My Story has Changed

I'm surprised at the amount of feedback I receive from people who read my blog, especially since I post on it so rarely. However, I can't tell you the amount of times I have started to post something and then had to leave it unfinished because I had to do something else more urgent.

There are a lot of things I could talk about in this post—my recent trip to Turkey, how seminary classes are going, our new church, my new ministry internship, etc., etc. All of these are good things! Since this is one of my rare posts, I want to use it to tell you about the BEST thing that has ever happened to me. In the process you will learn a little about me and why I titled this post MY STORY HAS CHANGED.

ME
As most of you know I grew up in a small town in Texas called Gatesville. My parents were Christians and every time the door of the church was open we were there—Sunday morning & evening, Wednesday nights and special events as well. Church was a way of life for me. Every Sunday I heard the message that I had sinned against God and because of that I was going to Hell. But I also heard that if I believed in Jesus then God would forgive me and I could go to heaven. I greatly feared Hell. By the age of 7 I walked down an aisle during church, prayed "to receive Jesus" (as we often say in church), and then I was baptized a few weeks later. I was now officially a Christian in everyone's eyes, including my own.

As I grew up I read the Bible occasionally and I prayed most nights. I didn't really understand the Bible though and when I prayed I always asked God to do something for me. By the time I was in Jr. High and High School I would beg God and bargain with Him to answer my prayers for some particular girl to like me and go out with me. In fact, during this time the most important thing to me was girls and popularity. I had moderate success in these areas. I always had a steady girlfriend and lots of people liked me.

Sounds like a Christian, right? Let's see, The only time I prayed was to get God to do what I wanted to do and I cared more about girls and what other people thought of me than about God. Also, I should mention that I fell into (or intentionally slid into) immorality with my girlfriend in highschool. I was a legalist though. In fact, I thought as long as I didn't sleep with my girlfriend then I wouldn't be damned to Hell because if there was one bad sin then that was probably it. I thought of myself as a good person. I might not have told you that because of having a false humility but deep down I thought I was a great person. I thought, "sure I sin, but not as much as so-and-so. I don't do what they do. I am better than most people I know. If there is someone going to heaven, it is me." In other words I thought good people (like me) go to heaven and bad people go to Hell.

Fast forward to college. My highschool girlfriend dumped me my freshman year. I tried to get other girlfriends, hoping to fill my needs, but they saw through my shallow desperateness. I was alone in a new town and depressed and angry at God. After a short time in a Christian cult I stopped going to churches all together. I didn't know what I believed anymore. I was burnt out on life and beginning to believe I wasn't a good person because I was doing some stuff I knew that was wrong.

Some other college Christians invited me to a church and I eventually went. These people were different because I could tell that they really wanted to follow Christ. They didn't date, they read the Bible and prayed. They were excited about God. There was something they had that I wanted. Through this church I went to a program that lasted all summer in Myrtle Beach, SC. One night there I remember lying on my face alone at the beach and praying something like this:

"Oh God, please forgive me! I have ruined my life. I try to stop lusting and sinning but I can't. I am so sick of me. Please forgive me. Jesus wash me clean by your blood. Take my sin away. Please God, I am so tired of running my life. I want to follow you. I want you to be the leader of my life. I will do anything you want me to do, just don't leave me to myself."

This is merely a paraphrase of probably an hour long prayer of crying out to God asking for His mercy. After years of sinning I knew I was no longer a good person and that I deserved Hell. My only hope was to throw myself on God's mercy and beg forgiveness. After all, I knew John 3:16 from childhood—that God had sent His son Jesus to die on a cross and pay for the sins of the world, for even a dirtbag and adulterer like me. However, up until this point I had trusted my own goodness—not in Jesus. My true attitude had been, "No thanks Jesus, I don't need you, I'm just fine."

That night was the BEST night of my life because the Creator and Judge of the Universe forgave me and made me a new creation. I was now born again. I had truly REPENTED of my sins—I was sorry for what I had done and I wanted to change but realized I could not without God. And I put my FAITH in JESUS—the only one to come down and die and rise again and ascend to majesty in heaven. Buddha didn't die to pay for my sins, Mohammed didn't rise from the dead. It was Jesus, God himself, alone who suffered on my behalf. In His righteousness alone could I stand before the Father and not be torn to pieces and damned to Hell. In my own good works, I would be shown for what I was—a false convert, one who had claimed the name of Christian but I had followed my own god of ME and what I wanted to do. I had drunk from the idol of lust and worshipped at the temple of popularity.

My life has been changed radically. God has given me new desires to follow Him. I read the Bible and it makes sense because I realize it applies to me. Now I pray and I realize that I am dependent on God for everything—my life, and my eternity. The Lord helped me to overcome the lust I had been enslaved to before. Life is not easy because it is hard to follow God. I am not perfect or sinless but God is growing me in holiness and gradually showing me new areas He wants to change. But I am FORGIVEN!

