God never ceases to amaze me. I started reading (and nearly finished) a book on the plane today that completely affirmed everything that I’ve been feeling recently. Take that, Satan!
I feel a little silly that I allowed myself to get so discouraged. But you know, it happens. But I want to share with you a little more of my heart, this time in the words of Shane Claiborne in The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. I hope you will take the time to read all of these quotes. This is only a small portion of the book, but each of these spoke volumes to me. I found myself in tears several times on the plane today because of the intense hunger for God I feel.
“While the voices of blockbuster movies and pop culture cry out for a life outside the matrix of numb efficiency, Christianity often has offered little to the world, other than the hope that things will be better in heaven.”
“Sometimes we speak out to change the world, and other times we speak to try to keep the world from changing us.”
“There are many false prophets (and false profits) out there, and all kinds of embarrassing things being done in the name of God. Religious extremists of all faiths have perverted the best of our traditions. But there is another movement stirring, a little revolution of sorts. Many of us are refusing to allow distorted images of our faith to define us. There are those of us who, rather than simply reject pop evangelism, want to spread another kind of Christianity, a faith that has as much to say about this world as it does about the next.”
“Dualism has infected the church, a dualism in which folks separate the spiritual from the political or social, as if the political and social issues were of no spiritual significance, and as if God had no better vision to offer this world…The issues we will stir up can be volatile and gut-wrenching. But I think there are enough of us so discontented with the old answers and traditional camps–whether believers or activists, capitalists or socialists, Republicans or Democrats, pacifists or just-warriors–that the risk is worth it. The time has come for a new kind of conversation, a new kind of Christianity, a new kind of revolution.”
“In our culture of “seeker sensitivity” and radical inclusivity, the great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd. With the most sincere hearts, we do not want to see anyone walk away from Jesus because of the discomfort of his cross, so we clip the claws on the Lion a little, we clean up a bit the bloody Passion we are called to follow.”
“We would like to include people like the rich ruler and Ananias and Sapphira, but we would end up with the sort of Christianity that arose after Constantine, in which everyone can be a Christian but no one knows what a Christian is anymore.”
“We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.”
“I’m not sure we need more churches. What we really need is a church. I say one church is better than fifty. I have tried to remove the plural form churches from my vocabulary, training myself to think of the church as Christ did, and as the early Christians did. The metaphors for her are always singular–a body, a bride. I heard one gospel preacher say it like this, as he really wound up and broke a sweat: “We’ve got to unite ourselves as one body. Because Jesus is coming back, and he’s coming back for a bride, not a harem.”"
“For us, belief is only the beginning. What really matters is how we live, how what we believe gets fleshed out, so we also have a statement of orthopraxis (meaning, “right living, right practices”). And this is where most belief-oriented faith communities fall short. They tell us only what they believe, but they do not tell us how their beliefs affect their lifestyles.”
“People are poor not just because of their sins; they are poor because of our sins (and people are rich because of our sins). On the wall of New Jerusalem (a facility made up of people recovering from addictions) is a sign that reads, “We cannot fully recover until we help the society that made us sick recover.”"
“Jesus never talked to a prostitute because he didn’t see a prostitute. He just saw a child of God he was madly in love with.”
“We live in an age in which people, when they hear the word Christian, are much more likely to think of people who hate gays than people who love outcasts, and that is a dangerous thing.”
“The world has seen Christian extremists who will blow up abortion clinics and dance on doctors’ graves. We have seen Christian extremists who hold signs that say, “God hates fags.” The world has seen Christian extremists who declare war in the name of the Lamb. But where are the Christian extremists for love and grace?”
Perhaps my words earlier did not seem to carry love and grace in them; I assure you, it was there. My heart cries out for the world to see Jesus! And to see Jesus through those of us who carry his name. And for that to happen, the church needs to see itself the way the world does. We are supposed to be a light in the darkness. We’re supposed to help the poor and the outcasts and the sick. But those who don’t believe see us as full of hatred and judgment and condemnation. We have our exclusive Christian bubbles and often don’t want to be bothered by anything outside of them.
