Wednesday, 06 May 2009
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Disharmony Among Christians: A Cancer in the Body of Christ
The Christian Post has a short article covering the former president Jimmy Carter's address to the New Baptist Covenant (a diverse gathering of Baptists) this past weekend. President Carter stated: Disharmony among Christians, he said, “is like a cancer metastasizing in the body of Christ.”
“We're saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. That's a fundamental in which I believe. And I think for Christians that's basically adequate,” the former president said to the more than 800 attendants gathered at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. "If you believe in that, no matter how you feel about homosexuality or the death penalty or church and state being separated ... we should put those things aside."
“They (Baptists overseas) see us (U.S. Baptists) at each other's throats, as argumentative, as struggling for authority and power,” Carter said Saturday, according to The Charlotte Observer.
The Christian Post article doesn't challenge or support President Carter's comments. Nor does the New Baptist Covenant seem to have any particular direction on their website other than to look for some common opportunities to support each other. This gets me to thinking ...are we doing anything about this cancer??
There is no question at this point that a few things are true.
- The percentage of people in the US who identify themselves as Christian is shrinking.
- The word "Christian" has been stained with politics, with its denominational labels (Baptist, Catholic, etc) being all the more tarnished.
- Conservative to moderate Christian viewpoints are viewed more and more as intolerant and extremist by mainstream America and liberal Christians.
- Liberal to moderate Christian viewpoints are viewed as heretical and subversive by the conservative Christian community.
If these problems can indeed be equated to "a cancer metastasizing in the body of Christ" (I've used the same analogy in other posts), then what should be done about it? I have the feeling that we are looking at each other and saying: "Yep. Looks like cancer. Dang cigarettes, I shouldn't have taken up that habit." Then we take another puff and start arguing with each other about which brand of smokes causes the worst cancer.
Usually, I just pose a question to all of you. This time, I do want to offer a few things I think would help.
- We must quit trying to bring people INTO church. We need to be going out into the community around us and serving it. Only by being Christ will others be drawn to Him. I would love if congregations ditched every program that is designed to bring people into the church building and instead began partnering with soup kitchens, homeless shelters, battered women safe houses and the like.
- Fast & pray. By fasting, I mean more than food. We would do immensely well to set aside a day to fast from anything that has an electronic screen, or from anything that creates music or broadcasts information, or from works of fiction. Instead, let's spend at least a small amount of deliberate time in quiet meditation, praying exclusively for individual people (not organizations or causes), and slowly reading passages from our Bibles.
- We MUST leash our tongues. Imagine if a church went one month with nobody gossiping, backbiting or otherwise speaking in hushed tones about each other or any other person?
- We need to cease all collective political activism. Collective church bodies should immediately cease advocating or challenging positions on any issue or person that is actively in political play. Take those discussions home. Privately support lobbies, activists or organizations that reflect your views. But, whenever we are on church property or church time, let's keep the focus Christ and Kingdom exclusive.
I'll stop here, but believe me, I could easily make a top 10 list. Okay, so here's my question to you:
What do you think will help stop the spread of cancer in the body of Christ?
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- From: BookMark61@xanga
- Name: Brett
- About Me: Theology, sociology and psychology fascinate me. Why do we hold the views we do?
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Comments (43)
love love love.
and education.
Well put, friend. Well put. I wasn't sure where you were going with that, but in the end, I just agree.
Jimmy Carter is arguably the worst president in US history. To accept any premise he comes up with is to accept falsehood.
There is a cancer in the modern world: Satan. Christianity is the cure.
And there is nothing wrong with arguing. That is the human intellect at work. Iron sharpens iron.
i agree with the comment above ...Love ! Great Post and I agree 100% :)
Thank you. You seem more sane than most of the people I have to deal with on a regular basis.
I think unity is a positive aspect of post-modernism. Post-modern Christians, while not immune to disagreements and division, are less inclined to draw lines in the sand over denominational disputes due to the fact that truth is not as black-and-white on every issue.
What a great question. Forgiveness probably. I liked President Carter.
There was one Church once. It's still here after all this time, and the doors are wide open...
