Jollyblogger is Wrestling with Forgiveness. He draws a useful distinction between the obligation to forgive and the expectation that privileges will be restored to the offending party in a relationship.
We are to extend forgiveness to others in direct proportion to the amount of forgiveness Christ has extended to us. We may withhold forgiveness from others in the same way that Christ withholds forgiveness from us. And the point of that is very plain, Christ does not withhold forgiveness from His people, therefore we have no right to withhold forgiveness from others.
BUT we are not obligated to restore privileges to someone who has sinned against us: trust a thief with our money, give marital privileges to an adulterer, etc.
Carmon at Buried Treasure blogs about what’s wrong with HP. Although I think she has some valid concerns, and although I don’t plan to read the books, and although this blog was supposed to remain an HP-free zone, my older urchins are reading the books and enjoying them immensely. That’s all I’ll say about the matter.
Well, one more note: Go to Jollyblogger again for a different take on HP. And neither I nor Carmon nor Jollyblogger has even read the books we’re discussing so freely.
Debra is surprised to find herself watching a reality-TV show, something called Brat Camp. Read about it here. Has anyone else seen this show, do you have an opinion? Does the experience really help the kids to change or not?
Adrian Warnock is asking: Who Are Your Favorite Well-Known Living Preachers? I commented on R.C. Sproul, as did several others. I really didn’t realize how many pastors and preachers have audio versions of their sermons available on the web. It could be very helpful to listen to one or two sermons a week from a variety of Godly men. Who are your favorites? Are their sermons available via the web? Where?
Marla and firends are discussing “quiver full” again. My short response is: “You keep using that word (QF). I do not think it means what you think it means.” My long response will have to wait.
I saw the “Brat Camp” presentation yesterday, and I had mixed feelings about it. However, it seems that these kids that were sent to the camp were those who had some VERY SERIOUS discipline problems, and the parents who signed them up were at their “rope’s end.” In those situations, it looked as though they were desperate to try anything they thought might help get them (the kids) headed toward the right track again. If the parents were also counseled at the same time that the kids were at the camp (I didn’t see the fist few minutes of it), so that the kids weren’t allowed to revert to their same old “bratty” ways, I think the program may have some good merits to it.
LOL- I think yours is the best response to Marla’s QF post that I’ve seen yet.
Sherry, I am curious about your response, but the way I’m defining QF is the way that the QF sites define it and the way that commenters on my blog define it: that any form of b/c or family planning is sinful because it is going against God’s will. I suspect many who call themselves QF don’t know this is what it means. I’m still investigating the origins of the theology, though…