It's easier to study- not so easy to experience...

Prophetic principle: an attempt to distance the worldly from the sacred.

Anyway, quite a bit has happened since a month ago. Firstly, more church-hopping. So I didn't think so before, but in comparison to the places I've been, I now think that our church is considerably conservative. To put it into perspective- you know those churches you see on TV with huge congregations and animated pastors? Yeah, that. It was kind of intimidating at first, because I kinda felt like the pastor was yelling at us because he was so loud and animated, but I can't say that it wasn't powerful. Especially the open and free "hallelujah's" coming from all directions of the sanctuary. Seeing people so open about their joy in the lord was pretty powerful. It's definitely not what I'm used to, but it was a good experience.

I've been trying to be more diligent with not doing stuff that's in "sinful nature", but (excuse my metaphor) it's like a line drawn in the sand- if a wave washes it away, I might not be re-drawing the line in the same place where it should be. I'm finding it really hard to balance being social and being a good Christian. I've been reading things that say like, not to associate if you know sinful stuff's going on because it's easy to get tempted. Another thing that struck me was that associating with those kinds of people is like being a bystander- you know what's going on, why are you not doing anything about it? If I'm not making any sense, the example that was given was on people using the Lord's name in vain- just because you're not doing it, doesn't give you an excuse for knowing that it's going on and just standing there. So what was my solution to this? Don't stand around. As in, don't be there to stand around. I've really distanced myself from my "friends" (honestly, I don't know what to call them) because I know that the stuff they say and do isn't good for me as a Christian. But now I'm not as close with anyone and just keep to myself all the time. I know I'm doing better spiritually because I've gotten stronger, I just don't know what the best approach to this is and how to balance a spiritual and social life.

So I kinda had to stand up for my faith the other day. In a nutshell, it was basically my friend saying that all religions could frankly be made up, even big ones like Christianity. He wasn't really putting up an argument or anything, but I still felt the need to say something. So I just said "well, there is proof..." and before I could get to anything else, he said that he wasn't arguing and that he knows that it could in fact be true- because he's an Anglican. So this had me thinking like...if I really did have to stand up for my faith, would I have been ready? Well, my nervous feeling was telling me that I probably wouldn't have had enough to stand up confidently. This also reminded me of how many people there are that are Christian by name, but not by actions. Like I've said before, this isn't what I wanna be.

Long story short- I'm having trouble figuring out where to draw the line in the sand. The fact that I'm trying tells me that I've grown spiritually at least.

Interesting, I last blogged on the day of my last religion midterm. I had another one today. I like this pattern I have going. Haha

--Sabrina