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| Rich is Livin 4 Him's blog |
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| Rednecks and Theology |
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Yep, I’m a redneck. I say words like Ya’ll and Aint nearly every something slips out from between my lips that aint a burp. I keep my trailer held together with duct tape and I’ve acquired quite a collection of auto parts in my yard. Yes I do have a few dogs on the front porch and I think it’s really funny when babies blow snot bubbles. Yep, I cut my own sleeves off my shirts; I like to exercise my right to bear arms. My hair is a little too long and my temper is a little too short. And I recon my outward appearance may tend to lead folks to believe that I’m ignorant and dumb. So while sitting in the Waffle House eagerly anticipating the arrival of my mid-day pancake fiesta, I noticed a couple fellers snickerin’ about my Bible book that I had placed on the table and they then began to tease me a little and challenged my knowledge of the scriptures. Instead of stomping an instant mudhole in both of them boys on the spot, I decided to hear them out. Turns out one of them (the one who did most of the talking anyway) had went to some theology school, so he knew a lot about the Bible. He asked me a couple of theology questions and I apparently failed to answer them to his liking. He then questioned why I believe in God and asked me how I could call myself a “religious person” if I didn’t know simple theology. Now the old me woulda jumped up and knocked the peach-fuzz mustache right off of this fella’s melon; but I chose to offer to pay for their meal instead. Don’t know why, and they didn’t take me up on it, but I offered. So now I’m sittin here thinking. In some ways this guy is right. Us rednecks don’t come from a long line of “thinkers.” Me and my kind aint never gonna be real good at speakin’ or preachin’ and we aint ashamed of that. It don’t mean we caint share the gospel… through action. So when you see an old redneck boy mowing the church lawn or carrying the groceries for an old lady… you see the Gospel in action. When you watch BillyRay’s wife organize a toy drive for the children’s home…. that’s the gospel in action. When the fella in the singlewide next to you opens his small-crowded home to his sister and her three children out of wedlock because her boyfriend drank too much… When the little country church gathers a small team to reach out to the inner-city homeless while the “city folk” look on in disgust… that is the gospel in action. Finally, when you ridicule a redneck for his faith in God and, instead of laying down a butt whooping that would make the UFC look like a Disney flick, he offers to buy your meal… you’ve just seen the gospel in action. Nope, I’m not a theologian, and my type of vernacular may not be commonplace inside the four walls of the church, but I believe that sometimes actions can be more powerful than words. Besides, what good is having knowledge of the Word of God if there is no action taken behind it? Just my two cents. Love to all, Rich |
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Great as always! Got me laughing and thinking! |
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| Amen bro. That's good stuff right there man. Givin folks a taste of what Jesus is all about. Hey how come you ain't offered to by me no pankackes? |
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| hehehehe.........what's scary, is I didn't hafta figure out what you were saying, lololol.......good message though! |
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You got it.
don't pay to think when the soul is in jeopardy |
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| I would just like to say. God's Word is not theology. You always hear some fool talk about how many years they have gone to some seminary and received a great piece of paper. now they claim, I will now go for my doctorate." God chooses whom he will. A piece of paper says nothing about education. Especially when it comes to God's Word. Most, I have found. A dumber than a stump!! Many will come in his name!! |
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Rich,
I disagree with you on this one. You do know Theology. Here is the definition of the word:
Main Entry:
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English theologie, from Anglo-French, from Latin theologia, from Greek, from the- + -logia -logy
Date: 14th century
1: the study of religious faith, practice, and experience; especially : the study of God and of God's relation to the world
Not only do you know Theology... brother your Theology is sound and scriptural.
Pastor Aminata |
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AMEN Pastor Ken!!!!
You bet he does! |
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Great Blog Bro. Dude a lot of the first followers of Jesus were Rednecks Peter for one and I like him the best because what you saw is what he is a fisherman ,bad temper,fast to act and follower of Christ! And I think that you are a really Cool Dude do that make me a redneck if so I be proud to be your Bro. |
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| Amen, Pastor K & A!!! Great blog, Rich. |
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| You suffered ridicule,just like Jesus, from them theology spouting Pharisees not so like Jesus.Great blog man. |
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Denise |
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July 16, 2008 at 7:26pm |
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| Amen! I really enjoyed reading this. It is easy to talk the talk, what matters is do you walk the walk. Love! |
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Grant |
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July 16, 2008 at 9:42pm |
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You are a theologian. A theologian is anybody who studies God. You don't have to know the big $1,000 words to be a theologian. You just have to believe what the Bible says and do it. Actually the best theologians are not those who use the big words anyway, but those who use everyday language.
