tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post536496458963624164..comments2024-03-24T19:55:32.537-05:00Comments on The View from This Seat: Whose Freedom? Which Faith?LKSeathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-77168593310339980522011-06-05T16:59:50.483-05:002011-06-05T16:59:50.483-05:00Since the days of Cain and Abel, there have been c...Since the days of Cain and Abel, there have been competing factions divided by their concepts of God. Jesus taught in a world divided into multiple factions. Paul wrote his letters to various factions in the early church. A thousand years ago Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox wings of Christianity went their separate ways. A few hundred years later the Protestant Reformation separated from Roman Catholicism. Since then Protestantism has been repeatedly dividing into new groups. Some thirty years ago a fundamentalist movement launched an aggressive takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. As it consolidated power within the SBC, it turned its sights onto the larger society around it.<br /><br />So what was this particular blog about? I doubt much of anyone was surprised by what Leroy found at the Strategy Briefing. This is the latest gathering of what once billed itself as "the conservative resurgence." Strategy was exactly what it was about. What is left except to sort out, except the mixed motives of theocracy, libertarianism, and cultural chauvinism?<br /><br />Somewhere in that sorting out, we might find one more question. What are the rest of us going to do? Well, Jesus repeatedly said "Pick up your cross and follow me." I do not think He was trying to tell us it was going to be easy. So, knowing that the wheat must grow with the tares, we try to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. We remember that faith, hope, and love endure to the end. And we freely confess that we believe that we shall know the truth, and the truth will make us free--even if the truth comes with unexpected prophets like Darwin, Einstein, Freud, and King bringing unexpected truth like evolution, relativity, psychology, and civil rights. If fundamentalism is a city built on sinking sand, it cannot stand. If we are true to our faith, we will seek a quantum theology worthy of the new millennium.Craig Dempseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00033176451913108084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-48584756298987428572011-06-05T15:15:28.831-05:002011-06-05T15:15:28.831-05:00A Thinking Friend, who was a longtime missionary c...A Thinking Friend, who was a longtime missionary colleague in Japan wrote, "Why did you address Pres. Obama as 'Prominent Christian Politician'? I'm very curious as I scratch my head."<br /><br />Here is my answer: <br /><br />Since surely there is no question about the President being prominent or a politician, I assume the problem is with my reference to him being a Christian.<br /><br />Since we Baptists are big on honoring people's "profession of faith," I refer to President Obama as a Christian because I have heard him say publicly that he is a Christian and that he believes in "the Lord Jesus Christ." <br /><br />I see no reason to doubt the sincerity or the authenticity of that profession.LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-45656336482032397592011-06-05T14:43:00.707-05:002011-06-05T14:43:00.707-05:00I am in very much agreement with you Dr. Seat. Th...I am in very much agreement with you Dr. Seat. The Christians on the right all profess to be Christian and Christian like, but cannot forgive and not accepting of much of anything. I don't think Jesus was like this at all. I cannot understand them. I don't think they want any freedom for others unlike them. Their lack of forgiveness, acceptance and tolerance doesn't seem Christian to me at all.Tammynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-41334610965590123752011-06-05T11:26:51.232-05:002011-06-05T11:26:51.232-05:00We always seem to migrate to our separate camps wi...We always seem to migrate to our separate camps within the Christian spectrum (oh, oh, mixed metaphor). When I was the Baptist Chaplain at Howard University, I met regularly with the chaplains of the mainstream churches (Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic) as well as the Pentecostal chaplain. We thought of ourselves as representing "all" of Christianity. Then one day notices begin to appear advertizing a joint planning meeting of "all" the Christian groups: Campus Crusade, Inter-Varsity, and several others that were non-denominational and evangelical. It fell my lot, since the planners "just knew" that as a Baptist I was "one of them", to insist on their inviting a wider spread of Christian leaders. Felt funny to be introducing people to one another who had for years been working the same campus for the cause of Christ.PreachOnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13223223945034880034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-29261055767354634862011-06-05T10:29:22.986-05:002011-06-05T10:29:22.986-05:00I appreciate this e-mail from a Thinking Friend in...I appreciate this e-mail from a Thinking Friend in Canada:<br /><br />"Thanks for your comments on the Faith and Freedom conference....I wonder about this title of the conference.....scary stuff! <br /><br />"There is also a parallel here in Canada ... the Conservative Party of Canada got in with a majority on May 2nd (Federal Election) ... some of the top leadership are strongly connected with the right wing fundamentalist Christianity here in Canada. <br /><br />"You know, once upon a time, liberal denominations i.e. The United Church of Canada had a lot of influence among the senior leadership of government in Canada but not so in recent years. The right wingers have taken over ... many influenced by the likes of Chuck Swindol (don't get me wrong, there are some things I like about Chuck but, on the whole, he is very narrow and cannot see the big picture!)."LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-8907534476784449612011-06-05T07:58:01.422-05:002011-06-05T07:58:01.422-05:00Clear and concise, Leroy. Thanks.
Here's a th...Clear and concise, Leroy. Thanks.<br /><br />Here's a thought, which will link this blog with an earlier one on war: In theory and sometimes in practice, the U.S. has separation of church and state. So our military actions and wars are seen as secular affairs. And we rightly condemn radical Islam for resorting to the sword in the name of Allah. However, in so far as our Christian religious bodies bless our military actions in national affairs, are we not rightly seen as Christian militants and thus duplicitous in our condemnations of radical Islam?Antonkjacobshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01734526091623931154noreply@blogger.com