Faith, Hope, and Love in the 21st Century

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Jesse Medina

Is Christianity today what it is supposed to be?

Most of us would agree that it is not.  Regardless of what we believe about the specifics, most of us know that there is something wrong with the current state of Christianity in the Western world.  Such discontent inevitably results in change.

But not all change is good.

With enough change, even in very small increments, we are left with something that has the potential to be entirely different than what it began as.  This is a reality that we simply cannot avoid.  If Christianity is to be what it was meant to be, we need to change only that which has strayed from its original design and only to get it back to what it is supposed to be.

That is why the way we understand and practice faith, hope and love in the 21st Century is so important.

Faith

There are two false extremes that Christians often fall prey to when it comes to understanding faith.  On one extreme, we treat faith as spiritual logic; debunking supposed threats to the intellectual integrity of the Christian faith, obsessing over apologetics, and attempting to convert others to Jesus Christ through the power of argument.  Under this extreme, we try to remove any shred of doubt that may exist.

The other extreme is to abandon logic altogether and, in pursuit of the mystery of God, give up on logic altogether.  This extreme is particularly seductive for those who are disillusioned with the arrogance characterizing the opposite extreme.  Those who have embraced this extreme refuse to acknowledge the possibility of one answer trumping another.  To them, such an audacious claim is oppressive.

Both contain elements of faith, but both fall short.  It should be noted that the answer isn’t to take a middle-of-the-road approach, though to do so would be better than either extreme.  Instead, we should endeavor to take the Biblical approach.

Faith, for those in the Bible, was neither a spiritual logic nor a cloud of complete unknowing. Rather, faith was the result of an experienced truth, even if only just in part.  Faith was that confidence of hope and certainty of the unseen that is born not out of mystery alone, but out of mystery revealed, promises made and kept, and the tension of knowing that there is still something more, something unexplainable but not altogether unfamiliar.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, right now we know in part.  That means we are forbidden from the arrogance that would claim to know it all and protected from the timidity of claiming to know nothing.

Hope

Hope, by itself, is not commendable.  It is quite possible for hope to be misplaced and, in fact, it often is.  In such cases, not only is hope not commendable, it is detestable…a form of idolatry.

We often think ourselves immune to idolatry since we do not bow to statues or build shrines in our homes, but idolatry isn’t an external sin so much as it is internal.  An idol is anything other than God that we are placing our hope in – whether good or bad.  And a good many of us have surrendered ourselves to “good” idols: the elimination of abortion, social justice, moral legislation, and various other pursuits.

We place our hope in these idols because we believe they will bring about the change the world needs. But they won’t.  They can’t.  But imagine how effective it would be for the enemy to convince us otherwise.  And effective it has been.

But if Christianity is to be what it is supposed to be, our hope must be grounded solely in the person of Jesus Christ and the salvation he offers.  This salvation, it should be noted, is not limited to what happens after death – it is also very much about this life, who we are and what we do right now.

And when that becomes our hope, when we put the Kingdom of God first, all other things will be given to us as well.  When our hope becomes changing the world, not only do we end up failing, we compromise the Kingdom as well.  What good would it be to gain the whole world and lose our soul?

Love

When Paul talks about faith, hope and love at the end of 1 Corinthians 13, he says that love is the greatest among the three.  That is not a mistake, nor is it just romanticism.

Love sums everything up.

It was through love that the world was created, because of love that God remained involved with his creation, and out of love that he made up for our lack by giving himself up on the cross.

Love is no small thing.  But neither is love what we always think it is.

We treat love as a get-out-of-jail-free card, handing favor out liberally without requesting anything in return.  We say that because of love, live and let live.  But we also browbeat others and subject them to a worldview they haven’t embraced, because we say we love them.

But this is not love.  Love is interested neither in unlimited license nor oppressive legalism.  Love understands both: liberty and rule, freedom and slavery, license and legalism.  But it also knows that both are wrong…and both are needed.

Thus for us to return to the kind of love that God is looking for and that characterized the life of Jesus himself, we must learn anew what it means to live fully and completely as free beings while recognizing that around every corner there is something else attempting to make us slaves.  To be fully free, then, is to make ourselves slaves to the giver of all freedom…God himself.

