And the cohort group is made up of some people at our local church and lead by our head pastor. This local church has become our “Samaritan” and a facilitator of healing to our family.

After UBF, the NIV version of the Bible is like a cheese-grater to my soul. I just can’t read it. But when I found The Message paraphrase, Scripture suddenly came alive for me again! I now prefer the ESV or the NASB, but I always reference The Message. I believe The Message captures a lot of what the Bible would have sounded like to native speaking ears. The Bible is far more shocking than we think. The other advantage is that The Message shatters my glass menagerie theology and causes me to think and pray, instead of seeking to justify my own concept of “truth”.

Thanks for sharing. And for the record, you don’t have to agree with me; I enjoy discussing what is different or confusing most of all.

This seems like such an inspiring exercise; to properly frame one’s Christian worldview in such concrete/scriptural terms is exactly something I’ve been trying to do as of late. Of course, we will never get it exactly right in this lifetime, but I think that a written record of one’s framework is absolutely essential. What cohort is this from, by the way?

As far as the content goes, I strongly agree with points one and two; finding or connecting with one’s own humanity as well as interacting with outside world to discover more of Christ. I have found that my faith truly comes alive when I attempt to engage God outside of the confines of the church and when I am honest with him and others about my frailty as a human being.

I agree with point three, with the added comment that D.A. Carson explains that our freedom is very specific. We are necessarily freed from sin so that now we can be willing slaves of God. Not that he is a taskmaster, but it’s the idea that submission under His lordship is both proper (because he is the focal point of the universe) and ultimately most beneficial for us.

Point four is perhaps the hardest practical step to implement; how do we strike the balance of being completely Christ-like with non-believing people? How do we keep from falling into either syncretism or sectarianism?

Five is the creme de la creme of Christianity. It’s perhaps the most important step that we must continue to sharpen our view of and preach to ourselves, lest we fall into either license or legalism and subsequently drift from Christ.

Very good stuff. I also noticed that you like using The Message. I recently listened to an interview on NPR about the author and his struggles and successes as a pastor. Very fascinating listen: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/16/167399100/walking-through-life-as-a-pastor