Church of the Angry God
Just in case you missed this reflective piece from Larry James that appeared on his blog a few months ago:
It occurs to me that I haven’t spent much time unpacking my theological roots, at least not in any systematic manner, at least not lately since I’ve moved in such a radically different direction over the past several years.
For sure, I have spent many hours dislodging many specifics of the legalistic heritage I inherited from my West Texas farm family.
The strange, almost exotic emphasis on things like how to sing in church, the frequency of the Eucharistic celebration, the mode and meaning of baptism, the organizational details and glossary of the local church, the danger of being too cooperative with other congregations, the hard sell of a denomination that claimed it was non-denominational are all part of the list that goes on and on.
And, when you stop to think it through, it includes some other really important matters…things like how to view women…how to treat members of other races, ethnic groups and nations…the politics of war and peace, social justice and the poor–big ticket issues at home and around the world.
The truth is, I may have spent too much time on these issues in an attempt, both to make peace with my rather bizarre religious heritage and, at the same time, to reform it in some meaningful manner.
Most likely, I could have avoided wasting so much time had I stepped back earlier for a longer, more comprehensive view of the theological system passed along to me from childhood. I also realize that to some extent, everyone could find such an exercise profitable. And, I expect almost everyone will find some aspects of their “theological inheritance” wanting.
But, I have mine with which to deal.
I grew up in a church that was basically kind, welcoming and friendly–at least, that is how it seemed to me as a child. I later realized that this warmth was not necessarily shared automatically outside the church family. I also came to understand that, for the most part, the members of the church of my childhood were incredibly conservative socially and politically. In fact, many were extreme in their political and social worldview. If you are interested, I have stories!
In reflecting on my positive feelings about the warmth of the church, I have come to realize that this was likely true because of the gracious soul of one minister in particular who shaped the spirit of the congregation for over a generation, even though he served for a relatively short tenure.
Back to the longer theological view…it is clear to me now that the community of faith of my childhood envisioned God to be fundamentally an angry deity. A God of judgment, punishment and severe actions was the God we attempted to satisfy on Sundays–morning and night, and then again at mid-week prayers and Bible study.
Our concern for the details of salvation, church polity, worship style and religious exercises could all be traced back to this notion that God was a God who was defined and best understood as a deity seated on a throne of harsh judgment. Everything had to be just right or the God we served was bound to make it right at our eternal expense.
From an early age I read, studied and memorized the details of the mighty acts of this avenging God. In an interesting twist of theological gymnastics, we spent a great deal of time reading the judgments and punishments of this God as revealed in the Hebrew Bible. At times, his judgments wiped out whole nations. At other times, his wrath focused on individuals or small groups who were somehow out of step with his law…the rules that could not be violated without great personal loss. Then, when we turned to deciding how to measure our faithfulness and acceptability as a church, we focused solely on the New Testament, with an emphasis on Acts of the Apostles as we searched for a “safe pattern” for our community. Ironically, we spent very little time focused on Jesus.
We knew all about hell and eternal damnation. . .down to the sounds, smells and feelings. At one time or another, we all felt as if we were bound for the fire, only to be snatched out of the pit of suffering by completing a series of steps on our way to salvation. . .sort of.
We learned quickly that salvation also involved “being faithful unto death”–a feat no one seemed sure how to accomplish. As a result, we threw ourselves into religious observances lined out by a clear pattern that had to be followed if we expected to reach the realms of eternal life.
Our religion was defined almost completely by judgment…its single most important organizing paradigm.
Actually, this turned out to be very convenient for us. As most of us moved up into the middle class, we found that our religious system allowed us to escape the hard realities of the real world. We found it easy to ignore the American Civil Rights Movement, the War in Vietnam, poverty, injustice, racism and countless other matters of here-and-now social importance. After all, we were faithful to the precise pattern we had learned in church and we were on the road to heaven, away from hell. We even sang with gusto that “this world is not my home, I’m just a passing through!”
