See the hutch in the above right hand side? That hutch had been with us all of our married lives. We have had it 34 years. When we downsized out of our spindle cottage to our present condo it moved along with us. I decided last week to donate it to Salvation Army. This hutch held a ton of dishes. I managed to find places in the condo for most of them and it certainly freed up some space. There is always the question of how much to simplify. I am living without color on the walls here in the condo and I am soooo used to all kinds of colors. It makes it easy to move things around and change things up---but then I don't get the warm or vibrant embrace of color.
Beside all of the changes the move has brought, freeing up time for more things has been nice. However, I have also been studying the difference between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. This has been occupying a lot of my time. I got started on this because I realized the early Church Fathers were very different in many respects to my reformed faith.
So I have been uprooted in home, and then uprooted in how I see things spiritually. I am still going through this process. This is why I haven't spent much time at this particular blog. Simplifying streamlines life in many ways, but it also brings extra time for thought which in turn can be UN_simplifying lol.
I find your post today very touching because you sound a lot like me.I have down sized and am thinking about all my belongings, many I have had all my married life.Do my daughters want them now?I'm ready to give them.Also,being protestant,I've been thinking same as you.What's with us?
ReplyDeleteI hear you....
ReplyDeletewe have just had the kids move out....
we are empty nesters....
I have two empty rooms...
I think I will leave them that way (o:
So wonderful to see you come down my reader feed.Glad you are happy in your simplifying and still loving your new space. As for religion maybe we all go through this sort regrouping to finds ones self spiritually.Ive been praying for my own spiritual centerdness if there is such a word. Anywho Happy to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are making the transition from one space to another with grace. I didn't find the downsizing a very easy task. You are an inspiration. Hugs, Marty
ReplyDeleteWe've missed you. Glad to know that you are well and just busy studying and tweaking your nest.
ReplyDeleteSending you hugs...
XO,
Sheila
Simplifying is not easy, I applaud your efforts!
ReplyDeleteHugs, Cindy
It was good to have a visit from you! I see there have been many changes in your life. I hope you are happy! I am so sentimental that I have a hard time getting rid of "family things". Losing 3 parents in the last year or so, has only added to our "stuff" and I wonder how we will ever move to something smaller when we retire.
ReplyDeleteI can see that you are putting a lot of time and effort into your blog and detailed articles! Will be back often to read more updates! :)
ReplyDeletecondo Philippines
well , that is a lot of studying you are doing! church history and doctrine is something I am fascinated with, especially after becoming reformed.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't downsized per se -- still have one at home with the others visiting often -- but our new house since our move is smaller and does have basic beige on all the walls, whereas in my last house I had a lot of color. In some ways it is restful, but in some ways I'd like a bit more color on the walls -- but not all the wallpaper I used to have.
ReplyDeleteThe important thing in comparing religions or comparing who said what is to compare them to what the Bible says. I'm in neither group as an independent Baptist (though some of them are reformed), and I don't agree with everything reformed theology teaches now, but I am closer to it than Catholicism. I have very dear friends that are Catholic, but they seem to be caught up in the extra-Biblical stuff the church teaches rather than in simply trusting in Christ for salvation.
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ReplyDeleteI don't usually respond in these comments at my blog because most people don't come back here to the comments, but I thought I would today. Shannon and Barbara I have found through studying that the RC church is very Biblical in its base. I had always read what non Catholics said about it, such as Loraine Boettner . But I have found a ton of his things to be false. His references are often incorrect or taken out of context. Also much that I assumed was Biblical in my reformed faith is not really from the Bible alone. The whole concept of what original sin means and the concept of the Bible ALONE is not really in scripture itself. It does not state the Bible alone in scripture. It does say in IITim that it is profitable for....etc but it is not stating that it is the alone criterion. Also I Tim3:15 calls the church the household of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. There is a whole lot more that I could write--just wanted to let you know I am studying the RC church , early Fathers, and their relation to the Bible itself. Really has been eye opening to me.
ReplyDeleteNovember 11, 2011 11:31 AM
I don't know who Loraine Boettner is/was. But the Bible does warn against adding to God's Word:
ReplyDeleteRevelation 22:18-19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
We may do things today that aren't directly found in Scripture (Sunday School classes, youth groups, etc.), but we shouldn't do things that contradict Scripture. And that's where I have trouble with the RC church, in things like praying to Mary or saints, when the Bible does not teach praying to anyone other than God and Christ, selling indulgences to have sins forgiven when the Bible teaches they are forgiven when we confess them to God because of what Christ did on the cross, even the requirement to go through a priest at all to have sins forgiven when we can go directly to Christ on our own, etc., and all many of extra-Biblical things the RC church promotes. Even if I did believe God spoke through people in addition to the Bible, it would make sense that if God is speaking through each, then they'd complement each other rather than contradicting each other. If they don't agree, I have to go with what the Bible says rather than what man says.
I don't know if you've ever read Luther's 95 theses, the things he was protesting in the church, but I saw them online recently here:
http://theoldguys.org/2011/10/31/martin-luther-the-ninety-five-theses/
In your studying of what men say, compare it to what the Bible itself says.
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ReplyDeleteBarb, I know what you are saying, but I find that the reason they ask the saints to pray for them is the same reason we ask our fellow believers to pray for us. They believe our communion is not broken by death because we are one body in Christ. Just as we ask each other to pray for us they will ask the saints to pray.They don't worship the saints but they do honor them, as Paul tells us to imitate himself etc, and the Heb 11 chapter and chapter 12:1 which talks of the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us which refers back to those listed in chapter 11.
ReplyDeleteAs far as DT. and Prov which you quoted it couldn't mean not adding on to the Bible since we do that with the NT.Revelation is referring to itself. Also the Protestants came along in the 1500's and threw out sections of the Bible that had been held to for over 1,000 years prior to that time. Luther at first wanted to leave out Hebrews and James and Revelation. He put some of them in a separate area of his Bible at first.
As far as the 95 thesis, RC basically agrees with most of those. They did reform.
Indulgences are a bit strange, I agree. They are only applied to the temporal consequences of sins and relate to John 20: 22,23 when Jesus is with his disciples and says< "And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any , their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." It is only because of the authority that God gives to the disciples and those in their succession that they can do this. Also the RC church believes that all of salvation stems from grace alone which comes from Christ's work on the cross. This grace is what enables faith and works. From what I have seen the Bible and the RC church do not contradict if you study it enough in depth. What MAY contradict is the interpretation of scripture. The problem is we all hold to Scripture being infallible but there is no infallible interpretation according to Protestants and therefore no way of decided who is giving the right view of the Bible.
life is a wonderful journey!
ReplyDeleteGod bless,
d