Posted on 07/21/2006 9:23:07 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
What do you get when you hold a conference with 1,200 people who are all afraid of offending one another? I’ll tell you what you don’t get. You don’t get unity, and you don’t get agreement on anything.
That’s what happened when the Spiritual Activism Conference took place recently in Washington, D.C. According to the New York Times, this group of religious liberals came together to discuss “taking back religion from the conservative Christians.” But the conference members had trouble getting anything specific done.
The Times hit it right on the nose when it explained, “Turnout at the Spiritual Activism Conference was high, but if the gathering is any indication, the biggest barrier for liberals may be their regard for pluralism: for letting people say what they want, how they want to, and for trying to include everyone’s priorities rather than choosing two or three issues that could inspire a movement.” Never mind even setting policy goals; some conference members were afraid that singing hymns might be enough to upset some members. Instead of coming away with a clear set of objectives, the conference members mostly came away frustrated.
Ironically for a group that prides itself on tolerance, it seems the only thing the conference could agree on was its opposition to the “religious right.” But frustrating as it was for them, the group had to concede that the “religious right” is a lot better at getting things done. Beliefnet suggests this was because “religious conservatives are willing to argue there is one correct view on policy issues.”
You see, that’s the crux of the liberals’ problem. This conflict is not about political or social divisions. It’s about authority—specifically, whether or not Christians are willing to acknowledge that the Bible is our authority.
Tony Campolo certainly recognized this. Though Tony and I disagree on lots of things, I really like Tony. He’s honest, and he loves the Bible. He tried to explain at this conference the necessity of following Scripture. But one participant retorted, “I thought this was a spiritual progressives’ conference. I don’t want to play the game of ‘the Bible says this or that,’ or that we get validation from something other than ourselves.”
There you have it. Validation from ourselves simply means you make up your own god. We Christians may interpret the Bible differently; we may apply it to life differently; we may have arguments over exegesis. But the Bible has to be the ultimate authority. Otherwise we end up worshiping the goddess of tolerance and believing that tolerance takes precedence over truth.
Dorothy Sayers, the great English writer, said it best: “In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”
This kind of so-called “tolerance” can never bring people together, but only as we saw in Washington, pull them farther apart.
Yes, but you have to argue (as Ann Coulter does) that liberalism itself is a religion. Abortion is one of its holiest sacraments.
No, that's crap. It's not that the libs have advanced a bad idea called "tolerance" and made conservatives buy into it, it's that liberals have taken their bad ideas and slapped the name for a good idea (tolerance) on them.
To be quite frank, your posts in theis thread are awfully crotchety. Chill out.
I agree. Far too many Americans only practice spirituality on an emotional level, and it is, as you said, what makes them feel good.
Nice graphic.
Skylab is an admitted atheist. IOW, he/she is just here to get some jabs in at Christians.
When I used the phrase "The liberal Christian Church is today's Laodecia" I was referring to the liberal Christian Church; not liberals in general. There are liberal Christians and Conservative Christians. I was referring to the former group.
As Revelations 2 states they are neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. They profess Christianity but do not consider the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. That to me is lukewarm.
Even a fool who believes there is no God should be smart enough to see that a criminal can reform, and that three decades of public service outweighs a few years of skullduggery.
"not liberals in general"
Yeah, I know. I was refering to liberal "Christians" also. I would not consider them to be part of the Church because most of them don't even believe the basic facts of Christianity - including "christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures..."
True. But he was tried, convicted, imprisoned, saw the error of his ways, confessed, repented, and embarked on a new life, now living no longer for himself, but for the Lord.
I admire Colson --- very much --- as I admire anyone who has cast his sins down and trampled them underfoot. I hope we would all have the grace to do the same.
Aha.
As Doug Giles wrote, one can be a Liberal but not a Christian. One could be a Christian but never a Liberal. So true.
"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
I don't know what the word "spiritual" means to them.
But I can tell you what it's come to mean to me. Someone under the influence of Spirits other than the Almighty. that's what.
I think their motto is, "We can tolerate anything but intolerance"
You are correct, it does mean emotional, but in a 'love, peace, and pass that grass' kind of way.
If you don't preach sin, right and wrong, preach until the heart is filled with fear and terror, it won't see it's need. THEN you offer the Savior. Clinton never repented, IMHO, partially because people like Campolo were his counselors.
I don't know who you were quoting, but that sentence makes no sense.
It might be correctly rendered, "We all disbelieve in most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
Is that what you are trying to say?
Shalom.
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