Believe, part 2

I will probably regret posting this...

<idle musing>
Part one was about Joel and Renee and believing prayer. Well, meanwhile, on a totally different subject, I was noticing (in my role as Marketing Manager) that Eisenbrauns was not well known among seminarians. So, as part of my market research, I began seeking out blogs by and for seminarians (great, more blogs to read!). I wanted to find out what their needs and thought processes are so that Eisenbrauns can better serve them.

One thing that I immediately noticed is that seminarians now are just like they were when I was in seminary—stressed out : ) Well, that is a subject for another post. . . But, the second thing that bothered me was the lack of feeling a need for, or sense of, God’s direction. One site has a poll on how to choose a seminary. Nice idea, but none of the options listed was “pray.” All of them were logical, cerebral things. Where is the sense of God’s direction?

On a different site, a person was worrying aloud about the future: Would there be a job? Would the church boards hire them? OK, reasonable concerns, in the flesh! Did God call you to the paid ministry? If so, then whose responsibility is it to supply the job? If not, what are you doing there in the first place!

And so it went, one site after another. On some there was a nod at God. On others, there was an acknowledgment of God in the abstract. But, what I missed seeing—and it might be there, but I didn’t see it expressed in writing—was an acknowledgement that since God called them it was HIS idea. He was in charge, not the person going. He was calling the shots, not them.

Please, if you are in seminary, tell me I am wrong! Tell me that you are depending on God for direction and support (financial, sure, but more importantly, spiritual, emotional, and physical) on a moment-by-moment basis. Tell me that you know that God has called you; that he is the one directing your life, both now and in the future.

If that is not true, then I submit to you that you are a practicing atheist, or perhaps deist. Either one of them denies God has an active role to play in your daily life. Both don’t expect God to intervene; nor do they expect prayers to be answered.

Another name for Christians is “believers.” What a misnomer in our society! If what I am seeing is the norm, then it goes a long way in explaining the current state of the church in the western world.
</idle musing>