tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5879524082940998467.post9153859262930579335..comments2011-11-06T04:43:50.889-08:00Comments on Green Betty: Blue ChristmasUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5879524082940998467.post-77301755880107592952008-09-05T15:19:00.000-07:002008-09-05T15:19:00.000-07:00Ah, predestination. I recently visited a theologia...Ah, predestination. I recently visited a theologian friend in Seattle. We discussed this contested idea. She cited Alan Torrance, a constructivist Reformed theologian who teaches that everyone is predestined for salvation, but not everyone takes advantage of it. As in, everyone has been given a free ticket, but not everyone gets on the plane. <BR/><BR/>As for what the God of the free tickets does with those who don't get on the plane, or even how people should embark on the plane ... those ideas are also up for discussion. Even so, this revision of predestination casts God in positive light first. His first inclination towards us is Love, and his last resort is wrath when we refuse to move towards him in the various watches and seasons of our days, months, and years.Colleen McCubbinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11736558649779846225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5879524082940998467.post-82778646066913797862008-02-05T16:07:00.000-08:002008-02-05T16:07:00.000-08:00I'll agree with egg mama. And add that as much sim...I'll agree with egg mama.<BR/> <BR/>And add that as much simplifying as we did this past Holiday Season, your sermon inspires me to do even more in oh eight's onslaught.<BR/> <BR/>I think you even described my family in one of those paragraphs. Have I mentioned I grew up Calvinist? The Dutch Christian Reformed Church reveres the fellow only slightly less than the "God of Wrath" under whom he serves. All the predestination rhetoric created havoc in my adolescence: if I had sex before marriage, natch, I was going to hell ... but what if going to hell was my predestination? Who was I to challenge my God on what He'd already determined was my fate? And I was well into my 30s before I could write god or he without capitalization and not feel some urge to check over my shoulder for Big Brother.<BR/> <BR/>I love "the watch" concept also: Wayne Dyer talks about this natural rhythm as well. He says, "do not go back to sleep ..." and here I have to parlay out of quotation marks for I'm not certain the precision of what follows, but something like, the darkness or shadows have things to tell you or teach you or whisper.<BR/> <BR/>Thanks for wandering into my path Elisabeth: from the very first glimpse of you, I've always thought, "Now there's someone I'm going to learn from; there's someone I'm greatly attracted to; there's someone I can't wait to meet." As we shall, absolutely.<BR/> <BR/>warmly,<BR/> <BR/>cindyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5879524082940998467.post-39104220958155162022008-01-06T09:06:00.000-08:002008-01-06T09:06:00.000-08:00This. Is. Fabulous.This is the Christmas sermon ...This. Is. Fabulous.<BR/><BR/>This is the Christmas sermon I've been waiting to hear all my life, green betty. Sorry if that sounds hyperbolic, but it's a really good sermon and it gets to the heart of things better than other attempts I have heard to elucidate the phenomenon of the Christmas season and why it is that our modern celebrations often ring so empty. The "watch" concept is new to me, too, and food for thought. <BR/><BR/>I am also cracking up thinking about the reindeer pee. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for posting this.Egg Mamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11672975834403109352noreply@blogger.com