The Faith of a Mustard Seed
While I believe I have laid out a reasonable critique of the role of politics and social pressure in influencing science, I don't want to imply that faith as we see it is any less susceptible - and for the same reasons.
If we start with the faith that more people claim to have (and the operative word in this sentence is claim) in the U.S., Christianity, we can immediately see the wavering of faith. The number of denominations is truly staggering, and while I want to think that it is merely due to preferences in conduct of wroship service, I know better. The denominations fight over central vs. individual church authority, over the version of Bible to be used, over the role of church in society, over candles on altars, over weekly vs monthly communion, and over ministry vs. evangelism. The issues that churches split over are as serious as the depravity of the minister to the petty as whether a hymnal or overhead projector is used for songs. In all of this is lost the meaning of Christianity in the first place:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Christ would have a tough time being received today, too. The American Family Association (which I financially support, despite this) is 'taking a stand' against illegal immigration and the President's plan. What does this have to do with the church of Christ or families? I happen to be more in agreement with the AFA than against in this case, but once again confusing cultural conservatism with Christianity further dilutes the message and chases away those most in need of mercy.
To quote Bennan Manning, "Something is radically wrong when the church rejects a person accepted by Jesus: when a harsh, unforgiving and judgmental sentence is passed on homosexuals; when a divorcee is denied communion; when the child of a prostitute is denied baptism; when an unlaicized priest is denied the sacraments. Jesus comes to the ungodly, even on Sunday morning. His coming ends ungodliness and makes us worthy." Doing otherwise makes faith a list of cultural precepts which deny the foundation of it.
Why is faith corrupted by politics? Because the issue at hand has nothing to do with faith, but those engaged in the corruption of it dearly want their side of the issue to be infused with the truth of faith and the authority it would thereby have - just like the corruption of science.
Hmm. It seems I have far more that I wish to write than any human would read in one post. I'll jump back into science and faith as political in that order one more time each, then finally answer the question - Do they need each other?
If we start with the faith that more people claim to have (and the operative word in this sentence is claim) in the U.S., Christianity, we can immediately see the wavering of faith. The number of denominations is truly staggering, and while I want to think that it is merely due to preferences in conduct of wroship service, I know better. The denominations fight over central vs. individual church authority, over the version of Bible to be used, over the role of church in society, over candles on altars, over weekly vs monthly communion, and over ministry vs. evangelism. The issues that churches split over are as serious as the depravity of the minister to the petty as whether a hymnal or overhead projector is used for songs. In all of this is lost the meaning of Christianity in the first place:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Christ would have a tough time being received today, too. The American Family Association (which I financially support, despite this) is 'taking a stand' against illegal immigration and the President's plan. What does this have to do with the church of Christ or families? I happen to be more in agreement with the AFA than against in this case, but once again confusing cultural conservatism with Christianity further dilutes the message and chases away those most in need of mercy.
To quote Bennan Manning, "Something is radically wrong when the church rejects a person accepted by Jesus: when a harsh, unforgiving and judgmental sentence is passed on homosexuals; when a divorcee is denied communion; when the child of a prostitute is denied baptism; when an unlaicized priest is denied the sacraments. Jesus comes to the ungodly, even on Sunday morning. His coming ends ungodliness and makes us worthy." Doing otherwise makes faith a list of cultural precepts which deny the foundation of it.
Why is faith corrupted by politics? Because the issue at hand has nothing to do with faith, but those engaged in the corruption of it dearly want their side of the issue to be infused with the truth of faith and the authority it would thereby have - just like the corruption of science.
Hmm. It seems I have far more that I wish to write than any human would read in one post. I'll jump back into science and faith as political in that order one more time each, then finally answer the question - Do they need each other?
posted by Hammertime at
1/16/2005 01:37:00 AM
1 Comments:
David,
While what you say is true, we must consider that first, there are many churches that do these things, and second, that we should not be content to let a church that fails to meet Christ's standards continue to do so.
You have hit the nail on the head by acknowledging our desire to be accepted by others. This innate desire is one we must contend with, and our churches need to recognize it and live love while preaching the truth. It's hard to do, and hence typically needs God's grace to be accomplished.
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Hammertime, at 1/17/2005 01:59:00 PM
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