Burst the bubble.
Reach out a helping hand.
Do, don’t just tell.
I like your passion, Amanda. I like your call to not be complacent.
You say, “Those who don’t believe see us as full of hatred, judgement and condemantion”. That is very sad. And may it never be said of me….God help me!
I want to be that light in the darkness you mention as something we should be.
You make a good cheerleader, Amanda. I can see you in a leadership position encouraging others to be all God’s created them to be. I can see you as someone cheering us from the balcony as we make a difference for Christ where we each live. You have a good heart, Amanda.
Wow. Thanks for the inspiration. Or better, You ARE an inspiration!
Amanda, my library is filling up with books to read because of you!
This post is beautiful, not just for the book excerpts, but for the last couple of lines you add.
Burst the bubble…reach out a helping hand…Do, don’t just tell.
I am excited for you, Amanda, proud of you, and I’m so looking forward to watching you put all this in motion. God bless you and your ministry.
I’ve read Claiborne’s book recently and it really challenged me in some areas of my thinking.
There was much to absorb, and some to discard. Some of the ideas have allowed my job on the financial decision making team of my church to take on a whole new meaning.
Christian extremism…that would be living exactly like Christ. Are there any?
We are supposed to be a light in the darkness. We’re supposed to help the poor and the outcasts and the sick. But those who don’t believe see us as full of hatred and judgment and condemnation.
Actually the world has never liked the Christian. I think that escapes you. They interpret truth as hate. For you to change the perception the world has towards Christians is for you to change the truth.
John 7:7
The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
John 15:8
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
The world has always hated Christians? In Acts 2:47 we read this interesting bit of information: “all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved (NLT).
On a cultural level the people of God have always been percuted. So if world is to be defined as the cultural and governmental institutions of this world then yes Christianity will be resisted.
If the world is used to identify those living outside of God’s will, the opposite of the Church, then on an individual basis we should see people show respect for Christ-Followers even if they are not believers. Why? Because a true Christ-Follower makes life better for all those around him/her.
Sorry Paul, that may make good feel-good preaching but that’s not the theology of the Bible.
1. The all people in your verse is talking about all the people in the church not those outside the church. You may want to read the whole chapter and study the context.
2. Your definition of world (both) cannot be found in any existing dictionary in the world. You are succumbing to the semantics game. The only difference between the atheist and you is that they seem to be better at it than you. At least they play around with definitions that exist.
John 15:19
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
P.S. You may also need to throw away that Bible that is propagated by theological infidels.
3. II Corinthian 6 “14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Be’li-al? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?”
II Timothy 3:
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Well i was somehow directed to your blog today, saw the most recent post, and thought to myself “She should read my new favorite book, ‘The Irresistible Revolution’. Sounds right up her alley.” Then I snooped around a bit, and here I am! I am so glad that Christians are beginning to discover this book… I suppose part of the reason is that there is a small but growing group of us who want to recommend the book to every single Christian we know. Anyways, thats all I dropped in to say. Have a good one.
Oops, I guess this post is the most recent… I was directed to another one. Hmm… Blushing.
WOMI,
I am not going to debate you. One reason is Amanda’s blog isn’t the place for this debate and a second reason is because you are such a joy to converse with.
I stand by what I have written. I don’t know what dictionaries you looked at, but both Thayer’s dictionary of Greek words and Webester New Word Dictionary seem to confirm my definitions for world. Then again those might have been propagated by infidels too so what can I trust?
I always enjoy reading the Christian-like comments on a Christian blog
I stand by what I have written. I don’t know what dictionaries you looked at, but both Thayer’s dictionary of Greek words and Webester New Word Dictionary seem to confirm my definitions for world. Then again those might have been propagated by infidels too so what can I trust?
Well maybe you can post those definitions, because as far as I know those dictionaries do little to prop up your position.
I wholeheartedly agree. You diagnosed what’s affecting today’s church quite accurately.