Jim Pace

The ideas so far… and the lines are still open…

September 17, 2010 | 1 Comment

At the start of October, [nlcf] is going to start a new series called, “Show Us Your Buts – our reasons for not getting closer to God.” Part of the intent of this series is to look at the issues that can hold us back from following Jesus more closely, trusting him more.

I am thrilled that we are doing this series. It has been one we have been talking about for about a year now, and it strikes very close to my heart.  So many of my conversations are peppered with the whys of faith.  Why is it so hard?  Why does it work out this way?  Why can’t it be more clear?  Why does the bible say this?  Why doesn’t it say this?  These questions are central to my story with God as well.  So, I love ’em.  Can’t always answer them as much as I, or the asker may like, but they are so important to so many of us.

A couple of weeks ago I asked you to let us know what your buts are.  There have been a smattering of replies on Facebook and here on jimpace.org.  I have received many more responses via text or to my email account.  Here is how the suggestions are going thus far.  I have broken them down into three categories:  Intellectual Questions, Current Events, and Personal Life Questions.  These are all general categories and most of the questions or comments I have received fall into more than one.  It is just a way to break them up a bit.  

So, here is the question.  Which of these, or others that aren’t on this list would you really be interested in hearing about? We are really working to have the questions that more people ask about be the ones we deal with.  It may not be able to work out like that exactly, but that is the goal.  These are your buts, not our buts. 🙂   Please take a moment to take a look and then let us know what you think about them.  Only about a week left and then we have to lock them down.

This is going to be a blast!

Intellectual Questions

• Why does God allow so much pain?
• Why doesn’t prayer work more predictably?  What does prayer even accomplish if God already knows everything?
• There are some verses that seem to say that God will do things that he doesn’t do in my life.  Are they wrong?
• If God is so central to our lives, why don’t those who live without him see their need more?
• How can we follow God boldly without becoming an extremist?
• How can we connect with our world today without becoming just like it?
• What do we make of the church’s past mistakes?
• Is the bible anti-women?
• Is the bible anti-homosexual?
• What are we to make of the stream of writing today that seems to show the bible is unreliable and riddled with error.
• Why doesn’t God just deal with Satan if he is causing so much pain and suffering?
• Aren’t all the religious choices similar paths to the same destination?

Current Events

• What do you think should happen with the mosque in NYC?
• Should we burn the Qur’an?
• Is Glen Beck right to warn people to stay away from churches that are involved in social justice?
• What should we make of Steven Hawking’s claims that the universe didn’t really need God to get started.

Personal Life Questions…

• How can I know that I am hearing from God and not making a mistake?
• Can God really love me?
• How can we make space to be closer to God in our busy lives?
• Why does the bible seem so socially backward?

Categories: Church, Culture, life, Mission