jbarcher
ANE Social Science Researcher
Hi. 
I was asked to post here but that day I did not do as I said I would. And it has been a few days since. (Sorry.) But maybe I shouldn't have read the thread in the meantime...
But maybe it is so, because of God's ways. For if I had replied then it would turn out to be a long rant with really no clear point but rather several. Consequently I would be confusing the main issue.
In the last few days, one main question has been magnified to my mind repeatedly through various ways. That question is, "What about you?" What about you, sss? Well, what about me. Are you living as you should? Are you treating people like you should? Are you talking to people like you should? When you are angry, what are you doing about it? When you want to say something that you are passionate about, how careful are you when saying it? Why are you doing some of the things you are doing? And on and on.
I think this whole issue is fairly simple. From where do problems arise? They arise with me. So then, if there is going to be change, then that change starts with me. One of the shortest letters sent was by G. K. Chesterton, and it went something like this:
One apologist whom I read and listen to regularly says, "I think God is wounding the church, wounding us before the watching world, in order to bring a cleansing." As par my finite sight, I can see the wounding. I can see how several issues rock us, and how our pride would like to ignore the fact that there are gaping wounds and many important things left unadressed.
I have just heard a story about an elder in a church having a talk with Dr. Ravi Zacharias behind closed doors. I don't have the time to repeat the whole story, but basically, this elder sinned so much he wondered if there was any point to confessing it anymore. And when that tearful talk was through, the two of them walked out of the office. The senior pastor was walking by, and he said, "Have you been talking with him, Ravi?" Ravi said yes. The pastor clapped the elder on the shoulder and said, "This man is our choicest elder. If only we had seven or eight more of him, this church would be really growing." And one could not stop the rush of tears that came following. The senior pastor somehow realized that what he'd just said, contradicted everything that was said in the closed room.
Who are you, behind closed doors? Who are you, sss? Who are you, between what you claim to be, and what you are in all of your life?
Before we can even begin to think about evangelizing, or tackling the intellectual issues that face each and every generation...we'd better make very sure that when we go out into the world, the watching world, we do not go out as hypocrites.
I was asked to post here but that day I did not do as I said I would. And it has been a few days since. (Sorry.) But maybe I shouldn't have read the thread in the meantime...
But maybe it is so, because of God's ways. For if I had replied then it would turn out to be a long rant with really no clear point but rather several. Consequently I would be confusing the main issue.In the last few days, one main question has been magnified to my mind repeatedly through various ways. That question is, "What about you?" What about you, sss? Well, what about me. Are you living as you should? Are you treating people like you should? Are you talking to people like you should? When you are angry, what are you doing about it? When you want to say something that you are passionate about, how careful are you when saying it? Why are you doing some of the things you are doing? And on and on.
I think this whole issue is fairly simple. From where do problems arise? They arise with me. So then, if there is going to be change, then that change starts with me. One of the shortest letters sent was by G. K. Chesterton, and it went something like this:
One apologist whom I read and listen to regularly says, "I think God is wounding the church, wounding us before the watching world, in order to bring a cleansing." As par my finite sight, I can see the wounding. I can see how several issues rock us, and how our pride would like to ignore the fact that there are gaping wounds and many important things left unadressed.
I have just heard a story about an elder in a church having a talk with Dr. Ravi Zacharias behind closed doors. I don't have the time to repeat the whole story, but basically, this elder sinned so much he wondered if there was any point to confessing it anymore. And when that tearful talk was through, the two of them walked out of the office. The senior pastor was walking by, and he said, "Have you been talking with him, Ravi?" Ravi said yes. The pastor clapped the elder on the shoulder and said, "This man is our choicest elder. If only we had seven or eight more of him, this church would be really growing." And one could not stop the rush of tears that came following. The senior pastor somehow realized that what he'd just said, contradicted everything that was said in the closed room.
Who are you, behind closed doors? Who are you, sss? Who are you, between what you claim to be, and what you are in all of your life?
Before we can even begin to think about evangelizing, or tackling the intellectual issues that face each and every generation...we'd better make very sure that when we go out into the world, the watching world, we do not go out as hypocrites.
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