Regarding Open Minded

I am a person that has strong religious beliefs. Yet I base those beliefs, not on what others have told me I should believe, but on the conclusions to which I have come because of my own study of God's Word, the Bible. Yet I know that there is so much more for me to learn. I am always open to knowing and learning to be the way God wants me to be.

I have used that same Bible to form my opinions about other issues, such as homosexuality or abortion to name a couple. Because God says it is wrong, I feel it is wrong as well. The society in which we live in today would not say such things. Just because it's legal to have an abortion, is it the right thing to do? Just because many in our society say homosexuality is okay, that does not mean it is right. We have to look to the Bible as our standard to determine what is right and wrong. That's not a very popular position to take sometimes.

Now that's no excuse to treat someone who is a homosexual in an unloving way. Nor should you look down on a person who felt she had to have an abortion because of the circumstances of her life at the time. We just need to show love to everyone, because we were all made in the image of God. And we try to build a relationship of genuine caring with all people. Then we try to show them what God says about what is right and wrong, by directing them to the Bible.

We are all human. We all make mistakes. We are all guilty of sin. We all need a savior. That Savior is Jesus Christ. He has already provided the way of forgiveness for our sins through his precious blood. If we would only listen and obey.

How Open Minded Are You?

You Are 36% Open Minded

You aren't exactly open minded, but you have been known to occasionally change your mind. You're tolerant enough to get along with others who are very different... But you may be quietly judgmental of things or people you think are wrong. You take your own values pretty seriously, and it would take a lot to change them.

How Open Minded Are You?

The Dentist

Well, looks like I've finally put it off long enough. I went to the dentist Friday. I'm probably going to have to have a root canal done on one of my teeth! Just the smell that greets me when I walk into the dentist's office is enough to make me turn around and walk right back out! Then when I hear that drill sound you always hear when you're sitting there in the waiting room brings a cold sweat out on me. I'm such a big baby when it comes to going to the dentist. But I guess the very REAL pain of having a bad tooth is a little bit worse than the PSYCHOLOGICAL pain of going!

I get to go back next Friday! Pray for me!

A.C.T.S.

Tonight we had a get together with some of the folks at church. I always seem to come away from those little meetings feeling kind of bad about things. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the fellowship. We got together and went out to eat. Then we went back to the church building for a bit of brain storming. ACTS is an acronym for Active Christians in Today's Society. I hope the number that showed up tonight isn't a true count of how many active Christians we have in our congregation. We only had 15 show up. And isn't it always the same handful of people that are willing to show up for something outside of their normal Sunday morning and Wednesday night?

We are great about coming up with some good ideas. I've heard all kinds of great and wonderful ideas in my years attending here. But our problem is the follow up; following through with all those great ideas. And as great as they are, I'm not sure any of them will actually cause the numbers to increase. One problem I see with a small congregation (we're about 130 members) is that we just don't have all the activities that so many people are looking for when they start looking for a church. Especially when they have children. But how do you build up your class sizes and your youth group when they won't stay? We have a pretty decent teenage group because all our children are growing up!

So, how do you get a congregation to grow? How do you get the members you already have to get involved? It seems to me that's the key to growth...having members who care and who are willing to be involved. Because it's not about the numbers. It's about each one of us sharing our hope in Christ with others. It's not the preacher's job, or the elder's job; it's something we should all be doing.