Pastor Tomberlin’s new book is now available. You can purchase a copy at the church office or click here to order from Amazon.com.

Go to Pentecostal Sacraments for more information.

]]> http://www.bainbridgechurch.org/announcements/466/feed/ 0 http://www.bainbridgechurch.org/articles/446/ http://www.bainbridgechurch.org/articles/446/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:44:18 +0000 Dan Tomberlin http://www.bainbridgechurch.org/?p=446 But I’d secretly rather have a God who is a non-anxious presence.

I like a tranquil, even-keeled, self-controlled God. A God who doesn’t fly off the handle at the least provocation. A God who lives one step above the fray. A God who has that British stiff upper lip even when disaster is looming.

When I read my Bible, though, I keep running into a different God, and I’m not pleased. This God says he “hates” sin. Well, he usually yells it. Read the prophets. It’s just one harangue after another, all in loud decibels. And when the shouting is over, then comes the pouting.

Take his conversation with Hosea. The Lord is disgusted with Israel, and he asks Hosea to enact a parable. He orders Hosea to take a prostitute for a wife; she becomes a symbol of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. This is no down-on-her-luck-but-with-a-heart-of-gold prostitute like those so often portrayed in movies. This is some sleazy woman who, even when given a chance at a decent life, keeps “whoring.”

God then tells Hosea to have children with this woman. When the children are born, he tells Hosea to call the first Jezreel, explaining, “I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” The second, God calls No Mercy, because “I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.” The third he calls Not My People, “for you are not my people, and I am not your God” (Hosea 1:1-9).

This God is like the volatile Italian woman who, upon discovering her husband’s unfaithfulness, yells and throws dishes, refuses to sleep in the same bed, and doesn’t speak to him for 40 days and 40 nights.

We may think this a crude depiction, except that Jesus—God with us—seems to suffer the same emotional imbalance. He rants about Pharisees and Scribes—or “snakes” and “hypocrites,” as he calls them. So upset is he over sacrilege in the Temple, he overturns tables and drives people out with a whip. And then we find him lamenting, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate!”(Matt. 23:37-38).

This God knows nothing about being a non-anxious presence. This is a very anxious God, indeed.

I’d rather have a God who takes sin in stride. Why can’t he relax and recognize that to err is human. I mean, you don’t find us flawed humans freaking out about one another’s sins. You don’t see us wrathful, indignant, and pouting. Why can’t God almighty just chill out and realize we’re just human?

Click here to finish reading this article.

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Denominations appear to have fallen on difficult times. Theological controversies over core Christian beliefs have weakened some denominations. Others have succumbed to classic liberalism. A handful of denominations have reaffirmed their commitment to theological orthodoxy, but even many once-growing conservative denominations have experienced difficult days. All in all, membership in 23 of the 25 largest Christian denominations is declining (the exceptions being the Assemblies of God and the Church of God).

The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) found that the percentage of Americans who self-identify as Christians decreased from 86 percent in a 1990 study to 76 percent in 2008. Much of the loss does seem located in large mainline denominations. At the same time, the ARIS indicated that nondenominational churches have steadily grown since 2001—and that self-identified evangelicals have increased in number. But it seems that denominations have not shared in the growth.

According to many church leaders, denominations are not fading away—they are actually inhibiting growth. I have heard many pastors denounce denominations as hindering more than helping their churches’ mission. Others carp at wasteful spending, bureaucratic ineffectiveness, or structural redundancies; these objections seem to have gained adherents in an economic climate of pinching every penny. Loyalty to a denomination has declined and in some cases disappeared.

Click here to read more… It’s worth the time!