Considering answers to those faith-questions we all ask…
Category: FAITH
According to Biblical examples, being in the Spirit is a worshipful state in which any true believer - anyone who has come to saving faith in Jesus Christ - can engage with God. It's a focusing on God and HIs written word. It's a prayerful or meditative state of mind and heart. It's submission to the will of God according to HIs word. It's a humble, loving and repentant communion at any specific time, and it can and should be a way of life.
We Christians aren't dependent on physical evidence to support our faith, but when it comes along, as it does regularly, it's thrilling and welcome. The Shroud of Turin has been commonly ignored in the protestant world since it first began to make news. I confess to being one of those who didn't even bother to look into the claims of its origin. I've never been one for relics, ceremony, rituals or buildings, and when I heard that the shroud's authenticity had been all but debunked by radiocarbon-dating I was turned off it altogether... until recently. Now, I see myself as a believer in the shroud, with slight reservations. Click the title to read on.
A passage of Paul's letter to the Romans is commonly held up as "exhibit A" in support of the practice of "praying in tongues". However, when you really look at it closely, you see that these verses have nothing to do at all with tongues.
Human beings the world over and throughout history have tried in a multitude of ways to get the attention of God. They've built statues and enormous temples; they've danced wildly under the moonlight; they've burned people alive; they've chanted and shouted on mountain-tops; they've starved themselves, cut themselves, and gone to war... all in an effort to make God look their way. It's a grown-up version of the tizzy-fits children sometimes engage in, in a determined effort to get their parents to respond.
When I first imagined the following scene, I saw my favorite vocalist Jon Anderson, co-founding member of the band "Yes", being eternally lost and ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ. I saw his life's work being as being of no positive consequence because of his apparently universalist view of God, and because of his rejection of Jesus Christ as lord and savior. However, as I thought more about his heart, his life, and the testimony of much of his amazing music, and when I considered the mercy of God, I realized that he is not yet lost: the God who is Love has not given up on him. The following dialogue is how I prefer, hope and pray for his appearance at the throne to transpire.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 