I read many different blogs covering many different subjects. Some are interesting; some are not. Some challenge me intellectually; some do not. Some are humorous; some are not.
Recently I read a post on one blog that really intrigued me. The title of the blog is Secular Right. This particular post is dealing with a theological position taken by one theologian and the thought that our world is dominated by secular values of tolerance and equality. The author of this blog asks a question then offers a reason:
[Begin quote]
Do modern Christians still believe with the same fervor as in the past all those unyielding doctrines of eternal damnation for the unbaptised and unconverted? They sure don’t act as if they do. If they really were convinced that their friends, co-workers, neighbors, and in-laws were going to hell because they possessed the wrong or no religious belief, I would think that the knowledge would be unbearable. Christians surely see that most of their wrong-believing personal acquaintances are just as moral and deserving as themselves. How, then, do they live with the knowledge that their friends and loved ones face an eternity of torment? I would expect a frenzy of proselytizing, by word or by sword.
In previous centuries, when religion had the upper hand, religious differences meant more. But ours is a world dominated by the secular values of tolerance and equality. Either believers live with an extraordinary degree of cognitive dissonance between the inclusive values of their society and the dictates of their religion, or they unconsciously mitigate those bloody-minded dictates as atavistic vestiges from a more primitive time.
[End quote]
Do we really believe what we say we do?
1 comment:
Gaylord,
Your last question is thought provoking. Lyman Abbott thought that God was an "omnipresent policeman" and man was "a scared culprit,' but we know that his views changed when he espoused Protestant Liberalism.
As a child I to thought along those lines but as an older Christian I know that God is loving and does rebuke us, not reject, in order that we remain true to His teaching.
Revivals are God's event to bring the Believer back to the central Truth and Evangelical outreaches are God's efforts to reach the lost which is the central tenet of the Great Commission.
God does not change in our relationship, we are the ones that change and it is our responsibility to regain that closeness He desires.
Aaron
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