In so doing, we find that love – the kind of love Jesus had – is the only natural outcome.  But this love is now wholly different from our previous realities.  We no longer love out of selfishness, fear, or with some other ulterior motive.  Instead we are given the courage to love completely, for love’s sake.  Which means we do not grant license to sin or slavery.

Love always points to itself who is God. The very God who, in the ultimate act of love, died for those who loved him not.

This is love and it sums everything up.

________________________________________________

P.S. This is part of a synchronized blog where I had the opportunity to partner with other bloggers to all write about the same subject.  I encourage to do two things: read their blogs and then comment back here to share your own thoughts (or link to your own blog post on this subject).

Jeff Goins — Faith, Hope, and Love in the 21st Century: a Manifesto?

Matt Snyder — Faith, Hope, and Love: Expressed in Simplicity

Taylor Phillips – These Three Remain

Kiel Spelts – Faith, Hope and Live in the 21st Century

John Sylvest – I’ve Already Got Truth, Beauty, & Goodness! Why Bother with Faith, Hope & Love?

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Sermon: Stop (Sabbath)

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Jesse Medina

I had the opportunity to speak on Sabbath at the Tri-Lakes youth retreat called “Breathe” on January 29th, 2010.  The retreat was split into four talks: stop, delight, play, and rest.  I spoke on Stop.  Audio is below:

“Stop (Sabbath)“
Sabbath – Stop by Jesse Medina

Key Scriptures:

Genesis 2:2-3

Deut. 5:12-15

Exodus 20:8-11

Mark 2:27

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Sermon: Community

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Jesse Medina

I had the opportunity to speak at The Gathering Student Ministries (now called “The Well”) on January, 24th, 2010.  After spending some time with Bonhoeffer in his Life Together, I gave the following sermon.  For an idea of what can be found in the sermon, here is a basic outline:

What is Christian Community?

  • The Effects of the Fall (Gen. 2:25; 3:6-7)
  • Peace through Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:13-14; 17-20)
  • Not an Ideal to be Strived For, but a Present Reality
  • Everyone is Welcome, Everyone Has a Role (Romans 12:4-6)

Why is it Important?

  • The Community is the Body of Christ
  • This is the Community We Will Spend Eternity With
  • Through the Community, We are Purified from Sin

How do we get it?

  • Through Jesus Christ
  • By Accepting it for What it Is
  • By Participating

Community by Jesse Medina

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Misunderstanding Prayer

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Jesse Medina

Christians pay for all kinds of crazy things.  Go into your local Christian bookstore and there is a Jesus-ized version of every product imaginable: jeans, shirts, belts, pencils, mints, video games…you name it, they can make a Christian version of it and sell it to Christians who are willing to pay for it.

But there’s a new Christian product out there that you may be surprised about: prayer.

My friend, Mark, sent me a story about an agnostic guy and his Christian friend who started a business where, for $10, you can get someone to pray for you and whatever issue you’re dealing with.  Or you can get holiday-themed prayers.  They even have a free prayer trial.  But, this isn’t the first prayer business out there.  The article mentions several others.  I even know someone who works for a so-called “prophetess” who charges companies to pray for them.  The best part is that one of her conditions is that she only prays for them if she feels the Holy Spirit leading her to.  Plus, she has people who actually pay her, so that they can field these prayer requests.

According to my friend, she’s making bank off of this little service.

So why would anyone pay for prayer?

  1. Perhaps they’re desperate. They know that their own ability to bring change, specifically in circumstances outside of their control, is extremely limited.  So, they turn to a higher power.
  2. Maybe they don’t think they’re prayers would work. You know the whole, “the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective” thing? (James 5:16b)  If you need a prayer that will be effective, and you’re not righteous, better to outsource, right?
  3. Or perhaps they don’t understand prayer. This, I suspect, is the most likely alternative.  Unfortunately, I fear Christians are the ones who have caused this misunderstanding.  We treat prayer like our wish-list for the Santa Clause in the sky.  One of the only things that distinguishes these wish lists from our greedy desires is that we try not to pray for bad stuff.  But we certainly don’t understand prayer.  In fact, during a pre-service prayer today at the youth group I volunteer at one young man requested prayer for himself and his family as they will soon be making a twenty-seven hour drive in a car that according to him, “barely seats five people” – guess how many will be sitting in it.