The paradigm of judgment insured our complete irrelevance as a people in and to our community.
It is this perspective defined by judgment that I have spent the last 30 years or more casting aside.
At some point, I’ll attempt a reflection on our view of the Bible and on the nature of scripture itself. Enough for now.
Sorry, but this helps me process!
I think the patternism of the CoC has functioned to consistently frame issues in a Levitical manner. Ultimately, then, I think the deeper theological issue is how one reads Jesus in relation to the priestly tradition. I think many of us have concluded that Jesus radically recast notions of judgment and purity (e.g., Matthew 25) re-centering the “judgment of God” on a wholly different set of issues than “temple conduct” (e.g., worship, salvation rituals, church structure).
It all boils down to how you define “strange fire” in light of Jesus.
The journey continues…
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t pay alot of attention to the words coming from the pulpit growing up in Abilene. But, I do vividly recall the first time I EVER heard someone in the pulpit preach about developing a personal, one-on-one relationship with Jesus, and allowing our Bible study time to be a time of personal reflection – not about arming ourselves to battle the denominations of the day. The preacher was Carl Brecheen and it was the summer of 1978. I recall the words he spoke sounding very radical to my 17 year old brain.
Amazing, yet another who grew up with loving memories of a great church that helped shape him into the person he is and yet spends most of his ink belittling and castigating the good souls who nurtured him since he has become so very enlightened. Yet in his supreme enlightened state he fails to remember that while God is a God os supreme love, mercy and grace we must also behold the “severity” of God. And if there is a day of judgment then it seems almost certain that judgment would receive some attention. And will the judgment not be pretty exclusively upon how we dealt with His Son? And do we not believe any longer that His Son said “If you love me you will keep my commandments”. And if so would not His words on baptism’s necessity be more than “an almost exotic emphasis”? etc?
I know of this page I’m fighting a losing battle for the grand majority are just into kicking the church of their past – gang style. Just sad, very sad.
Now, I expect it…blast away. Tear apart every word and thought. Shoe how unloving and meanspirited and legalistic I am. Judge and berate. Show all the lack of grace and mercy that people who speak so freely of grace and mercy on these pages show.
I don’t like to fight these fights – they tend to lead to nothing.
Kinda makes you wonder what they’ll be saying about us 40 years from now.
Dale,
You said,
“I don’t like to fight these fights – they tend to lead to nothing.”
Then why do you write in such a way that opens them up? I took Mike’s post as an individual examining his own past. Is that not what we all should do? MUST do?
I would say that if what he said about his own experience connects in some way with your experience, then make what applications you will. Mike said nothing about the congregations I grew up in. I’ll just sort out my experiences for myself.
I frequent this blog and I don’t want to fight with you… if that helps any.
Larry – been there, done that!
As you say, sweet loving people, but when they became “the church” during services and Bible study, oh, my!
To a teenager it was confusing: Don’t use the word “missionary nor missions” but “go thee into …” Accept God”s grace – but only in the act of Baptism. Understand that the Holy Spirit is active in, again the act of Baptism, but in all other times we barely whisper His name out of fear of blaspheming Him. God loves you, He gave His only begotten Son to die for you, but He’s also watching you to make sure you don’t make a mistake and thereby be cut off from His love for eternity.
These opposites finally so weighed me down I gave up – for over 2 decades, I gave up. I verbalized an internal belief in God, but kept it mostly to myself because I really didn’t understand these conflicts. Thanks to a loving and merciful God, He sent His messengers to me to help me find Him. The search continues, but I have been freed from the living fear because now I know that Jesus [rather than always referring to Him as "The Christ" - which He is, but the human side was rarely mentioned] is my friend, as well as my Savior. That He loves me and wants only that I seek to deepen that relationship with Him, that He become a constant, minute by minute presence in my life. He does NOT like my mistakes and sins, but is continually redeeming me from them. PTL! \o/
Sorry to be so long here, Mike. And I’m really cutting it short. lol There is so much more to be said about the way God has worked in my life to free me from a prison of a fearful and judgmental heart. Again, PTL! \o/
Ahhh, Scott – therein lies the problem. A true legalist can’t examine the past and move in a different direction – because that would imply he/she was wrong – and if one is “wrong” they are doomed to eternal damnation from the vengeful Almighty.
