The journey from there to here
Published on August 19, 2004 By Gideon MacLeish In Religion
OK....for some reason I'm in a "deep" mood today, so you'll have to bear with me.

One of the most frequent errors many Christians make between themselves is in dismissing a very real and a very pressing prayer request with a promise to pray for the supplicant. This is a clear misunderstanding of the commandments and commissions left for us as Christians by Jesus Christ.

When Christ ascended, following His meeting with the disciples, He laid upon them the charge to care for His Children. His message to Peter ("Feed my sheep", John 21:17), coupled with Acts 1:8 ("But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth") make clear that the EARTHLY work of the church was left to the charge of His followers until that time when He returns. We are, in essence, "little Christs" ("I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me, you can do nothing"). As "little Christs", we are to witness to those around us. This doesn't mean to stand on a streetcorner seeing how ridiculous we can look, but rather, to let our thoughts and actions witness to our standing in Christ. As one early church teacher put it (St. Augustine, I believe) "in all things, bear witness. If necessary, use words".

What this means is that the practice of BEING a Christian is a serious charge, one that we should not take lightly. As we are commanded to bear one another's burdens, we need to reach out and actively minister to the needs of a hurting world.

Now, here's where I lose the conservative crowd.

Though I eschew the teachings in general, there's truth to be found in the teachings of transcendence in the Eastern religion cultures. Christ explicitly stated "inasmuch as you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40); and conversely, "inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me" (Matthew 25:45). The implications of the passage are clear: we ARE our brother's keeper, and we bear a great deal of moral responsibility for their plight if it is within our means to remedy. We also bear a great deal of responsibility if we heal them and lift them up.

So, who is my savior? You are, my friend. And I am yours.

signing off,

Gideon MacLeish

Comments (Page 2)
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on Sep 02, 2004
A quick note,

I wrote this to be an inspirational piece, not a debate thread. In uncharacteristic fashion, I did delete a message, and will continue to do so if certain individuals see my blog as a forum for attacking my beliefs. I don't expect 100% concordance, but some pieces obviously weren't written for people to walk in and slam willy nilly.
on Sep 02, 2004
So, do you not attend service anywhere? Just curious.


I fellowship with other believers, but we don't consider ourselves members of a church with walls, but rather as members of the body of Christ. So, yes, we attend services, but we also don't see it as necessary for salvation.
on Sep 04, 2004


In uncharacteristic fashion, I did delete a message, and will continue to do so if certain individuals see my blog as a forum for attacking my beliefs.


Gideon, how you came to think that my reply was an 'attack' on your beliefs I'm not sure. Since I didn't want to waste the effort I put into that reply I have posted it as an article on my blog, where it's safe from your undeserved resentment.

I suggest you re-read what I actually said, and to help you to do so I post a link to my article here.

Link
on Sep 04, 2004
Emperor,

The reasons why i feel as I do are too lengthy to go into at this time. I do encourage anyone reading this to read emp's linked thread, but I felt very strongly about it on my blog.
on Sep 05, 2004
To Gideon MacLeish:

I'm pleased that you didn't delete my most recent response, and grateful that you encouraged others to read my linked thread. Thank you for that. What I wrote here, and in the subsequent article, was not meant as an attack upon your beliefs but as a different way of looking at what constitutes salvation.

I freely acknowledge that in my own spiritual development, over the course of the last twenty or so years since my initial conversion, I have become a Christian heretic. Had I been born a few hundred years ago I would have been barbecued in an auto da fe. That does not mean I have lost respect for those who take a more traditional path, nor does it mean I am opposed to more traditional interpretations of Christianity and Christ. Be you Christian, Jew, Muslim, animist, ancestor-worshipper, voodooist, or whatever, I have respect for the fact of your faith, even if I am indifferent to the content of that faith because it has no relevance to my own.

I made no attack, I merely presented another point of view.
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