a slight clarification or i think i missed some things

well, another one is about to bite the proverbial dust as in a week from yesterday, my friend Ben is getting married. if you were to tell me back in high school that my friends Nate and Ben would be the first to get married, i would have laughed right in your face. now before you all peg me as a jerk, let me expound on what i mean. back in high school these two jokers were the ones that either complained in a fit of self-pity that he was never going to get married (Nate, which by the way, was the first one of our group of friends to get married) or idolyzed the apostle Paul so much, that at one point he swore that the life of celibacy is the life for him (Ben). see, i'm not a jerk. i've known Ben for quite a while and i know the sort of girls he's dated in the past....ouch. the crappy thing about the girls he used to date is that he acted so completely different when he was with them; totally wasn't himself, heck, it even made me uncomfortable to see him act like that. however, ever since they started going out, i knew that things were different with Julie. when they were together out in public, he wouldn't change how he acted or what he thought about things; he was himself....it was refreshing to see that. anyway, we had his bachelor party all day yesterday, so this is all on my mind. it was a really fun time hanging out with all the guys, especially Nate who lives in Minneapolis now, so we don't get to hang out with him much. we, of course, started the whole day with a few awesome rounds of disc golf (the group of people who know either love or respect disc golf is growing), then in the evening we ate at a nice cajun-themed restaurant and took a tour of a few bars right there in downtown Cedar Falls. i can't believe everyone is growing up, though i suppose thats what period of life we're in; though i don't feel it 'cause i don't feel like things are progressing for me like for all my other friends......anyway, thats a whole other discussion.

so, i've talked to a few people about the last thing i wrote and i've gotten a mixed bag of responses. i've had a couple people tell me that what i wrote was right on and they agreed with everything i wrote and i've had an equal number of people, thank-you Troy and Lindsay for being a friend enough to question things, bring up a few questions and concerns about some of the things i had to say. one thing i want to clarify is that all of what i wrote was about how the church needs to deal with and treat those that are not in the church, without Christ. we are not to judge those not in the church and look down our noses at them, we are to love them and take care of any need they might have. however, if the Spirit should move within them and after a time of real, deep thought as to whether they want to give Christ their lives, they become a follower of Christ, then the accountability to God and the church begins and they must change their life appropriately (as the Spirit directs). i believe that people don't need to clean themselves up before they fall on Christ's mercy and embrace the salvation He so freely offers, but when they make the decision to follow Christ, then the life-long process of being transformed into the likeness of Christ begins; God loves them too much for them to stay as they are. so, i hope that provides a little more clarification as to what i said earlier. if anyone still has questions, feel free to e-mail me and we can continue this dialogue. i think its important to struggle with these things because these issues are so central to how our generation is going to know how to interact with those outside of the church, the lost and the hurting. may God lead us into all truth and give us the grace and strength to be able to carry these things out in our lives everyday.