Away

I’m going away for a week.

Leave a message on my answerphone, or e-mail me, and I might get back to you in a week when I return.

It worries me that I have a big capacity to love, but even more easily, a capacity to really hate. In fact worse than hating, not caring.

Blogs can make you dangerously introspective.

I am hungry and I go for food now.

God in fragments

It is often said of God:

He is love, but he is a judge too.
He is the friend of sinners, but occasionally likes to blot them out.
He wants to save us, but will happily throw us into hell if we’re not interested.

Hmmmmmm. Got me thinking.

Can there be such personal conflict within God? How on earth does he decide what to do? Does he actually have a ‘nasty side’? I’m confused.

You can trust someone who has liberated you.

 

Conflict

The real tension for Christians is not the Spirit against the Body, or history against eternity, or participation in the world at the expense of of individual holiness (which is bollocks anyway) -  the real tension is between the present and the future, a creation turned away from God and one which he will re-orientate towards himself and make new.

The new creation has already actually begun with the new life given to Jesus from out of the dead. The future and what creation will be is mediated to us now by his Spirit in contradiction to the mortality and transience that is all around us.

Jonny!

My friend Jonny, arguably one of the most important people in the world of the future, has started his own blog. We are going to share a house next year and will rock your collective ass.

Read it here, all the time.

Random

Today:

Woke up at lunchtime, chatted to my friend Angie on MSN, decided to hop on a train and visit her in South Wales for 3 days…and why not?

Had an interesting chat with a guy on the train who became an Atheist after the experience of Roman Catholic school, and being told he was going to hell.

SINCE WHEN DID IT ALL BECOME ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL?

AND WHO GAVE YOU THE AUTHORITY TO DECIDE?

I think the Church is the biggest obstacle to following Jesus.

He asked me why I was a Christian. I’m not sure why – not in the sense that I want to give up, but I just am, and wouldn’t want to be otherwise, I can’t explain why.

Have figured out how to thoroughly demolish empirical arguments against the non-existence of God, with the help of Jurgen Moltmann.

Also, God must be experienceable if he able to reveal himself – but how? That’s something to think about on the train home.

 

GGnnnnaaaaaggggh

I want to rant but am actually so outraged and angry that I just don’t have the words. Here are the two main reasons:

 
1. The total injustice, greed and violence by which America dominates the world whilst remaining seemingly impervious to resistance or dissension. Even worse is the sincere belief that God is inseparably interwoven into the plans and purposes of the American elite, and so somehow God is committed to the brutalisation and violation of all of creation and especially the powerless.

The consolation is that the cross demonstrates otherwise, and the rich, violent and godless don’t do all that well. Read Amos.

 
2. www.godhatesfags.com  – so now we define and identify God by what he hates and box him neatly within five-point Calvinist dogma. Plenty of proof texts of course-  but so what? Jesus is the friend of sinners, fortunately for me and the rest of humanity. Fortunately for Westboro Baptist Church, he is also the friend of the self-righteous – but because they’re sinners too. He delivers us from our self righteousness.

To represent God in this way in unspeakable.

Saturday, 1:24am

Late at night and I am exhausted but I want to say some things…

God is so faithful to answer us and hear us more than we will ever be able to comprehend.

Things are starting to come together.

God really loves me and that’s all I could possible ever really care about.

Weirdo

An angry american man rang work tonight to place an order over the phone. Here’s what happened next:

 

Me: Hello, Pizza Hut Deansgate, Steve speaking. How can I help you?

Man: I’d like to order four nuggets please.

Me: Excuse me?

Man: I know you only make them in sixes, but give me four and throw two away.

Me: I’m very sorry, but we don’t sell nuggets, and it’s after 10pm, we’re closed.

Man: Look, I said make six nuggets. Give me four and throw two away.

Me: I’m very sorry, but we don’t make nuggets and the restaurant is –

Man: LOOK DAMMIT JUST SHOVE YOUR NUGGETS UP YOUR ASS.

Me: Er…come again?

Man: JUST GIVE ME A JUNIOR WESTERN MEAL

Me: We don’t sell such a product I’m afraid.

Man: AWW WILL YOU JUST -

Me: Well, if you’re going to be rude…

 

Sven hangs up

 

LOL the big redneck freak

Oh Dido

You are pretty, but your voice is so very very dull.

Voice: zzzzzz Originally uploaded by svensvensven.

Nagging thought

I think I preached with my flies undone on Sunday.
 
I’ll never know for sure but it won’t stop me losing sleep over it.