JESUS, HOW DO WE UNDO THE DAMAGE?
I was reading The Reporter Tuesday morning and I like to read the Dear Amy advice column, so as I was reading I came upon this letter:
FREE SPEECH PROTECTS IDEAS WE DON'T LIKE By Amy Dickinson Tribune Media Services
DEAR AMY: I work at a printing company where one of our most lucrative accounts is for a series of teacher/student books on Christian values. These books are for kids first through 12th grade. We print several hundred of these a month. These books are teaching extreme, perverted values! In one 'teaching,' there is a letter from a person who asks if it's OK to help out at a homeless shelter on Sundays instead of going to church. The response ripped him to pieces! The book states that under no circumstances are you to miss church Sundays. It goes on to say that the person who wrote the letter must spend several hours in church every Sunday and several times during the week in hopes that he can be saved and not dammed to eternal hell. Amy, this is not right. To think that a child who gets taught this will tell my child that I'm a bad person and I'm going to hell by helping out the homeless Sunday instead of going to church makes me want to give up on humanity. I can't quit my job because I had a hard time finding work, and if I refuse to do the work on these books, I will be fired. I can't just ignore this. I'm a believer in free speech and the right to one's opinion, but what should I do about this? - Conflicted
DEAR CONFLICTED: Evidently, you don't really believe in free speech or the right to one's opinion. Or rather, you believe in these important values only as long as the speech and opinions conform closely to your own. Obviously, you don't share the values expressed in this material (nor do I). Fortunately, you and I have the right to disagree with these values, to not send our children to schools that use these materials and to help the homeless (or watch Abbott and Costello movies) instead of going to church Sunday. You and I (and also the people who raise their children according to these strict statutes) have the right to raise our children as we see fit - without the threat of interference from the authorities or outraged print-shop employees. This has nothing to do with you. If you find that you can't bear to have any part in the manufacturing or distribution of this material, then you should speak to your boss; perhaps you can be reassigned. Otherwise, you may have to find another job.
What are we doing? We wonder why Christians have such a negative image, but this lady's letter shows us clearly how so many Christians who THINK they are doing the right thing are really hurting the spread of the Gospel. I am posting this letter to encourage conversation about everything this woman has brought forward and how PASSIONATELY she is AGAINST Christianity because of the ridiculous stuff she read as she printed out this material at her job. If we knew this woman personally, how could we show her the love of Christ once she has been so turned off to Christianity? I am sure there are COUNTLESS people who have rejected Christianity (and in turn Christ) because of the damage we do as Christians by clinging to all the "ritual" things and not showing the world that what we stand for is NOT religion, but a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ. The floor is open for discussion.
FREE SPEECH PROTECTS IDEAS WE DON'T LIKE By Amy Dickinson Tribune Media Services
DEAR AMY: I work at a printing company where one of our most lucrative accounts is for a series of teacher/student books on Christian values. These books are for kids first through 12th grade. We print several hundred of these a month. These books are teaching extreme, perverted values! In one 'teaching,' there is a letter from a person who asks if it's OK to help out at a homeless shelter on Sundays instead of going to church. The response ripped him to pieces! The book states that under no circumstances are you to miss church Sundays. It goes on to say that the person who wrote the letter must spend several hours in church every Sunday and several times during the week in hopes that he can be saved and not dammed to eternal hell. Amy, this is not right. To think that a child who gets taught this will tell my child that I'm a bad person and I'm going to hell by helping out the homeless Sunday instead of going to church makes me want to give up on humanity. I can't quit my job because I had a hard time finding work, and if I refuse to do the work on these books, I will be fired. I can't just ignore this. I'm a believer in free speech and the right to one's opinion, but what should I do about this? - Conflicted
DEAR CONFLICTED: Evidently, you don't really believe in free speech or the right to one's opinion. Or rather, you believe in these important values only as long as the speech and opinions conform closely to your own. Obviously, you don't share the values expressed in this material (nor do I). Fortunately, you and I have the right to disagree with these values, to not send our children to schools that use these materials and to help the homeless (or watch Abbott and Costello movies) instead of going to church Sunday. You and I (and also the people who raise their children according to these strict statutes) have the right to raise our children as we see fit - without the threat of interference from the authorities or outraged print-shop employees. This has nothing to do with you. If you find that you can't bear to have any part in the manufacturing or distribution of this material, then you should speak to your boss; perhaps you can be reassigned. Otherwise, you may have to find another job.
What are we doing? We wonder why Christians have such a negative image, but this lady's letter shows us clearly how so many Christians who THINK they are doing the right thing are really hurting the spread of the Gospel. I am posting this letter to encourage conversation about everything this woman has brought forward and how PASSIONATELY she is AGAINST Christianity because of the ridiculous stuff she read as she printed out this material at her job. If we knew this woman personally, how could we show her the love of Christ once she has been so turned off to Christianity? I am sure there are COUNTLESS people who have rejected Christianity (and in turn Christ) because of the damage we do as Christians by clinging to all the "ritual" things and not showing the world that what we stand for is NOT religion, but a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ. The floor is open for discussion.
posted by Vicki at
8:27 PM
3 Comments:
I agree with the free speech thing. There's a great quote from "The American President" (movie starring Michael Douglas) about this:
"America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free".
The free speech thing aside, I would say that this one aspect of Christ's ministry is the biggest hurdle to the modern world.
We aren't under the threat of ignorance anymore, at least not in the way they were in the Dark Ages.
We have science. We have the cure for polio. We have the bomb.
We figured it out.
And Jesus has always said, "You don't have me? Then you're out."
The modern world can't take that kind of line drawn in the sand.
They said the earth was flat, now we see it's round.
They said the sun revolved around the earth, now it's the other way around.
They said Jesus was the way the truth and the life.
Is that changed too?
Might as well be -- we cured polio, man!
Jesus came to bring division (Luke 12:51).. he's separating the wheat from the chaff ..
Our job is to love. But some people can't put down their dukes enough to receive it.
And some Christians go overboard on the tradition part of things.
It's division.
It's real.
You are either in or you're out.
And most modern people can't stomach that kind of militant dichotomy.
I mean, Jesus cured leprosy, sure, but with touch. We got pills.
Dale
By
Wealthedge, at Fri Aug 25, 10:55:00 PM
Luke (The Message)
23-25A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?"
He said, "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, 'Sorry, you're not on my guest list.'
26-27"You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!' only to be interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.'
28-30"That's when you'll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You'll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God's kingdom. You'll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God's kingdom. And all the time you'll be outside looking in—and wondering what happened. This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last."
Nuff said.
By
Michelle, at Sat Aug 26, 12:09:00 AM
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Michelle, at Sat Aug 26, 12:09:00 AM
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