tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post112288559004311635..comments2024-02-05T05:00:19.099-07:00Comments on Soylent Green . . .: Personal Piety StinksSharad Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12150204571738424517noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1124552124475431242005-08-20T09:35:00.000-06:002005-08-20T09:35:00.000-06:00I came across these quotes which display the neces...I came across these quotes which display the necessity of love for unity, not the other way around.<BR/>“I do verily believe that when God shall accomplish it (unity), it will be the effect of love, and not the cause of love. It will proceed from love, before it brings forth love” (John Owen).<BR/>“Ah, were their souls fully assured that God had loved them freely, and received them graciously, and justified them perfectly, and pardoned them absolutely, and would glorify them everlastingly, they could not but love where God loves, and own where God owns, and embrace where God embraces, and be one with every one that is one with Jesus” (Thomas Brooks).<BR/><BR/>Interesting, looks like outward action. I need to finish my sermon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1124341862623032142005-08-17T23:11:00.000-06:002005-08-17T23:11:00.000-06:00Reading your last post on this thread, I really th...Reading your last post on this thread, I really think you'll enjoy Sojourners (the magazine I mention in the Baby Bacteria thread). They recognize that neither the left nor the right are really aligned with Christian values. Did you see any of those "God is not a Republican or a Democrat" bumper stickers that began appearing around the presidential election? Those were created and distributed by Sojourners.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1124341483520888442005-08-17T23:04:00.000-06:002005-08-17T23:04:00.000-06:00I'm pretty sure you're my new hero, I think?I'm pretty sure you're my new hero, I think?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1124336073251880192005-08-17T21:34:00.000-06:002005-08-17T21:34:00.000-06:00Thanks, Jeremy -- I must say that if what you mean...Thanks, Jeremy -- I must say that if what you mean by "political Christian conservatism" is the Republican Christian right, I'm tempted to go as far as to dismiss it as fundamentally un-Christian, root and branch. That isn't to say that I don't think being a Christian isn't a necessarily political statement -- I think it most certainly is -- but it is to say that the polarities of "liberal-conservative" and "Democrat-Republican" are fairly unhelpful for a Christian agenda.Sharad Yadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12150204571738424517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1124137742264798122005-08-15T14:29:00.000-06:002005-08-15T14:29:00.000-06:00Nice discussion, and it's nice to hear that BlueRa...Nice discussion, and it's nice to hear that BlueRaja has not bought into political Christian conservatism lock, stock, and barrel, or at all for all I know. <BR/><BR/>I know this is somewhat unrelated, so I apologize if I've derailed this thread.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1123098176074039372005-08-03T13:42:00.000-06:002005-08-03T13:42:00.000-06:00I thought i should note a few points of clarificat...I thought i should note a few points of clarification here:<BR/><BR/>1) I am a conservative evangelical, though not without grief<BR/><BR/>2) I am not Neo-Orthodox, though not willing to villify them<BR/><BR/>3) I am Indian, and a pacifist. Not that this has anything to do with anything, but I just found it funny that those two things are suprisingly unrelated!Sharad Yadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12150204571738424517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1122933411233966662005-08-01T15:56:00.000-06:002005-08-01T15:56:00.000-06:00Sorry about the empty parentheses -- they were mea...Sorry about the empty parentheses -- they were meant to carry a reference to Hebrews 1:1-4.Sharad Yadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12150204571738424517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1122933330323656552005-08-01T15:55:00.000-06:002005-08-01T15:55:00.000-06:00Thanks Stephen. I suppose that there's a dialecti...Thanks Stephen. I suppose that there's a dialectic going on there -- namely that you can't really know Christ apart from the testimony about Him; at the same time though, you can't know His word unless you follow Him. I suppose that I may have some Barthian sympathies with the primacy of Christology in our doctrine of revelation (), but that is in no way to denigrate the necessity of the written Word. It is to say, however (with Barth), that theology is impossible without humility because the truth at issue is a Person who says: "I am the Truth". Consdier the following quote from Barth's Dogmatics: <BR/><BR/>"To apprehend and affirm the idea [of deity] we have to think of definite periods in human history as this name leads us. . . we have to think of definite events and series of events which according to the witness of the Old and New Testaments actually took place at these periods and in these places, relating them always to the spoken and actualized 'I am'. And then necessarily we have to think of the concrete Scripture which bears witness to these events, the text of the Old and New Testaments."