WHY in the world would I tell you all this stuff about me? Because I fear that many people, especially in America have grown up in or gone to church at some point. They have prayed a prayer, raised a hand, been baptized, been confirmed, etc. and they say they are a Christian. But they are FALSE CONVERTS like I was. God will send them to Hell because they are trying to earn their way to heaven. No one can stand before a perfect God and say anything. For example, if you have told 1 lie in your life, just 1, then you have broken God's law (Exodus 20:16) and God says all liars will have their part in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8)

PLEASE, I beg you for your own sake to get right with the Creator of the universe tonight! You may die at any moment and you will stand before God in judgement (Hebrews 9:27). You're very soul and eternity is at stake. Remember you must REPENT (confess and turn away) from your sins and put your FAITH in Jesus Christ and His righteousness to save you. Jesus must become the Lord of all your life or He will not be your Lord at all.

Still think you are a good person? Take this test."
Check here to learn about false conversion. Listen to the audio file on that page.

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey!

Barry (above: second from the left kneeling down) has been in Turkey since Dec. 27th, and he's having a wonderful time. He's with a group of SWBTS seminary students and 2 professors. It's part of the Traveling Scholars program. They're following one of Paul's missionary journeys and also seeing the 7 churches of Asia from Revelation. Sounds like he's loving every minute of it!

I'm sure he'll post an entry all about it when he gets back on the 12th. In the meantime, check out the school photographer's blog, who happens to be Barry's roommate on the trip, to see some of the awesome sights he's been enjoying.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From Fall to Chris...

2007 -- now that's a cool year. It just sounds good. Good things are bound to happen this year. Like the birth of our baby boy, and the marriage of my brother Gary, who just got engaged last night!

I've uploaded our Fall to Christmas pictures, and one video of Christmas morning, at http://picasaweb.google.com/karenallison/FallToChristmas06. You can even view a slideshow. Check them out!

Oh Boy!

It's a boy!!! We are very excited to find out what it's like to parent a boy. Barry is glad the balance in the house is now even again. He was afraid of being overrun by a house full of girls. I am happy, too, and can't wait to meet our first son, Ruben Ellis Bishop (Ruben in Biblical Hebrew means "Look, a son!" and was the name of Jacob and Leah's first son; Ellis was the name of Barry's much-beloved maternal grandfather; REB were the initials of Barry's father, who went to be with the Lord just over a year ago).

Great Expectation

Abigail is going to be a big sister!!! That's right -- we're expecting a little addition to the Bishop family. Above is a picture of the pregnancy test I took on September 30th. I am now 15 weeks along. It's wonderful being out of the first trimester. I feel great now -- no more morning sickness and lots more energy. I'm just starting to be able to feel the baby move, too.

The baby is due in early to mid June. Abigail will be 2 years and a month at that time. We still can't believe it sometimes -- it is an unexpected blessing! Praise God! He also stopped what seemed like an impending miscarriage at one point -- I'm convinced that God intervened somehow. Let's thank Him for that, too. And pray for a continued healthy pregnancy, without gestational diabetes or anything else, an easy enough labor, and for a smooth adjustment for everyone involved.

My doctor is a little sonogram happy, so I got to have another one at my appointment on Thursday. And guess what? They can already tell the sex of the baby! And it's a ...
(to be continued in the next blog entry... )

In the mean time, go ahead and post your guess.

 

More Movie Madness

Ok, well, I guess "madness" is not really the right word, but I wanted to alliterate. Here's a review of the movies I've gotten to see recently:

1. One Night with the King -- YES, I finally got to see this movie after months of anticipation. And NO, it did not live up to my expectations. I did really enjoy the costumes and the sets, and even the actors were pretty good. My main beef with it is that it deviated from the Bible. I realize that there is artistic license, but in my opinion, they went too far with changing some of the facts. And it doesn't make sense to me because the story as it is written in the Bible is exciting and beautiful. I knew going into it that romance would be added in, but it seems to me that it became the main point of the story. We are left glorying in the love between two people, rather than glorying in the God of the universe who's hand was behind all the "coincidences," and who saved His people from annihilation, thereby preserving the line of the Messiah (Jesus). The book is always better than the movie, so read the book of Esther for yourself, in lieu of or before seeing the movie.
   
2. The Nativity Story -- Go see this movie right away and be reminded of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Plus, I heard this movie has had low turn-out at the box office and might be pulled from major theaters. Let us Christians show Hollywood that we'd rather see a movie about the real Christmas rather than "Santa Claus III" or "Unaccompanied Minors" (aka, Home Alone 2 Rip Off). The Nativity Story is a well-done, moving, and awe-inspiring film. I think the major facts are correct, and it's very close to the Bible story. The only part it deviates is that the three kings were likely not to have been there the night Jesus was born. But this is necessary in order to achieve the dramatic effect of the full nativity.
   
