"Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith."

I had to pause and write some things down in my journal while continuing on in my reading of "Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith" a book written by Glenn Packiam. I'm going to put what I wrote in my journal in here, just so there is another place I can go when the need arises.
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I wanted to put the following in here to remind myself of what God is doing in me as I'm reading "Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith" by Glenn Packiam. *There are a couple things that Glenn boldly confronts and shares here that I also feel very adamantly about. Those who know me well know this to be true.

"There are things in life beyond our control. And God is first among them. God will not tolerate being used as an instrument to control our own lives. Obedience is not some sort of magic code, "Abracadabra" that moves God to action- or worse, forces Him to action" (p. 60).

"If we tithe, if we pray, if we confess, if we believe, then our businesses will grow, our children will flourish, and everything we touch will turn to gold. I know of churches that as they give their tithes and offerings, recite something to this effect: "With this offering I sow my seed and I expect a harvest. I call forth raises, bonuses, promotions, ideas, and money due me" (p. 60).

"I struggle with these depictions of God. I am uncomfortable around people who talk so smugly about God's blessings as though they were inevitable. As if because of their obedience God was bound to act in their favor, like a genie who had been released from his lamp and now owed his liberator three wishes. People who think this way point to all the "if ... and then" clauses in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 28 is among the favorite passages" (p. 60).

"Obedience will be met with prosperity and protection; disobedience will be chastened with pain and hardship. If only life were that clean and simple. One needs only to keep reading in the Bible to find out that is not the case" (p. 61).

"I have heard some say that God blesses American Christians with close parking spaces and cable TV because of our nation's history of godliness. Every time I hear it, I have to swallow the vomit in the back of my mouth. How do we account for the fact that the regions of the world that are experiencing the most aggressive growth in Christianity - Africa, Latin America, and Asia (the "Global South") - are also places riddled by poverty and disease?" (p. 61)

Finally, on wrestling with God, Glenn shares: "Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, wrote bluntly about his experience: "I rarely speak about God. To God, yes. I protest against Him. I shout at Him. But to open a discourse about the qualities of God, about the problems that God imposes, theodicy [the problem of a good, powerful God and the existence of pain, evil, and suffering], no. And yet He is there, in silence, in filigree" (p. 59).

God, that you love me enough to still stir my heart, shatter my mind's paradigms ... keep breaking, keep molding, keep shaping. You are the Potter and I am the clay ... always and forever yours.

-Alicia