The truth is that prayer is often a means to our end of comfort.  We may say that it is more than that, but our prayers too often communicate otherwise.  We use prayer to get the things that we care about: a successful business, a raise, a comfortable ride, a better job, a win for our team, a better score on a test, our man in office, better behaved children, etc.  But, contrary to what we’ve been taught, God actually doesn’t always care about what we care about.  He cares about us, but he may not really care about whether our car ride is comfortable and entertaining. Nor may he care about whether our business is successful.

It may very well be that in order for God to say “Yes” to some of our prayer requests, he would have to say “No” to doing what is best for us.

You see, God cares about us becoming the type of people he wants us to be, he is interested in our character and whether we are becoming like Christ.  Granting many of our prayer requests would shortchange that process.  That doesn’t mean he’ll never grant us our requests, but it does mean that when he says “No” to us, it is an act of love, first and foremost.  And this is true even in the most tedious prayers, like the twenty-seven hour car ride.

But, hey, if you want to buy a prayer, I’ll happily oblige.  Just  know that my prayer will be for your discontinued business.

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What Makes the Gospel Such Good News?

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Jesse Medina

My friends compose a multitude of theological belief systems.   While some are much more conservative, others are much more liberal.  And among some of these more liberal friends there is a question about what makes the Gospel good news.  The contention is this: given that Scripture teaches more will be in hell than in heaven, how can the so-called “Gospel” actually be considered good news?  If it is true that for many, their eternities will be spent away from God, in torment, how is the Gospel good news to them?

And so these friends have turned to a theology which says orthodox Christianity has it all wrong: the good news is not that some will get in and some will get out, but that in the unconditional, no-holds-barred love of God, all will be saved.  Because that, they say, would be good news for all people.

Now, to some extent they are right, that would be good news…for those people who don’t give a damn about God or others.  But, if you stop to think about it, that wouldn’t really be good news for the rest of us.  That issue aside, though there’s a fundamental flaw in logic, here.

The Gospel is Good News Because Everyone Stands To Benefit From It…Not Because Everyone Actually Does Benefit From It

By way of example, if 20 people walked into Target and were offered free digital cameras, but only 10 took the camera and the other 10 didn’t because they liked their cameras just fine, that doesn’t cease to be good news…for anyone.  The goodness of the offer, in other words, is not contingent on whether people cash in on it.

Instead, the Gospel is good news precisely because it is indiscriminate in its offer.  There is no person to whom salvation is not offered regardless of their race, sex, status, religion, or anything else.  Additionally, the Gospel is not contingent on our ability to perform.  No amount of good works or righteousness can accomplish this salvation for us.  It is 100% free.  It is everyone’s for the taking.  The only condition is that we accept it.

And, even if someone refuses to do so, it is good news, indeed.

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What if Churches Were Best Known for Hope/Grace?

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Jesse Medina

Matthew Paul Turner, a blogger who I look up to for his biting sarcasm and genius wit (not to mention his sincerity and love for Jesus), recently tweeted the following question:

Rather than pastors, music, production, buildings, programs, or sermons, what if churches were best known for hope/grace?

It got me thinking a little.  I think most of us have a somewhat simple view of the church…I know I do.  If you were to ask me, I could rattle off the four or five things that I think are most wrong with the church.  Not only that, I could tell you exactly how things would look different if we were to change those things.

But would that really fix things?

The assumption is that the church’s problem is one of not doing their job the way it should be done.  Granted, I believe this is an issue that runs rampant in the church.  But, that is only a symptom of another problem: the fact that the church is full of imperfect, still-in-process people.  People who are redeemed and being redeemed, but people who still make mistakes, act out of fear, choose sin over holiness, etc.

And with that being the case, we have to conclude as an answer to Matthew’s question: if churches were best known for hope/grace rather than all the other junk we are known for, the world would be a much different place.  Perhaps even better.  But it wouldn’t be perfect.  The church would still have problems and the opposite questions would be tweeted.  Because in a world full of hope and grace, one wonders what it is that we hope for and for what reason we need grace.

Though I often fail to heed his instruction myself, it was Bonhoeffer who said:

“He who loves his dream of a community more than the community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.“

And though it may deal a defeating blow to my self-righteous disdain for the imperfect church, I believe him.

