That God could not accept us due to the fall of Adam/Eve, and to bridge the gap God himself (or a perfect human) had to die in our place to conquer sin. Jesus in a sense was substituted for us, and took on our sins, to open the path to redemption. The model says that without that sacrifice, we were hopelessly separated from God.

I personally don’t believe that God is limited in that way. He made us. He knew what would happen. And I think God can reach out to us without having to kill himself to balance out the sin equation.

To me, the power of the cross is that it’s an illustration of true selflessness and the love of God that should be inside all of us. To me it’s merely a reflection of the relationship between God and man, a relationship that has always been there. To me, God wasn’t saying, “I’m doing this so that we won’t be separated anymore.” I think he was saying, “I’m doing this to show you how much I’ve always been, and will always be, with you.”

I’m pretty much the only one in my family who thinks this way, so of course they think I’m in danger of hell.

But I love them no matter what, and I’m not even God. So surely he can love people no matter what as well.

Know that I am always with you in spirit and love hoping that where I could not reach you will. And you are right to put your marriage at a high consideration in all decisions. Best of wishes.

Cliff

I am fully onboard with the BoldGrace message even if I’m not a believer in the substitutionist redemption model (I’m more in line with Cliff’s ideas on the matter). For now I’m continuing to grow and learn while still finding a way serve in the context of a local congregation.

There are many things about the church I don’t agree with. The existence of an expensive building (ironic for a Restoration-movement church, since there were no Christian worship centers until Constantine gave the religion credibility in the empire). The list of rules and limits placed on salvation. The limited role of women. The focus on formal worship as if God needs that to be happy. Yet I’m still there.

I’ll be bluntly honest and say that the primary reason is that my wife is not ready to leave. Not to sound condescending, but I’ve always been a little “ahead” of her in this journey of discovering grace. She has come amazingly far in just a few short years, but the prospect of leaving church would be offensive to her at this point. And when it comes to choosing between her and almost anything else in life, I’ll choose her. So at this moment, choosing her means going to “church”.

Her father was a minister for 30 years and is now a chaplain. I know he’s been thinking about the home-church model for a while, and one day we may find ourselves doing something far different than the “drive to the building, sit in the pew” routine on Sunday mornings. Or maybe not… who knows? I don’t have it all planned out, I’m just a dude trying to do his best in his own little way in his own little world.

Grace and peace to all of you!

–Michael

Peace
Geo

We had many legendary preachers come to our church during those years.
For the most part, it was just good clean entertainment and tons of religion. As it sometimes is expressed…….HOLY CRAP.

I have not sat in a SBC church in 6 years.

That’s just my story and opinion…. I could be wrong.

ChaplainRoy7@aol.com

For me, I haven’t attended a church as a real member for about 7 years, the time away has helped me to make peace with God also…to find out what was the point of my faith. I have arrived at the idea of living it - that’s the point - and having the right to ask questions and feign orthodoxy (because it makes little sense to me). But maybe we all need this experience for our own benefit?

Sad to say, I have attended church the last 2 weeks - because I want to see what is there (proof). I feel it is too much about worship and not enough about community. However, I have many problems with the way church is done, it is not about me per se - but about the whole community (even if they fail to see that). I have my qualms, someone else likely also does, but what needs to develop is a place where we all work together (which is like this blog put into real life). I strive for that idea - may not happen - but one that does not try never finds out.