I think I have the reason for so much disunity: "Christian" cults. I think everyone would be suprised at how many people are involved in The Children of God/Family of Love "Christian" cult, for example. They are all over the place. They appear as Christians but they are very weird underneath the surface. I know. They befriend as someone who loves you but they are only self serving. If you let them they will make you miserable. You can never be good enough for them. They will quote the Bible but only to tell real Christians they are wrong. I feel real sorry for them. I think the only way to get through to them with the truth is by getting drunk and having an all out no holes bared verbal war.
@LoBornlite@xanga - Regarding Carter: That's an ad hominem fallacy if I've ever heard one.
Even Hitler would be right if Hitler said that 2+2=4. Just because it's Hitler saying it doesn't automatically make it wrong. Likewise, just because it's Carter saying something doesn't automatically make it wrong, either--argue against the argument, not the arguer.
JESUS. If we all focused on Jesus alone, everything would fall into its place.
Amen.
I agree with what Carter said, and I think you covered the main bases pretty well with your list of four things. We need to do kinder things to others, not necessarily to stop the dwindling away of Christians, or to bring more in, but instead to do what a Christian should be doing.
@ChrisRusso@xanga - Likewise, just because it's Carter saying something doesn't automatically make it wrong, either--argue against the argument, not the arguer.
Ordinarily I would agree with you. But Jimmy Carter is the exception that proves the rule.
Anything and I mean ANYTHING that man says is 180 degrees out of phase.
@ChrisRusso@xanga - Even Hitler would be right if Hitler said that 2+2=4. Just because it's Hitler saying it doesn't automatically make it wrong.
Wicked demogogues like Hitler use truth to lend credence to their lies. This is what propaganda is.
Understanding the man helps with understanding his agenda. As a president, Jimmy Carter was a blithering incompetent. That was because the philosophy underlying his actions defied common sense. Consequently his policies had disasterous consequences.
In the quote above, Carter advocates that for the sake of harmony, Christians should ignore the paramount issues of life and liberty and how decent people should construct their society.
His premise: Can't we all just get along?
Where have we heard that before? I don't want to get along with people hell bent on destroying society.
"We must quit trying to bring people INTO church."
Why? our goal is to bring others to Christ and bringing people into Church is one of the ways that God can work through one of the pastors, group leaders, or even an a person who attends the Church to influence the person who really doesn’t go to Church.
True that we need to go out into the community to share the gospel, but I don’t see why stop bringing people into Church.
To slow down the spread of cancer in the Christian community whenever we hear people only saying that Jesus taught "love" we should lovingly remind that person Jesus also taught repentance. I find strong advocates of "love thy neighbor" are often less likely to apologize for their wrongdoing and mistakes and even show resentment when reminded.
Christianity =/= a political party. Christians need to stop acting like it is.
@LoBornlite@xanga - As usual when confronted with an idea that rattles your ideological cage you argue against what you choose to interpret, rather than what was written. Carter did not, as you claim, argue that "for the sake of harmony, Christians should ignore the paramount issues of life and liberty and how decent people should construct their society." Read the article in full, learn about the organization he was addressing. He's against the trend of people with ideological differences isolating themselves in parishes of like-minded people - which is shying away from debate, not embracing it. No iron being sharpened there.
It kindof amazes me that even on a post such as this one you've got people arguing.
It makes me feel a little better about when people argue my posts.
I guess some people just like to argue, no matter what was said.
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@guru Hoodoo - Carter did not, as you claim, argue that "for the sake of harmony, Christians should ignore the paramount issues of life and liberty and how decent people should construct their society."
Yes he did. Here it is right from the post"
"If you believe in that, no matter how you feel about homosexuality or the death penalty or church and state being separated ... we should put those things aside."
@LoBornlite@xanga - Simply repeating an out-of-context quote when I had just explained that it was out-of-context doesn't really help your case. He was not saying people should put aside their beliefs entirely.
Tedious as it is, I will repeat myself in a different way, in the hopes of getting through to you: Carter was saying that differing beliefs on such questions should not be enough to split his church. That's a far cry from asking people to give up their principles, or to give up on trying to improve the world as they see fit. He's not even proposing that people not debate: on the contrary, he's asking for people of different views to join together in worship, rather than creating ideological silos for themselves in which they can hide from dissent.
@guru Hoodoo - Simply repeating an out-of-context quote when I had just explained that it was out-of-context doesn't really help your case.
So now each Revelife post has to be interpreted by you? If the quotes are out of context take it up with the OP.
This post : its comments :: premise : proof