We all have opinions. We have different degrees of confidence in these opinions, whether we consider this or not. I have no doubt that I am wrong on some of my opinions. I just do not know what they are. I think that it should be part of our life to 1) never forget that we will be wrong some of the time, and 2) never acknowledge this to the degree that we lack any confidence in entering into the world of ideas. Having said this, the topic of my blog today is an opinion that I am confident enough to write on but not (in my own mind) confident enough not to consider carefully as I write and realize I may someday even have to recant of it.
It is part of what I have tried to do with this blog. From time to time, Christianity in America has changed, reformed, evolved or whatever word you want to use. In the beginnings of Colonial times it was doctrinal, precise and disciplinarian. Emotion played a large part in the early part of the 19th century (a digression). Dull, formalism usurped the gospel on the elite Eastern seaboard cities after the Civil War, and Christians were ridiculed for their Fundamentalist beliefs (a collapse).
With Evangelicalism, we moved to the center and developed a persona. The world expects that persona to be evidenced in us and we try to achieve it even if it only an outward display. I'm not criticizing it, in fact at times I wish that I were part of it. I know many Christians who I admire greatly for attaining it. This Christian can be described as gentle, quiet kind and giving, but determined in their faith with a perpetual smile. We have told the world that this is what a Born Again Christian is and it has accepted the definition and therefore demands evidence of it. There are numerous problems with this. One can be kind and giving without being gentle and quiet but this description has been left out of the job description. We can be determined in different ways. One can be determined in being meek but a wash in defending doctrinal truth. We have different personalities and different gifts have been bestowed from God.
This theme has shown up in a number of my blogs. Living in this world, with our struggles, temptations and weaknesses is difficult. Ultimately, we cannot 1) avoid this struggle or 2) think that we have overcome it by taking the lowest posture. We deal with a very real situation in that the church is divided into the visible church and the invisible church. Multitudes claim Christianity but not all have been born again. We are not charged with identifying those who are not genuine, we are charged with defending doctrines we know to be essential so as not to proliferate the number of unsaved in the church. Martin Luther's personality would be taken to task today by the media and the gentle, quiet, kind and giving Christian would look askance at his antics, yet he was the most formidable force in Christianity since Augustine. John Calvin's personality was much closer to the GQKG type but the two of them helped transform the world.
In the Public Square, it would benefit the people if they realized that Christianity is more than Evangelicalism and particularly that the church that transformed the Western world in the Reformation would be a much more formidable foe to unbelief than Evangelicalism. It would also benefit them to realize that part of the good news of the gospel is that real people, just like them, have been shown mercy and should they themselves ever come to belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, their personalities will not disappear into a mindless existence and they too will seek other's patience for their weaknesses.
It is part of what I have tried to do with this blog. From time to time, Christianity in America has changed, reformed, evolved or whatever word you want to use. In the beginnings of Colonial times it was doctrinal, precise and disciplinarian. Emotion played a large part in the early part of the 19th century (a digression). Dull, formalism usurped the gospel on the elite Eastern seaboard cities after the Civil War, and Christians were ridiculed for their Fundamentalist beliefs (a collapse).
With Evangelicalism, we moved to the center and developed a persona. The world expects that persona to be evidenced in us and we try to achieve it even if it only an outward display. I'm not criticizing it, in fact at times I wish that I were part of it. I know many Christians who I admire greatly for attaining it. This Christian can be described as gentle, quiet kind and giving, but determined in their faith with a perpetual smile. We have told the world that this is what a Born Again Christian is and it has accepted the definition and therefore demands evidence of it. There are numerous problems with this. One can be kind and giving without being gentle and quiet but this description has been left out of the job description. We can be determined in different ways. One can be determined in being meek but a wash in defending doctrinal truth. We have different personalities and different gifts have been bestowed from God.
This theme has shown up in a number of my blogs. Living in this world, with our struggles, temptations and weaknesses is difficult. Ultimately, we cannot 1) avoid this struggle or 2) think that we have overcome it by taking the lowest posture. We deal with a very real situation in that the church is divided into the visible church and the invisible church. Multitudes claim Christianity but not all have been born again. We are not charged with identifying those who are not genuine, we are charged with defending doctrines we know to be essential so as not to proliferate the number of unsaved in the church. Martin Luther's personality would be taken to task today by the media and the gentle, quiet, kind and giving Christian would look askance at his antics, yet he was the most formidable force in Christianity since Augustine. John Calvin's personality was much closer to the GQKG type but the two of them helped transform the world.
In the Public Square, it would benefit the people if they realized that Christianity is more than Evangelicalism and particularly that the church that transformed the Western world in the Reformation would be a much more formidable foe to unbelief than Evangelicalism. It would also benefit them to realize that part of the good news of the gospel is that real people, just like them, have been shown mercy and should they themselves ever come to belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, their personalities will not disappear into a mindless existence and they too will seek other's patience for their weaknesses.
