Comments on: Do the Fundamentalists Love Thier Children Too?

By: BuddyO

BuddyO — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:53:48 +0000

Aw man, I was just kidding Chris about being upset with me about cross linking and he just posted a link to my blog… what a guy… boy do I feel small…

By: BuddyO

BuddyO — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:50:23 +0000

Hey Travis, I was going to link you over to this article from sharpiron, but now I don’t have to… (good thing ’cause that really pisses Chris off)

Hurting the Kingdom of God for who? God? If you think it hurts God, I think he’ll survive. If you think it hurts the Kingdom itself, well I think it’s pretty impervious to our attempts at hurting it. If you are referring to turning people off from the Gospel, well that’s a complicated point. How do you quantify what turns people off from the Kingdom? I know people that are turned off by in your face Bible thumpers who in rebellion to that found a deeper faith elsewhere. Not to mention those parts of Christianity that you or I would probably qualify as ‘destructive’ are definitely winning people to Christ.. otherwise they would last very long.

Certianly we can criticize and shed light like you said, we’re called to be alert for false prophets, but honestly the thing that hurts the kingdom the most is in-fighting. It’s people hearing the Emergent tear apart the Fundamentalist and the Evangelical berate the Catholic.

How would you summarize ‘the ways of Jesus?’. Not being confrontational, I’m genuinely curious.

By: Travis

Travis — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:16:03 +0000

I haven't read the whole discussion thread yet but I must ask a question(s) in response to the post: At what point is someone hurting the kingdom of God? How does one confront a stance, belief, or language that is contrary to the kingdom of God? Walter Brueggemann's concept in The Prophetic Imagination addresses the concept/role of the prophet... to criticize that current consciousness and energize toward an alternative consciousness. This happens everywhere in the Bible... particularly with Jesus. Should we not follow his lead and act and speak imaginatively in response to that which is not the ways of Jesus? Traviss last blog post..100 Things.

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:44:06 +0000

"Hey ,look at me! I'm giving out higher Technorati rankin's!" (spoken in my best Sheldon Leonard impersonation) Christians last blog post..Sanctification, Righteousness, Holiness and other Claptrap

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:42:08 +0000

Yeah, you software jockeys are too much. I have geek envy. Christians last blog post..Sanctification, Righteousness, Holiness and other Claptrap

By: BuddyO

BuddyO — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:37:05 +0000

It's a WP Plugin I saw at Brent's new site. I thought it was cool.

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:23:57 +0000

Where'd that link come from?! Christians last blog post..Sanctification, Righteousness, Holiness and other Claptrap

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:23:23 +0000

Hey, you can’t ignore the fact that some people seem to bring it upon themselves. (Of course there seems to be some sort of biblical vindication in that.)

Just like I can see that, with all due respect, you feel more empathy for the set upon fundamentalist than lets say… the set upon Episcopalians.

Christians last blog post..Sanctification, Righteousness, Holiness and other Claptrap

By: BuddyO

BuddyO — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:17:00 +0000

The problem that fundamentalists have …

Thanks that’s a perfect example of what I was talking about…

In the news, in blogs there’s too much talk for my taste about the evil ‘They’…

Like I said, we have no control over the other guy, only ourselves.

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:03:36 +0000

True, but let’s remember who threw the first stones. You don’t see too many people taking pot shots at Mennonites or Quakers. They pretty much keep to themselves. But when part of your Evangelical paradigm is to heap perdition upon the godless sinners (and in this regard I’m talking about the descendants of those fundamentalists we called the Puritans – they are still out there and though they claim to be Reformed) then you aren’t going to make too many friends.

The problem that fundamentalists have is that they piss off not only secular folks but other Christians as well. Their spokespeople tend to be deliberately provocative and inflammatory. Meanwhile they are upset with Emergents because they aren’t pissing off enough people, which must mean that they have “watered down the Gospel”.

The only ones who make me mad are the Hassidic Jews. How dare they judge me just because I like a good pork chop now and then!

By: BuddyO

BuddyO — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:45:02 +0000

I’m not talking about social issues. I’m talking about slamming other Christian denominations, ideologies, doctrines, churches etc. The kind you have been a particular victim of and we both have been party to.

I’m also not talking about being critical of distractions and rabbit trails that the Church participates in that take the focus off of Christ.

I find it particularly disturbing hearing conversations where Christians that talk about other Christians in a demeaning, judgmental, or condescending way… fundamentalists tend to be a particular group that are victims of this in many blogs I read. Second place victimization would go to Emergents… It used to be Catholics (I was particularly guilty) but not so much any more.

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:22:20 +0000

Sure but maybe taking a stand against abortion might be considered slamming a liberal. Or taking a stand against the death penalty might be considered slamming a conservative. There are issues of justice that cannot be ignored and unfortunately that often means that we take sides and ‘make enemies’. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t love ‘em.

But I agree with the thrust of what you say; ‘live and let live’. Peace.