Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of
Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of
When you say that you accepted my explanation of what I meant, and then didn't, you are saying that I am lying about what I meant. Please don't ever accuse me of lying.
I refer firstly to the global community of humanity, we need always remember that we are a part of this. I do this in the line you have quoted above.
When I move unto the global mindset talk I'm referring to the global community within the global community of humanity know to us as the Church. I'm not including all non-christians in the Church (although I do accept the theology of anonymous Christianity) I'm using the same phrases to refer to two different concepts. I should have been clearer.
As for declaring that the missionaries were declaring the true gospel (and this is the basis of your argument that this is an attack on the Church) I cannot accept that they were. No doubt they were completley devoted to God, I'm deepley sorry that this has taken place and I'm sure that Christ mourns the torture of his servants there in Turkey, but if this was the full & true gospel of Jesus Christ I have no doubt that we wouldn't be reading about bible studies, we'd be reading about the activities of Christianess , but that is another discussion. Nor do I think that the missionaries were murdered because the murderers were rejecting the gospel, I believe that this is a political act at heart infused with elements of religious thought. I'm from Northern Ireland I feel that I have some knowledge of how this politio-religio situation works. I doubt that the murderers even really know what Christianity teaches, just as I do not feel that the missionary's presentation of Christianity is a true representation of Jesus. (Nevertheless, they are still servants of God as they themselves understand to be correct, I do not want to detract from their service.
Now, when referring to the us-and-them mentality I am not saying that there is no us-and-them. (I am not here saying that there is an us-and-them, it's just that that is another discussion.) I'm saying that we're a global community and should not be responding in the same us-and-them way as the Early Church (they had to do that for reasons of self-preservation) we're a gloabl community who should seek to diffuse the us-and-them mentality which reinforces these acts.
We are the largest religious body, we are in control on the religious front, we should respond as such. We don't give the murderers a reason not to do this by responding with an us-and-them attitude, we give them a reason to stop when we find ways of including ourselves in them and them in us.
When Christ does the separating in the gospels, the 2 groups, it is God deciding upon the groups, not us. These parables were not given so that we could start dividing up our society into two groups, these parables were given to give us an insight into God's paradigm. Also, the division takes place at judgement, not now, until then we're all living as one group. Thirdly, the divisions are based on attitudes of the heart, attitudes of repentance, not doctrinal belief.
And lastly, the paradigm of the apostles is the paradigm of the apostles. The Apostles are beloved by me, they are the top of the church hierachy and their writings are the most important that we have, they're on the other side right now still serving as our apostles, I love them and I revere them, but their paradigm is not necessarily Christ's paradigm.
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (14/05/2007 - 10:31)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (14/05/2007 - 10:53)
- www.izmirprotestan.org By: fikretbocek (12/05/2007 - 01:06)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: Joseph Holbrook (07/05/2007 - 00:07)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (10/05/2007 - 10:35)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (10/05/2007 - 10:19)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: bobkee (09/05/2007 - 11:40)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: peter wilkinson (03/05/2007 - 12:01)
- concerns over reliability of letter By: john (04/05/2007 - 10:40)
- martyrdom By: Daniel D. Farmer (02/05/2007 - 22:50)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: Andrew (02/05/2007 - 07:32)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (02/05/2007 - 12:12)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: Andrew (03/05/2007 - 17:45)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: jazzact13 (02/05/2007 - 14:10)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (02/05/2007 - 14:22)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: jazzact13 (04/05/2007 - 15:08)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (04/05/2007 - 16:21)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: jazzact13 (04/05/2007 - 17:03)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (08/05/2007 - 12:38)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: jazzact13 (04/05/2007 - 17:03)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (04/05/2007 - 16:21)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: Alario (02/05/2007 - 21:49)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: jazzact13 (02/05/2007 - 17:10)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: jazzact13 (04/05/2007 - 15:08)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (02/05/2007 - 14:22)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: D J Jackie Ray (02/05/2007 - 12:12)
- Re: A letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of By: ericboehmer (02/05/2007 - 00:40)

Contradictions in the Gospels: Problems or Opportunities?
Day One: A Sir Toby's Creation Myth
A Generous Orthdoxy - Brian McLaren
The Lost World of Genesis One - John H. Walton