At some point in your faith journey, you will settle into a bargaining posture with God. “God, if you will... , I promise I'll... .” We all do it. That’s just part of religion — every religion. In fact, it’s so much a part of human nature that even some atheists and agnostics do it when they find themselves in desperate circumstances.
But is that really how God wants us to relate to him? The problem with a bargaining posture is we never keep up our end of the bargain, do we?
Starting Point: Amazing
Part 6
May 31, 2015 • Kelly Thomas
More from
Starting Point
Starting Point: Something Happened
April 5, 2015 • Steve Harms
Everything that exists had a starting point . . . including you. You may have started on purpose. You may have started by accident (from your parent’s perspective). You may even have started through the magic of medical science. Whatever the circumstances, you had a starting point and it began before you were aware of it. Physical life is one of many starting points. Your formal education had a starting point. Your career had a starting point. Your romantic life had a starting point. Your experience as a parent had a starting point. Faith has a starting point as well.
Starting Point: Sea of Glass
April 26, 2015 • Forrest Jenan
The three largest faith traditions — Judaism, Islam, and Christianity —claim the same starting point: a man named Abraham. All three agree that sin made a mess of the world and God started his clean up operation with Abraham. God made a series of promises and Abraham’s response to those promises didn't just have implications for his personal starting point or the starting points of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. It had implications for your starting point as well.