tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post5927409052808428897..comments2024-03-24T05:54:23.612-05:00Comments on Weedon's Blog: On Manifesting the Church's UnityWilliam Weedonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01383850332591975790noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-51722766418627794832011-09-15T16:19:37.083-05:002011-09-15T16:19:37.083-05:00I think it's really just two sides of the same...I think it's really just two sides of the same coin. Love without right belief is just another man-made emotion. Right belief without love, as you correctly state, is a lie. <br /><br />The challenge for me is speaking the truth in love. I find that easier with other "traditionalists," because we speak the same language, we tend to appreciate a closed table, exclusivity in doctrine, and we tend to eschew relativism. So I can speak plainly and it is taken in a spirit of love. All I really have to do is be fair and kind. With evangelicals -- even "conservative" ones -- I find it harder, because there tends to be an attitude that as long as you believe, everything else is immaterial. I cannot speak or think on that level, so people tend to get mad at me even where I mean no offense. Speaking the truth in love avails me nothing because the person to whom I speak does not hear my words as love, but judgment.David Garnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10885067733992577305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-285593975035714952011-09-14T14:28:49.876-05:002011-09-14T14:28:49.876-05:00I sorta kinda question this Wil. That is to say, I...I sorta kinda question this Wil. That is to say, I'm sure that there are many a thing that you would feel much more in common with hanging with the traditionalist.<br /><br />But then, I can imagine that they would say something—specifically an interpretation of God's Word—and then you would find that you and I would be quite comfortable talking in the same language. Because we both hold to a (mostly) similar hermeneutical view.<br /><br />Most of the time, the form of worship can be a nice comfort—but when you start talking with people about what they believe, confess, and hold to—well, then that is where traditionalist and uh, what was I called? Post-modern? Missional? A-traditional? <br /><br />Whatever. You'll quickly see that there is a reason that the traditionalist are Catholic, ELCA, LMA, etc.mqllhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03571180618331662493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-72685945537175936482011-09-13T16:44:13.977-05:002011-09-13T16:44:13.977-05:00I agonize over this issue too, Pastor. I am Orthod...I agonize over this issue too, Pastor. I am Orthodox, my brother-in-law and sister are Missouri Lutherans, and my parents are Reformed Evangelicals. I love my family dearly — DEARLY! — and I suffer much because of our disunity, especially as it is manifested at the altar.<br /><br />I often wish that 'mere' Christianity was all that really mattered, that one could stay in the hallway forever.<br /><br />And while I sympathize (and most likely ultimately affirm at the end of the day) Terry's 'love does not love error', oftentimes, especially in my own heart, zeal for correct doctrine masks an uncharitable, cold heart. <br /><br />Lord, save me from this.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607004416434305240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-21146344768587448832011-09-13T10:15:55.133-05:002011-09-13T10:15:55.133-05:00Thank you for sharing your insights. They are grea...Thank you for sharing your insights. They are greatly appreciated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-88221790064890596702011-09-13T07:40:47.628-05:002011-09-13T07:40:47.628-05:00Sounds like how to pretend there's unity when ...Sounds like how to pretend there's unity when there isn't. Love does not love error. There neither is nor will be unity where error is held.<br /><br />Certainly I sympathise with the "traditionalists" in the Episcopal parish trying to maintain traditional Episcopalianism in the face of their own church body, or the Presbyterian congregation trying to maintain traditional Presbyterianism in the face of their own church body, or for that matter those of my former church body the RCC trying to maintain traditional Catholicism in the face of it.<br /><br />But it is the understanding of a soldier for a soldier who wears another uniform for another country, not mine. Doesn't mean we have to engage on the field of battle. It does mean the understanding is that of those who wear a uniform, not the understanding of those who wear the same uniform.<br /><br />The other side understands this exactly. All eyes at die Abtei were on St Louis when I was there, waiting for LCMS to pull its head out of its late mediaeval butt. And who welcomed them in "exile" when that did not happen -- a liberal RC institution which itself had dismissed staff for conservative views.<br /><br />The divide is real. There are two divides, those who uphold a traditional faith against modern changes in it though with differences as to what that traditional faith is, and those uphold modern redefinitions against traditionalists though with differences as to against what. <br /><br />The latter will have true unity, different but nor divided by what they seek to redefine.Past Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10541968132598367551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-71812031165179228662011-09-12T23:20:40.364-05:002011-09-12T23:20:40.364-05:00Pastor
Well, for not being sure as to how to get ...Pastor<br /><br />Well, for not being sure as to how to get into it, you certainly found a way! Being an "Ordinary Average Caveman Lay Person" (Phil Hartman Saturday Night Live) words like "Traditionalists" "Post Modernist" frighten me and I could not provide acurate definitions for them on demand. However, after I thought about your comments it reminded me of the many conversations we all have had in Bible study regarding "Law and Gospel". If we get hung up on on believing that we are "more right" than others regarding divisions within the Church... we deny that "only" In Christ are any of us made RIGHT! And if Christ is LOVE... then Loving before judging is the only Right choice...anyhow I agree with your points...unless of course I've misunderstood them...am I on the right track?<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />Scotty<br />Ordinary Average Caveman Lay PersonScottyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14353505237223187750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291232.post-56052664026652129252011-09-12T19:35:08.625-05:002011-09-12T19:35:08.625-05:00Concerning those "traditionalist" brethr...Concerning those "traditionalist" brethren with whom we cannot welcome to our altar and vice versa, there is this thought: We wait for eternity.<br /><br />Amen. Come, Lord JesusRev. David M. Juhlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05319689931375689421noreply@blogger.com