Do Not Conform

Hey it hasn't been another 3 month break! Well I have some wonderful stuff to cover tonight, hopefully some of it will surmount to something though provoking and uplifting, that is really the goal, so I'm sorry ahead of time if it sounds like a rant at points...
However, I will start with a bit of current events. Last weekend I went to the beach with my dad, mom, sister Danae, and then Courtney, Patty, and Sam. It was soo great to get out and relax for a while, we even saw some sun for a bit at the Oregon Coast (I know, shocking). We wandered around the beach, Lincoln city, and just chilled at the nice beach house we rented for the weekend. I really enjoyed seeing everyone get along. It's not a weekend I will soon forget.
Sooo I had some qualms with several things in George Fox theology this week. The first topic is actually not Fox's fault, it just the students having differing opinions. If you go to Fox, you probably know what I'm talking about. There's been a huge debate about how to make this a safe campus for the LGBT community. Several groups have popped up, OneGeorgeFox and Common Ground, that seem to support this idea, all the while condoning homosexuality. Now I have been very clear on my stance on homosexuality in previous blogs, love the sinner hate the sin. Sure we should have a "safe" campus in that it's not right to persecute or insult people struggling with sin, but it should not be a "safe" campus in that we overlook this sin as if it is okay.
All of that should be obvious, but my point is more at the type of argument that went on. 1. People are really ignorant sometimes, and just make dumb remarks sometimes. So don't talk if you don't know what you are talking about...that should be obvious too. 2. People just started throwing out random verses, some that were applicable and some that seemed just super random, like John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." Now that's a fine verse, but it doesn't seem to fit, and is in no way allowing homosexuality, which is sort of how it was placed in the context of conversation...
Okay the second problem I had was in Bible class. Surprise! I disagree with something basically every day, just because I have a much more conservative theology than my professor. Okay so this week we talked about God as a mother. I won't get into the argument, my bottom line is that God is revealed as Father in Scripture, the Lord's prayer is just one of many times, so since that is how he is revealed, that what we ought to worship Him.  Clear enough?
Oh I guess I have to get a bit into the argument to make my overarching point. Basically the references to father and this idea of God as a father were written off as just in a cultural context, since the Israelite culture was strongly patriarchal.
Now I can get to my main point, combining both of my problems this week. At some point, we as Christians have to stop questioning the wording of every single verse, and take what the Bible says at face value. I am fully aware that not everything is going to directly apply to today, some of the Israelite laws are just strange, but not everything in the Bible needs to be dissected to be properly understood. When Jesus says in Matthew 5:48 "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect," He really means you should try to be perfect. And he really means to say Father, but that was actually just a happy accident that Father was in that verse, I didn't think about it before using the example. Anyway, it becomes a dangerous path when you start to rule out what the Bible says as true. You start taking Creation or Jude as a complete parable, and what says Jesus' resurrection isn't a parable? Just because someone had an abusive father as a child does not give them the right to call God "mother." If anything, he should be more inclined to call Him Father since God is the perfect, redeeming father. At some point it becomes a very sketchy path to conform God to what we want. God's name is "I AM WHO I AM." We need to be careful not to conform Him to our vision of Him. This can quickly become conforming Him to the pattern of the world, which leads many astray, and as Romans 12:2 says, we are to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Hopefully that was up building somehow, I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's all for tonight.