My Crazy Faith

[ I wrote this post in August of 2015.  But I am reposting it because I need to read it again.  I guess I need to read it again because life sometimes feels like one big "wrestling with God" match.  Wrestling with faith.  With life.   As I look back on these past several years, I am kinda amazed at how things turn out.  Or ... how they don't, I should say.  How real and raw and messy life can be sometimes.  These next numbered posts are taken from over these last few years, showing the progression of life, of the unexpected, of the "wrestling with God, faith, and life" moments.  This one goes up to August 2015, how beaten up I've felt over the years up till then.  And then comes the post about the hope I had that 2016 would be better.  And then comes 2016 - the worst summer of my life.  A life-changer for me.  And then, well, I'm not sure yet what I am putting after that.  But I'm reposting these because it's fasci...

Because I refuse to believe that anyone is beyond the reach of Jesus!  I refuse to believe that Jesus didn't die for everyone, that He didn't die for all sins, that He doesn't love everyone, that there are people without hope! If other people want to believe that, then that's their problem.  But I refuse to believe it because ...  I don't think it's what the Bible teaches. I believe Jesus died for all, that every person can find hope and healing and salvation in Him.  I believe He loves all people and wants a relationship with all of us.  I believe that His death made salvation available for all people, but it's up to us to decide if we will accept Him or reject Him. Calvinism - the idea that God has already predetermined who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, and that there's nothing we can do to change it - is a Bible-altering, faith-damaging, soul-deadening theology.  And I've had enough of it!  It makes me sick to hear how it destroys Jesus...

This is a bit old, but my kids love this video of the day Elmo decided he'd had enough !

(I updated this post November 2024.  This is a bit rambly, but when am I not rambly.😁)  I believe the Bible shows that if someone is truly a believer, sealed with the Holy Spirit, then it's not possible for them to lose their salvation. It's no secret that I disagree with and  hate  Calvinism - the idea that God predestines who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.   CALVINISM IS NOT BIBLICAL!   It's full of twisted Scripture, "secret" word meanings, presumptions about how God acts, etc. - all so it can try to support its own misconceptions of God and salvation and the Gospel. But there is one area that we can agree on: a true believer cannot lose their salvation. However, I see it  much differently  than they do.  So I couldn't even call myself a 1-Point Calvinist.  (Maybe a 1/4-Point Calvinist?  But why would I even want to do that!) Calvinism believes that God picks who goes to heaven, that He causes us to believe in Hi...