tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19645714.post6470503111426215657..comments2023-10-29T04:50:42.136-05:00Comments on Nick's Musings: "An Invitation To Know God"Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08949332361786422769noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19645714.post-61195699060446645092007-04-26T22:24:00.000-05:002007-04-26T22:24:00.000-05:00you may be right, Tim. i was in a sense interpret...you may be right, Tim. i was in a sense interpreting Don's words in my own way.<BR/><BR/>I definately agree that salvation is a process, though. I don't think that makes it any less of an experience, though, or any less life changing, or any less real.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your thoughts.Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08949332361786422769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19645714.post-27618737009369427632007-04-26T11:29:00.000-05:002007-04-26T11:29:00.000-05:00Hi Nick,I share your excitement for Searching For ...Hi Nick,<BR/><BR/>I share your excitement for <I>Searching For God Knows What</I>. It is also one of my favorite books as well. I also agree that Miller writes ideas beautifully and motivates us to wrap our minds around it.<BR/><BR/>I don't know that I disagree with your two comments, because they are your comments and rants, but I'm unsure if the "born again" phrase and idea is really what Donald Miller intended. I will admit that "born again" means different things to different people, so I will leave room that I am misinterpreting your comments. You describe born again as an experience, and later are more specific in saying <I>"They have had an undeniable encounter with the risen Christ."</I> Are you intending this description to sound like a single event, like a typical time at an altar call when a person comes forward to be saved? Or do you think this is a process?<BR/><BR/>When I read the phrase falling in love as Miller describes becoming a Christian, I think of a process, something that takes time, energy, commitment. It the vast majority of cases, it does not happen in an hour or by just listening to someone talk. <BR/><BR/>I immediately think about falling in love with my wife. I remember vividly striking a friendship with her for which I had no romantic feelings. I remember over time getting to know her more and more deeply because I enjoyed our relationship, but most of all because I felt it was good for me. I think of the time when I realized that I had romantic feelings for her. The new stage of our relationship was exhilarating. I couldn't get enough. <BR/><BR/>But there were also disagreements and arguments because we were now opening up some of other deeper and private parts of our lives and had to choose whether to show acts of love or selfishness. <BR/><BR/>This continued for some time, and as with any relationship levels of commitment have to be decided on where you get to a point whether to continue or not. I believe those are points where the process of falling in love are really defined, and impact the relationship. In my case, we came to one of these points, and I made a statement "I don't believe I could ever marry you." (Yes, I really said this.)<BR/><BR/>Obviously, the relationship was broken, and it took another period of time, about as long as the period we had been dating, to discover that I was indeed in love and didn't realize what the relationship meant to me until I didn't have it anymore. That period of reconciliation, rebuilding, and re-commitment was just as, if not more, important than the first part of the process. Because that period fixed the foundation cracks, and built the first bricks of what would become our marriage.<BR/><BR/>There's the honeymoon period and then there's the settling in of life, where things get stale if you aren't careful, and it takes creativity and spontaneity to breathe new life. Doing things "out of commitment" doesn't really exude evidence of love, but out of obligation. So the commitment has to adapt to new appetites, new interests, new ways of doing things that still show the same foundational love that built the relationship.<BR/><BR/>I agree with Donald Miller that becoming a Christian (I personally would rather be called a follower of Jesus) is very much like falling in love. And looking back at my life of trying to follow Jesus, it mimics my relationship with my wife in many interesting ways. I've fallen head over heals for God; I've gotten into major arguments. I've separated myself from Him; I later discovered that I really needed Him and missed Him. My relationship with God has gone stale; I'm looking for creative ways to go deeper in the relationship. The disciplines out of obligation are sometimes discouraging; the search for spirituality is beginning to invigorate.<BR/><BR/>I think there definitely people in group number 2, but I think that Miller is trying to redefine the struggle within the first group, recognizing that they have been led astray by the formulaic representation of the gospel. But now it's becoming difficult, and in some churches taboo, to preach and live out the gospel any differently.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06007744289908702383noreply@blogger.com