Here’s the rub – if we re-visit our past – and determine, with study and leadings from the HS – to move in a different direction – we will always be judged by the legalist, for the legalist has to judge to continually prove themselves right in their own eyes. And, one must be right to enter Heaven. I honestly have no idea where they think Grace fits in.
Dale,
I don’t think you’ll be belittled or castigated by anyone here. You’ll basically be ignored. I wouldn’t get too worked up over it.
I grew up not far from where Buddy Holly went down. The little Iowa church where my father preached holds precious memories for me. Next month marks the 50th anniversary of my making the Good Confession and being baptized in that church. I was not yet 13. But the memories come washing over me yet. I never thought of church in anything but reverence. I remember the fragrance of my mother’s perfume, the lilacs placed in a vase someone brought to church, the aroma of grape juice as it was passed around. Most of all I remember the hymns that were sung, hymns like: “I love Thy kingdom, Lord, the house of Thine abode; the church our blest Redeemer saved with His own precious blood, I love Thy church, O God! Her walls before Thee stand, dear as the apple of Thine eye, and graven on Thy hand.” I recall another phrase from that song: “Beyond my highest joy I prize her heavenly ways, her sweet communion, solemn vows, her hymns of ove and praise.” I’ll be speaking at that little church, Park Church of Christ, Goldfield, Iowa, June 22, 2008. My address will be: “Why I Still Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
qb, for one, has no desire to rip his heritage to shreds.
But that is not the same thing as accepting its presuppositions uncritically, and it does not insulate his heritage from being exposed as fundamentally lacking (or even toxic, in some respects). To be truly loving to my own children, both biological children and “children in the faith,” I owe them my straightforward evaluation of what I received. It is not simply a matter of being charitable to my forebears and treating them with kid gloves.
So I don’t wish to fight, and I don’t wish to belittle the good folks with whom I grew up. But it is also true that some of the theology I inherited IS toxic, for many of the reasons that Mike has laid out for us in his reflections today. If my theology justifies my turning a deaf ear to the cries from a ship’s hull full of shackled slaves, then my theology is toxic. Is it charitable to sugar-coat that, or to pretend it’s not so?
We hear the NT telling us at every turn: “excel still more.” If that does not require sober self-examination, and a laying aside of those residual things that still entangle us, what can it possibly mean? Those things that we’re doing right we should continue to do right, without necessarily calling attention to them…all the while rooting out that which still hinders us from living more fully like Jesus.
So Dale, methinks your sensitivity trigger might be set a bit light. No doubt there are those, somewhere, who glory in slaughtering their heritage and leaving the carcasses to rot in the sun, but that is not what Mike has done here.
qb
gt- wow, what a non-loving reply.
dale- totally agree with your post.
I am only 39 and agree with you. I had an amazing youth in my home church and I wouldn’t be the Christian I am today if it had not been for the loving elder Christians I looked up to. My dad did not attend church with us, but my Mom was so good about taking us and I never heard a bad word about my dad from anyone in my church home. My dad now attends with my Mom and we pray daily he will have a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If my church home had been legalistic and harsh, my dad would not be going today. I just think it is sad how we group ALL Small West Texas Towns of the 70’s and 80’s as being legalistic~ it’s just not true. I love my heritage, love my church home as a child and to this day have nothing but fond memories of the Godly people they all were and still are to me and my family.
Mike~ I know posts as these help you process, but when others have experiences such as mine, they should not be disregarded.
Just a note of clarification here, because it was slightly confusing to me as well: Mike didn’t write this piece. He merely reprinted Larry James’ reflection from a few months ago. Some of the comments above seem to be directed toward Mike as the author, which is not the case.
