We Christians have a problem
Submitted by Forgiven on January 15 2002 14:30:38
In reply to As I said, I REALLY hope you come to BC submitted by A.I. Watcher on January 14 2002 19:22:09
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I'm sad if I seem judgemental - I don't think those who know me well would agree; my nick says a lot.... We Christians have a problem - at the core of gospel is the starting point that says that all have sinned - and as a result are going to end up rejected by God. To deny the truth of this is deny the faith in any traditional sense. The good news of the gospel is that God has provided a way back to him, for those of us who accept the reality that we need help 'only by grace' - i.e. a free gift of God, not anything we've earnt. Which is why in liturgical churches there is usually a general confession early on in every service, and in more Catholic churches the habit of personal confession is encouraged. I say it again - we've all sinned - we ALL need help. Jesus died on the cross in agony because that was the only way that the problem of sin could be sorted out given the way that the universe was set up with actions having consequences. (Why it was set up like that - I don't KNOW, though I suspect as the article I refered to suggests, it something about giving us an environment where we can grow up to maturity in God.) One of the features of modern life is that we have a very limited exposure to death; no-one really important to me has ever died, and I'm in my early 40s. As a result the answer that the gospel provides to the mystery of death is not as important as in a era when death was all around (which is not saying that modern medicine is a bad thing, before I get accused of that). But the consequence is that at times the church is struggling to be heard when people aren't asking that basic question - 'what happens when I die'. On a bad day the result is that the church gets over involved in other projects to 'be relevant', so forgetting to talk about this at all. To use a term that got its originator into trouble - not least because he didn't make clear that he saw himself in as well - we are ALL swimming around in the sewage. That's the truth we Christians live by; anything else is God's grace, the presence of which will be lost to those who reject it after they die. But there is an alternative.... Hope that makes sense!! |
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