Musings of Keith Davy regarding Spiritual Journeys; Life Stories; God; Theology; Evangelism; CoJourners [of course]; Campus Ministry; Church in the 21st Century; Innovation in Ministry; Culture; Leadership Development; Missions; and more.
Well it's certainly an interesting take on letting the old generation pass and moving toward something new. And I have to say, although I am not generally very vocal about it, this appeals to me FAR more than the many of the public aspects of the current evangelical generation. Although there are many conservative ideals I wish for, I find it amazing that many of my Christian friends think that opposing abortion or other political travesties gives them license to slander opponents in public, to harden their hearts against compassion for others, even to hate their enemies. And never once in their compassion for the unborn child have I even seen any of my friends take in a teenage mother or to go out of their way to the neediest urban areas of teenage pregnancy to offer financial or emotional aid, to voluntarily clean houses or babysit or homeschool a single mother’s children. There are few things that make me very angry, but this is one, because many Christians seems to be "crusading" in politics and public sphere not because they really care about others, but because they want to win, because they feel angry, because they want to get back at all the people who made them feel ashamed to claim to be a Christian or to have a Christian worldview. If this is the result of two decades of pastors preaching that we shouldn’t be afraid to speak about the faith, then I'd rather they had preached silence instead. And where is the shame? The shame of treating "enemies" as worthless, without compassion? Aren't we supposed to love them? Or is Christ an enemy to the faith as well?
For me, the greatest proof that Christ lives in me, that he has Authority, power to change, is my ability to have compassion. I know myself and I know what others may never have realized: from my earliest memories and moments of self-awareness, I knew I never cared about anyone, but only about how they treated me. Before I became a Christian, I not only knew it, but I had tried and failed to change it. For some I had contempt and even hatred--usually for those who did something to hurt me. For most I had disdain or complete unconcern. My parents, my siblings, my schoolmates. I live a lonely life, but I knew very well that I didn't care about them, and felt somehow that something was wrong with me, or that I was less than most people, and had no idea what love was. One of the things that drew me most to Christianity, to Crusade, in fact, was the proof that God could make me better, give me what I knew I couldn't give myself. And I had proof in people like Paul Payne, whom I knew to be honest, and knew now had compassion instead of contempt. So one of my first prayers once I became a Christian was that God would give me compassion, too. And it still took YEARS before I felt even the barest glimmer of TRUE compassion, something that I could say with certainty wasn’t tied only to my own selfish desires. To me, it is one of the greatest give God has ever given me, and there are others he gave of immeasurable value as well. So I find it astonishing that many of my friends from my hometown or from college or churches I've been a part of find it so easy to willfully close their hearts and minds to understanding the people whom they disagree with.
I may not agree with every political agenda of every candidate, but I detest preachers who instruct people on who to vote for, and I'm ashamed of Christians who listen and obey without question. I hate that the whole enterprise takes away the focus from things of real value. And I'm afraid that the next generation of Christian will increasingly harden their hearts to some of the valuable things that this generation does have to offer. But if it came to a choice, for me, I would choose compassion and understanding over anxious defense of Christ and a Christian worldview.
Christ doesn't need defended, he needs explained. And we don't need to defend ourselves, we need to prove our compassion by being willing to take insults and abuse and whatever else may come, because people need to see we're genuine, that Christ is worth is, that he offers something SUPERnatural. Because they don't know, and they don't know where to turn. And they will never turn here unless we stop turning them away. That is what confidence in the faith produces.
3 comments:
Well it's certainly an interesting take on letting the old generation pass and moving toward something new. And I have to say, although I am not generally very vocal about it, this appeals to me FAR more than the many of the public aspects of the current evangelical generation. Although there are many conservative ideals I wish for, I find it amazing that many of my Christian friends think that opposing abortion or other political travesties gives them license to slander opponents in public, to harden their hearts against compassion for others, even to hate their enemies. And never once in their compassion for the unborn child have I even seen any of my friends take in a teenage mother or to go out of their way to the neediest urban areas of teenage pregnancy to offer financial or emotional aid, to voluntarily clean houses or babysit or homeschool a single mother’s children. There are few things that make me very angry, but this is one, because many Christians seems to be "crusading" in politics and public sphere not because they really care about others, but because they want to win, because they feel angry, because they want to get back at all the people who made them feel ashamed to claim to be a Christian or to have a Christian worldview. If this is the result of two decades of pastors preaching that we shouldn’t be afraid to speak about the faith, then I'd rather they had preached silence instead. And where is the shame? The shame of treating "enemies" as worthless, without compassion? Aren't we supposed to love them? Or is Christ an enemy to the faith as well?
For me, the greatest proof that Christ lives in me, that he has Authority, power to change, is my ability to have compassion. I know myself and I know what others may never have realized: from my earliest memories and moments of self-awareness, I knew I never cared about anyone, but only about how they treated me. Before I became a Christian, I not only knew it, but I had tried and failed to change it. For some I had contempt and even hatred--usually for those who did something to hurt me. For most I had disdain or complete unconcern. My parents, my siblings, my schoolmates. I live a lonely life, but I knew very well that I didn't care about them, and felt somehow that something was wrong with me, or that I was less than most people, and had no idea what love was. One of the things that drew me most to Christianity, to Crusade, in fact, was the proof that God could make me better, give me what I knew I couldn't give myself. And I had proof in people like Paul Payne, whom I knew to be honest, and knew now had compassion instead of contempt. So one of my first prayers once I became a Christian was that God would give me compassion, too. And it still took YEARS before I felt even the barest glimmer of TRUE compassion, something that I could say with certainty wasn’t tied only to my own selfish desires. To me, it is one of the greatest give God has ever given me, and there are others he gave of immeasurable value as well. So I find it astonishing that many of my friends from my hometown or from college or churches I've been a part of find it so easy to willfully close their hearts and minds to understanding the people whom they disagree with.
I may not agree with every political agenda of every candidate, but I detest preachers who instruct people on who to vote for, and I'm ashamed of Christians who listen and obey without question. I hate that the whole enterprise takes away the focus from things of real value. And I'm afraid that the next generation of Christian will increasingly harden their hearts to some of the valuable things that this generation does have to offer. But if it came to a choice, for me, I would choose compassion and understanding over anxious defense of Christ and a Christian worldview.
Christ doesn't need defended, he needs explained. And we don't need to defend ourselves, we need to prove our compassion by being willing to take insults and abuse and whatever else may come, because people need to see we're genuine, that Christ is worth is, that he offers something SUPERnatural. Because they don't know, and they don't know where to turn. And they will never turn here unless we stop turning them away. That is what confidence in the faith produces.
WOW!!! I so so so so so much agree with dcmcmurtry. So much so that I need to paste his last comment on facebook. PRAISE GOD!!!
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