That said, who can argue with someone’s experience? I trust Larry’s ability to process and analyze, and if these were his experiences, these were his experiences. ‘Nuff said. I would hope that we’re all becoming “enlightened” to more and more of Christ as we mature in our faith, and doing this naturally causes both critique and fond memories of our upbringing.
Whether it was all good (highly doubt it, but OK…) or all bad (again, not likely), reflection is a good thing, and we musn’t bash another person’s attempt at it. For those of us from particular religious groups, it is especially important for us to “take the meat and spit out the bones” from our heritage as we mature. No religious group has it all right (or even mostly right … as Larry said, “getting it all right” isn’t even the point), so we as individuals and communities must set out to discover what following Jesus means in contemporary culture.
Steve, Jr. wrote, “No religious group has it all right (or even mostly right …”
That’s a cop-out, my friend.
Let me ask you this Kirk – was the “church” correct when it supported segregation of blacks in 1950, or is it correct today as it supports inclusion of all? It was wrong then or wrong today. Or, how about it’s view toward women in 1880 versus that today – which time period was right? (and it can’t be both, sorry, that’s a cop-out, my friend.)
Cop-out, Kirk? I suppose “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” is a cop-out too. It’s not a cop-out, my man, it’s the truth.
And if it can be used to inject a little humility into a group that seems to have forgotten this truth, then let it be.
Can we not move on from all this focusing on how bad the c of c is or was or whatever the hang up is? If it ruined your life I am truely sorry. Maybe you let the church and not God be the influence in your life. I still really value my upbringing and I love the people who taught me Sunday school and in the youth group and I especially love my parents for the example they set. Were they perfect and correct in everything? Absolutely not but neither are you. You may find in 30 years people think the same of you as you think of the people in the church of your past. Change is fine and we definately need to examine the way we look at things but when people become so focused on change that you begin to judge and accuse those who don’t think just like you aren’t you just like them???
Kent – typical – steriotyping – not all churches of Christ practiced segregation in the ’50’s…
My granddad for one invited Marshal Keeble who was holding a meeting in his area to supper. Brother Keeble came to the house but when it came time for supper brother Keeble said – “I won’t eat in your house.” My granddad said, “That’s why I invited you was to eat, come on in.” Brother Keeble said, “they’ll burn a cross in your yard…I’ll eat out in the barn.” To which my granddad said “Ok”, and told my dad and his brother to take the kitchen table out to the barn that if brother Keeble insisted on eating in the barn the whole family would eat out there with him.
I heard one upstart call on every person present in a setting to repent of their racism – for everyone here is a racist. In the audience sat Maxine Cato – widow of Willie who traveled for years with Brother Keeble. How dare him…
Yes, there were and are racist and yes there were more in both the world and the church in that day and NO there is no excuse for it…but not all were racist…
the point of the post was meant to cause reflection in our own lives, so that we would examine how we view God.
that, in turn, will directly effect (affect? i could never get this right in school) how you view the world, i.e. whether you are waiting to escape this hell hole or change it for the glory of God.
like it or not, what we believe directly corresponds to our actions. if what we believe causes us NOT to act when we should, then toss out the doctrine, rethink it, or examine it – this will make you grow. to not do this is foolish at best.
What a brilliant post.
KentF, to which “church” to you refer?
Here’s a guy from my church standing with Dr. King. His name is Iakovos, of blessed memory.
2 Thessalonians 1
…when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
Let’s try this again (forgot the url)–
orthodoxwiki.org/images/4/4a/Iakovos_and_King.jpg
Lee,
Methinks you misunderstood. His thoughts to a degree correspond with mine. I didn’t mean to insinuate that I felt he should be ignored only that he probably would be. I don’t think anyones mind gets changed here and and I don’t believe it’s the intent of the blog. Forgive me for the confusion. I too grow weary of the denigration of my heritage.
thanks gt
The part of this post that resonates with me is how we have been so irrelevant as a people to our communities.
