Making major changes in beliefs....

[Dale Cozby]

I was thinking about where I am today and where I was say...16 years ago when I first started in the pastorate or farther back say 30 years ago when I first came to a "personal" relationship with God.

What are some of the major shifts in understanding or beliefs you have had as you have matured in your faith over the years? What do you credit with helping you change those positions to where you are currently in your walk?

1 Corinthians 13:10-12

I have found that very few positions changed dramatically in a short time frame, most have softened or morphed slowly over time, others have become more convictions with clarity instead of just dogma while others that were dogma disappeared into oblivion.

Ezekiel 36:25-27
I am still working on perfecting love...but I have come so far from the hard inner-city latch key kid I once was. Galatians 6:4

[Ryan Scott]

Yeah, my dogma has run away from home. I'm not putting up any signs.

[Jon Bemis]

I think the major change for me is that God is way, way more loving than I believed when I was first saved 34 years ago. This has made a tremendous impact on my beliefs.

[Roland Hearn]

The largest changes for me have had to do with the dynamic of grace over the static of law and the extent to which grace offers healing for the soul as much as for the spirit.

[Barb Bouldrey]

NazNet has taught me a lot of new understanding about Open Theism, the real definition of fundamentalism, and understanding the scripture more from the viewpoint of the era in which it was written.

Our 16 Articles of Faith are still the core values of what I believe now and what I believed 40 years ago when we began our ministry.

I also have a clearer understanding of legalism from those here on NazNet who were abused by that form of Christian life. I have seen the damage it has done to so many.

I have relaxed in my acceptance of how people dress and things they do that I still cannot make a part of my lifestyle. But I have learned to accept the differences in Christians.

Through Bible Study Fellowship, an inter-denominational women's weekly Bible study, I learned that there are genuinely holy ladies in all denominations, even those I thought were just formal churches. I saw the love of God within them and their love for the scriptures.

My basic beliefs have not changed, but my world view has broaden.

Barb

[Hans Deventer]

Dale, 30 years ago I was a Calvinist who was deeply involved in End Time theories, and quite certain which was the good one. I was reading the Bible like it was God's time table and I believed that truth could be found in systems.

Right now, I've become a Wesleyan, an Open Theist, more post modern, opposing capital punishment, much more aware of the kingdom as the key message of Jesus, rejected the penal substitution theory, and like Roland, have become much more deeply aware of the concept of grace.

Major influences have been Dietrich Bonhoeffer's concept of cheap and costly grace, John Wesley's sermons and journal, Mildred Wynkoop's "Theology of Love", Philip Yancey's "What's So Amazing About Grace?", John Sanders' "The God Who Risks", the writings of Henri Nouwen and Brennan Manning, the discussions on NazNet on post modernism, Open Theism and capital punishment, meeting here and in the real life with Brad and Roland, and the books of Brian McLaren. Of course numerous others have contributed as well, but these are some of the major influences.