Tales of an Evangelical Mormon

Golden Plates

2009-06-25T07:50:00.003+01:00

I'll just come out and say it: The history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is bizarre. Golden plates? Angels appearing? God appearing to Joseph Smith? To respond with incredulity is, I think, a natural response, especially give the modern scientific world view that is so prevalent today.

Then again, the majority of the Western World for the past millennium believed that all evil and suffering ultimately stemmed from a talking snake. Go figure.

Zion

2009-06-21T04:23:00.002+01:00

Growing up, I always had Zion in my heart, and as I grew, so too did my love for God and my longing for home. I was raised in a conservative Evangelical home. I went to private Christian school and attended a “Bible believing” Church. I remember as a young teenager my profound desire to be closer to God, though in my immaturity I didn’t know exactly how to achieve it apart from transitory spiritual highs. After graduating high school, I ended up attending college at Multnomah Bible College. My junior high desires had taken deeper root in my soul, and I went off to college with a burning desire to know God and everything He had for me. Based on the tradition I had been raised in, I assumed my primary means of finding these things out would be through God’s Word, the Bible. My desire was to reside in Zion – to really be a citizen of God’s Kingdom. I trusted that reading my Bible would tell me everything I needed to know: how to get there, how to be there, and how to know her Ruler.

I soon found out that there was no “Zion,” at least not in the form I had expected her in. Instead of finding a church that was built on Christ’s authority, I found a multitude of interpretations huddled around a small bundle of “orthodox” truisms. Belief in the Trinity, inerrancy, sola scriptura: these were the requirements to enter what I took to be Zion. I was taught, or at least it seemed to me, that one could not pass through her gates without adhering to certain fundamental doctrine. And so I nodded my head and passed through the gate labeled” Zion.”

“Zion” wasn’t what I expected it. It was human, it was messy and it was confused. Instead of finding transcendent truth and guidance for God’s people, I found division and instability. Had I been wiser, I would have expected Zion to be both human and at least somewhat messy (for, although perfect, God’s dealings with humanity are always fraught with our creaturliness), but in hindsight I never should have for one moment tolerated the division and the doctrinal uncertainty. I should have never have traded in my hopes of the fullness of God’s truth with all its promises for the sliver of “orthodox” sine qua non. But I did not understand then as I do now and we all must grow.

As time progressed, I became more and more disillusioned with the idea that man’s reading of the Bible will lead to a cohesive and necessary understanding of soteriology. Sola scriptura seemed in reality to be the biggest philosophical failure of the western world. Man’s ability to read did not produced a good grasp of who God was or God’s truth. It did not bring Truth, it did not bring unity. It did not bring Zion. Instead, its fruit was school after school of theological thought: Calvinsim, Arminiasm, Baptists, Presbeyterians, traditionalists, new wave theology, the emergent church. Thousands upon thousands of branches of opinions, many of them mutually exclusive in their truth claims.

Ah, yes, you might say, but certainly these efforts could lead to Truth, if only knowledge was really applied with good intent and purity of heart? If only it were so. But I saw teachers and students, both good and learned, reach radically different conclusions, with radically different and perhaps eternal consequences. And so I witnessed firsthand how the Reformation bloom withers under reality’s sun.

In all this, my heart still longed for Zion. When I first realized that Zion was not to be found in any one Protestant tradition or stream of belief, I hoped that reading the Bible might at least tell me how she might be built. However, as I saw those around my striving after this aim with little or no success, I rightly lost faith in my ability to construct her, even in my own heart. I would never be able to know enough or understand enough. Thousands of years, countless histories and incredible culture gaps lay between me and being able to get at the text with enough precision to draw up any sort of blue print for Zion. I felt like a monkey trying to read Shakespeare: I could get bits and pieces here and there, but the metanarrative eluded me.

And so it was that I had not found Zion and I did not know how to build her. But where disappointment met me, hope led me on. And so my heart became a pilgrim and my prayers petitioned the heavens, longing for guidance.

At this point, all the fears that lay at the back of my mind and all the suspicions accumulated since childhood began to take root: there was no Zion here and now on earth, there was no way to build her, there was no way to know or be part of God’s chosen people. There was nothing but the cacophony of opinion and the longing of my heart for my heart’s truest home.

