As I am finishing up some writing assignments for a commentary series from WJK Press, my blog pieces will be few and far for a week or so. With that in mind, let me share two quotes with you for your pondering. The first is from Marcus Borg; the second is from Josiah Strong.
In an interview, Borg said:
Faith is not primarily about believing a set of claims to be true-that's what goes with the earlier vision of Christianity. The understanding of faith that goes with the emerging vision is about a relationship of trust in God and faithfulness to God. The ancient meaning of the word "believe" is "to commit oneself, to be loyal to." The Middle English word is "beleve," and that means to love or be loved. So faith is about loving God and loving that which God loves--which is the whole of creation.
Would you agree with this definition of faith that Borg proposes?
Josiah Strong was the secretary of the Congregational Home Mission Society in the late 19th century. He wrote:
There are many in the Church as well as out of it who need to learn that Christianity is neither a creed nor a ceremonial, but a life vitaly[sic] connected with a loving Christ.
Would you agree this understanding of Christianity that Strong proposed?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Quotes For Reflection
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2 comments:
There is not much to disagree with, as long as anyone who professes to be a Christian actually believes what Christ said and acts on it. I fear that perhaps Borg is trying to loosen the definition of Christian so that one can try to decide what to believe and what to reject, while still claiming to "love" Christ. Anyone who truly loves Christ would not have any trouble believing and trying to act on all that he did and said, without trying make themselves exemptions for what they did not want to have to follow.
I assume that you are outraged by the participation of churches as partners with ACORN in the fraudulent registration of voters in swing states. I hope that when your writing duties are complete that you will not even have to ask if your readers consider it immoral for churches to participate in fraud! Further, you must be opposed to churches being involved in registration drives given your positions on politics in churches, and the separation of religious morals from public service. Wouldn't it be an ironic turn of events if the difference in this presidential election turned out to be all the children that Barack Obama has helped to have aborted 18 or more years ago?
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