Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Quote of the Day
No matter how right we are in what we believe about God, no matter how accurately we phrase our belief or how magnificently and persuasively we preach or write or declare it, if love does not shape the way we speak and act, we falsify the creed, we confess a lie. Believing without loving is what gives religion a bad name. Believing without loving destroys lives. Believing without loving turns the best of creeds into a weapon of oppression. A community that believes but does not love or marginalizes love, regardless of its belief system or doctrinal orthodoxy or “vision statement,” soon, very soon, becomes a “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9). Eugene H. Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005), p. 261
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9 comments:
This would be a little less painful to read if I hadn't watched the church Eugene pastored spiral down into rank liberalism in the five or six years after he left. The congregation had no bearings in the truth. Yes, orthodoxy without love is a bad thing, but love without orthodoxy neither loves the truth nor truly loves.
Amen. While I like much of the book I'm quoting from, I can see the seeds of what you are talking about. Pastor Peterson's theology seems to be very squishy and tends toward trying to be trendy. One of the main points of this book is the importance of community, but one wonders why he lives in Montana and is pastoring one of the many churches he led throughout his ministry years. In other words, why didn't he have a long term ministry like our pastor here in Moscow?
Actually Eugene was at the church he started in Maryland for 29 years. That's part of what was so sad...nearly 30 years and no concrete under the congregation. I think he was in Pittsburgh for a year after that, and then at Regent in Vancouver for a while. I assumed he was pretty much retired in Kallispell (where he grew up, incidently). I didn't realize he was still doing any pastoring. He's in his mid-70s, I believe.
And just for the record, in the brief time we overlapped at that church (I was in the last group of folks to join before he left), he was very kind and gracious to me. I just think he had some serious pastoral failings.
Oh...I see comments have gone from "wonderful" to "helpful." Since I'm practically the only one who ever comments, I wonder if I should take that personally? ;-)
Valerie, Your comments are still wonderful, but they are also helpful. I was just hoping to encourage others, who might think their comments were not all that wonderful, to contribute.
Good job covering yourself there. ;-)
You know what would make the comments truly wonderful? If you would change the time stamp to also show the date. It's pretty easy: In your Blogger control panel, click Settings > Comments, and select a more informative option.
Why do you want the dates?
Because they're helpful, of course!
Am I coming in on a stale conversation, or is it still in progress? Do I need to apologize for taking so long to respond to someone's comment, or did he leave it only seven minutes ago? Once the world realizes you're here and starts deluging you with comments, you'll see how useful dates are! Besides, times without dates are just absurd bits of data...better to have nothing at all than something without enough context to give it meaning.
No one expects the deluge!
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