As I felt the twilight coming and as my soul began to despair even as it earnestly poured out its petitions, it happened. I found Zion. She was shrouded in ill opinion and lies, she was hard to descry, but the cries of my heart were heard and God had in His mercy led me home. It was a painful trudge ascending the Hill of the Lord. It was disorienting arriving at her gates and the shock of waking up within her walls jarred me time and time again. Finding her was like learning to see the light, living in color after years of black and white. It was the joy of coming home when you’ve been away so long you can barely remember what home is.

Christ’s Church has been restored once again to the Earth. Zion has descended from the heavens and opens her gates to all who would enter in. Truth is here, beyond thought and supposition, beyond exegesis and all such valiant efforts. Where I had frailly tried to understand God’s Word for myself, I have it explicated for me by His prophets and apostles. Truly, I am blessed beyond words by the blessings of God. Wonder beyond dreaming, peace beyond expression. Zion is here and Christ stands at her gates to welcome all to come in and partake of His Kingdom here and now on Earth.

Did the Great Apostasy Happen? Part One

2009-06-17T01:32:00.001+01:00

Prolegomena

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints makes some big claims: a new book of Scripture, a living prophet, God’s full truth restored to the Earth. It’s a lot to take in. Fortunately, though, there is an initial logical hinge upon which all this swings: the claim of a “Great Apostasy.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints really only has a reason to exist if the Church set up by Christ and the fullness of Christ’s teachings disappeared from off the face of the Earth. If there was no apostasy, then there would be no need for a restoration, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, etc. God would have in essence wound a clock which was still telling perfect time. Mormons claim the clock broke and that God stepped in and through Joseph Smith fixed it. Who then, is right? Is the original clock still telling time or did it break?[1]

This is no mere lofty musing or abstraction – it is important stuff. A radical truth claim is being made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that truth claim must be evaluated out of a love not only of truth but also out of a desire to fully know God and His will.

How then, can this claim be proven or disproven? What issues are important and what questions what must be answered? What reliable criteria can be used?

In attempting to answer this question of a Great Apostasy, we are from the outset disadvantaged. History is not objective, incomplete and sometime unreliable. People lie and often do, even in historical records. Perspectives change and evidence (both archaeologically and documentarily) is incomplete. Although I’m personally not comfortable trying to construct my theology on the basis of history, it is a necessary evil that must be appealed to as second-tier evidence. God’s word should come first, history second. Although history is flawed, it still has its place.

Unfortunately, too, the Bible also brings with it disadvantages in trying to establish whether or not a Great Apostasy occurred. This, of course, comes from the fact that the New Testament give us only a very small sliver of the time frame we are trying to evaluate. We are in essence evaluating the last 2,000 years of Christian History; the New Testament goes radio silent after about 90 AD. Additionally, some of the passages referred to are prophetic, and it is notoriously difficult trying to differentiate stages at which a prophecy will be fulfilled. For instance, take the confusion at the time of Christ regarding Messianic prophecies. The Jews were expecting a triumphant king, as Isaiah prophesied, not understanding that his writings referred to two comings of the Messiah: the first as servant, the second as ruler. As it is said, prophecies can be fulfilled a thousand ways, and often times the real fulfillment is only to be seen in hindsight and with the aid of the Holy Spirit.

So then, in the quest to answer the question, “Did the Great Apostasy occur?,” we will move forward using our two main tools – history and the Bible, with the caveats and handicaps mentioned above.

[1] I would like to briefly add that it is possible that a Great Apostasy did take place and that we are as of yet awaiting a full restoration of God’s truth. Nevertheless, it is important to determine whether or not such an event did take place, before evaluating further LDS claims which will either uphold or destroy their position.

Fundamentally Bizzare, but Intriguing

2009-06-04T19:43:00.001+01:00

One of the weirdest things I've ever come across.I'm not exactly sure what conclusion it was aiming towards and it suffers from a lack of solid scholasticism, but if you can leap with the author in her logic and look past the interesting way in which she interprets some texts, it makes for an interesting read.

Sort of like the X-files for theologians.http://www.thinlyveiled.com/barker/josiahsreform.htm

I Literally Can't Believe That This Just Happened

2009-05-31T19:38:00.001+01:00

May 31, 2009 at approximately 10:40 pm

I was heading home tonight from the tube, and as I began to climb the stairs from the underground I went to call home, as I always do. It makes me feel safer to talk to someone as I walk home and I always enjoy catching up with family. My mom didn’t pick up on either line and so I mentally paused as I approached the cross walk, waiting for the signal to turn. I found myself sandwiched between two men, and felt really uncomfortable. Some people I instinctively know not to trust and I’ve learned to trust my instincts. When the signal changed I walked quickly, hoping to lose them.