You see, the Bible was written in redneckeze -- farmers' Hebrew and street Greek. Even Jesus spoke a redneck variety of Aramaic. The problem is that we take redneck Bible language and flower it up into fancy talk. Don't get me wrong. There's plenty in the Bible for brainy people too. Paul is sometimes very hard to understand, but the basics are always written in simple, plain language that even a child could understand. |
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| Amen Rich! I dislike theologeons with a passion. All head knowledge, no heart knowledge. When people see someone doing something for somebody, that's the gospel in action. By the way, I like the way you talk. |
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| Thanks everybody for responding! Ya'll are the best! Doyle- you was a redneck long before I met ya buddy! lol |
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Cathy |
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July 17, 2008 at 9:42am |
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I was just talking about this the other day with some folks.
Why did people have to make Jesus so complicated?
I'm just sticking with "Jesus died on the cross for me, so that I may come to the Father"
Dude....That's it. I do not and nor do I want to clutter my head with anything else.
I mean, Jesus did this for me. ME !!!! I sometimes can't even wrap my head around that!!
I'm so not worthy!
Amen |
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| In all due respect. Theology is the study of God's Word through science. Scholars have said this for centuries. Such as. Because Genesis does not agree with science that book is rejected by Rationalists. Because Ecclesiastes does not agree with Theology, this book is rejected, as uninspired, even by some Evangelical theologians. |
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The First Saints
Those Jesus hung out with were simple people
Not religious experts who never left the steeple
Folks who lived their lives with honesty
Not for show for all the world to see
These people made mistakes and said the wrong thing
Theology was over their head as they listened to birds sing
Their degrees were in Fahrenheit not PHD's
As they escaped the summer heat sitting under trees
Their professor was an outlaw who paid the ultimate price
As he died on a Cross soldiers played a game of dice
After His death they were drawn into life like before
Jesus simply asked one of them who do you love more
Into an upper room these folks began to congregate
Waiting on His promise and an unknown fate
These scattered frightened losers began to pray
They are now the most prominent of the saints today .....peace..... A FailureThe Pharisees were never wrong And they could debate loud and long Experts in the Law they had analyzed Quickly devouring those who criticized From their lofty places they look down Pointing fingers at those about to drown Secure in the knowledge that they are right Mercy and grace spread their wings in flight As the Shepherd searches for one lost sheep Pharisees trouble those entrusted to their keep Frightening and scaring the timid and weak They continue to poison with words they speak Jesus couldn't live up to the standard they set Compromising holiness with sinners He met In their world Jesus was a member not a guest Pharisees only associate with the best of the best They tried to draw Jesus into theological debate The simplicity of His words they grew to hate And the message He preached of an open door Inviting in those the Pharisees chose to ignore These are they who betrayed Jesus to the Cross In the purifying fire all their works turn to dross If Jesus couldn't please the Pharisee then how can you They will never be happy unless you do what they do They speak with many words but the Spirit is quiet With subtle remarks and condemnation they bite How can you give up when you look to the Cross To the place where sin suffered its' greatest loss Will you turn your back on the hurting and lost Is being accepted in their eyes worth the cost Embracing the Cross will invite suffering and shame When you walk as Jesus and quit the religious game Reaching to people in the places where they are A failure to the Pharisee but to GOD a superstar .....peace..... Others May, You Cannot If God has called you to be really like Christ in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility and put on you such demands of obedience, that He will not allow you to follow other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Others can brag on themselves, and their work, on their success, on their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all you good works.
The Lord will let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hid away in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for His glory, which can be produced only in the shade.
Others will be allowed to succeed in making money, but it is likely God will keep you poor because he wants you to have something far better than gold and that is a helpless dependence on Him; that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day - out of an unseen treasury.
God will let others be great, but He will keep you small. He will let others do a great work for Him and get credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work you have done, and this will make your reward ten times greater when He comes.
