Back from the weekend
Feb. 16th, 2004 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owlYou might have noticed I wasn't around for a couple of days--I was on a church weekend. No Valentine's action whatsoever, apart from Gillian giving me chocolate. (Who needs a boyfriend when you've got a lovely housemate and lots of chocolate? :-P) There was no phone reception up on the north coast either, so it was like being cut off from the world.
Playing volleyball and touch rugby on a beach that ninety-odd people are running over and now has the texture of a ploughed field is a bad idea--I've never been so sandy in my life. And my shins ache.
Barn party on Saturday night. Interesting to see who dolled up and who just brushed their hair and put on a clean shirt. The music was bizarre, varying from the usual reels and traditional Irish (we didn't have Tipperary though, so we had 'funny noises by Nathan the DJ' instead), to pop, to Guns 'n Roses, to Postman Pat, to Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Cameron (Gillian's younger brother) and I were keeping a tally of the various music types, and when we hit 'Negro Spiritual', we both nearly fell off our chairs laughing.
The minister of Ballyclabber was speaking, the topic being Perserverence. In the doctrinal sense, 'perserverence of the saints', meaning that a genuine Christian will never be lost and go to hell, but that God will preserve them in the way. It's comforting and fightening at the same time.
I don't see why the reformed theology is considered so harsh and strict. It's the Pelagian you-have-to-do-it-on-your-own-steam that seems harsh to me. Because I know very well that I can't.
Playing volleyball and touch rugby on a beach that ninety-odd people are running over and now has the texture of a ploughed field is a bad idea--I've never been so sandy in my life. And my shins ache.
Barn party on Saturday night. Interesting to see who dolled up and who just brushed their hair and put on a clean shirt. The music was bizarre, varying from the usual reels and traditional Irish (we didn't have Tipperary though, so we had 'funny noises by Nathan the DJ' instead), to pop, to Guns 'n Roses, to Postman Pat, to Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Cameron (Gillian's younger brother) and I were keeping a tally of the various music types, and when we hit 'Negro Spiritual', we both nearly fell off our chairs laughing.
The minister of Ballyclabber was speaking, the topic being Perserverence. In the doctrinal sense, 'perserverence of the saints', meaning that a genuine Christian will never be lost and go to hell, but that God will preserve them in the way. It's comforting and fightening at the same time.
I don't see why the reformed theology is considered so harsh and strict. It's the Pelagian you-have-to-do-it-on-your-own-steam that seems harsh to me. Because I know very well that I can't.