“I need to talk to you.”

The thought entered my mind with Divine transcendence that I could easily recognize as being distinct from my own mental chatter.

“Yes, Heavenly Father?” I inwardly cringed, wondering if it was going to be bad news. I’ve been wrestling through some stuff lately and so I inwardly prepared myself to hear whatever came next.

Nothing came.

Maybe it was just my brain misfiring. I continued to feel quite uncomfortable as I walked home alone in the dark. I paused and then dialed my mom again. She didn’t pick up.

Again, it came: I need to talk to you. This time I snapped to a bit more, mentally speaking.

I started to pray, first starting out with what was weighing on my heart. As I prayed I found the mild panic I had felt minutes earlier at the thought of walking home alone dissipate. As I continued to pray, I moved on to praying for the local missionaries of the ward I attend. Next I prayed for the Gospel to spread throughout the world, and finally, to finish up the triad, I prayed that I might have missionary experiences of my own.

No sooner had this last prayer been prayed I looked up and immediately saw a man standing ahead of me.

“You’re going to share the Gospel with him.”

Ummm…. No, possible, pseudo-schizophrenic misfiring, I am not. I am not going to approach a stranger, in Central London, thank you. I am going home, tired brain, and giving you some rest, rest which you obviously need. I walked passed him and wondered casually about my mental health. A minute later I looked over to my left and there the man was. He greeted me and we began to speak casually. I could tell by his accent that he was of Middle-Eastern descent. He seemed pleasant and I didn’t get any sort of bad vibes off of him. I figured I was on my way home and it was well lit enough to risk it, especially since I had been given some Divine forewarning.

He asked me what I had done that day. I told him I had just come from church and we spoke a bit about that. After a few minutes, he asked what made my church different and I told him about the Book of Mormon, what it was and what it meant to me. A minute later I gave him my copy.We continued to talk about religion – he was Muslim, but readily admitted “My family and I could be wrong. My people could be wrong.”

I told him there was much I admired about Islam. He and I both agreed it was important to ask questions of our faith, to live life well, to honor God and focus on meaningful relationships with people. Kahel, my new friend, seemed genuinely to be a good soul. So much so that I felt safe walking with him in downtown London. He warned me against being so trusting – I told him God had told me I was going to speak to him and that’s the only reason why I was doing it.We walked and talked for about ten more minutes.

It was an amazing experience to find a kindred spirit in the midst of a city of purposeful strangers. At the end I told him I hoped we would meet again, and in the note I wrote in his Book of Mormon I gave him information on how to contact me. I hope I do hear from him again. I feel extremely blessed to have been used of God to meet this man. I have never so profoundly heard the Lord in my life, and never had His word so quickly fulfilled. I can only think that we were supposed to meet and that the Lord has great intentions in our meeting.

Falling Out of Love Defined

2009-01-19T20:52:00.000Z

Falling out of love: that great sting that engulfs the entirety of one’s being upon the realization that they have been conned by reality.

My Very Brief Testimony

2009-01-18T20:02:00.002Z

Taken from a brief talk I gave in Sacrament, earlier this year:

When I was first asked to share today about my conversion story, I was thrilled. And then Kevin told me I only had one to two minutes. I certainly won’t have time to tell you all of it, but I’d like to tell you one aspect.

Several years ago, while visiting family in California, I was reacquainted with a good friend of my brother-in-law’s. Corey was a member, and I remember there being something different and wonderful about him. I can still remember the feeling of the Spirit I got from just talking with him, even though it would be several years before I even knew what the Spirit really felt like. Over the next couple of years, I didn’t forget my encounter with Corey. My last semester before graduating from Bible College, I started to write a paper on LDS doctrine. Corey was the only reason I chose the Church as my topic. I knew there was something different about him, and that brief encounter years earlier was enough to spur my curiosity on. Six months later, I was baptized.

Those six months were the worst and the best of my life. I had dozens of questions and even more fears. Sometimes I felt like I would never see light again – but I knew I had seen it once, in a “Mormon,” and hope of finding it again was enough to keep me going.

