new class

Urban Religious Movements.

It's going to be a difficult one for me, especially because the professor expects us to be speaking up all the time. Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with this, but the most vocal girl in the class leans very heavily on the universality point of view, with a few others supporting that standpoint. I'm very much not in agreement, but am afraid to speak up in fear of backlash from my classmates. I did tell this to the professor and he was glad I did. Many I won't get marked down too much for withholding my opinion. I know I should say it anyway, because chances are, I'm not the only one, but I'm still too timid to create waves in theological discussion. I'm afraid to be challenged and not know what to say or how to back my stance. Even though, I know why I believe the way I do. We'll see how it goes. Already, I wanted to get up and leave a site visit, because she brought up the topic of universalism again. I thought I was going to explode. Or burst into tears. Also for this class, we have another project that is worth half of our grades. In pairs. I have a feeling that I'll end up working alone. I really want to either do Hinduism, because I know nothing about it or Mormonism, because I know several practicing Mormons, but more specifically, because I will be going to Argentina, where the majority of missionaries are from the Mormon Church. Pretty sure that no one else will be up for it. Christopherson thinks it's be a really good project though. I'll just have to suck it up and get some courage about being on my own. (Oh, P.S. I got an A on our project for Immigrant LA! A 51/55 on the individual paper and a 53/55 on Lydia's and my presentation! That gave me a 93% for the class overall! A full on A, not even an A-! I'm so excited!)
But anyways, today was another day that I felt the need to write thoughts down to comment on in this here blog. So here they are:

Am I going to be able to separate myself from my beliefs in order to really listen to others about theirs? Christopherson talked about that only being one of the ways, so maybe I won't need to forget what I know.

Lydia talked about how her church is very "Did you say the prayer?" in terms of salvation. I think she favors the more universalist standpoint. And I was just thinking as she said that that not even everyone who says "the prayer" is going to heaven. I'm just reminded of that verse in Matthew that says "Not everyone who sys 'Lord, Lord' will be saved..." That leads me to believe that if not all "Christians" are going to be saved then why the heck would God have people who don't even acknowledge Jesus be saved?

Brittan talked about how her mom reinterpreted John 14:6 for her. Instead of "no one comes to the Father except through me" meaning that people must believe in Jesus to inherit eternal life, she explained that it is through Jesus' blodd that all are made clean and able to enter the Kingdom. I have a hard time believing this. Especially because of the above note. But see what I mean about not wanting to speak up if everyone is leaning to a certain side?

Then Christopherson posed an interesting question: What would heaven be like if we knew countless others were suffering in hell? I have no comment on it. I just thought it was an interesting question.

We visited Immanuel Presbyterian today. I have some qualms about that church, but the pastor that we met with today revealed something interesting to me. Since I've been at LA Term, several people have quoted to me "The poor you will always have among you" (John 12:8). And these people have told me that we shouldn't have to work so hard because they will always be there. Why should we work so hard for something that will never change? But the pastor told us that Jesus was quoting Scripture from Deuteronomy. And that the rest of the verse he quoted old them that ths was reason to care for them. And before typing that on here, I wanted to see if it was true. It is. Deuteronomy 15:11, "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Amen. That relieves a lot of question I had concerning that.

Those are the few thins I had written down. So I'll do what I haven't done in a while. I have a few prayer requests. First, my car is here for the week. Pray that it is protected and no one breaks into it (I was told that it happens around here-- moreso with cars around the same years as mine). Next, pray for this class and for courage to speak truth in class. Pray that I'll get on it and figure out what I'm doing this summer. I'd really like to do the internship on APU campus, but I have to finish the application and turn it in and hopefully get called for an interview. Pray that God lead me where he desires that I be.
Thanks, Loves,
Teej