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Book Review: Secular Sabotage

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Jesse Medina

Who is to blame?

That is the primary question that President of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, is seeking to answer in his new book Secular Sabotage.  And the answer?  Secular liberals.  Even more, it is a calculated war they are waging in their effort to destroy religion and culture in America.

His first chapter, titled Revenge of the Nihilists begins by outlining scenarios ranging from a college student being threatened with expulsion because she prayed on campus for her ill professor to an artist being awarded a prize for drawing a picture of a priest performing oral sex on Jesus to a prominent minister imploring the faithful to reject Christianity.  These scenarios, claims Donohue, are not mere over-reactive possibilities, but realities that are quickly coming true due to the hell-bent secular liberals.  Instead of seeking reasonable change and tolerance, they are out to destroy those who hold firm to convictions, namely Christian religion.  And who is Donohue calling on to stop these radicals?  Conservative Christians.

From here, he goes on to outline how exactly they are doing so.

They appeal to this idea called multi-culturalism wherein the goal is to be sensitive to those of other cultures.  Donohue takes issue with this saying that the world is becoming increasingly less diverse by noting the growth of the few religions Christianity, Islam and Hinduism – surely if only three major religions are growing, the world is becoming less diverse and thus requires less diversity.  Looks like he forgot that one’s culture is not necessarily defined or encompassed by their religion.  He further goes on to say that, at least in America, since the country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, we have no obligation to tolerate anyone but to those who subscribe to such a worldview.  He then launches into how the secular liberals have tried to sabotage Easter, Christmas, the Pledge of Allegiance, Freedom of Speech, the historical accuracy of the resurrection, etc.

A major flaw of the book, or perhaps Donohue, is that he cannot seem to exit his victim mentality.  Everything that happens, when it is not in favor of religion, is calculated, the attempt of someone with more than just bias seeking to undermine not just all religions, but Christianity – and, when he gets real specific, Catholicism (Of course he thinks this…he is the president of the Catholic League, after all).  He is also the king of double standards: at one point he is offended at the fact that someone would liken conservative efforts to Hitler when only 12 pages previous, he is content to liken his enemies with the same man.

Needless to say, the book quickly becomes redundant and boring.  Who wants to read about how one guy is going to cast the first stone at everyone?

But, he is not altogether wrong.  There are those people out there who are seeking to undermine Christianity and do so with calculated efforts.  But the solution to this problem is not, as Donohue believes, a resolved effort on the part of conservative Christians to expose those people and their efforts, it is to make disciples.

And that’s what Donohue completely misses.  The issue, the problem with the state of faith in America, is not a problem “out there” as if the Church is not blame.  It is “in here” the result of poor discipleship within the church.  And that brings another miss of Donohue’s out into the open: the Church’s goal should not be to maintain a Christian or Moral America at all.  Donohue writes warning of just how wrong America has gone and how we can get it back on track, but since when was the Church’s mission “Go and make sure the land in which you live is thoroughly Christian and/or moral?”

In fact, it is that incorrect focus that has put us in this position today.  Unfortunately, Donohue is so quick to point out the specks of sawdust in everyone else’s eyes that he is unable to remove the log out of his (and the Church’s) own.

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Focus on the Family + StandForChristmas.com = Christian Idiocy

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Jesse Medina

Welp, the Christmas season is upon us and, true to form, Focus on the Family is continuing their campaign to save Christmas from all those evil retailers who substitute “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings.”  They even started a website where consumers can go and rate businesses based on how Christmas-friendly they are.  On StandForChristmas.com, consumers can rate 30 popular businesses including Target, WalMart, and Best Buy indicating whether they are “Friendly,” “Negligent,” or “Offensive.”

Really Focus?

While I should have expected it (having worked there for a short stint), I’m surprised – or perhaps disheartened – that Focus is still up to its old ridiculous antics of focusing on everything but the family.  Is there nothing better for FOTF to spend their time, money, and resources on than pointing out all the ways that non-Christian culture is, surprise-surprise, non-Christian?  Perhaps it is this kind of garbage coming out of there that has resulted in their enormous lay-offs and cutbacks; people don’t want to support an organization whose practices only highlight what they are against.

