What I Am

I’m a Godblogger. I understand that is intended to be insulting, but I’ll be the judge of what insults me and what doesn’t. I’ll never be insulted by something that ties me to Jesus Christ. You’ll never hurt me by accusing me of being what I so desperately want to be.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I am a believer in Jesus Christ. I have committed my life to Him even though I don’t have a prophetic vision of where that will take me.

I am far from perfect. I am probably the worst Christian in the church in a lot of ways. I’m easily confused about things that shouldn’t be confusing, and I tend to over-analyze most things. I’m obsessive. I’ll concentrate on something for a month and then it will fade away.

I’m frustrated by all the conflicting viewpoints in the church. I don’t just mean MY church – I mean in the body of Christ as a whole. We all have opinions, we all have convictions, we all have our history, and we all have to admit we might be wrong. Well, we might be wrong about SOME things, we’ll admit, but not about others. Nobody’s got it all together, we’ll admit, but I know I’m closer than anybody else. I’m frustrated because Satan is destroying the bride of Christ from the inside out with conflicting doctrines and general confusion. It’s easy to think that just because I attend a Southern Baptist church that everyone there probably agrees with me.

From my experience that is a far cry from the truth, even about fundamental doctrines, or at least those that Southern Baptists consider fundamental.

I’m frustrated about the quality of my Christian life. I find myself torn, drawn, and quartered by the temptations, aggravations, and encounters of day to day life. I find peace in my heart, but it has a tough time finding its way out into my limbs and my mind. Do those who brag of their problems being solved by a Christian existence simply lie, or am I in such a screwed up shape that God can’t bless me?

Why do the things that I have in my heart to do have such difficulty finding fruition? (Oh, boy, there’s some Christianese, and that’s a language I almost despise!) Why am I burdened for something that I can’t find a way to do? Am I holding on to something I shouldn’t, or is God teaching me patience?

Why does one place in the Bible comfort me when another tears me to pieces with conviction? How can one passage so clearly indicate a truth and another leave me absolutely scratching my head – about the same subject?

Why do I hunger to be like Jesus but seem to have so little success following the steps required to do so? If I truly long to be with Him and like Him, and He truly longs to fellowship with me (more Christianese…), why am I so hesitant to go somewhere and just be alone with the King of Kings?

These are just the “whys”.

There are also the “whats”, which would primarily refer to particular doctrinal issues that “churches” disagree on. Sometime in the future, I’ll convert THIS home page to a post and discuss some “whats” on my front page. Or maybe not.

Hope you’ll spend some time looking around on here. This is not just a blog; I’m hoping to add some other “stuff” as well, and there’s already my personal photo gallery and a chatroom. The wiki really isn’t “public” at this point. We’ll see what I do there.

WHAT I BELIEVE

First and foremost, I’m a Christian – a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ. Everything you see on my website will be biased toward a Christian viewpoint. Hopefully, everything I do will be done in a way that Jesus would approve.

There are a lot of specific things I believe. There are some that are controversial and I choose not to put them here, because I’m not doing this to spark disagreement in the church. I just consider them personal and not fundamental to Christianity and salvation.

  • I believe there is one real God. I believe He exists in three “persons” (even though I don’t exactly know how that works), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is the same as the Holy Ghost.
  • I believe that God created the entire Universe in six twenty-four hour days .
  • I believe that Jesus Christ was born of a true virgin, Mary.
  • I believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, completely man and completely God. I can’t explain that either, but I believe it’s true.
  • I believe that Jesus Christ was crucified and physically died. I believe He was completely dead, and that He was placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea after dying on Thursday.
  • I believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, which would have been Sunday. This is why I worship on Sunday, regardless of whether the Catholics established it or not, and regardless of whether Saturday is actually the Sabbath. The important thing is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. His body is no longer in a tomb anywhere, and no Discovery channel show will convince me that it is.
  • I believe that Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, where He “intercedes” for “believers”. That’s a little hard to explain, but maybe I’ll get around to it a little later.
  • I believe that Jesus Christ is returning to earth, and that there is going to eventually be a new Heaven and a new Earth, where the believers will live eternally. Non-believers will die eternally in Hell, which I also believe to be a real place. More on that later as well.

    • That’s a pretty good start, but this will be a continually evolving document… :)

    UPDATE – April 1, 2008 – As much “flux” as my theology has gone through lately, I’m a little surprised to see that nothing on this page has changed. I guess that’s a good thing. The basics never will change.

    A friend of mine, The Rambling Prophet, composed this beautiful “I believe…” discourse.  While thievery is entirely wrong, this is so good that I had to steal it.  It applies to what I believe, but I didn’t write it.

    1. I believe every syllable of the Bible.
    2. I believe God is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things.
    3. I believe that Jesus Christ is virgin born, the only begotten Son of God, lived a sinless life, and He died a penal, substitutionary, atoning death. He was buried yet He was gloriously resurrected on the third day, just as He said.
    4. I believe regeneration by the Holy Spirit is necessary and the Holy Spirit resides in and enables every believer to live a godly life.
    5. I believe man, created in the image of God, is hopeless and helpless apart from the saving grace of God. Man’s relationship with God is broken because of sin but can be restored by salvation. Jesus Christ is man’s only hope and He is the only way to God. Salvation is freely offered to all who accept Christ as Savior, repent of their sins, and commit their lives to His lordship.