----- Original Message -----
Subject: RE:
[TruthTalk] My Sister and Peaches
Hi
Jonathan, No time for me to linger here (however tempting it is to
makes jokes about us not being fruits!). Just wondering when you
posted your question that no one answered? Because I remember David M
posting that question several months ago and getting several thoughtful
replies; one from myself.
Would you
kindly tell me what you mean by “fundamentalist”? And what don’t you
like about them/their beliefs specifically? (Other than their patriotism?)
Thanks, Izzy
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Jonathan
Hughes
Sent: Friday, June
18, 2004 8:24 AM
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [TruthTalk] My Sister and
Peaches
Morning
all,
I picked my sister
up from the airport last night. She lives in the United States and
works there as a children’s pastor. I mentioned the discussions we
have been having here regarding Bush’s policies, America’s responsibility,
repentance, and the reflective approach to 9/11 that Lance and I
prescribe. She immediately told me of how much of America is doing
just that, engaging the event with thoughtful and prayerful speech.
She mentioned that talk radio has been constructively discussing why the
rest hates the west for over a year now. I said to her, well that
certainly is not like the forum that I am attempting to engage. She
looked up from her dinner and said, “Oh, you must be speaking with
fundamentalists.” I smiled.
There is nothing
like a nice, ripe peach. So soft, juicy, delicious, sweet, everything
a peach should be. But not all peaches are like the perfect
peach. Many peaches are hard, unforgiving to the touch,
un-impressionable. They look great from the outside, the fuzz in the
right places, the colour just right. But when you pick one up it is
hard. Your thumb leaves no imprint. You put the peach down and
search for one that is impressionable, one that will be sweet to the
mouth. Of course you keep an eye on the first peach; you hold it again
tomorrow but it is still hard. Each day you lightly touch it hoping
for that softness, hoping against odds that the peach will become all that
it is meant to become: the perfect peach. Although it still looks
beautiful on the outside it begins to rot on the inside. Within a few
days, this peach that had so much potential is now rotten, beginning to
smell.
I would like the TT
forum to become more like the soft peaches: impressionable, teachable, and
pliable. This is my main problem with fundamentalists; they have lost
the ability to be molded, to become soft, teachable. Rather, they look
great from the outside, perhaps looking like the model Christians.
They do most things right; they look like good peaches. But when you
pick one up, attempt to become more intimate with that peach you notice that
it is hard on the inside. A nice looking peach, but little visible
fruitness. These peaches tend to be rather angry, responding out of
their hardness, their rigidity. Softness is considered too feminine,
too liberal. Meanwhile, they slowly rot inside, their juice drying
up.
My very first post
on Truthtalk was about epistemological humility; the changes that occur in
our doctrines as we become closer to God. I asked for examples from
people (after providing a few of my own) on where God had changed them,
molded them differently from what they first believed. I found it
astounding when none of the ‘fundamentalists’ on this forum replied, not one
of them. It appears that fundamentalists grow in the faith, just never
change in it. What an eye-opener for me. I beg of you, plead
with you, allow the Spirit to keep you humble, to be impressionable, to
listen and hear the Spirit’s voice in whatever guise it may come to
you. Allow yourself to be healthy peaches, full of juice and a
delicate sweetness.
Jonathan