The Incongruent Believer

On the inside of my left forearm I have a tattoo in Hebrew of Job 19 verse 25. When people ask what it says and I respond, they often comment that I must be religious, however they are somewhat puzzled when I reply that I am not. I then explain that I am a Christian and have faith in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but that I am not religious. This has lead to some interesting discussions starting with the tattooist who did my ink in the first place. My younger sister, a Humanist, commented on my POV that the way I speak of my faith makes it all very believable. When I first became a Christian the wife of an American friend of mine said that Christianity was about a relationship not religion and would elucidate that it was about having a relationship with Jesus and not about following and adhering to the tenets of religion. In my own personal journey of faith I have become to believe that principle myself  (and I am sorry it is a bit of a soapbox of mine), and I  see an i...

When I first became a Christian we were often encouraged to read the New Testament or even the whole Bible in its entirety. I then settled down to the regular Christian habit of reading a few verses each day, often the passage chosen for that following Sunday, or when following a daily study programme. With the length of the books in the Old Testament and also the gospels in the New, this I'd an advisable strategy if one isn't to spend hours reading and little time reflecting. However, recently I have taken a different approach with the epistles, reading them in their entirety at one sitting and by doing so I have found it easier to understand the purpose of the letter and and to appreciate how the writer chooses to approach his readers. For instance in 1 Corinthians one can sense the ebb amd flow of Paul's approach; cautious almost fawning in the early part of his letter before he drives home his argument in the latter chapters. It is really quite an experience as one can ...

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13. " I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.   My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.   What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”  Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?"  Even during its formative years divisions were beginning to arise in the church and Paul was having to warn against this in his letter to the church in Corinth. If Paul were to write his letter today to all the churches of the world it might say, " What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow the Pope Francis”; another, “I f...