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�who am I: I'm a small town girl, living in the big city, learning to trust God. I married a wonderful, patient man, Stephen, in October of 2008 and we had our first child, Micah, in June 2014. I've been keeping this diary since I was 16 years old, so it has seen a lot of life with me!

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Bad News for the Church of the Nazarene
11:04 a.m. || April 13, 2015

It appears that the crud has hit the fan in the Nazarene denomination.

Just before Easter, news broke out that one of the liberal theology professors of my alma mater is being fired/laid-off/let go at the end of the year. It seems that there is a lot that smells fishy about the whole scenario and it's created a huge uproar in the Nazarene body.

I find myself in the silent minority in this fight. I want to say, "Good riddance!" but I couldn't take the overwhelming amount of hate mail that would come my way if I did.

I never had a class from this professor. But he makes no bones about his adherence to open theology, relational theology, and postmodernism. I can't read any of it, because hearing the same arguments from another professor at college was too much for me and destroyed my faith.

People say that Satan's lies are seductive. That's how I feel about open theology and postmodernism. The arguments have the air of logic and intellect, but the heart of it is a cold and dead, minimizing and in some cases completely obliterating the Cross. Paul, the Apostle, would write a raging letter to them.

There are so many things that are terrible about the entire situation. I couldn't even begin to list them.

As I was telling Stephen yesterday, the worst part about it all, is that the Nazarene church (and again, I'm in the minority here) is dying from the rottenness at its very roots. I don't mean that it's corrupt. But I think there are some serious errors with the church of the Nazarene's theology, and the outworkings of that bad theology are either universalism or fundamentalist legalism, which is exactly the two camps they are finding themselves in today, and exactly why there is such a huge schism right now.

As I said. It's terrible.

However, I know God is sovereign. I know this hasn't happened outside His divine supervision. I imagine this is part of the sorting of the goats from the sheep.

Back when Obama got elected and the cultural war began over homosexual rights, polarizing the right and the left, my husband said he thought that, difficult as it is for my conflict-avoidant nature to endure, the war would force people to choose one side or the other, and that he thought it would be ultimately a good thing, bringing to light true Christianity. It's one of Stephen's theories that has actually rung true in my own heart. I have a feeling this latest incident is playing right into that theory.

I think some Nazarenes (like my grandparents) are sheep. Even though they adhere to a religion with legalistic tendencies here, I have seen their hearts, and I know that in the face of God Almighty in the afterlife, when they are asked, "Why should I let you into My heaven?" they won't be with the crowd citing all their credentials. I know in the face of God Almighty, they will be more likely to bow, crushed, and say, "There is no reason. I have no credit to my name that deserves me of heaven." I only hope that they will throw themselves upon the mercy of the Cross and truly understand the Gospel once and for all.

Lord, have mercy upon my grandparents, and all others like them. Amen.

-Stephanie

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Miss Something?

Bucket List - 2019 - July 28, 2019

Stephen's Out of Town - April 24, 2019

A Little Bit "Extra" - April 01, 2019

Mara <3 - April 01, 2019

God's Justice and My Mom - March 24, 2019