I have an addictive personality. There. I said it. My current addiction? Reading the Bible on my phone. It’s a lot better than other addictions. I was joking with a friend the other day, telling her that I want to start a facebook group called “The Bible is AWESOME.”
As I’m reading through, I’m learning a lot…and processing more. I was sad that Moses didn’t cross into the Promised Land after leading those whining Israelites for 40 LONG years. I understand that God is just, but God wanted to wipe the Israelites off the face of the Earth a bunch of times. All Moses did was hit a rock instead of speaking to the rock. I probably wouldn’t taken my staff and beaten some of those people. Just sayin’.
David had more character–even with sleeping with his man’s wife and then killing the guy to conceal her pregnancy and his indiscretion–than I do. He went through some crap….and still wanted to know God’s heart and to bless God. I hit one small speed bump in life and I fall to pieces.
Gideon is well known for two things…testing God with the fleece and for laughing at God when God says that he is a mighty man valor. I just learned that he also rules Israel for 40 years. Made me raise my eyebrows and wonder why sermons stop short of the whole story. I mean…Gideon’s story only encompasses a few chapters of Judges.
Here’s a question that is bothering me. Why are there two books of Samuel? Samuel died before the end of 1 Samuel. Why not just elongate the one book? (This is why most professors would hate me in seminary…lol)
Reading the Bible has also made some “worship” music–and I use that term extremely loosely–vile to me. There are literally some songs that make me angry. Do me a favor. Don’t write a song talking about how wonderful you are in God’s sight. Don’t write a song about all of the things that God can do for you and try to pawn it off on me as worship music. You are worshiping yourself, not God. Please stop mocking my Father. Call it like it is…call it a Christian song. Call it a country western song. Call it a rock song. But please, PLEASE stop disrespecting Abba Father. It is offensive, and it is liable to cause someone to stumble. I believe that somewhere in the Bible it says that it would be better to tie a millstone around your neck than to cause someone to stumble. (Check out Luke 17:1-3)
I’ll stop ranting. For now. Lord, I pray for your favor, your mercy and your grace. I pray for healing for those whose hearts are hurting, and I pray that You would reveal Yourself to those who either don’t know You or who say that You are merely a myth. I pray God that you would make Yourself know. Father, guard my heart in this season, and I pray, Father, that You would have Your way in my life and in the lives of those around me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Deneen White 
Insightful and inspiring to anyone who is taking a liking to the idea of reading the Bible instead of taking someone else’s word for it. Passage after passage is quoted without its whole story in sermons, devotions, and lessons every day—shamefully so!
The most painful part of my recent 18 months has been coming to the realization that the majority of what I used to be known for (worship leading, music directing and writing) has been tainted so badly that “authenticity” no longer has a source or a recipient. Authentic about what? Authentic to whom? “Authentic worship” has become another buzz-phrase to justify the emotional manipulation of poetry or music that sounds just like secular poetry or music and speaks from a man-centered theology.
I met with a pastor yesterday who agree to sit down with me (I visited his church once) and chat about the differences between his denomination and other denominations. I got one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received for a while. He said, “Keep pushing. You will need to push, even if you don’t end up deciding to join [my denomination].”
In other words, we have questions for evangelical leaders today. They are unsatisfactory at answering them in more cases than they are satisfactory. As such, we have to do what we should have done for all of this time: study. We have to learn for ourselves what it means to worship, what it means to learn about God, and what it means to receive true revelation from Scripture.
So I’ll pass on the same advice: keep pushing. Do not get comfortable; you will only regret it.