Grace Intersect

About 2000 b.c. Abraham grew up in the home of an idol maker in what is now modern Iraq. God appeared to him when he was 75 years old and invited him to leave his home and travel to a new place God would show him. It seems that the big revelation to Abraham at this time was, that instead of multiple gods, there was really only one god. Beyond that, this god was wanting an actual relationship with him. Idols were not needed.

Abraham demonstrated some form of faith when he agreed to accept the invitation. He knew only the direction to go but not sure where he would end up.

Here’s a thought: could it be that Adam and Eve were convinced that they would actually be better, improved people if they had the God-like wisdom of knowing the difference between good and evil? Maybe their motivation wasn’t just giving in to a simple temptation to disobey God. Maybe they were persuaded that they were actually doing something good and, in their innocence, chose poorly. Can you identify?

Do we put our trust in our ability to keep rules perfectly or to live a perfect life? It doesn’t matter if we are Jesus followers or not. If we do, we will forever experience failure, guilt, shame, etc. because we can’t do it. Some days are better than others, but have we experience a perfect day? If so, I wonder about how well society can function with those rules.

I sat in a recliner across from Dad. Our discussion started out about general church stuff and then seemed to naturally evolve into being about how my wife and I were dissatisfied with our church experience. At some point it became clear that to me that we were at a point of no return in our thinking. That it didn’t seem possible to continue our current church participation--it just didn’t make sense for us any longer. We were ready enough and needed to move on.

Confused. It’s a good word to describe most of my early attempts to understand the belief system in church of my youth. Bible verses were used to support all of the teachings. While there was usually general agreement on the verses used, there were also a variety of interpretation of those verses and how they applied to the teaching.

Grace Intersect is an opportunity to hear about one person’s journey from religiosity to relationship. This is a spiritual journey that, while unique as all spiritual journeys are, is so similar to the journeys of so many others. So similar that others, perhaps yourself, may find something that might make a difference for the better in the course of their journey.