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I want to build off something Mark Buchanan writes about in chapter 11 of Your God is too Safe. He says this, "The Pharisees had an ethic of avoidance, and Jesus had an ethic of involvement...They didn't ask, "How can I make others clean?" They asked, "How can I keep from getting dirty?" ... Jesus in sharp contrast got involved"... Rather than running from evil, He ran toward the good." (end quote)
So what do you make of that? It's a question to you and to me. Do you see Christians as "avoiding evil" or as being "involved" in the process of making others clean? This question is just another in the overarching question, "Does it matter how we live our lives."
There have been times in my life where I have only been interested in avoiding evil. I admit it. Close my eyes to the hurt, to the sin, to the dirt and if I sing loud enough, pray hard enough, fast long enough maybe it will all go away. Of late, I have been moving in the opposite direction, towards involvement. If I reach out, if I love, if I listen, if I risk THEN there is the possibility of change. Jesus did this everywhere He went. Should we, His followers, do any less?
So what do you make of that? It's a question to you and to me. Do you see Christians as "avoiding evil" or as being "involved" in the process of making others clean? This question is just another in the overarching question, "Does it matter how we live our lives."
There have been times in my life where I have only been interested in avoiding evil. I admit it. Close my eyes to the hurt, to the sin, to the dirt and if I sing loud enough, pray hard enough, fast long enough maybe it will all go away. Of late, I have been moving in the opposite direction, towards involvement. If I reach out, if I love, if I listen, if I risk THEN there is the possibility of change. Jesus did this everywhere He went. Should we, His followers, do any less?
Personally I see Christian as avoiding evil and then judging it from afar. They are so afraid of becoming corrupt themselves that they see it as an unnecessary risk to reach out and try to "make others clean".
ReplyDeleteIna very general and sterotypical sense I agree with you Mormon Atheist. There are however those like my friend Teresa who is living in a third world country helping to prosecute child molesters and then find adoptive homes for these same very confused and needy children. Often she works with gang members. She does this in the name of Jesus and at the risk of her own safety. Oh, if only this was the stereotypical Christian how different the world we live in would be.
ReplyDeleteSo what you're saying then is that she is typical and that what I said is the exception? I think it is the other way around.
ReplyDeleteNo, sorry if I was not clear. She is NOT typical. If the majority of Christians were like her, what a different world we would live in. Agreed?
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