I wonder how Karl would reply!
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 23:06:59 +1100, Alln Leggett wrote: >I thought some of our members might be interested in this. >Allan > >Question And Answer >With John Shelby Spong > > >Karl from Canberra, Australia, asks: > >Is there a place for me in your vision of the church, as a prospective clergyman who >holds traditional views of the Atonement against which you have spoken? > >Dear Karl: > >Of course! Neither doctrinal differences, nor a variety of interpretations of any >part of the Christian Story must ever be allowed to be the basis for participation in >the Body of Christ. The fact of the matter is that theology is a human attempt to >discern the meaning of the God experience. Theology always changes. I believe the God >experience is eternal. What is required of you and me alike is that we journey >together into the truth of God that neither of us will ever possess. The problem with >the Christian Church is not that there are wide theological differences. People are >different and process their understanding of truth from many different perspectives. >The problem comes when anyone assumes that in his or her understanding of any other >part of our faith story, including the Atonement, is the ultimate and unchanging >truth of God. The mark of the Christian is not certainty, it is openness to truth, >openness to new possibilities, openness to the nudgings of the Spirit. > >If I had time, I could take you into Christian history and show you how every >doctrine of the Church was formed, what need it was designed to address, what the >contending ideas shaping the debate were, how the debate was resolved, and what the >changing forces were that ultimately forced that debate to be reopened. I could even >take you into the New Testament and show you how the authors of these crucial works >grew in the way they explained the mystery of the God they believed that they had met >in Christ. > >If you or I close our minds to truth, convince ourselves that we possess it and >become no longer open to new possibilities, then what we have done is to make an idol >out of our own conclusions. People who substitute their idols for the living God >inevitably want to defend them, attack anyone who does not agree and claim that >disagreement with their conclusions is identical with disagreeing with God. > >Karl, there is no scripture, creed or document that does more than point to God. >Nothing ever captures God. There is no theological understanding that dropped from >heaven as a divine revelation. There is no "faith" that was "once delivered to the >Saints." There is no infallible Pope, no inerrant Bible, no true Church and no single >tradition that has cornered the market on salvation. > >The Christian life is a journey. You start where you are. You journey into all that >you can be. The Church of the future rejects no one. Those who think they already >possess the ultimate truth of God reject the journey and therefore they reject what >the Church is meant to be. Travel well! > >-- John Shelby Spong Sue Bolton Sydney, Australia ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
