Tuesday, January 16, 2007

i have a problem

I have a problem with ministries that tell us how BAD the world is and how far to stay away from 'it'. They give us a checklist of things to 'beware' of.

How 'bout we just love Jesus and let our growing love for Him draw us closer to Him and therefore further from a wrong 'worldview'. (Though typing that word -worldview- makes me want to puke.)

I'm thinking really this 'doctrine' thing is what's keeping us from falling in love with the One who gave His all to have a relationship with us. He's saying 'love Me' while we're checking off our "Have I sinned today?" checklist.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hesitate to comment as I (once again) do not know the context from which you write. But....

While it's definately true that one can get so wrapped up in the intellectual aspect of the faith that the heart is not engaged, David was truly "a man after God's own heart" who repeatedly wrote of his love for God's law (doctrine). Some of us love Jesus so much that we want our understanding of Him and His Word (doctrine) to be accurate. It's our love of Jesus that compels us to get it right and do it right. Our love of Jesus is the lense through which we examine everything else (worldview). We also can't help but desire that He and His Word be represented accurately in the world. Love and Truth are not mutually exclusive. We must not seperate the two.
While the heart transformation is of vital significance, we are also to be renewed in our minds.
Please be careful not to dismiss the validity of the "brain" as a valuable part of the body of Christ. (I Corinthians 12:12-26)

Nen said...

yes.
and yes.
and yes.

and more comments too, but its too late. Gee I wish we could meet over some coffee and have a good old yarn!!

Anonymous said...

I agree with where you're coming from, but I think it's not a love of truth that "checks off" their sin list. It may look as if those people know their stuff but it's falacy. Jesus prayed in John 17:16-17- They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Your truth, Your word is truth.

We need to go out into the world. Jesus came for the sick. And yet we are different. That's why we can go out into the world. They don't need more of the same. More that looks like them, acts like them and responds in their wisdom. We have that in the church now and it's obviously not working well. We can't change that we're different. You have the living God inside of you. That is a HUGE dfference. People feel the difference. It's uncomfortable.

The mindless quoting of Scripture for the purpose of saying I'm good and "you're" bad is obnoxious. But I think that the Sermon on the Mount is probably the best "checklist" in the Bible to say "Are you loving Me?" And yet can I check any of those things?

What a delicate balance.

Love ya chic!

marykathryn said...

Hi..Just wanted to say a quick thank you for taking the time out of your day to stop by my blog and even leave a comment. It was so sweet of you, and yes please stop by anytime. Your post definetly gave me some food for thought. Thanks again!!

Anonymous said...

Having grown up (and left) a church that was extremely heavy on the doctrine factor, I very much relate to what you are talking about. I think that kind of teaching leaves us with a fear of "the world" rather than a burden for it. In reality, we live in this world and in order to be effective Christians we do need to be a part of our world. No, we do not love the sin, but we do need to love the sinner. And you can't do that from a distance.

Always love reading your blog!