I grew up feeling that church was the safe place where we were insulated (isolated) from the big, scary world out there. We didn’t seem to get it that this is the world that “God so loved”. We were just relieved to be “right”.
Thankfully, we as a group seem to be waking up and learning how to be relevant by seeking to be Jesus to the downtrodden and extending God’s love in the dark corners.
Having said that, I also want to say that I so appreciate our heritage and the nurturing of my faith by wonderful Christians through the years. Now I appreciate the way the church is joining us in raising our girls in faith.
It is always hard to discuss our dysfunction, but every church has their junk. If I have to choose whose junk, I think I’ll take ours!
Come on — let’s chill a bit. Deconstruction is not the same as denigration.
Very thoughtful article, Mike.
Pardon me.
Very thoughtful article, Larry.
Mike, thanks for sharing Larry’s very transparent reflections with us. It’s humbling.
DU
Thanks Steve JR…
I read and posted quickly. I mistakenly thought Larry’s words were Mike’s. I think, since the discussion began, that someone italicized the quote from Larry… that helps. Thanks Mike!
Some of us just jump to conclusions too quickly!! Who would have thought!!
Oh if only there were an angry God.
A God to deal with such hatred and anger.
My only respite is the knowledge that most of those old people have gone on, hopefully to face that evil deity, and that shortly that whole generation will die.
Thank Mike for bringing me to such an uplifting understanding of our past and a time to reflect on just how hateful my parents and grandparents were.
Shalom
“My only respite is the knowledge that most of those old people have gone on, hopefully to face that evil deity, and that shortly that whole generation will die.”
Dang dude. Nice mercy and grace filled statement.
Rusty-
The irony of signing off with “shalom” after writing something so hateful and saracastic is just incredible.
It hurts my heart that Jesus’ people cannot speak to each other with more graciousness.
God help us all.
If only we could all learn to love and accept all people. Without regard to race, gender, or influence. People from all backgrounds. All except those generations of judgemental Christian hatemongers that raised us. Let’s just trash those people.
Mike- If you’re going to take a cheap shot at the church, try a fresh approach.
Chris and Leland,
I do believe Rusty was being sarcastic to make a point. You don’t really think he was calling his parents and grandparents hateful do you?
If we’re willing only to look uncritically at ourselves in the mirror, we’ll miss the fact that Jesus sees us, His bride, exactly as we are – and loves us anyway.
Of course, He sees His bride as a “10″ – He has washed and purified her. It was His doing, not ours.
And if we’ve reached a point where we are so perfected that we can no longer draw any closer to the Father through Him … then we didn’t need Him in the first place, did we?
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” ~ Luke 5:32
My view of God was shaped by people who taught me in much the same way that Larry describes. I love the people who taught me and I understand that they taught me those things out of love and that they were passing on to me what they had been taught. And, I confess that I have done some of the same kind of teaching in times past. But I regret that—and I wish I had not held on to that view of a stern and unyielding God long after I became an adult. Because I’m thinking that our view of God not only significantly shapes our beliefs but also impacts our ability to trust Him and depend upon Him. So, while I do not “blame” those who have taught me in the past, I feel immense gratitude for those who have helped me open my eyes to the wonders and grace of a loving God, my God who pursues me and who guides me with His Spirit and His holy word.
I don’t know Dan, he didn’t use sarcastic font.
Anyone read “The Shack” by William P. Young, yet? That little novel will really make you think about what you believe about God, church, relationships, and why you believe it. Just a novel – not a theological treatise. But very challenging and insightful for me.
As for me, I would be curious to know more about Larry James and what his current walk with God and the community of believers is like at present. No hidden assumptions in that – just curious. I could really relate to his reflections, and my wife and I have actually very recently made the decision to find another church home outside of the Church of Christ denomination. We are both so very grateful for the love, faith, and knowledge of the Bible we each received in so many ways as a part of our Church of Christ heritage.
