I'm sure by now some of you may have heard about the "Seeds of Compassion" forum that ended a few days ago. It was a 5-day gathering of some very influential religious leaders from all over the world. The website setup for the event describes it as:
"An unprecedented gathering to engage the hearts and minds of our community by highlighting the vision, science, and programs of early social, emotional, and cognitive learning.
Anchored by the deep wisdom of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this community–focused event will celebrate and explore the relationships, programs and tools that nurture and empower children, families and communities to be compassionate members of society.
Each of the five days will provide parents, educators, business and community leaders with an opportunity to better understand the real benefits of compassion, and concrete steps on how to bring compassion into their lives."
Things like this don't happen often, so it was a pretty profound conference. There is a very influential Pastor named Rob Bell who was invited to be apart of this forum. Bell is not your average Pastor, he has written a number of books, is the face to a video series that is reshaping the way some people teach and understand God, and speaks weekly on the largest downloaded podcast in history, to over summarize, he is a mover and a shaker.
As the 5-day forum wrapped up, there was a mild uproar over the fact that Rob Bell was even a part of a multi-faith event, that while Bell was there, he did not clearly state that the one true way to live with God for eternity was through faith in Christ as Lord, and that we have finality of forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus. While I 100% believe in that forgiveness and believe that my eternal life rests on Christ death and resurrection, I have a HUGE problem with this group that finds it necessary to share their "disappointment" with Bell, as if somehow they are the judge of who/what is REALLY Christian or not.
There is this arrogance that sometimes permeates from some people, and while we are all unable to live perfectly, I really get sick of this arrogance that comes from "fundamental" Christians. (Broad Stereotype, but just work with me here). There is this incorrect belief that some people hold, that their job is to defend God's honor and bash people that don't hold the same world view as them (and they should have the same world view because THEY are Christian and THEIR view is the only correct view).
I'm sorry but where does Christ say that we need to do this? One verse that I have TRIED to live by is Luke 10:27, "Jesus answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Basically "Love God, Love Others") Now, I know these people can lean on the excuse that they are really trying to love others by sharing their views with other people (not always in the most positive way), but lets step back for a minute. It is offensive. It is nauseating. It is aggravating.
The way I have come to understand, one of the best ways to love others is to "bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth." We are either able to allow people to have a taste of Heaven, or reveal a little bit of Hell. BUT HOW is going around bashing a Pastor, BY NAME, saying that he is not a real Christian, bringing Heaven to earth, OR EVEN loving God? GOD DOES NOT NEED US TO PROTECT HIM! He is GOD!
Now I am at the point where I start saying to myself, "Sean, what are you doing right now? You are doing the exact same thing as they are!" Part of me wants to stop right now and delete this post. But the other part, the brutally honest, wear my heart on my sleeve part, wants to vent to these brothers and sisters of mine.
I have no doubt that these people trust God with their lives, I bet most of them are Christians. But they way they are acting is wrong! It is disgusting. We need to stop this bashing, this looking down on others. There is a better way to live, a better way to go about looking at the world.
I think they are just misinformed on there role in the world. I was. I really was! I thought it was my job to go around and tell other people what they said was incorrect, judge them when they had a different way at looking at things. But there was a better way for me to live, I guess.
Honestly, I do not have a problem with these people. I have a problem with how they are acting. I don't have a problem with the people who are doing these things because they really don't know what they are doing. They think that aggressively sharing the Gospel and "guilting" people into a shameful repentance is the best way to proclaim the good news. It really is a shame. They have a passion for God and want to see other people love God too. But sometimes I think they aggressively share their view so that they can gather up more people that think and act they they do.
I think we need to come to a realization that people are in different places on their faith journey, and by always trying to move people to cross the point of faith is often harmful instead of helpful. But instead, if we continue to seek God's Kingdom on Earth it will help people moving to the next point in their journey, whether they are just taking the first steps or have been walking with God for 50 years.
Whatever the case, this post was mainly for myself to articulate sporadic thoughts from the past few days. This post will probably not change any minds on the subject. But for me, I need to put everything I am and have into loving God and others. Into helping our faith community and those that know our community move to the next point on their faith journey. If I have a vendetta to bash others because of a different world view I will be wasting my time and my life.
God, help me to use the gifts and talents you have provided me to reveal yourself to the people around me.
