"truth" as we "Christians" often present it...

August 1, 2009

I read an essay written by Robert Francis, an American Indian, about “idols.” Boy oh boy, he has a way of articulating things – questions – that I find often hovering on the edge of my consciousness, just enough to keep me feeling uncomfortable about the “truth” as we “Christians” often present it. Like when R was talking to – trying to firmly, enthusiastically convince, “because I love you and don’t want you to go to hell,” to that guy at Tuesday coffee, about his need to become a Christian. Later, she emailed me, wondering why he didn’t accept her – well, preaching, hmmm? – and I emailed her back and suggested maybe she needed to be his friend and earn his trust first...

The thing that resonated with me in R. Francis’ essay was that You are SO immense, and yet we so often present “OUR doctrine” of You (who are Ultimate Truth) as “absolute truth” (which of course we don’t even agree upon in a lot of points, but a lot of us seem to think OUR version is 100% and everyone else’s is – well, WRONG!) (Hell-bound wrong, even…)

Yes, I agree with Francis that we have made idols of our doctrines… (and too often, turned You, the living God and Savior, into pretty much of an idol… he didn’t really say that, but I’m thinking I’ve done that too often myself… and others too, maybe… SO SORRY…. )