As I have spent much time in reflection over the last couple of years about what the Church of Christ seems to stand for, or not stand for, in my experience, I have come to this conclusion: I believe much of the theology, doctrine, and practice is often driven at the core by fear. I know this is certainly not true of every individual or congregation, no doubt about that. But I do think a spirit of fear leads to a religious structure of legalism and works. And I believe we must hold a healthy fear of the Almighty One of the universe. However, I also think there is a critical difference between a healthy fear and an unhealthy, anxious fear, and I really believe there is much of the latter at the core of many congregations – which could undoubtedly be said of other denominations as well.
It is not my intention here or elsewhere to cast stones or denigrate the Church of Christ, my dear brothers and sisters in the faith, or other brothers and sisters of any other denominational affiliation. I am seeking to grow in walking fully in the love and grace of God, manifest through Christ, and fueled in me by His Holy Spirit. It is my heart’s desire to move closer each day into the perfect love that casts out all fear. And I hope the same for all my Christian brothers and sisters, as well as those who have yet to step into His grace.
This has been a very interesting read for me. And I would like to repsond to these posts from a preacher’s kid viewpoint. Whereas some of you grew up attending the same congregation with different preachers, I grew up with the same preacher attending different congregations. I think I was the more fortunate…
I have seen the narrowmindedness and legalitic viewpoints of some elders who wanted the gospel preached a certain way, from a certain version…they were in charge and if you didn’t do it their way, they showed you the door. Our stay was brief in those congregations.
Then I have seen the congregations that blossomed under good preaching – that grew in love and grace, that reached out to the community, that were led by the Spirit. We had many joyful years in those congregations.
Looking back over my dad’s ministry, our average stay in a congregation was 2 years or 8+ years. I can see the correlation between the congregations and the length of his stay. Almost always in the two year stays the elders asked us to leave because they couldn’t get my dad to preach from the pulpit what they wanted him to preach.
Which congregations did I enjoy the most? You bet , it was the ones where we stayed 8+ years. Which congregations did I grow in my Christian walk the most? It was from the 2 year stays. I learned a lot of bitter lessons, but I learned a lot of lessons about the mind of Christ as well…from my father. He taught me to turn the other cheek. He taught me to pray for those who who spitefully use you and persecute you and he taught me how to forgive. He also taught me that you can go to heaven in a bad congregation and you can go to hell in a good one. Your salvation and joy in the Lord is dependent on your attitude and God’s grace – not the attitude of the rest of the congregation. He was always optimistic -”they will do better when they know better”.
When my dad died, I started going through his letters and papers and made a stunning discovery. I was the youngest child and so I missed out on my dad’s early years in the ministry. I discovered the spiritual journey that he had traveled within his own understanding of the gospel, of the church of Jesus. He grew from his own relationship with the Lord and from his own personal study and faith – he began to break away from the legalistic teachings of his youth. He blossomed within the love of Jesus. He was not bitter about those who had taught him in his youth – he took the good from them and moved on in his personal relationship and ministry.
So don’t put down the congregation where you grew up and don’t blame them for your spiritual insecurities. Anytime you heard the death, burial and resurrection of Christ being preached, you heard grace. It is up to you to recognize the lessons learned and move on in your spiritual maturity…not on the shallow borrowed faith of one who went before you, but blazing out on your own with only Christ as your guide.
Anytime you heard the death, burial and resurrection of Christ being preached, you heard grace.
…not exactly. I’ve heard “preaching” (by word or deed) on the death, burial and resurrection that in no way could be heard as good news. The gospel — both spoken and lived — is inherently “good news.” And the good news is only good news if the hearer hears it as such. And that is precisely where many Christians err … we think that as long as we’re talking and preaching and talking and preaching something, we’re holding up our end of the bargain (and appeasing God’s wrath). After we’ve preached, the ball’s in the heathen’s court to process, understand, and put the message into practice — no matter how contextually irrelevant the message may be.
