Monday, May 30, 2011

Accquital, amnesty, dismissal, exempt, exonerate...

I've been thinking a lot about forgiveness. Not because I was struggling with it, but there was a book for free on Amazon. And I LOVE reading, so I downloaded it and began.

The forward is written by a Pentecostal man. So, I was already a little weary about continuing in reading. But I figured, I should finish and then make a final judgement.

Forgiveness is a choice. Not a feeling.
Forgiveness is a command from Jesus.
Forgiveness is ONLY possible with/through the Holy Spirit.
We (Believer and Followers of Christ) are called to RADICAL forgiveness. Meaning when it seems impossible.
Forgiveness is hard.
Forgiveness is not a feeling. It's grace.


I'll edit this post as I continue to read...

Monday, May 23, 2011

Love and Lies

Love

This week in class we discussed Love Languages. If you haven't heard of these before, I'll fill you in real quick. Some guy wrote this book about how people show and feel love through different things...

Gifts
Quality Time
Physical Touch
Acts of Service
Words of Affirmation


Most students say they SHOW love with Acts of Service. Which I'm not entirely surprised. This culture tends to be more indirect than direct. But I would have thought Physical Touch would be high on the list. But it's not.

However, a surprising number said that they FEEL loved with Words of Affirmation and Quality Time. They thought Gifts are too materialistic and Acts of Service is more spiritual.

There was also a consensus that Gifts are the least important to everyone.

...and Lies

If the teacher was not looking, would you give the answer to a test to your friend?

Yes, they need my help. And I don't think it's cheating. I should help them.

Cheating is subjective. Or if they don't know, it's not cheating.

If 10 people were beating up 1 person, what would you do?

Call the police.
I don't think this would happen.
I should take care for my own safety first. I'm not strong enough to stop them all.

I must think about me first. Our world is good. It's not my responsibility to stop bad things from happening.

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?

I would give everyone money.
I would make sure everyone has food.

The things of this world are more important. Physical need comes before spiritual need.

If you were God and had a message for your people or wanted to tell them about you, how would you do it?

I wouldn't do anything.
I would send some angels.
I would make them believe me.
I would use the media, like the internet, TV to tell them.

God is distant. God is a tyrant. God doesn't care. God is limited.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

what a sweet sunday?

I'm not a morning person at all. But when it comes to my students, I'll do just about anything for them. So, when Kathy asked to meet me at 9 this past Sunday morning, I agreed. She's a sweet girl. She is one of my students more interested in stories about Christmas and Easter than the typical student. On several occasions she has told me she believes in God. But what does that mean?

I've always encouraged her to call me and we could meet and talk because I can't just talk freely about that in my classroom. As we began to talk, she asked all the perfect questions.

"When did you believe in God?"
"How long did it take you to believe?"
"What are the qualifications for someone who believes?"

I told her my story in short and explained she couldn't just rely on a good feeling to believe because our hearts change, even though God doesn't. And I gave her a quick explanation about what a person should believe if they truly believe. She asked how I know what God wants me to do. We talked about boys and marriage. We talked about the purpose and goal of life. We talked about dreams and ambitions. We ended up talking for 2 deliciously, heart-fulfilling hours.

In the end, we decided to study together every Saturday morning. I think she might genuinely believe, but doesn't know exactly what she believes. I think she understands the very basics, but I want to teach her how to read her Bible and understand it. I'm very excited about it all.