Newsletter

Renewing the Mind...

We live among people, or maybe we hold this opinion ourselves, believing that our religious faith is simply a choice among many. You will hear people say It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere and do good. They will say that a person's private faith is irrelevant as long as his public actions benefit others and avoid doing harm. Yet scripture calls us to a different kind of faith. One that gets us branded as radicals, intolerant and immovable, stubborn and ...did I say already...intolerant.

Listen to Romans 12:2 and consider if you can keep your faith and tolerate everything.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

People love to quote back Jesus' words "Judge not, lest ye be judged." yet what about this renewing the mind stuff?

Your faith is not a set pattern of activities and "right answers" for use on Sunday only. Your faith and your growing understanding of God's will revealed in Scripture will affect how you think about.

Lying,

Stealing,

Poverty,

Death,

Immigration,

Life,

Music,

Art,

Happiness,

Gambling,

Prayer,

Sex,

Marriage,

Love,

Globalization,

Food,

Public Policy,

Clothing

Healthcare,

War,

Peace,

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Shopping

Adult Stem Cell Research

Religion,

Money,

Politics,

Gossip,

Can I go on...

The point is as you read each of these words, Notice, I have not told you how to believe concerning each thing. The fact is you must come to believe something concerning these things and any and all others not listed and it must, if you would be "renewed in your mind" ,come into agreement, ( I like the Catholic word, Communion) with your faith.

We are then told that when we do this we will "Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

This will make you intolerant...not mean, not un-loving, not violent...just intolerant, unwilling to accept the "goodness" of those positions and behaviors contrary to the new pattern of God's Kingdom and it's citizens. It will also, in Love, make you sorrowful and unwilling to allow others continue to live in any world inferior to God's Kingdom and Christ's family at least without having made an informed choice.

We are not Christians to be successful in the world. We are Christians because we believe Christ has overcome the world.

In Christ and on the Shepherd's Path,

Mark

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Rev Mark R. Simonds
Pastor, Oakdale UP Church
"Declaring Teaching and Living God's Word of Grace"
President, West Allegheny Ministerial Association
"Worshiping and Serving One Triune God Together"