The Holy Spirit will put strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do what He pleases with His own, and He will not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealing with you. He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and let other people say and do many things that you cannot do or say.
Settle it forever, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that others are not dealt with.
Now, when you are so possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this particular personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven.
–G. D. Watson
Rich, theology is a poor substitute for love. I thought of your Waffle House encounter in the light of ! Corinthians 13. Found an interesting phrase in verse 8...
1 Corinthians 13:8 (Amplified) Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].....as for knowledge, it will pass away (it will lose its value and be superseded by truth).
Knowledge can lose its value (become obsolete, antiquated, inferior) but not love. That word superseded mean to replace something with something better...truth.
Rich, they had knowledge, you have truth. This time their actions may have hurt but they have not harmed. But what if you were new to the faith? Instead of using their knowledge to build you up they chose to use it selfishly (to feed their flesh) to "disallow" you. You responded by offering to buy their meal (which is what a friend would do). You extended the hand of fellowship, they slapped it away.
Perhaps you planted a seed. Maybe one day their knowledge will get out of their head and into their heart and their eyes and ears will be opened to truth.
Rich, like you, I don't look the "part". Outwardly. Don't own a suit or tie. Dressing up for church is wearing a shirt that buttons with my jeans. Sometimes I get judged. I remember one time going to a church and the warmest thing about it was the air conditioning. Must have been full of the Holy Ghost cause I was invisible to everybody there. Oh well...
1 Corinthians 14:38 (KJV) But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
.....peace.....
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| Amen. Faith without works is dead. My bff's mom is a hardcore, banjo playing, nasal singing, blunt as anything redneck! And she has put many "scholars" to shame with what the Holy Spirit shows her. Ppl pass her off as a simpleton, but God gives her wisdom! The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, not theology school! Not that education is a bad thing, but it AIN'T for us all! here's to Christian rednecks! Cheers! |
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Thanks again Friends!
Hey Esther, I'ma doin fine, thanks for asking! I'll check out them pics and then I'll comment later!
Hey Lara, you little Canadian Christian Redneck! Good hearing from you too! |
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JayKTX |
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July 18, 2008 at 7:11pm |
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Rich~ You are a wise and good theologian because you love the Word and you live your faith. I commend you for your forbearance. That was quite a test at the Waffle House and you passed! |
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"If Jesus can turn water into wine then I guess I can turn a ten dollar bill into a twelve pack of Bud," as I handed it over to my nephew's girlfriend.
The week before I was walking home from swimming when the son of someone I used to work with hollered at me across the street. Been a few years, he wasn't a kid anymore. Didn't recognize him at first but I did my nephew. My nephew told me they had recently moved to our town.
The next week I took my kids to Vacation Bible School. After the first night I thought his oldest son would like to go. I asked and they let me take him. The little guy loved it.
Now earlier in the month (over the Fourth of July weekend) family from the wife's side came down to visit. I purchased my first twelve pack of beer in about thirty years. When they had visited a few years earlier several drank a good bit. I've always enjoyed the "Michigan bunch" and whenever we have went up that way they always was good to us. Just being hospitable.
But between liver disease and probation and little ones only one person had a few beers over several days. I was going to toss it out but the wife said no, next time one of our boys (adult) came over she would give it to them. No one ever came by.
Well, one night I grabbed a water bottle out of my fridge on the way to take the kids to VBS and it occured to me to take the beer and give it to my nephew and friends. That is when I made the water into wine, ten dollars into a twelve pack remark. Those who were sitting on the porch and in the yard thought it was funny. They gladly took it.
Saturday was "kid day" for me and "kidless day" for my wife. I took our two boys (we are in "phase two" of raising children aka grandchildren), my nephew's son and a niece to the Bootheel Youth Museum for a few hours and then to the swimming pool for another couple hours. Then I went to my house to get them fed but my wife wasn't around (smart woman). So I fed them chips and cookies and anything I could find that didn't need heating up. Aftrer a time of video games, computer, and cartoons the day was quickly nearing an end and I was wanting to get them home before the mosquitos came out to eat.
