Comments on: Enough Courage to Go Around

By: Miriam Franklin

Miriam Franklin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:36:40 +0000

Thanks for this post. It is extremely relevant - one’s own generation is often blind to the obvious taken for granted ‘rights’ or ‘truths’ that our children and grandchildren will take for granted.

http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:13:54 +0000

Lewis is addressing the way the world works, but I think it is still relevant, as there are times when our attempts to be “separate” from the world merely result in a separate worldliness. — Oloryn (probably not the Maia)

AKA “Of the world, but not in it.”

By: Anna A

Anna A — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:15:23 +0000

I like messy theology, it helps keep God out of a nice, neat box.

By: Bob Sacamento

Bob Sacamento — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:42:41 +0000

But we need to say we’ve been wrong about all kinds of things related to institutional and establishment, status quo Christianity….

It’s going to take courage. I hope we have plenty to go around.

Maybe. But I need some specifics before I sign up.

By: iMonk

iMonk — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:40:13 +0000

Saved by Christ by grace through faith.

But all my theology is sloppy. God deliver me from ever thinking otherwise.

By: Raffi Shahinian

Raffi Shahinian — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:28:10 +0000

All right, guys. Let’s not get sloppy here. We’re justified by faith. We’re saved by Christ.

By: Postmodern Puritan

Postmodern Puritan — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:27:28 +0000

I think any reformed christian should be humbled a bit by their heritage to know that someone as brilliant and passionate as Jonathon Edwards owned slaves in early America. It doesn’t mean he was a monster or fraud by any means, or taint his theological contributions to Christianity and America in general. He was human and capable of clinging onto and even defending social injustice that was common in that period.

By: dumb ox

dumb ox — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:56:09 +0000

“…wickedness,when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way. You can be good for the mere sake of goodness: you cannot be bad for the mere sake of badness. You can do a kind action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no pleasure, simply because kindness is right; but no one ever did a cruel action simply because cruelty is wrong - only because cruelty was pleasant or useful to him. In other words badness cannot succeed even in being bad in the same way in which goodness is good. Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness.” - C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity”, book 2, ch.2 (”The Invasion”).

I think the reason why Christians have a hard time letting go of some ugly things from the past is not because Jesus ever condoned such behavior, but because somehow the devil duped us into believing that a greater good (or lesser evil) would be their outcome. That sense of making a noble decision in the face of insurmountable odds somehow forever romanticizes the decision to do wrong. The devil uses the ultimatum fallacy like a bloody two-edged sword; if he can convince us that there is only a choice between one evil or a worse one, we are doomed everytime.

I just read in Matthew Chapter 4 about the temptation of Jesus. The last temptation was the most sinister of all: just worship the devil, and all the kingdoms of the world are yours. Declare a truce with evil, and suffering will end. Utopia will be born. Best of all: no cross. How could a loving God, who mourns over the suffering of His people, turn down such an offer? Instead, Jesus chose to worship God alone - a decision which put him on a collision course with the cross and his followers on a path of persecution and constant demonic harassment. But Jesus knew how the story would finally end, that His Father would deliver him and His flock from the valley of the shadow of death. We need to remember this, when faced with the temptation to make the ends justify the means.

By: Benji Ramsaur

Benji Ramsaur — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:11:40 +0000

“Just remember we’re saved by faith, not certainty.”

Sounds certain

Evidence of a need?

By: Oloryn

Oloryn — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:43:27 +0000

Of course, I- unlike many who have written me- have absolutely no anxieties about belonging to the “true” or “infallibly right” church.

I can’t help but think of C. S. Lewis’s essay on the “The Inner Ring”. I won’t suggest that all with those anxieties fit, but I can’t help but wonder if the advice and warning Lewis gives should be listened to in this context. Lewis is addressing the way the world works, but I think it is still relevant, as there are times when our attempts to be “separate” from the world merely result in a separate worldliness.