.

By: Kyle Potter

Kyle Potter — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 13:21:03 +0000

Thanks for posting this; I appreciate it.

By: rastassin

rastassin — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 08:41:28 +0000

I think I have to take exception to point 1; we don’t make the promise, it is a promise of regeneration from God. As some one who grew up outside of Christianity I had the pleasure of myself being tranformed (and now day by day), and witnessing how God took all of the brokeness of my life and those I loved and regenerated it into new life. To the point where my mom and step dad have adopted two boys who are also in need to this regeneration. I am far from perfect or holy, but haveeperienced this transformation, however far frm complete it maybe. I guess I can’t promise I can do anything about it, but I can promise to be a part of what God does, take horrible things, like the crucifix, and turn them into beautiful redemtive things. The scars remain as a testimony, but the church is the bride gift.

On point 2, is not the inlcusion part of the Gospel?

PS I think the inclusion idea I see in the NT is at odds with our Ingroup/Outgroup dynamics which the culture warriors are so adamant about.