First stop was my nephew's house. I pulled up a chair and visited a while in the backyard. When out of the blue my nephew mentioned the "comment" about water into wine ten dollars into a twelve pack. Said he cracked up when he heard it. Then he told me that he wanted to talk to me sometime. That he wanted to make changes in his life. Interesting thing is that I didn't really say much. The more he talked the more about GOD he talked.
He asked me what church I went to. I told him. He asked me if he could go with me some day. Of course I said yes. Just let me know. How about tomorrow? See you tomorrow. Well, I left my oldest kid there while I took our youngest and niece to her home in another town. When I returned to pick up mine my nephew again mentioned going to church tomorrow.
Now Rich, I been around long enough to know "beer talk". Wasn't that at all. We had a good talk. He told me he didn't feel like I was judging him. He was right. I remember being where he was. There were things that I was not ready to give up. He talked of how many times christians he had talked to would argue. I told him that was probably because they were so focused on what he needed that they didn't really listen to him. That us christians are kind of famous for trying to bring people where they need to be instead of meeting them where they are.
And somewhere in the conversation I shared that Jesus once got criticized for sitting in the backyard with a bunch of folks drinking beer. Back then they called them publicans and sinners but in my mind the scenario was probably pretty much like what we were doing. Jesus told his critics, "If you knew what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless." Guiltless? They were doing stuff the shouldn't have been doing. They knew it and the religious knew it. But the only ones Jesus had a problem with that day was the folks pointing fingers.
Well, I went by this morning but they had stayed up late, etc. Disappointed, discouraged? Naw.
GOD has created hunger in a man's heart, a seed was planted, a "fish" noticed a lure. GOD will finish this. I now have the privilege of prayer, a chance to build a friendship, and a history of GOD touching and changing lives in spite of my best efforts.
Maybe us rednecks just live what theologians talk about.
.....peace.....
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Thanks Jay! Good to hear from you!
Gordon, this story rocks brotha! Thanks for sharing it and adding to the discussion! |
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Rich, the last line in my previous post should have read.....
Maybe us rednecks just live what "theologians" talk about.
You see Rich, neither of us are anti-knowledge. But knowledge that belittles others is not from above. 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.
I like to think that time I have spent with the greatest theologiian to ever live, Jesus, has influenced how I think and speak. I have said in the past that I would rather lose a thousand arguments over scripture and win one soul than to be always right. If it was about me maybe "winning" would mean something. But it ain't. It's about others.
Paul, in Galatians 6 said that those who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please themselves. May GOD bless you Rich for doing that the other day at Waffle House.
.....peace..... |
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Preach the word brotha! Amen! And Amen!
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Rich, you are a wise Man !
Hey Grant.....you said, "there's plenty in the Bible for brainy people too." If that's true, how come I never seen it? |
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Hey Rich, I have to agree w/Grant and Pastor Aminata. Theology starts simple and proceeds from there. And of course, as you say, theology is worthless w/o actions to back it up! ps... I have to star this blog, my mouse, almost as if with a mind of its own, is going to that "Add a star" checkbox, going, going, going..... starred! |
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Rosie |
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July 23, 2008 at 5:05am |
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| Great word there my feller redneck....i wish everyone could see things the way you do...life would be so much better....... |
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Cheryl |
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July 23, 2008 at 1:31pm |
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| Rich, how do ya stir the pot...LOL!!!! |
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Deb |
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July 25, 2008 at 12:35pm |
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| I am a bit behind on reading blogs, so I am just getting started, and read yours first...Like Pastor Aminata said, you know theology. Not everyone can get up and preach the word...I don't feel comfortable doing that, either, but I can show people God's love by my actions. Words are just words if you don't have the actions to back them up. Great blog. |
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LV |
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July 25, 2008 at 10:40pm |
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Rich, you are definitely "living large" livin' 4 Him! (could be 'cause you got the creator of the universe standing on your shoulder as you write?... but I'll leave that for the theologians to argue over!)
You are 'spot on' here... He doesn't need us being like the Pharisees and Sadducees... He wants us to do what He did...even if that means turning a $10 bill into a 12 pack of Bud...LOL! (that's one great story... I don't care who you are, that there's funny!)
Read some of your past blogs and are glad that you got time to sit a spell with us! Tell the family we all said "hey!" and hope to hear back from you real soon. |
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