[A.W. Bowman]

Sadly, I think a good number of us have built on a few carefully selected proof texts and a lot of religious tradition.

Personally, I have been discarding the religious trappings, traditions, and putting the proof texts back in their original context. Then doing the really unthinkable: Actually studying those passages that are ignored in many of our churches today.

It really is hard to confront a favorite verse and discovering that it does not say/mean anything like how I understood it - or how I had been applying it. /sigh/ I admit that here, but that is a very dangerous path to take! When one starts to get serious about their relationship with Jesus, others around them start to get uncomfortable. The result is that most folks do not take kindly to having their warm fuzzes getting soaking wet. It gets all squishy, and it smells funny too!

What I discovered though, is that God doesn't really care about my little fuzzes. He actually said something like this, "Get a grip and grow up!" Do you have any idea what that means? No more little right/wrong games, no more spiritual one-upmanship games, No more self-justification, No more twisting scripture to suit my agendas, No more thinking more highly of myself than I aught, No more just living in the Spirit - but also having to walk in the Spirit. No more thinking that I can get into heaven without taking on that responsibility for myself. And, these few things are just the starters! There is a whole lot more!

Maturity requires giving up childish things. It requires work! So I think I'll just go over there and sit in the corner, suck my thumb, and whimper a little. I'll try growing up tomorrow.