What does Reformessy mean?..... nothing, I was just trying to make up a catchy word that rhymed with "easy". <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/giggle.gif" alt="" />
Anywho, I just thought I would share an experience of mine with you all here. As some of you know, I work at Lifeway Christian book store. Which is owned and operated by the SBC. Even though there is allot of junk there and most of the customers are ignorant of the Gospel and Christianity is being reduced into making a buck in most cases, I still really enjoy working there. I have made some friends and I have helped steer people in the right direction concerning Bibles and extra Biblical aid. But at the same time, hehe, I've clouded many an eye, It's funny too, I discern it clearly now, when I start talking in depth about something, I can see the person's interest vanish and then their mind start to shut down. That's when I just sort of find a stopping point and let them recover from their dizzy spell. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/dizzy.gif" alt="" />
So as you might have guessed, I'm the only "reformed" Presbyterian employed there. So my theological views are obviously different then most of my fellow employees. But I also don't get into many theological or doctrinal discussions with them either. Well all except one brother there who is dispensationalist and has a seminary degree. We of course debate our soteriology and eschatology all the time, but in a loving way and it's been a blast for both of us.
So I was talking to a fellow employee of mine the other day and she was telling me that she has a hard time finding boy friends because her parents are preachers. They run an Independent Charismatic Baptist Church. It is a smaller church, but apparently it is racially mixed and consists of mostly middle aged families. I've heard her dad preach on cassette and he's really good. So she was telling me that one of her past boyfriends had a problem with how "wealthy" her family was. That was when she started to explain to me that there was nothing wrong with ministers being "successful" and "doing well" for themselves.
So that got me to thinking and I remembered Jonathan Edwards situation in Massachusetts when he was asked to leave his church and basically was left with nothing and went to go preach to Indians. So I commented to her that I believed that Christians should strive for being successful but that by no means should we expect God to bless us with health and wealth. I told her that God has a plan for all of us and that often it might not be His will to bless His children with health or wealth. I then told her that I have trouble understanding the fact that sometimes I might see a preacher wearing nice suits and driving "fully loaded" Cadillacs and wearing allot of gold jewelry. She replied that she didn't see anything wrong with that. In her opinion, if a minister preached the Word faithfully, God would bless them with earthly materials and well being.
This of course is where I "drew the line." I looked really puzzled and asked her if she actually believed that and she was dead serious when she affirmed that was exactly what she believed. So I asked her how she could explain the fact that there have been thousands of Christians who have been afflicted and persecuted in Church history? She explained to me that the Bible teaches that we can expect to receive God's blessings if we are faithful to Him. So I told her that is where my more "puritan" and "reformed" understanding of the Bible and her Biblical understanding clashed.
So that made me think of what kind of preacher that I would want to be. A reformed preacher teaching on the Sovereignty of God or a Charismatic preacher teaching on Health and Wealth. I believe I would feel allot more comfortable around my flock through times of trouble and grief under the reformed umbrella rather then try to explain to them why God has "forsaken" them when something goes wrong.
All in all, I believe that the central issue at hand is where our focus lies. Do we proclaim Christ as our Lord and Savior for what He can do for us or do we accept His Lordship and ask what we can do for Him? It seems that people just can't seem to understand what "Lordship" means.
Y.B.I.C,
Dave.
