Comments on: Christian Intolerance: We’ve been outed! What now?

By: login

It’s a great website of yours. I surfed by and found it very informative. Bookmarked and check you back in a while

By: Diane R.

Diane R. — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Gee…let’s see…ummm…..

I know.

First, lets’ stop trying to legislate the morality of the nation since that isn’t the Spirit’s way; it’s the fleshly way. (see the Volsted Act..popularly called the Prohibition Amendment. I do believe it was the only Constitutional Amendment to be repealed. Why? It just didn’t work.)

Second, let’s stop supporting and listening to people like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell.

Third, let’s clean up our own “houses.” 35% of Christian marriages now end up in divorce according to the latest statistics (Barna). Pornography among Chrisitans has become a serious problem. Christian youth are more and more being alienated from their families and their faith.

Fourth, let’s do what the Bible says and see what happens. Col. 4:6-”Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (NIV)

Who knows, if we do the above, we may have a national revival. A real one that is..not the counterfeit Third Wave garbage going around presently.

By: the Foolish Sage

the Foolish Sage — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Michael, you have bravely faced one of the biggest “sweep it under the carpet and hope the kids didn’t see” issues in the Christian church: what to do with those “difficult” parts of the Bible.

Like the old “ring around the collar” commercials used to say, you try scrubbing them out, but they’re still there.

I was amazed to come upon your post today as I have engaged a friend on this very topic on his blog. My friend is a former conservative, Reformed Christian who has fallen in the past year into an extreme neo-orthodoxy in which only his personal “faith” informs what he knows of God.

If you’d like to see our dialogue on the troubling parts of Scripture, it’s at http://rmfo-blogs.com/steve/archives/2004/12/02/the-law-of-god/

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Excellent question, Michael.

For my own part, and I could give very detailed memories on this topic, I believe churches must return to educational excellence in Bible study, Sunday school etc. Youth groups must be more than pizza and football, as great as those things are. Until more evangelicals know about Al Mohler then James Dobson, we have an issue on our hands. And men like Mohler must realize this. If a rational, kind and intelligent Christian worldview is to take shape among the Church, we must find a way to gently purge the Dobsons and the Falwells from our ranks.

By: Camassia

Camassia — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

The first chapter of the book that our mutual friend Telford Work is working on deals with this very issue. After 9/11 he couldn’t help noticing the uncomfortable resemblance between Islamist rhetoric and a lot of the Old Testament, and it didn’t help matters that that was when he met me and I brought up the same questions. I don’t know when the book will finally come out but I hope it will contribute to dialogue about this.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I would say the answer to the Old Testament dilemma is an issue of hermeneutics. Forgive me, Michael: I read your article on Christocentric Bible interpretation several months ago, but I don’t have the energy to read it tonight. From what I remember, it sounded very good and slightly dangerous.

I’m all in favor of reading all of the Bible in light of Christ. That’s exactly what Jesus himself and the Apostles taught us to do. But the problem is, what exactly does that mean? Some people believe that it means that you can take whatever portion of Scripture you don’t like, look at it through a preconceived “Christ” grid (which is really nothing more than the projections of the interpreter; it actually has very little connection to Christ), and then say that it’s pure drivel. You don’t like the icky parts of Romans 1:18-32 about God’s wrath and homosexuals? Well, just say that Jesus wouldn’t like that either, and the problem is solved. Please note, Michael, that I am not accusing you of doing this, but plenty of others have done it, and I’m not sure how your hermeneutic can fault them for it.

A better approach is to read the Bible for its authorial intent, which always points to Christ. This would involve understanding the differences between the covenants. We are not under Israel’s covenant (a fact made abundantly clear in the New Testament, especially Galatians); therefore, it would be wrong for us to execute homosexuals, for instance. Because of the nature of the covenant that they were under as a theocracy, it would have been wrong for Israel NOT to execute homosexuals. But the covenantal differences are the key.

By: KT

KT — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I hope you’ll keep writing about this–you’ve raised troubling questions that I’d love some more help with!

By: tjs

tjs — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

You know, God does NOT have to answer to us for what he says or does. He is CREATOR and we are creature (albeit made in his image and good). Americans are the precious few who struggle with this distinction in the world. It is more “cultural” of us to be asking these questions than anything else. Why in the world would God have to answer to us or anyone else for killing or wiping out an entire nation? He can do as he wills. He is GOD! Period. The thing that we can TRUST is that he will never do anything outside his nature which is both full of justice and full of mercy and grace…in tension. We just don’t like tension – as Americans I think. Maybe God cannot be completely figured out. Huh? Maybe creatures get what they get and HE remains “in the know” and he remains GOD. Maybe he gets to hold all the cards and maybe he gets to work his creation for HIS glory – in HIS way….without asking what we think about all of it. Hmmmm.

Respectfully, yes, I think we can ask God anything and bring to him our thoughts, questions, and concerns, and even our lack of understanding into his ways….but the fact remains, you will not ever get it all. You and I are creatures. Period. We so want to be GOD though. This tendancy has been with us since the garden.

By: David Lafayette

David Lafayette — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

THIS IS THE ANSWER. SHARE IT:
the answer is love. Leviticus, Joshua, and Judges all show God’s love in His Law. the Law is what was present in the Old Testament and was fulfiled in the New Testament by Jesus Christ (“[Christ] is the end of the Law”)-Paul. the law was created to protect God’s children. God commanded Joshua to kill the Canaanites because He would not allow His children to be influenced by their idolatry. God’s love and justice come together in His protection of the Israelites by wiping out all people who could influence them. This protection of God’s chosen people is seen again 3000 years later with the Puritans and Pilgrims establishing America as a godly refuge. God transformed America from a refuge to a fortress of protection (athiest writers manipulate the truth – read the real history and you’ll see God provided everything: cleared away enemies, stopped famine, and brought provisions and allies – all through the Christians prayers). God’s love and justice still coincide and that is why Christians must stand firm. It is appointed to man once to die and afer that the judgement. Everyone of us will either demonstrate God’s love and mercy by entering heaven or display is justice in hell for eternity.

By: Dev

Dev — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

>It doesn’t matter that there are no Christian >churches turning away worshipers over these >matters.

Except, some are. My parents (and mine past) church, infact. A longtime member admitted to having homosexual feelings which she had been hiding, and had never acted on. First they removed her from nursery work and teaching sunday school, and then pushed her out of the church completely.

I can’t believe that this is the only case, or even an uncommon way to treat homosexuals in many churches.

Sorry my only comment is a pick. I just found your blog – very thoughtful and thought provoking! Thank-you!