<BR/><BR/>The sense in which I see Christology as foundational is in that He is God's Word, who proceeds from the Father; He, in turn, sends God's Spirit, who ministers in His place and through Whom the Scriptures came to be.Sharad Yadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12150204571738424517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1122927580750057482005-08-01T14:19:00.000-06:002005-08-01T14:19:00.000-06:00Name the time, my friend, name the time (but don't...Name the time, my friend, name the time (but don't name it for this weekend, cuz I'll be out of town).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1122926134756476372005-08-01T13:55:00.000-06:002005-08-01T13:55:00.000-06:00Semper reformanda! You and I should chant it arm i...Semper reformanda! You and I should chant it arm in arm over a beer at Kahootz Pub and Eatery in Meridian, Nate!Sharad Yadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12150204571738424517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1122925985573128662005-08-01T13:53:00.000-06:002005-08-01T13:53:00.000-06:00You're right about getting it from both sides, ano...You're right about getting it from both sides, anonymous, but thanks for your wonderfully quirky encouragement! I do hope, however, that I didn't give the impression I had given up on evangelicalism. I consider these comments a "critique from within", not merely rock-throwing. <BR/><BR/>Your intincts were right about the constituents of my conservatism, although I would probably put the foundations on my view of incarnation with inspiration perhaps being a derivative of it. Likewise my uneasy membership in evangelicalism is due to the "wet blanket" of consumerized Christian culture. Thanks again for your colorful post -- hope to hear more of them, maybe even without the anonymity!Sharad Yadavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12150204571738424517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1122909006843359802005-08-01T09:10:00.000-06:002005-08-01T09:10:00.000-06:00"Disclosure of personal finances, discussions of s..."Disclosure of personal finances, discussions of sexual ethics, detailed codes for family living and even practices of communal ostracism were all normal functions of church life."<BR/><BR/>And how much have those areas <I>specifically</I> suffered for lack of accountability among the community of the Body! Both are epidemic problems in the church, furthered by the pride of thinking, "I can handle this myself," or the spiritual pride of thinking, "I don't want anybody to know I sin in <I>this</I> way - they will think I'm not spiritual!" The more hushed a sin in the Body, the more pervasively it spreads. I shudder to even consider the number of men in the church who are struggling with media-related lust (Internet, TV, movies, magazines) who have not disclosed the problem to any other person. It's scary.<BR/><BR/>And personal finances? Does it get any more personal than that? I have a funny feeling (in my tummy) that if we were to have specific accountability in that area, as the American church, our spending habits (and budgets) would look <I>significantly</I> different. Despite <A HREF="http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:14-30;&version=49;" REL="nofollow">God's VERY serious view of the matter (including "weeping and gnashing of teeth")</A>, we seem to take greed pretty lightly in this culture.<BR/><BR/>GIVE US REFORM!!<BR/><BR/>Anyway, good thoughts. And I have no idea what Anon is saying, but I'd love to book one of those fly-fishing trips. =)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14966686.post-1122906012373012482005-08-01T08:20:00.000-06:002005-08-01T08:20:00.000-06:00Theologically conservative non-evangelical blogger...Theologically conservative non-evangelical bloggers are travel agents advertising a fly-fishing trip to Fallujah. It's the best fishing there is, but you'll probably be murdered before you get there. <BR/><BR/>So be it. Presumably your theological conservatism is the natural result of your view of inspiration. And presumably, your non-evangelicalism is the natural result of theological conservatism without the wet blanket of cultural conservatism. <BR/><BR/>However you've arrived at this place, don't be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. In no-man's-land, you are going to take it from both sides. <BR/><BR/>You probably won't get much grief from me, though. Thanks for your post.<BR/><BR/>AnonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com