common sense
Submitted by F.O.D. on November 20 2000 07:27:09
In reply to the truth(?) of liberalism submitted by Dirk Gently on November 18 2000 02:16:55
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Nice reply Dirk :) Do you know I'm contemplating becoming Orthodox or Catholic? I'm starting to suspect it might be the only way of retaining sanity... I'll explain what I mean in a moment. I think I found the article especially refreshing because of the strong challenge it brings to the dominant evangelical orthodoxy (I don't think I can say protestantism in general. High church Anglicans, for example, are quite keen on church traditions and saints). You've brought the question up before on what "the Bible is the Word of God" really means. I'll take this moment now to share this brilliant gem of evangelical thought with you. My pastor mentioned the "homosexual lifestyle" in passing recently, and since that very phrase had come up on these boards recently, I pulled him up on it (I've been trying to find ways of communicating in the church about our experience, right?) (For the record, I think "gay lifestyle" is an utterly meaningless phrase, devoid of content. You can talk about a "sexually active lifestyle" or maybe a "celibate lifestyle", but what's a "gay" one? Anyone, I brought up the issue with him, and in covering one angle and the other, he eventually came up with this: discussing the ways different Christians understand and interpret the relevent verses, he finally said, "well, you can't read the Bible with common sense or by using the World's arguments, you have to take it at face value". Brilliant, huh? "you can't read the Bible with common sense".... I'd be laughing to the moon if I wasn't in such a bad mood about the whole thing. The way I see it, if that is truly representative of evangelical thought, then they are in serious violation of the First Commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and strength and MIND". And they they expect me to agree with them, too. That's why I'm feeling awfully sympathetic to the Catholic churches, or Orthodox (they're similar from my point of view in attitudes to the Bible at least). I'm not sure about liberals, need to consider their side further. Catholics (and perhaps Orthodox?) also have the advantage of recognising the reality and impact of homosexuality on the human individual, even if they don't accept it theologically, an empathy which I find largely missing among evangelicals. Which brings me to my thought, which I realised on talking to my pastor, that it's bloody pathetic him preaching at me, with out stopping to listen to me and feel what I feel. I had said "look, you see, in the church we never talk about these things", to which he replied "well, yes we have, I've preached on it a couple of times". Arrghh!! Preaching is bloody well NOT support. I better tell him that. I wonder if he'll hear me. Peace, Fod |
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