But, I imagine there may be some reading this blog who need a little convincing and I’ll oblige.  Here’s why this is nothing more than Christian Idiocy:

Being Offended by Retailers Not Saying “Merry Christmas” Makes Christians Look Weak

You cannot get around this with the whole, “But Christianity looks weak to the world” excuse.  That may be true, but the essence of our perceived weakness is the result of the upside-down nature of the Kingdom: dying to live, loving enemies, etc.  Those are essential to the Gospel and, as a result, worth dying for.  It is worth appearing weak for the sake of those.  But appearing weak because non-Christian retailers don’t pay explicit lip service to a Christian holiday to the exclusion of all others, is idiotic precisely because it is not worth dying for.  Nobody is going to lay down their lives so that Best Buy will say, “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.”  And if they do…consider it a blessing of evolution and give them a Darwin Award.

Christians Should Be Happy About Respecting Others’ Beliefs

Isn’t it a little odd that the ones who are supposed to be the most like Jesus – you know, the guy who reserved his harshest judgment for the religious and instead of condemning the sinful world, accepted it – are the ones who are initiating this condemnation of non-Christians?  Wasn’t it Jesus who told us to love our enemies?  Isn’t the most basic form of love the extension of respect?  So why, again, should Christians be upset about the fact that non-Christian retailers are seeking to respect the beliefs of others?  Far from criticizing or being offended by these actions, we should be praising them!

For Retailers, ANY Holiday is Just an Opportunity to Make Money (Including Those Who Say “Merry Christmas”)

Let’s get something straight: retailers take the actions they do in the interest of making money.  Christmas, whether Christians want to admit it or not, is a consumer holiday, a cash cow, a day that is only as popular as it is because of the money that can be made in its observance.  That is why some retailers choose to respect the beliefs of non-Christians…they want their money.  And that is why some retailers choose to respect the beliefs of Christians…they want our money.  But let’s ask a question here: is it helpful for Christians that retailers have to cater to our exclusive desires in order to not be taken through the ringer?  Is that the reputation God wants for us: do what we want or else?

Being “Christmas-Friendly” Should Mean More Than Paying Lip-Service

This is the most important point.  The biggest problem with Focus’ campaign: it sends the message that paying Christmas lip-service is admirable and should be praised.  Because that’s what Jesus was after, right – people who said, “Jesus is Lord” and went on about their lives without any commitment to him whatsoever?  If Focus’ actually cared about which businesses were Christmas-friendly, they would be looking at other things like: hiring/firing practices, charitable giving, the wages paid to those who make the products they carry, community involvement, etc.  But, I digress.  Focus is too lazy to actually care about being Christmas-friendly so instead they’ve settled for making ridiculous attacks.  Praise the Lord, right?

But, I’m willing to change my mind if someone can provide any good reason for this.

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When It is Hard to Say “Thank You”

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Jesse Medina

I’ll be honest, I kind of hate the week or two leading up to Thanksgiving.  Everyone is always talking about all the things they are thankful for: family, friends, spouses, clean water, food, jobs.  That’s great and I think we should definitely be thankful for all the good things in our lives, but at some point I wish someone would be thankful for something that’s not so obvious.  Something, perhaps, that is difficult to be thankful for.

Not many of us tend to be thankful for those things in our lives that disappoint us.  But the kind of gratitude that Jesus is looking for needs to go beyond the feel-good things and those things that we want.  Jesus-type gratitude says, “Thank You” even when it is difficult.  Even when you don’t want to say it.

I experienced that over three years ago.  In May of 2006, after several months of interviewing with a church for their youth pastor position, I was informed that I didn’t get the job.  But it wasn’t just a job for me.  It was my dream job.  Worse, I had put all of my eggs in that basket as a result of what I thought were verbal clues left to me by the pastor – clues that seemed to indicate the job was mine.  “Oh, you’re the one,” said an elder who couldn’t be at the initial elder meeting.  After preaching for youth group as part of the interview process, the senior pastor said, “The other guy was a great preacher, but man, you really connected with those kids.”  Just weeks before the decision was to be made my wife and I joined the pastor and his family for a denominational banquet and as it concluded and we gave hugs he said, “We’ll see you soon.”  It was my dream job in every way and as far as I could tell, I had it.

After getting that call, I was devastated.