3. The Village -- We just saw this one on DVD last night, and it was really good. There's nothing "Christian" about this movie, but it did have an intriguing plot and a point that fits in with a Christian world-view. It showed that it's impossible to have a true utopia, "heaven on earth" if you will, because there is pain and suffering and evil everywhere. Now here's where I go beyond the movie: You can't get away from pain, but you can give it to the Man of Sorrows, who took upon the sins of the world and suffered and died for them. And He is coming back, at an unknown hour, and will establish a new heaven and a new earth, where there will be no pain, suffering, death, or unrighteousness. But for those who do not know Christ, there will be judgment and eternal separation from God in Hell, because it is only through the blood of Christ (who lived the perfect life we could never live and is "God in the flesh") that our sins could be atoned for before a holy God. So please, 1) confess that you are a sinner, that you need Christ's sacrifice to pay the penalty you deserve, and 2) repent (turn from sin and follow God), and 3) trust in Christ alone for salvation (Rom. 10:9-10, Eph. 2:8-9). Ok, sorry to get preachy on you, but you never know who could be reading this and making that life-changing decision right now.
   

Stood-up at the Theater

My MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group was supposed to have a movie night tonight. We were to meet at the ticket window at 7:15 pm to see "One Night with the King," a movie about the biblical book of Esther. Esther is my absolute favorite Old Testament book. I've always thought the plot is so riveting that it could be a great movie. I saw the trailer for "One Night with the King" in March, and ever since then I've been excitedly anticipating it's release. As soon as I knew it was in theaters, I started to think of ways I could go see it. You see, when you have a child, you can't just skip off and go see a movie with your husband whenever you want to, especially if you can't afford to hire a babysitter and are too new in town to have friends you could ask to watch your child. When I found out about the MOPS movie night I thought, "This is perfect! An answer to prayer!"

So I got dressed up tonight, or what I now consider dressed up. As a mom, my normal wardrobe is pretty casual: T-shirts and shorts/sweat pants. But tonight I wore jeans and a nice black shirt, my best blue jean jacket, and black dangling earrings. I even put on a dab of perfume!

So here I am lookin' good and feelin' good, about to see a movie I'm most excited about. I really don't want to be late for this one, so I arrived shortly before 7:00 pm. I wasn't too surprised to not see anyone from MOPS there yet. I know how people, especially moms, are about time (it's so hard to get out the door sometimes), so I bought my ticket, leaned against the wall near the ticket booth, and patiently waited. 7:15 rolled around, still no familiar faces. "That's kind of odd, but people tend to be late," I thought. "There's at least 50 ladies in my MOPS group; surely someone will show up soon." So I waited, and waited, and waited. I was getting nervous now. I started praying, "Please God, let at least one person show up." I started pacing and looking at my watch every few seconds. All this time I'm watching people come up to the booth. Happy people. People with friends or family. No one looking my way. 7:30. "This is ridiculous. No one is coming. I've been stood-up!" I was sad and depressed, then angry and indignant, then sad again. I returned my ticket and got a refund. So disappointed! I know it's only a movie, but you understand the build-up and the complete let-down. And what a waste of my time and Barry's time. He even has a major research paper due next week, and he took time out to watch Abigail. All for nothing! Well, not just nothing; rather, a disappointing, humiliating experience.

And now I'm writing this as therapy. I do feel kind of better now. You know what else made me feel better? Barry's profuse expressions of sympathy when I got home, and some chocolate chip cookies a neighbor had dropped off while I was gone. How did God know I needed some cookies? Oh yeah, that's right—He knows everything! I'll end on that positive note.

Happy Reformation Day from Our Little Flower

Isn't Abigail's flower costume the cutest thing you've ever seen? (Thank you, Martha, for lending it to us). That picture was taken before Southwestern's fall festival last Friday night. She didn't play any of the games really; mainly, she just meandered around and we chased after her. We got tons of candy, so if you know anyone who is suffering from a candy deficiency, please let us know.

Well on this day in 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses and sparked the Protestant Reformation. In honor of this day, I have two suggestions:

1. Listen to Southwestern's chapel sermon from today. Go to http://www.swbts.edu/events/chapel_schedule.cfm and click on the chapel video for Dr. Blasing. (Other interesting chapel sermons include those by William Dembski and Kirk Cameron). You may want to fast forward through the music section.


