On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 14:35:51 +1000, Linsay Cullen wrote: >On 12/10/2004, at 14:20, Sue Bolton wrote: > >> I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and have decided that the >> only way we can ['swim against such a tide'] is to rid our church/es >> of >> 1. nostalgia [for the 'good old days'], >> 2. triumphalism and prosperity gospel, and >> 3. the expectation that things [as far as the church is concerned] are >> going to get much better this side of eternity. >> >I've got no problem with (1) or (2) and I understand what you're >getting at with (3), but my concern about (3) is that too many people >already have this belief and it becomes a reason for not doing any of >the hard yards towards God's Kingdom. "Oh well, nothing will ever >change, so I'll just preach and hope people's souls get saved while the >world goes to Hell in a handbasket."
I was going to spell out what I meant in more detail, and say I wasn't suggesting we should disengage from society, throw our hands in the air and form a holy huddle. I didn't mean that society can't improve and we can't do our bit to that end. I meant - and hence the words in parenthesis - that the church cannot expect *its* status to improve, and it may be counterproductive [or countergospel] to attempt to improve it. To do this or that to help our popularity along may just speed our demise and add to our irrelevance. To work for truth, justice and compassion because Christ calls us to that is an entirely different matter. Sue 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 ------------------------------------------------------