The reasons why I joined the Church, the reasons that convinced me it was true, are many. But one of the most powerful, and certainly the most impelling, did not come from two Elders knocking on my door, or a Church advert, or even a free Book of Mormon. It came from a member, just being himself.

When we met years ago, Corey said nothing of his faith. But the Spirit shone threw him and into my life.

Today I would like to bear testimony not only of what God has done in my life, but of the incredible ability He has granted all of us to be His beacons unto the world. Every one of us who has the gift of the Holy Spirit bears an incredible light. And when we let it shine, that light brightens the world all around us.

Not every person you smile at or talk with is going to feel the Spirit, get baptized and become a member. But one might. And the one standing here today did. I know this Church is true, I know God lives and I know God loves us. I know God is every day at work in the world and that He uses the light and truth we bear to transform the world around us. I would encourage you today to go forth and bear that precious light more boldly. To raise it a bit higher and carry it more proudly. That light is the greatest gift we have to give the world. And you never know who might be looking for it. I leave these things with you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Random Thoughts on First Peter

2008-12-28T19:34:00.000Z

Growing up in private Christian High School, I had to memorize my fair share of memory verses, including 1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." I was always taught that it was only the old, toothless lions who roared, and this 'fact' was used by extension to belittle the real threat that the Enemy can sometimes pose to those who are not prepared. Now, I'm not here to argue how much Satan can or cannot harm us, I would just like to dispel the information I grew up with based on the Old Testament's own witness.

Today I was reading Proverbs 28, and I was struck by the couplet that verse 15 presented roaring lions with: As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people. What struck me is that here a roaring lion did not seem be a harmless thing at all. To the contrary, it seemed to be grouped with some pretty threatening stuff. So I wondered what else the Old Testament had to say about roaring lions. Were they harmless as I had been led to believe, all bark and no bite? Or were they something worth being wary of?

The most interesting thing I found was that oftentimes roaring lions were more completely described as young, roaring lions (Judges 14:5, Psalm 104:21, Isaiah 31:4, Jeremiah 2:15, etc). Additionally, like the parallelism of Proverbs 28, the couplets I found in the Old Testament did not present roaring lions as nonthreatening, but rather as intimidating (e.g. Proverbs 19:12, "The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion... "; also Hosea 11:10, " He [the LORD] shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.").

So, contrary to what I had heard growing up, the concept of a roaring lion in the Bible is not one of an enfeebled attacker devoid of ability to do real harm, but rather one of real intimidation and consequence.

Well, that wraps up today's required dose of nerdiness. :) Not a complete treatise on Hebraic perceptions of roaring lions, but I hope the point is made well enough to dispose of the apocryphal information handed down to me.

Self

2008-11-01T20:41:00.000Z

Epiphanies can come at the strangest times, and in the strangest places. Yesterday as I was leaving King’s Cross, my tube station, I was struck with the most trenchant insight I have received in ages: We are the only persons who can truly ever harm ourselves.

The Word tells us of mighty restoration – of our physical selves, sown into the grave in corruption raised to immortality through the first resurrection. The same too for our souls – John’s first epistle speaks of the mightiest of promises – that those who truly hope in Christ will “be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

So then, if our bodies and souls are promised perfection and immortality through the healing work of Christ’s atonement and resurrection, who then can ever truly harm us? Can men who harm our mortal frame? Can those who wound our hearts and souls ever do lasting damage?

It is in fact the case that they can never do us lasting harm. It is only we ourselves who can do that. It is only our intentions and our actions that can remove us from the grace of God and take us from His path of eternal life.

How much more should we therefore abundantly forgive our neighbor who can do us no real harm, even as we daily forgive ourselves our faults? Can we really hold our neighbor to a debt we know redemption will repay while we casually forgive or ignore our own and damning faults?

Radical Faith

2008-10-17T19:30:00.000+01:00

Last night the Lord called me to have radical faith. He told me something was going to be ok, even WAS ok, and I didn't believe Him. All those stiff-necked, hard-hearted, blind, deaf, dumb predicates in the Old Testament? Yeah, that was me last night.

