1) Issue of Certainty: The early section of section 2 harkens me back to Core 250 and like courses at Whitworth, and the crux of the question is are we to be fully confident in the need for absolute truth. As western civilization grew alongside the Christian faith, the storyline was one of constantly making everything absolute, probable, knowable. I think this became evident in my own life as I was ingrained with the necessity of making Christianity rationale and having good arguments for why it is true. Don't get me wrong, I believe with absolute faith that Jesus is who he said he was and that his death on the cross is absolutely necessary for saving grace and redemption. However, perhaps it has been a matter of delivery. The Christian message of the gospel has been too often linked with the ethos of modernity, in that we had to be confident in the truth of the message which sometimes bread an arrogance into the realm of Christian evangelism. When people hear the message of Jesus it should be truly good news, not just because salvation is secured, but because the experience should be one of true transformation and redemption. How often it was not so for non-white peoples given that message? I guess I would wrap up this early section by asking, should be focus more on what the post-colonial societies have in the realm of justice issues, not just truth issues...or perhaps a better blend of both.
2) How are we as Americans to think about these goals as outlined by the Copenhagen Consensus, Millennium Development Goals, Rischard, PEACE Plan, and UN University lists? Can we integrate these goals into our lives and if so how?
3) Warren quote on second reformation: "The first Reformation, led by Martin Luther was about belief. This one will be about deeds. It is about what the church should be doing in the world."
-Does this lead to a works-based understanding of faith? Or is it simply that our Christian faith should produce certain good works that would be blessings to those in need?
4) What do you think about the term, "suicidal machine"? Is it too extreme? Accurate? I find myself eating certain words once uttered around a campfire along the Yaak river, and others once spoken if I buy into McLaren's assumptions. The question is do I have the humility to change even if it means swallowing pride that has guided me through much of my life? This is where I really began to be convicted by this book, in that I think I have been a part of the suicidal machine for too long, and only recently has God laid it on my heart to stop pretending there aren't very real problems in the world that I could do better to pay attention to as a natural outflow of my faith experience. I've always been one to say, of course that couldn't happen to me.
5) As a student of history I'm very interested in the sections on "destructive narratives" and I like that McLaren frames his thesis around this idea of having a new "framing story" that better reflects the message of Jesus. Did any of the narratives stand out to you?
To conclude, I will just say again sorry for the delay and its good to be back interacting with the books and I look forward to hearing your reflections. Peace and love, alan.
1 comment:
hey guys while reading this book for the past week in costa rica i have been blesses to have a bit of an outside point of view. it seems to come naturally while on travels yet the more so in light of our current study. throughout my days in manuel antanio, costa rica i was struck with the thought nothing should change. i understand the basic premise of the book, and understand jason´s comments about framework for the first two sections.
i also understand sunds quote about the complexity of the book, in fact alan´s own writing is somewhat complex...when´s the last time you heard ethos of modernity used...
so all kidding aside here are my thoughts on the second section.
when i read a list of development goals or peace plan my first thoughts are who produces this and what is there track record in creating these goal possible. yet there lies the trap, its easy to push responsibility to other helping in the ways we are unable to do so my simple donations.
don’t like the rick warren quote since naturally i just cringe upon the thought of works vs grace. while yes we are responsible for our actions as Christians and followers of Christ it just becomes too legalistic for me. it also seems to be a very American mind set.
looking forward to the next section and enjoying reading the posts. also looking forward to my next wave that i should be catching in about 30 minutes.
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