Careful Thought

It’s true.  This came up in our Truth Project study, and then I caught it today at Jolly Blogger.  The point is that we, and everyone we have ever known, have eternal souls.  Those souls will ultimately reflect incredible beauty and majesty, or unspeakable horror and corruption.  This is from C.S. Lewis, not surprisingly.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would strongly be tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

— C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, HarperOne, pp. 14-15.

If that’s the case, how should we respond to those we meet?

Technorati Tags: C.S. Lewis, faith, souls, truth project, weight of glory

Tags: C.S. Lewis, faith, souls, truth project, weight of glory

We’re working through Focus on the Family’s Truth Project in our home groups.  It’s a great curriculum for small groups and focuses on the differences between biblical and non-biblical worldviews.  Last week we looked at our unity with God, and what that means in terms of relationships with each other.  I think there’s a common theme in these passages.  Can you figure it out?

• Love one another (1 Peter 1:22)
• Bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2)
• Pray for one another (James 5:16)
• Forebear one another (Eph 4:2)
• Be kind to one another (Eph 4:32)
• Admonish one another (Col 3:16)
• Build one another up (Rom 14:19)
• Give preference to one another (Rom 12:10)
• Live in harmony with one another (Rom 12:16)
• Encourage one another (1 Thes 5:11)
• Submit to one another (Eph 5:21)
• Serve one another (Gal 5:13)
• Accept one another (Rom 15:7)
• Be devoted to one another (Rom 12:10)
• Teach one another (Col 3:16)
• Comfort one another (1 Thes 4:18)
• Forgive one another (Eph 4:32)
• Be of the same mind with one another (Rom 15:5)
• Regard one another as more important (Phil 2:3)

If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think that we were supposed to look out for each other’s interests and take care of each other.

Technorati Tags: faith, truth project, unity of the body

Tags: faith, truth project, unity of the body

That’s it.  I quit.  I give in.  Yesterday the pastor preached through the science portion of Focus on the Family’s Truth Project, and hammered those who, like me, hold to an old-earth creation view.

I’ve got no beef with the Truth Project.  It’s a DVD-based small group series that provides a Scripture-based response to the secular worldviews.  Overall, it’s a well-produced survey of the issues of truth, theology (who is God?), anthropology (who is man?) and a number of other cultural topics.  Even the science portion is well-balanced, focusing primarily on evolution vs creation issues.  I would recommend the series to anyone looking for a solid small-group curriculum.

To his credit, the pastor pulled me aside before the service and warned me that he would be covering the material from a young earth view.  Overall, I have no beef with young-earth creationists, so long as they recognize that their view is one of many, and that holding something other than a young-earth view does not invalidate one’s salvation.  Unfortunately, that seems to be the direction many YECers want to take it.  I heard yesterday, and I’ve heard it many times before, the implication that “if old-earth creationists don’t trust Genesis, then they don’t trust the rest of Scripture.”

Horse hockey.  I trust every word of Genesis, and the rest of Scripture to boot.  I just don’t hold to that particular interpretation of the Creation account.

My spousal unit is the lone Protestant in Catholic Bible study.  She has frequently been told that Protestants are ‘incomplete’ Christians.  That’s what I’m taking from the young-earth crowd, as well - old-earth creationists ‘are still Christians, but….’

That’s a big but.

Here’s the question: how do I respond?  In every other respect, I am in complete agreement with the pastor’s teaching.  Do I suck it up and seek to respond in grace, knowing that I’m viewed as a tainted Christian?  Walk off in a huff?

Technorati Tags: creationism, OEC, science, truth project, YEC

Tags: creationism, OEC, science, truth project, YEC