Digging Deeper
I've heard many things coming from the progressive camp recently. Many of the things I've heard have been wonderful, but some of the things have been disheartening. I've read and heard several fellow Progressive Christians call members of the Religious Right "the enemy". This breaks my heart as I am sure it breaks the heart of Christ.The more I read the gospels, the more I realize that our Savior never saw another person as His "enemy" - not even those who mocked Him, falsely accused Him, spat upon Him, and nailed Him to a cross. If we are to be followers of His teachings and actions, should not we try to do the same?The members of the Religious Right are radical and they are also very off-target in several key areas, but they are also our brothers and sisters in Christ and we must keep this in mind when we go to confront them with their errors.Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't confront those who distort the Scriptures and those who attempt to align God with a political party or agenda - we must confront them and we must show others that this is not the correct path. But the key is that we do it in love. If we let anger or hatred become our motivation then we've become as confused as the members of the Religous Right have. We must debate! We must stand up and be counted! We must demand change and work to further His Kingdom! We must show this nation that the path of the Religous Right is wrong and immoral. But we must do all these things in love. Scripture tells us that if we do not have love, then our words sound like nothing more than a clanging cymbal to others. Again, the bible tells us that if we do not have love, then we really have nothing (1 Cor. 13.1-2). And if we have nothing to offer, then what in the world are we doing?Let's be clear. Following Jesus is not about the Left and it's not about the Right - it's about digging deeper. Why would we want to make a leftist version of the Religious Right? If we did this, it would be just as wrong. God has meant His people (you and me) to be a key to help unlock His highest hopes for His creation, not a sword in which to slice others who disagree with our theology into pieces.
- Jarrod Cochran's blog
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Dissention
We should keep in mind that dissention among Christ's followers is not new, beginning with the disciples who complained to Jesus about a man they saw driving out demons in Jesus' name. The Disciples told him to stop. Jesus, though, said not to stop him, "for whoever is not against us is for us."
Sometimes people mouth off when it would be better not to. At a Sunday School party a few years back, my Republican friends were complaining with exaggerated vehemence about Bill Clinton. I said "I voted for him" and, bless their hearts, they stopped their carrying on.
We do have differences, some quite passionate, with other Christians. Sometimes I wonder if this is a blessing in diguise, helping to assure that word of Christ spreads to everyone, not only to people who think alike. We do have a duty to speak the truth as we are given the grace to see it; that is why a platform like CrossLeft is so valuable. We are called to speak the truth in love.
Enough about you, let's talk about me...
I really appreciate your point. While I self-identify as a Progressive Christian, I participate actively in a more traditional church because a) it's here, and b) it's the one that's big enough to get some serious charity work done, and I figure I can silently disagree on some theology so long as we stay inclusive, which we have.
Well, like any denomination, we've had our split. So the guy from the less fundy faction who's the church bureaucrat in charge of mission projects comes by to speak on what's available to volunteer for this summer-- a one hour program. Does he talk about projects for an hour? No. He talks about projects for 20 mins. and about what #$$@#% the other guys are for the remaining 40 mins. I walked out.