I thought it might be appropriate, what with all the disagreements over methodology and theology that are swirling around the blog world, to remind you that we are not our enemies. God has blessed us with each other, in all our diversity. Let’s work together for the growth of the kingdom.

I ran across this quote tonight from an internet posting. It helped put things into perspective for me.

Missionaries of any religion are the lowest form of life above pedophiles

We are not the enemies, sin is the enemy.

Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’^[a] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. John 15:20

Nathan Finn has done it again. This guy consistently amazes with his ability to hit a home run while dealing with topics that are tough to talk about, but are also part of the much needed conversation within Southern Baptist life.

Today he begins a two-part series tackling “evangelism” within Southern Baptist life. He offers a tremendous amount of insight, but one that I thought was particularly powerful was the following quote.

Southern Baptists in particular seem to be under the corporate impression that marriage amendments, more pro-life judges, more Ten Commandments displays, government-sponsored school prayer and Bible reading, and ignoring the environment (you know, the platform of the Religious Right) will somehow soften the heart of our lost culture and make it easier to share the gospel. Whatever. I know that many probably take umbrage with this reason, but the fact remains that the people in our pews are much more concerned with gay marriage than with their lost neighbors. And so are our pastors. And so are our seminary and college students. What a terrible tragedy if conservative Christians actually “wins” America for the Religious Right while failing to truly share the gospel with lost Americans. (emphasis mine)

There is much more that I think is right on target as well. I would highly encourage you to tackle this article.

Baptist Press published an article today that I would encourage you to read. This article, by Mark Kelly, talks about the modern re-translation (or modernization) of John Owens works. They’ve been combined into a volume entitled “Overcoming Sin & Temptation.” According to Kelly’s analysis of the work, Owens advocates that God often allows us to not be able to overcome various sins that we may consistently struggle with in order to cause us to turn to Him, and to stre!
ngthen our commitment to obedience. It’s a fascinating article and it really makes me want the book. I’d encourage you to read the article, and let me know your thoughts.

I’m right. You are most assuredly wrong. That’s how I often feel when reading and writing in the blogworld. I have a set of beliefs that I hold dear and ones that I have spent tremendous time researching and trying to understand. When I come into contact with someone who holds an opposing view it’s simply not possible that they have studied as much, or as intelligently, as I have….is it?

As I read across the blogworld today I am struck by the fact that these emotions that I experience are not isolated with just me. I am amazed by the staunch defenses of many concerning the positions that they hold. Beyond that, I’m amazed by the audacity of those holding to their positions to seemingly disregard anyone else’s view as if their “opponents” haven’t studied nearly as much, or as hard, as they have. I’m floored by how little grace I see as I encounter many other bloggers.

We have this tendency to study a position, consider its biblical veracity, and then refuse to allow anyone else to hold a contrary position. We often proceed without sufficient recognition of our own human finiteness, when it comes to biblical study, and our apparent lack of theological humility and grace drives me to frustration.

When we think in historical terms I think it would serve us well to remember that even the greatest of theologians held alternative, unfortunate, positions at times. Calvin, Luther, Augustine, Huss, Edwards, and the like would probably all have a hard time feeling comofortable in SBC life today because of varioius theological positions that they held at one time or another. Regardless of your (or their) theological acumen, we are still fallible.

In closing, it is time for us to be students of scripture, culture and the church. It is time for us to know what we know because we know it and not because someone else told us to know it. It’s time for us to be convinced of truth……..and it’s time for us to allow someone else to hold to a contrary position without staking their right to friendship and partnership on their ability to agree with our own stated positions. Knowing that we are fallible and that our understanding will always be limited should help condition our responses to other believers. I’m not asking for us to be unconvinced. I’m not asking for us to preach weakly. I’m not even asking for us to allow each person to simply believe what they want to believe. What I’m asking is that we give grace to those who follow Jesus Christ and yet approach their theology in a different manner than our own.

Let’s stop calling names, guys, and let’s start evaluating ways that we can cooperate. As Tim Rogers reminds us so succinctly on his blog, there are thousands of people dying daily without Christ, and our concern is not about them - too often - but about our brothers and sisters ability to agree with us. Remember that regardless of how convinced you are of your position, even the greatest made, and make, interpretive mistakes. It’s time for us to partner together for the sake of the kingdom, and time for us to step down off our high horses of theological supremacy.

Well, I goofed this morning. I was proofreading the powerpoint for worship (since we’re a small church, that’s part of the job description ). I noticed that in the slides for the song, “How Great is our God” by Chris Tomlin, the phrase “Father, Spirit and Son” was not capitalized. Many people wouldn’t be bothered by that, but it’s kind of a pet peeve of mine. So I quickly (notice the word quickly) retyped it so it would correctly be capitalized. What I didn’t notice, however, was that I inadvertently had typed the letter next to “s” in the keyboard, that being “d”. So this morning we worshipped the Father, the Spirit and the Don. I guess mafia types might have felt at home with us today. I knew I was in trouble when our Youth Pastor looked !
at me and started laughing. It will probably be a while before I live that one down.

Oh well!

David Rogers, whom I have come to highly value and appreciate, has recently posted some translated comments by Latin American missionary, Antonio Peralta. The most recent post that he offered deals with the topic of denominational loyalty and pride superceding the need for us to evangelize the lost. It is a strong portion of Peralta’s message.

Included in the message is the following quote which I found particularly compelling. Peralta said,