http://motherjones.com/media/2012/02/mark-fiore-cartoon-catholic-bishops-contraception-advice

In these post-modern times it is tempting to deny any the room to protect “their own version” of orthodoxy. Surely it is obvious that none of us have a complete enough understanding to know what is absolutely true and basic for our faith and so presume to exclude another with a different view?

However, if we believe that our Christian story is distinct enough to have core elements to it that we need to be faithful to, then it must by definition be possible to be unfaithful to that story and go off-piste in ways that need correcting.

Paul the apostle makes John Piper look like a post-modern wimp when he says to the Galatians that “even if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned”.

I believe in the wisdom of crowds,

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds)

and in our case the smart crowd is the church. I am hopeful enough to believe that the Holy Spirit working through the “body” will cause harmful errors to be shown to be dead-ends and for helpful shifts in Christian world-view to flourish.

I may hope that pre-millennial eschatology is a dead-end that will not survive the next hundred years and that the Rob Bell (Moltmann really) view of an all-forgiving God will flourish.

But I don’t know for sure.

Overall I say God bless John Piper and God bless Rob Bell and God help us decide which way we want to go.

Blessings all

Yesterday, in Ohio, Rick Santorum, the evangelical catholic presidential candidate asserted that Obama was operating under a different, unbiblical theology and that therefore disqualifies him from being president. Beyond the sheer idiodicy of this argument and the obivious deceits in it lies something even more frightening. Committed evangelical Santorum is comfortable with defining leadership of a diverse, multi-religious country in terms not only of adherence to a particular religion – Christianity, but also in terms of orthodoxy, an orthodoxy defined by Santorum himself. This should immediately disqualify Santorum from any consideration for the position of president though it wont.

I look all around at the magnitude of issues that face us, urgent things that must be addressed in order to prevent terrible consequences to the poor, the marginalized, and future generations and simply cannot imagine arguing about the theologies of hell (Roy Bell’s attackers) and afterlife amongst other things. For me those discussions can only occur if folks are not connected to the world around them and believe they have the luxury of avoiding reality. I certainly cannot look my students in the eye and avoid reality. I think those who follow Jesus need to develop a new and authentic intellectual life as the old one has been a disaster and is mostly irrelevent at this point. And I am glad for blogs like this one and Roger Mitchell’s as I think, together we are working, somewhat haphazardly at times, towards that intellectual discussion that can give us some support as we address real life issues in this time. As for those folks who have time and energy to pursue those thinkers they consider less than orthodox, I can only shake my head at such a waste of time. c.

Father let them love and not tolerate. Give them courage and a mandate to reveal you, the true Father, as they step aside, ever so slightly, when the time calls for it.

(Nehemiah 4:6-15)
6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.