TW: Hi
TW: my name is Xxxx
Me: Hi, Xxxx.
TW: I found your profile on the yahoo members page, and I think it said you were a minister......or at least a christian
Me: Yes.
TW: ok
Me: The least of Christians, perhaps.
TW: really?
Me: Probably not - I’m a big guy. What can I do for you?
TW: I had a few questions if thats ok
Me: Sure
TW: ok
TW: What do you worship as a christian?
TW: one God.......instead of a God and Goddess right?
Me: One God, that’s correct.
TW: ok
Me: It’s not exactly accurate to say God has a gender, though God has revealed as a Father.
TW: ok
TW: So is Jesus another name for God?
TW: or someone seperate
Me: Ah...it looks like you are asking for some clarification on the greatest mystery of the faith.
Me: The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, correct?
TW: im not sure what that is
Me: Fair enough.
Me: There is only one “thing” that can be called “god”
TW: im 13, and my family is wiccan, so I know nothing about christianity
TW: but i am curious and maybe one day I want to become christian
Me: It’s okay - I was actually Wiccan during college.
TW: wow
TW: and your a minister?
TW: for a christian church
Me: One of the greatest heroes of our faith, a man named Paul of Tarsus, was a persecutor of the early church (in the decades following Jesus’ death).
Me: Nevertheless, God used Paul to write nearly half of the New Testament (the portion of the Bible that deals explicitly with Jesus).
TW: ok
TW: Ive read some of John in the new testiment
Me: God uses all kinds of people, and his greatest delight is in making his enemies his friends.
Me: John is a great place to begin.
Me: It not only tells the story, but it also talks about the importance of those events.
TW: thats what I was told
TW: are you parents christian
Me: Yes.
TW: ok
Me: I was raised a Christian and believed in “god” but didn’t want to accept Jesus as the focus of God’s work in the world.
TW: ok
Me: To go to your original question, you were asking what Christians believe about the nature of God.
TW: right
Me: We believe that there is only one God - one entity, if you will - that is God. And that God is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, all holy, all GOOD, etc.
Me: However, God is also three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
TW: ok
TW: I think I understand
Me: To be honest, we can say more about what we know God is not rather than what/who God is.
TW: ok
TW: what is God not
Me: To illustrate: There are not three Gods, but only one God. God is not “made up” of three persons; rather God is three persons.
Me: God doesn’t “switch hats”: now acting like the Father, then acting like the Son, and sometimes acting like the Holy Spirit.
Me: Rather, each of those persons is fully God.
Me: One of the most ancient - and beautiful - explorations of God is called the Athanasian Creed.
TW: ok
Me: Another place to look for why Christians believe this doctrine is found here.
TW: ok
TW: thanks
Me: No problem.
Me: Here is a helpful analogy, comparing the Trinity to a book. For example, a book has length, width, and thickness. The length is not the book’s width, the width is not the book’s thickness. These three dimensions can be described separately, yet they are connected together. If you remove one dimension, you are no longer describing a book. In the same way, the Godhead has three separate members that are connected together, and if you try to remove one you no longer have the Godhead.
TW: ok
Me: Does that make sense?
TW: i think so
Me: Don’t worry if you find this perplexing.
Me: Any honest Christian will say the same thing.
TW: ok
Me: God is so much greater than we are - it’s impossible for us (trapped in bodies, experiencing time in a linear fashion, of limited mental/spiritual capacity) to truly understand a God who is infinite.
TW: ok
Me: The important thing to know is that God loves us, and we see that love in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Me: Have you ever felt guilty?
TW: maybe
Me: I have. That’s because we know that there are some things that are right and some things that are wrong.
Me: Even the Wrede teaches that to harm another is to bring harm to yourself and the world (three-fold harm)!
TW: right
Me: Yet we say nasty things to each other, and sometimes do nasty things to each other.
Me: And we heap the same abuse upon ourselves.
TW: ok
Me: The things that we do to hurt others and our world is called “sin.”
Me: Sin breaks our relationships with other people, with ourselves, with our world, and - most importantly - with God.
TW: ok
Me: God does not want us to miss out on who he is - all of his goodness.