Leading up to that call, I spent much time in prayer – that tends to happen when I really, really want something.  But in addition to begging God for the job, I asked for his will to be done first and foremost, even praying that if the other candidate needed it more, to give it to him (he was a classmate of mine).

At the end of it all, God said, “No.”

For many of us, God says “no” to our prayers more often than he says “yes.”  Worse still, he says “no” to what we think are the most important prayers we will ever pray.  Prayers to spare the life of a terminally sick loved one, prayers for a job that will change our lives, prayers for a restored marriage, prayers for the salvation of family members.  And when God says “no” we often respond in kind, saying “no” to God.

Within days of receiving the call, I spent some time in prayer in a park where I often went to pray.  Sitting on a bench and expressing in as many words as I could, the extreme frustration that I felt, I made a decision to practice gratitude.  With all the strength and sincerity I could muster (which wasn’t much) I audibly whispered those two words that I had no desire to say: “thank you.”

“No” is still an answer to prayer.  And for all we know, it is the best possible answer that God could give us, even it is not the outcome we were hoping for.  If we are only thankful when God says “yes,” what does that say about us?  What does that say about our ability to trust and love God, even when things don’t turn out like we want?

So what is it that you need to say “thank you” for?  A job you didn’t get?  A broken relationship?  The loss of a loved one?  Something more painful?  Something less painful?

Thank Him for it.

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Does God Have a Vagina?

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Jesse Medina

The notion of a female God is nothing new.

But what is new within the past 100 years or so is the notion that the Christian God is, or should be female.

The idea of a masculine God, particularly in a patriarchal society, makes it very difficult for some people to relate to God.   This is no more true than for those who come from families where their fathers have been absent or abusive or for whom much pain has come from the hands of men.  The idea that God is a “he” just like the “he” who hurt them is appalling and difficult.   There are even arguments that this is not solely a matter of preference, but one of sociology – the result of a patriarchal society that points out weakness in men by referring to them as “girls” telling them to “man up.”  For many (women especially) this creates a God who is difficult to relate to.  In response, many simply ditch the notion of a masculine God and replace the Father verbiage with Mother verbiage.  And, as a result, many have been able to relate to God in new ways.

After all, God isn’t really a “he,” right?

Wrong…well, kind of.

It is an accepted truth that God does not have a body.  Jesus had a body, and he was a he (anatomy and all), but the “Father” and the Spirit do not have bodies, at least none that we know of (or could understand for that matter).  In that sense, it is true that God does not have a penis.  But neither does he have a vagina.  Perhaps, like an army guy or Ken doll he is just smooth “down there.”

But that’s not really the point, is it?

The real problem here is not whether God is more of a “he” than a “she” but whether God, whatever God is, is like the hes and shes that we know who have hurt us.  My guess is that most of us would say that he is not.  And yet, we still get hung up on the language.  So what do we do?  How can some of us who have suffered significant wounds under the hand of a man relate to a God is referred to almost exclusively in masculine language?  Is it appropriate to try to find God’s “feminine side” and relate to God through mother-language?

While there is a part of me that wants desperately to say that it is appropriate and that we should relate to God in whatever way is most helpful, I simply can’t get over the fact that God chose, for whatever reason, to reveal himself using masculine language.  That is a fact that we cannot easily dismiss otherwise we are running the risk of creating a god of our own choosing – or, in other words, worshipping an idol.   I’m not saying that we cannot affirm the “feminine” qualities of God (I put feminine in quotes because even the concept that some attributes are masculine and some are feminine are social constructs) – we absolutely can.  But we need to give God the liberty to reveal God’s self however God chooses – in our case, as a Father.

But we take comfort in the fact that God is, in fact, not like the hes and shes who have hurt us.  God is not like our earthly fathers or our earthly mothers.  God is not a harsh dictator ruling over us with an iron fist.  Like a good Father, he is strong, rational, powerful, demanding, and even dangerous.  But like a good Mother he is nurturing, compassionate, emotional, soothing, and kind.

And the biggest thing that we have to keep in mind is this: the gender God chose to reveal himself as is not nearly as important as the fact that he did reveal himself and has proven, time and time again, that he is nothing like us – he is simultaneously more masculine than the manliest of men and more feminine than the girliest girl.  He is God and as male and female, we are made in his image.

What do you think?  Is it okay to relate to God as “Mother?”  Why or why not?

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