2. Watch the movie "Luther" (2003). It's out on DVD. We own a copy, so we can even lend it to you.

 

Road Blocks

We had to cancel our trip to Austin this weekend due to the bad weather. We are very sad to miss out on Kaeta's party and on hanging out with friends. But, we are hoping to come for a visit this coming weekend or the next weekend to make up for it.

In addition to the bad weather being a hindrance, our car needs the fender repaired. That's right; I got into a fender-bender. It was my fault, too. I just didn't see the other car until it was too late. Thankfully, it was very low impact and the other lady and I were both unharmed. Every time I'm tempted to be mad at God for letting this happen, I'm reminded that He protected us and it could have been a lot worse. Plus, I'm sure this fits into God's plan for my life somehow. Like maybe He's teaching me to be more careful when I drive ;)

Please pray that our car insurance won't go up too much, and that the weather permits a road trip later this month.

Whut I've Done Learnt

So, you haven't heard from me in a while--sorry. I've either been in class, or reading, writing, and studying for my classes here at SWBTS. I really enjoy them but they are tough work! Weds. night I stayed up the whole night writing a paper that was due Thurs. morning. It really came down to the wire writing that paper because earlier in the week I had a Greek test and another paper due that took up a lot of my time.

I tell you this to give you a slice of my life, but I am not complaining. I may feel tired but not bitter. More than that the Lord has been really good to me. So far my time at seminary has been a time of spiritual renewal and growth and I am very excited to be here. Oh yeah, and I have also been learning some amazing things in classes. So let me tell you about my classes and I'll also throw in a few comments here and there about my comments.

CHURCH HISTORY I (destruction of Jerusalem to Pre-Reformation)
This class is taught by a really smart professor. I am afraid to say something in class because I might sound stupid. But I am so extraverted that I just can't contain myself so I go ahead and answer questions in class and sound stupid anyway. Every week we research and write a brief paper over a different Early Church Father. It is pretty cool to read the original writings of the early Christians. They (shockingly) defended the scriptures, the deity of Jesus, the Trinity and stood against heretics such as the Gnostics. Oh yeah, and let's not forget they willingly died as martyrs for their faith. Unlike the "martyrs" of Islam who kill themselves and others, all these martyrs had to do was renounce Christ and the Christian name and sacrifice to the emperor and they would be spared. Instead, they refused and were tortued to death or fed to lions and gored by bulls.

BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS (Bible Interpretation)
I like this class a lot! It is an essential issue for a pastor to study since pastors should properly interpret what the Bible says before teaching it. All Christians should study this though, so that they actually get some real meaning from the Bible and not some sort of mystical drop your finger on a random page sort of thing. A lot of the rules for good interpretation are common sense. For example, if you were looking at a Bible verse and trying to understand it then ask what genre it is (poetry, narrative, gospel, etc.). Also, look at the context of the verses around it for the meaning. Two common errors in interpreting the Bible are proof-texting and reader-response. Proof-texting is when you take a verse out of its context to prove a thought you have. Such as when an atheist says, "the Bible says, 'There is no God.'" However, if you read the whole verse, it says, "The fool in his heart says, 'There is no God.'" Unfortunately, not just atheists but Christians take verses out of context to prove all sorts of things the author was not trying to say. Reader-response is an error when you say, "what does this scripture mean to you?" In other words, whatever the reader thinks it means suddenly becomes the real meaning rather than what the author intended. By the way, every passage of scripture in the Bible has two authors, a human one and God.

GREEK
I have learned that a noun in the genitive case can not only function as description but apposition to another noun. Huh? Ok, ok, this is a tough and sometimes not fun class. It is your typical, memorize-paradigms, language class. But I will say this about it--I opened up my Greek NT last night to the book of John and I could read some of the simpler sentences! This is really invaluable because people are all the time trying to argue about what the original Greek says to justify some sort of doctrinal stance. So it will be helpful to me to know what it actually says (although most modern Bible translations have good scholarship.)

OLD TESTAMENT I
We have a young professor for this class who has strong opinions about things in the OT that I have never even heard or considered. But I like this class a lot. The more I read and learn about the OT, the more I like it. I am convinced that all the OT points to Jesus Christ--that's right--you heard me fellow Christian, so don't be scared of it. Jesus even said that it pointed to him (Luke 24:27, 44). Here's a shocker, the Bible... is about... JESUS!

CHAPEL
For one of my classes, I go to chapel 3 times a week on campus and we sing songs, read scripture, and a guest speaker preaches. I have enjoyed it. Most of the speakers are really good. The good speakers teach us seminary students about life in the real world of ministry or encourage us to be true to God through hardships. Two speakers, so far, have not been good. If you ever get the chance to speak on a prominent platform do not use it to advance your own agenda on an in-house issue. Use it to build up the listeners or commmunicate truth.

I hope you have found this post interesting.