I wish I would have trusted God more. I wish I wouldn't have rebelled against the still, small voice that said, "Everything's going to be OK." I wish I would have listened to the words of Him who loves me and knows all, instead of connecting the dots in my own finitude and stupidity. I wish I would have placed my heart in His hands, and not let my own fears and insecurities snatch it away and play rugby with it.

But most of all I wish I would have realized this: Faith is not just resting in written promises, generally trusting in the goodness of God that He will work all things out for Good (though such things are of course true). It's more than just verses and eschatalogical hope. Sometimes faith is listening and believing God when you're staring at a blue wall and He's telling you it's red (believe me, He's always right). Sometimes it's forsaking all of our faculties and just trusting, giving up our rights of assessment and reaction and placing all of our attitudes, actions, reactions, thoughts, and feelings at His feet. It's being willing to say, "Lord, everything I know is telling me A, but You're telling me B and I trust you above everything else, so B it is." Sometimes faith flies in the face of all, and runs roughshod over it. But God's truth and faith in it always wins, even when it looks like the sorriest underdog there is.

Sometimes faith is just a general trust, a general hope, a gentle thing. But sometimes it's much more than that - it's radical, transcendent, and demands belief at the cost of disbelieving all else.

Primitive Logic

2008-10-14T19:57:00.001+01:00

I stumbled upon this in my archives. I would classify this is as primitive theological logic in my conversion. Taken as an excerpt from an email:

Some Conclusions from Reading the Bible:

Jesus is the Son of God

Jesus died for our sins

Faith in Jesus and His atonement is vital for salvation

Works are vital for salvation (Luke 10, James 2, Revelation 20, etc)

The New Testament pictures God’s intention of one true community of believers being built up into the body of Christ, with apostles and prophets, teachers and evangelists being main means God has chosen to build up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4)

The New Testament (and to a lesser extent the Old Testament) also predicts a falling away from the truth and a need for the true community of believers to be re-established upon the Earth (Amos 8:11; Matthew 13:25, Acts 20:29, 2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 2, 4, etc, etc)

On the basis of number six alone (which I think history corroborates), all historical faiths are disqualified for me (Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox – basically everything before the Reformation), leaving (outside of the LDS Church) only the Protestant faiths, which I consider to be disqualified by numbers four and five (I think even based on the 20th century alone, even on my lifetime, it is easy to see Protestantism splintering again and again, the end result being a privatized almost lone-gunman faith when it comes to doctrinal decisions. I consider this to be the natural and inevitable fruits of the Reformation principle of ‘sola scriptura’ and the ‘priesthood of all believers’). Pretty much, the LDS church is the only one left standing, at least to present it simply from one perspective (there are about a dozen others). For the sake of simplicity, though, here are just six conclusions I’ve made from reading the Bible carefully and considerately.

The Necessity of Biblical Epistemology

2008-10-09T19:25:00.000+01:00

The Necessity of Biblical Epistemology

(Not intended to be a definitive treatise, but instead the observations and reflections of a simple pilgrim of Zion)

The diversity of London continually provides a tide of philosophical challenge, which ebbs and flows, sometimes even crashes, against my worldview. As I stare into the faces of Bengalis, Buddhists, burka-clad women, businessmen and vintage New Wave rebels, I find my ideologies subtly challenged by the ones they represent , whether it be through cultural identification, speech, and even subconscious mannerisms. The way they interact with the world belies their beliefs and provides a foil of reflection against my own. Recently, I was struck by the philosophical integrity of Muslim extremists. Here were a group of people convinced that God (or Allah, for those of you who might be theological more conservative or reticent) dictated something not only extremely unpopular in the world’s eyes, but also time consuming and dangerous, not to mention lethal. And yet there are those in the world, who, despite such difficulties and hardships, carry out Allah’s commands.

As I contemplated the integrity undergirding the actions of Islamic extremists, my contemplation turned to evaluation of their actions and my assessment of their overall wrongness. At this point, I found my latent post-modern mindset rear its opinion. It leveled this against me: Who was I to say these zealots were wrong? Where did I get off imposing my sheltered and naïve Western world view on them?

At first I was slightly kowtowed by this accusation, but then I began to ponder epistemology and what basis I could claim to challenge the seemingly obvious misguided actions of our Muslim neighbors. It may seem obvious to you and me and many others that they are wrong, but why? Why are we convicted thusly, and furthermore often convinced that those who transgress our convictions will be judged according to the standards we vehemently profess?

