I was reading my blogs this morning and I am distressed now.
Reading Mike Cope's blog, I understand where he is coming from and appreciate his concerns. However, it brings up more distress in me and why we can't all get along nicely.
Mike mentioned in his blog that “This Message is From Churches of Christ” was said by a well known radio/TV presenter. Mike's contention is that this person seems to be speaking for all Churches of Christ and in most cases he is not. Especially in this case since it has to do with women in the church.
What got me was some of the responses to that post. It has become a most silent shouting match.
I have not responded there, but will respond here. My problem is the mindset by many in the Churches of Christ. {We are "The Church" -- just like the church in the first century and if you are not doing it just like we are, then you are wrong.} The biggest problem with this mindset is that if they looked closely at the scriptures and compared tit for tat, they would find they are no more like the first century than the man in the moon! How can they? Lifestyles are different, the world is a different place. God's word is the same as always, I know that.
The other problem is where you draw the line on Gospel and scripture. All Gospel is scripture, but not all scripture is Gospel.
Now don't crucify me for that last sentence. Not every word in the Bible is Gospel. The Gospel is a person, not scripture and not words in a book. Gospel is the truth of Jesus and him crucified. It is the person of Jesus Christ. When we bank what we do in the two hours we meet on Sunday morning on this concept, then it all falls into place and it doesn't matter that I worship differently than you do. It doesn't matter that I have classrooms for Sunday School in my building. It doesn't matter that I allow all races and colors of people to attend my worship service. It doesn't matter that a woman is reading a scripture or playing a keyboard while I worship! Just that I worship Jesus!
Well, I did respond there. I even added this paragraph.
I have heard it said "The Church of Christ" is not a denomination. That is so far from the truth. We may not have a board of directors or pope to dictate rules, but we certainly seem to have a set of rules many think we should follow!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
ME, MYSELF AND I
I was up until about 1:30 last night reading a particular blog. When I went to bed, I was praying that God would give me the courage, strength and wisdom to be more like the person whose blog I was reading.
Let me explain more in detail. I came across this particular blog through another blog. I have found some interesting reading on blogs by linking to other blogs through blogs I read on a regular basis. I am purposely not mentioning the blog as of yet, because I have not talked with this person and not sure I want to confide in who she is.......yet.
However, let me say she is a person I would like to meet, talk with and feel comfortable that she would welcome my descriptions and explanations here. But until I actually know this, I am not comfortable with revealing this blog.
She was in a discussion about some very controversial topics. One in particular that interest me and I have to say I have never read a blog so controversial that did not turn ugly. I think that is partly what intrigued me. Each person that responded to the blog with comments was welcomed with open arms and honesty through this person. I believe, had I commented (which I did not), I would have felt completely welcomed and wanted, no matter what I said. There were those who were diametrically opposed to what was being said, there were those in total agreement and a lot of in between. But each person was responded to with grace and love. I think that is what was so exceptional about this blog. Nobody had all the answers! What a novel thought. There was really only one or two people who I thought believed they had the "right" answer and everyone else seemed to have questions, thoughts but no "right" answers, just opinions.
The whole experience caused a community of dialogue that was intriguing to the say the least.
I think what intrigued me the most was the fact that I want to be loved by people. I want people to respect me and search me out for answers. But I think in this experience of last night I realized I don't have answers and probably never will and by openly suggesting that might cause people to search me out! Does any of this make any sense? I'm sure it does not to you, because it doesn't make a whole of lot sense to me! But that is why I am blogging about this right now. I want to ferret out what was intriguing about it, what about it that I want to emulate and what I can learn from the experience.
Have you ever had an experience where you were so enamored with some one's ability to deal with people and topics and had a way with words that you wanted that?!? This is where I am today.
Let me explain more in detail. I came across this particular blog through another blog. I have found some interesting reading on blogs by linking to other blogs through blogs I read on a regular basis. I am purposely not mentioning the blog as of yet, because I have not talked with this person and not sure I want to confide in who she is.......yet.
However, let me say she is a person I would like to meet, talk with and feel comfortable that she would welcome my descriptions and explanations here. But until I actually know this, I am not comfortable with revealing this blog.
She was in a discussion about some very controversial topics. One in particular that interest me and I have to say I have never read a blog so controversial that did not turn ugly. I think that is partly what intrigued me. Each person that responded to the blog with comments was welcomed with open arms and honesty through this person. I believe, had I commented (which I did not), I would have felt completely welcomed and wanted, no matter what I said. There were those who were diametrically opposed to what was being said, there were those in total agreement and a lot of in between. But each person was responded to with grace and love. I think that is what was so exceptional about this blog. Nobody had all the answers! What a novel thought. There was really only one or two people who I thought believed they had the "right" answer and everyone else seemed to have questions, thoughts but no "right" answers, just opinions.
The whole experience caused a community of dialogue that was intriguing to the say the least.
I think what intrigued me the most was the fact that I want to be loved by people. I want people to respect me and search me out for answers. But I think in this experience of last night I realized I don't have answers and probably never will and by openly suggesting that might cause people to search me out! Does any of this make any sense? I'm sure it does not to you, because it doesn't make a whole of lot sense to me! But that is why I am blogging about this right now. I want to ferret out what was intriguing about it, what about it that I want to emulate and what I can learn from the experience.
Have you ever had an experience where you were so enamored with some one's ability to deal with people and topics and had a way with words that you wanted that?!? This is where I am today.
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