Me: So Jesus - who is God the Son in human flesh - came to earth.
TW: ok
Me: He taught us how to live, he healed the sick, he fought the powers of darkness, and then - at the appointed time - he died on a cross.
Me: The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.
Me: That means that when we sin, we’ve earned death.
Me: But the gift of God is eternal life. God the Son takes our punishment for us.
Me: The debt for sin - which is death - is paid for in his death on the cross.
Me: God proved to us that the sin-debt was canceled by raising Jesus from the dead.
TW: ok
Me: Because of Jesus Christ, we can have peace with God.
TW: awsome
Me: When we have peace with God, we begin to change from the inside out.
Me: God restores all those relationships that we messed up with our sin.
Me: He makes us able to love him and know him, for the first time.
Me: He makes us able to really love other people - for who they are, rather than what they can do for us.
Me: Peace with God means we can have peace in ourselves, too.
TW: what makes you think I cant already love people for who they are?
Me: I didn’t say you couldn’t.
Me: Genesis - the first book of the Bible - tells about how God made the world.
Me: When God made humankind, the Bible says that he made us “in his image.”
Me: That is - there is something inside of us that resembles God.
TW: ok
Me: And when we are able to love God, we can love other people in a deeper sense because we understand that they carry the image of God in themselves.
TW: ok
Me: You’ll understand - hopefully - one day when you have children.
Me: I have four children, and when I look at them I see something of myself reflected back at me - yet with their own distinctiveness.
Me: And I love what I see - myself and my wife in them, as well as the unique person they are.
TW: sooo
TW: whats your name dude jw
Me: My name is Chris.
Me: Christopher, actually. It means: “Bearer of Christ” or someone who carries the message of Christ into the world.
Me: My mother named me well.
Me: Brent, let me just say that it is a real privilege for me to get to speak with you.
TW: thanks
TW: but why
Me: Why? Have you got your Bible?
Me: Or the Gospel of John?
TW: i know of an online bible
Me: Read this: http://tinyurl.com/32ll8t
Me: It’s a privilege for me to share with you what little I know about how much God loves us in Jesus Christ.
TW: ok
Me: That link was to Jesus’ words.
Me: The sin in our lives keeps us from even being interested in learning about God.
Me: So when someone has these...stirrings...it can only be because God is already at work in their lives.
Me: God brings us to himself, draws us into his embrace.
Me: And it’s a real privilege for me to see how God is already calling out to you.
TW: i gotta go
Me: God bless you!
TW: later
Me: Keep reading that gospel of John
Keep going out into those information highways and byways, folks!
"May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!"
Chris,
ReplyDeleteReading this is like walking on Holy Ground. Please Lord bring this young man into a relationship with you.
The story of the two Moravians you have linked to at the bottom of your dialogue is a story I can't shake. Yes, "May the lamb recieve the reward of His suffering>"
If you thought that was haunting, listen to the whole sermon by Paris Reidhead. His sermon, "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" is the 20th c. equivalent of Gilbert Tinnet's sermon, "The Dangers of an Unregenerate Ministry."
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI did read the sermon and do agree with you that it is a powerful sermon. I am a little cautious with the church background on that site since they belong to the holiness movement and believe that sanctification is a second work of grace. But they are beautiful Christians and we should all appreciate their zeal to preach Jesus Christ to the unsaved. In all other doctrines they are excellent. (Well they may also be Arminians since most Holiness people are but I didn't see that in their doctrinal statement.)
I am not familiar with either Gilbert Tinnet or that sermon where could I read it?
What a gaff! I should have done some checking before my response. It's actually Gilbert Tennent, and the title of the sermon is "The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry."
ReplyDeleteSorry about the mixup!
Thanks Chris,
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have known who it was anyway-but I could have googled him. Thats a long read but I will get to it tomorrow-- it looks good. I have a Bible study to go to tonight, a "progressive" book I am just finishing for research and a chapter in Darrell Johnson's book on Revelation, "Discipleship on the Edge" for the study tonight. Darrell used to be our Pastor. You would like his preaching; all to the glory of Christ.