This has led me to ponder biblical epistemology. I believed my convictions on jihad to be right, but why were they right? I would suggest a few conclusions that not only resolve the question at hand, but also seem to vindicate the Bible’s presentation of a universal judgment of mankind.

Before I proceed I should make clear one very important assumption, namely that there is good and evil, and that such distinctions proceed from God’s throne. So, operating on this assumption that good and evil do exist, I believe that we are all bound to these standards through several means of that inform us of them, and that it is this fact that enable us to evaluate right and wrong and facilitate the just Judgment of man portrayed in the lasts chapters of Revelation.

Firstly, we were given the basic ability of distinguishing right and wrong in the Garden of Eden. In addition, nature seems to undergird our obligations to God’s truth and standards, as does God’s verbal revelation (Psalms 19, Romans 1, et al). Further, it seems that when necessary, we can obtain further, transcendental, God given indications of truth through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 16, 1 Corinthians 2).

So, as much as I would personally like to lie back in the comfortable embrace of pluralism or universalism, it seems none of us are off the hook. As confusing as things can get, it would appear that there are always answers out there, to the heart that truly searches (Jeremiah 29:13).

This conclusion leaves me somewhat discomfited, because it introduces the wrenching ambiguity of who is and who is not truly searching. Perhaps though, such facts are supposed to be inscrutable. Perhaps we are only to dissect our own hearts, and simply pray for our fellow pilgrims.

In any case, I would suggest that God given knowledge and discernment, whether a now innate faculty or a special witness, is not only presented in the Word, but is the only sound epistemological footing on which to ground any sort of discriminating ethical evaluation.

Rest in Peace

2008-10-05T20:33:00.000+01:00

So, I know this a rather morbid way to begin a note, but I was walking by a graveyard today (uh, yes, central London, everything's rather crammed together) and had a rather interesting thought come to mind: resting in peace isn't someting that need wait for the slumber of death.

Yesterday, in General Conference, one of the Church's General Authorities stated that a clean conscious is the best friend we can have. I think that's true, and I think when that is the case with us, when we are living with integrity, following what we know to be right, we can live in peace, and rest in peace - daily. When our lives fall in line with God's standards, we are more perfectly able to partake in His shalom, in peace and wholeness, on a daily basis. Resting in peace needn't be something for the afterlife alone. Resting (and living) in peace is a promise we can partake od today, tomorrow, everyday. All we need do is walk step by step, journeying in righteousness, until we finally enter into the Lord's eternal rest (Hebrews 3&4).

September 24

2008-09-24T20:49:00.000+01:00

In those quiet, lavender, moonlight hushed moments
When I journey from the dreams of the night to the reality of day
I come to know myself, in a way words cannot say
There, in the stillness before the mind dawns
There is nothing to cajole or distract
Nothing except my soul, the lonely pilgrim who never sleeps
And in that sacred silence, un defiled by the din of wakefulness or the groaning of dreams
I hear my soul cry out, and sing with the silvery notes of angels
It tells me of who I was, who I am -
Though in the brightness of daylight that throws twisted shadows I could hardly tell
It whispers to me of Love beyond knowing, of promises of who I will be
In those moments before reality rips the twilight like a knife
I know God through the silence of my soul
And though it lasts for just a moment, half a moment, gone
Those twilight, purple hours are enough to steer me home.

Fault Lines

2008-04-03T20:45:00.000+01:00

Every broken heart has its fault lines. Do you know where yours are?

Cheap Grace

2008-04-02T20:33:00.000+01:00

God forgive me my abuse of grace. Forgive me for treating your wounds, your blood with such contempt. Forgive me from turning from repentance to sin, again and again with no thought, not guilt, with an all but insensible heart. Please forgive me and lead me into brighter light.

Love

2008-04-01T20:32:00.002+01:00

I think after it all, after all the work, the lies, the selfishness, the deceit; after all the seduction and pretense, the lull into “love;” I think all people really want to is to be loved in their unshelled starkness, to be accepted and embraced by just one other person, and to find completion in the reciprocation of that given love.

Every Night

2007-12-10T20:40:00.001Z

Every night & every day

All I need is You

No matter what may come may way

All I need is You

No matter how the world change

All I need, all I crave,

All I need is You

No matter what, no matter who,

No matter what I may pass through,

No matter how all else may change

All I truly ever need… is You.