The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum It Ain't Easy being Reformessy!

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.

Puritan,

You gave the correct answer. If it's God's intention to bless us with health, wealth, and self-fulfillment, then He has certainly failed miserably in His efforts.

Wow Dave does this mean there are some "arminian" Presbyterians employed there? No doubt some hapless fellow of the PCUSA unaccustomed to the real thing fiddling with his watch and wishing it wasn't digital. Not quite sure what to do when you start ordering the shorter catechism with scripture proofs and notes by Roderick Lawson. Feeling ashamed that he doesn't know where it all fits. Poor guy try to take it easy on him Dave. Feed him a little milk first with that meat so they don't regurgitate it back upon you because of it heady flavor and taste. That could get messy. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/rofl.gif" alt="" />

OBTW IMHO nice work with the Pentecostal PK although I might have show this portion of scripture:
After all good enough for Paul good enough for us all.

No actually, I'm the only Presbyterian period. I thought that would have been pretty clear when I said that the store was run and operated by the SBC. Oh and yes they are all Arminian. But I'm not hung up on that and I never have been. I share my reformed views but I treat my Arminian brethren as fellows in Christ. The fact is that I enjoy working there and being around the Baptist community. As far as the PCUSA goes, there are some serious problems with that part of the Presbyterian church and I don't think it's a laughing matter.

Dave. ( sorry but I don't joke about the PCUSA and I never will )

Dave,

I wonder if you would say the same things regarding theology using different terminology/wording with your co-workers; they would mostly agree with you. Sometimes they have been conditioned to cringe hearing the language of the Reformed, not necessarily the biblical theology of it.

Actually I believe that I've been a good witness to everyone I work with. But that wasn't the point of the thread. What I was concentrating on was the Health and Wealth gospel that effects a large part of the church today. Which is pretty plain if you work a Christian book store. For the most part, Christianity is treated as "self-help" now.

Oh and we just got two new titles in. You'll like these.

1. The Bible For Dummies
2. Christianity For Dummies.

and you guessed it... they look just like all the rest of the "For Dummies" books... yellow jacket with a geek and a chalk board.

Dave.

In that same vein, check out these links on Amazon. You can search some of them, for curiosity's sake <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

Christianity for Dummies
The Bible for Dummies
Christian Prayer for Dummies
Complete Idiot's Guide to Christianity
Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible
Complete Idiot's Guide to the Reformation and Protestantism
Complte Idiot's Guide to Jesus ("Why do you need Christ as a prophet?" "Because I am ignorant"...)
Complete Idiot's Guide to the Book of Revelation

And many more I didn't even link to...

Just the table of contents to Complete Idiot's Guide to Christnity makes me want to <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/puke.gif" alt="" />