Netprophet’s Weblog

A good fried sent me this. I don’t know who wrote it but it’s a thought I share. How about You? THE OLD PATHS I liked the old paths, when Moms were at home. Dads were at work. Brothers went into the army. And sisters got married BEFORE having children! Crime did not pay;Hard work did; And people knew the difference. Moms could cook; Dads would work;Children would behave. Husbands were loving; Wives were supportive; And children were polite. Women looked like ladies; Men looked like gentlemen; And children looked decent. People loved the truth, And hated a lie; They came to church to get IN, Not to get OUT! Hymns sounded Godly; Sermons sounded helpful; Rejoicing sounded normal; And crying sounded sincere. Cursing was wicked; Drugs were for illness; And divorce was unthinkable. The flag was honored; America was beautiful; And God was welcome! We read the Bible in public; Prayed in school; And preached from house to house To be called an American was worth dying for; To be called a Christian was worth living for; To be called a traitor was a shame! Preachers preached because they had a message; And Christians rejoiced because they had the VICTORY! Preachers preached from the Bible; Singers sang from the heart; And sinners turned to the Lord to be SAVED!A new birth meant a new life; Salvation meant a changed life; Following Christ led to eternal life. Being a preacher meant you proclaimed the word of God; Being an officer meant you would serve the Lord; Being a Christian meant you would live for Jesus; And being a sinner meant someone was praying for you! Laws were based on the Bible; Homes read the Bible; And churches taught the Bible. God was worshiped; Christ was exalted; And the Holy Spirit was respected.. Church was where you found Christians on the Lord’s day, rather than in the garden, on the creek bank, on the golf course, Or being entertained somewhere else. I still like the old paths the best!

I pulled a real boner today by forgetting that just because a person also calls himself a Christian, doesn’t necessarily mean he believes like I do.  We do have our differences don’t we?  It really upsets me for two reasons; 1) I mishandled an opportunity for communication. (I really should know better). And 2) I insulted a Christian brother.  Here is what happened:

Why would a brother in Christ post his opinion on his blog and ask for comments and opinions and then ban a fellow Christian who disagrees with him?  Then claim that I must be a “spambot”, and say that is why he is banning my URL, and then make derogatory comments about my nickname? Do we get to the point in our faith where if someone disagrees with our point of view we chase them away and write them off as an idiot who couldn’t possibly be a true believer because they feel differently about their faith than we do? 

I admit that I did get a bit over zealous in my reply.  And I should not have presented my own opinion so harshly.  And for that I would like to apologize.  I do however, feel as strongly about my understanding of what Christ wanted in our witnessing as this brother expressed that he did in his post.

As I understood from that post, he feels that the “Turn or Burn” platform for spreading the “Good News” is what the Bible teaches.  Where in the Bible did Jesus instruct His disciples to spread the “Good News” and also add…”but be sure to warn the people that if they don’t accept it, they are going straight to hell? I don’t believe Jesus ever intended his message to be a threat. Wouldn’t that contradict Gods gift of free will? God gave us the freedom to choose, but apparently some Christians have forgotten that.  The Holy Spirit patiently blesses us by revealing how the choices we make in our lives are in direct correlation to the consequences we will reap. I don’t believe He asked for our help in that matter.

Though I’m not an Episcopalian, I’d like to quote an article from Rev. Thomas B. Woodward of the Episcopal Church, who expresses the feelings I have about the issues in Christian’s Post much better than I could.

“To accuse us of “abandoning the Holy Scriptures” is to reveal a woeful ignorance of the Bible itself.

When asked about their claims regarding the Bible, invariably the “orthodox” turn to John 14.6, in which John quotes Jesus as saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” They take that verse of the Bible to have only one possible interpretation, which is – roughly – that it is only through repentance and belief in Jesus that anyone will be admitted to the Kingdom of God.

Unfortunately for those who want to use that verse to circumscribe religious reality, several reliable interpretations of that verse contradict theirs, especially when John 14.6 is seen in the context of the struggles between Christian and Jewish sects/communities of the time.

If that were not enough, the parables cited earlier and many of the healing stories (including, prominently, the child of the Syro-Phoenician woman) also contradict the “orthodox” interpretation of John 14.6. Jesus is constantly finding and affirming saving faith in those outside the community of faith. For him, that seems to be an occasion for rejoicing, not for hand wringing.

St. Paul, himself, contradicts John 14.6 in his long and often overlooked argument in Romans 9-11, in which he states that the Jews remain the People of God, as God does not break promises.

In fact, as Paul notes, because the Christian community has been grafted into Jewish holy history, our relationship to the continuing Jewish community is one of dependence, not as replacements!”

Here are some questions for anyone who wants to charge me with “abandoning the Bible” or failing to acknowledge the real authority of the Bible. I ask these questions not rhetorically, but out of genuine concern:

      .             Whom did Jesus heal – and which of the healing stories involve repentance or conversion?

      .             How did Jesus choose Levi, the tax collector, as disciple/apostle – apparently without evidence of personal belief or repentance?

      .             What do you make of the parables that speak so movingly about sufficient faith outside Jesus’ faith community?

      .             What is the relationship between Jesus’ community and the religious establishment?

      .             What is the relationship between Jesus’ community and the marginalized people of his time?

      .             Is there any group or class of people that Jesus excluded from his welcoming embrace?

      .             How was it, when scholars tell us that Jesus honored women completely, that our church was able to marginalize them for nineteen hundred years?

      .             Are there reasons we do not use the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-11) and Paul’s list of the indications that the Holy Spirit is present in individuals and groups (Galatians 5:22-23) as the basis for our moral judgments on committed human relationships rather than the regulations of the purity code that even Conservative and Reformed Jews have rejected?

These are not difficult questions. They are questions, though, that reveal the ignorance of the attacks of those who believe that we do not concern ourselves with the authority of the Bible. I believe it is disgraceful to ignore the teachings, the parables, the healings, and the loving and affirming relationships of Jesus Christ while charging those who not only affirm, but also treasure those realities with disregard of the Bible.”

So what I was trying to covey to Christian in his blog (and obviously failed to do) was that I believe if you present the message of salvation in the “turn or burn” perspective to a non believer, they will most likely feel you are trying to force them to believe the same way you do about something they have no understanding of. Why on earth would they want to listen to you after that?  I wouldn’t! Do you believe Jesus wants us to believe in Him because we fear Him or love Him?

You can judge for yourself how badly I handled this issue:

10 Fundamental Questions about Christianity by Christian http://sharpiron.wordpress.com/  

Please let me know how you feel and how I might rectify my poor behavior with Christian.