This quote has been chewing on me all week. I think it has some relevance to this discussion. Thanks to Luke N for posting it. (From John Burke’s No Perfect People Allowed)
When is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus not true or not relevant?
When it is communicated in a way that isn’t good news to the hearer.
Of course, the orthodox understanding of Jesus life, death, burial and resurrection — God’s conclusive move to redeem the world and set it right — is always (or should be) good news to those with ears to hear. But in my experience, this gospel message has been truncated to be mainly about individuals getting into heaven, avoiding Hell, not sinning, going to [the right] church, etc…
A modern-day prophet has said that while we’re concerned with whether there is life after death, the world wants to know whether there’s life before death. Is our message life-giving and life-affirming? Is it a hopeful message or a cynical one? And so on and so forth.
This brings us full-circle back to precisely why our image of God and His work (theology) is inextricably connected to how we live and interact on this Earth. (and what kind of a church we are)
Our view of Heaven is a prime example: If we see Heaven as this other-worldly final destination for those who have prayed a prayer or been baptized or “saved” in some way, then we tend to live differently now than if Heaven is the redeeming and restoring of Earth. The former tend to adopt the “This World is Not My Home” mantra and are hanging on until the end. The latter tend to be people who throw themselves wholeheartedly into the mission of God here and now. See N.T. Wright’s new book, Surprised by Hope.
Jesus is good even if I am not a good communicator or a good listener.
Of course He is, eddy! I’m not disputing the goodness of Christ here. We’re totally in agreement on that point!
I’m simply saying that our words and actions, as well as our propensity to polish up or truncate the news that God is redeeming the world through Christ, can communicate a less-than-good message. For instance, when our message leads people into religious captivity instead of joining God’s adventurous mission in the world, we must question whether we’ve actually communicated the “good news.” If people are not discovering and living into freedom in Christ (but feel chained up and restricted within a religious system), then we must question whether we’ve actually communicated “good news.”
This is ultimately leading to the rapid demise of all fundamentalist Christian denominations, not just old-school Churches of Christ. Put simply, the kids are not finding life in the system as they grow up, and those outside the church just aren’t taking the bait. Back to the quote I posted above, people are less concerned with what I believe issue by issue than with how I am living. If my life reflects the freedom and joy I mentioned above, people will take notice. Then and only then will they listen to what I believe. This has been my experience more times than I can recall.
In fact, Steve-O, our words and actions can communicate a BAD message, as in:
1. If you want to join us [in learning how to embrace Jesus' good news], you’d better clean up first.
2. If you want to join us, but you make one false move, yer outta here.
3. If you want to join us, but you don’t agree with us on every jot and tittle of peripheral doctrine, don’t bother us.
4. If you want to join us, but you don’t look like us, we’d rather not waste your time.
5. If you want to join us, but your politics differ from ours, keep those asbestos skivvies handy.
6. If you want to join us, but you are inclined to challenge us with too many uncomfortable questions about why we do the things we do, go somewhere else.
7. If you want to join us, but you take Jesus at his word when he promises an abundant life of freedom and joy under his shepherding, you’re too liberal for us.
And so forth.
qb
Larry, perhaps you could have included a statement like, “BUT (in light of all this) those that went before us, I believe, sought God earnestly. God has revealed to me new things and for that I am thankful. I pray my convictions align with your will, Father, as I seek to serve you and die to myself daily.”
Not sure if this is your heart, but it’s mine.
Jason O’Quinn
Funny to watch someone here prop up a straw man army to advance their restoration theology. Straw men aren’t capable of pulling down satans strongholds, let alone bringing restoration to a fallen world that is being reserved for a day of fire and the fierce justice of our Holy God.
He who has ears to hear.
Jim
Jim, you’d have to be more specific for me to be able to understand your point.
Jim, I’m with Keith on the last comment. I’d love to understand your point, as you are obviously passionate about it, but I don’t quite understand what you mean.