Studying St. Augustine  this semester at Christ Central has helped me to come to terms with many issues I have, personally, with "religion" and with what I've often thought of as outdated, dry church.  I've known so many people who loved Christ but just hated church!  By understanding how certain beliefs, edicts, and ideas came about (through studying the origins of the church and the early church body) it is easier to be more tolerant of certain church issues.  I learn that you can't throw the baby out with the bath water.  Just because you recognize that some churches do not seem to be doing much, other than occupying a segment of time on Sundays, and that there are even some churches and Christians that alienate more people than they win, you also see that the solution for this is to become a dynamic, supernaturally charged Christian yourself!  When church memberships are made up of people who are on fire for the Lord and who not only believe in but operate in God's power and promises, the churches will follow.  

 The few times a church "turns on" members or leaders who speak the truth a little too harshly (like Jesus did!) or who are little to disruptive, then the person or people in question can rejoice and remember that Jesus was persecuted and we will be too.  

 As for some of the stranger ideas like predestination and how they came to be in Christian thought, it was oddly reassuring to learn that it was one of the many beliefs and ideas of St. Augustine.  That such a great man who changed the face of both Christianity, and literature, with his writings considered literary classics, would "go there" with that belief that some were chosen by God in advance for salvation and others weren't makes Calvinism seem less drastic and bizarre.  I wonder if it was pondering on the verses that God knows the end from the beginning that eventually went askew and led some of these great thinkers into that belief?  It's hard to grasp.  God knows the end from the beginning and the hairs on your head are numbered.  And yet we each have fee will, each and every day and the enemy always seeks to get us off the path.  And yet when we do go astray, we need only repent and the Lord forgets about it and will lead us to His will again.  All of that is very hard to comprehend.  

 I read a book recently that said that time is what God created FOR us, but it is not relevant to Him.  That time for God is like a speeding train and He can get on and off anywhere.  And that we can be led to our destined paths by connecting with Him through the Holy Spirit directing us.  That God can look ahead and see that we said "yes" to Him and that knowing that, He will help us to achieve what is already set but what we can't perceive yet.  Very complicated stuff!  But it does make you think.  And it helps me to know that EVERYONE, no matter how great or how small, struggles with the same issues of trying to comprehend the awesome power and mystery of God.