:) probably no need to
apologize..e.g., i write to the list sometimes the same way as you,
i.e., in a concatenating series..
On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 00:27:03 -0500 "Debbie Sawczak" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Sorry to go on, but I feel the need to clarify just a tad more. I don't mean to imply that I naively assume we all have the same big picture and all essentially agree. I mean that we may have to do a lot more listening, perspective-adjusting, weighing, and risking in order to recognize those occasions when we do agree despite our saying what appear to be quite different things.-----Original Message-----
From: Debbie Sawczak [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2005 12:15 AM
To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] Good News!I may have been guilty of stretching the Scriptural body analogy there. But if we really are going to say the same thing (even if in slightly different words), we may as well not converse.-----Original Message-----
From: Debbie Sawczak [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2005 12:10 AM
To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] Good News![Debbie] I don't agree with this either, and I think it is important. The apostles Paul and James (to go back to a previous post) ultimately believed in the same Good News, but in emphasizing different things they didn't say the same thing; they said complementary things. They certainly don't sound the same; if they did, Luther wouldn't have had doubts about the canonicity of James. And that's just it: in the same way, we here will seem to be saying quite different things at times even when our utterances fit into the same big picture. (Not that they necessarily do.) We can't use sameness as a necessary condition of rightness. To me that seems a scary direction to move in.Unity presupposes diversity. A group of n identical things can never be a unit; it will always be a group of n units, however tightly and pleasingly they are arranged like bricks in a wall. In order for a number of things to be one thing, they have to be different. Hence the body image. Not only does the foot do something different from the ear, but I bet if it talked, its account of things would be different! Part of our diversity is how we experience, see, and say things. And part of faith is trusting God for one another, and relinquishing the need to "match" for security.-----Original Message-----In a message dated 1/16/2005 4:52:47 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 10:57 PM
To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Good News!
John wrote:
>Huh??? We will never have unity based
>upon "all saying the same thing ...."
I don't disagree with the rest of your post, but you might be overstating
your case. It seems to me that God does desire for us to say the same
thing. This does not mean that we will all be robots that parrot each
other. There is still room for us to emphasize different things, but in
doing so we should embrace each other as speaking the same thing.
I do not believe I over state anything. My illustration of family unity is omitted from the above. I assume you agree with that illustration. If you are saying that God wants us to talk alike, come up with exactly the same conclusions, share in an identical theology -- I respond by saying that such is only possible with those who do not think for themselves are in the case of some form of religious popery. In a practical sense, I have no idea how this statement works: There is still room for us to emphasize different things, but in doing so we should embrace each other as speaking the same thing. I would change this sentence to say: There is still room for us to emphasize different things, but in doing so we should embrace each other's relationship with their Master as per Romans 14:4. But, that's me.
John.
