Friday, July 08, 2005

now *this* is what i call living a mission: bethel new life, inc.

doing research at work i came across this site.

when i said below in my mclaren post (see the comments) that we religious folk often use points of doctrine as a screen to defelct attention from what we're NOT doing (the two are often separated), this group shows how mission and bible mesh.

i know i'm painting a broad picture of lax church activism here, but i can't help it. all the talk about doctrinal authority falls on fallow ground with me when that's all there is to your faith.

who cares about your inner spiritual intellectualism when you can't reach out a hand to your brother?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

spiritual intellectualism? well, that's an oxymoron. Intellectualism is you trying to think and figure out things. Spiritualism is you letting the revelation of God renew your entire being, your intellect included.
At least, if I may paraphrase Paul

Delia Christina said...

uh, thanks for the clarification.
(not that i think i needed it...)

Unknown said...

I wonder what anonymous means by "the revelation of God?" I believe that it is precisely our intellect which gives us access to the revelation of God. It is what distinguishes us from the rest of the creation that we know about, and what gave the authors of Genesis the chutpah to write that we are created in God's image. I don't think that we can separate God's revelation from our intellect.

Having said that, I find "spiritual intellectualism" an odd, but maybe interesting phrase.

Delia Christina said...

perhaps the phrase 'biblical intellectualism' or 'theological rigor' would have been more precise.

(geez.)

Anonymous said...

ding, think about it.I mean really think about what anonymous wrote.

Delia Christina said...

i am thinking about it. really thinking about it. i get it. (i hate being condescended to.)

and the phrase 'biblical intellectualism' is clearer to what i meant.

Delia Christina said...

and thanks for all the concentration on my syntax when MY POINT was about other things.

Anonymous said...

sorry for the condescendence, ding, I do get your point. I was only reacting to the title of your blog, "why being a feminist christian isn't an oxymoron", not exactly on the content. Of course, people need to see the walk, and not only hear the talk.
Greg, I make a difference between intellect, which is a mere "organ" if I may say to help you think, and intellectualism, which is more of an ideology and a way to apprehend life: the intellect as a god. As for the things of the Spirit, Paul says that they were hidden to the intelligent, and revealed to the weak by the Spirit. You don't need your brain to get a revelation of who God is. You only need an open heart.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Anonymous for clarifying your points. We keep thinking its about us, and its not!
Perhaps this will help Greg and others who hold this view:

http://www.truthforlife.org/daily.php?date=07-14

Delia Christina said...

i don't think greg was holding a 'view' (though he has one, undoubtedly - just not in this context, i think.)

i think he was, like anon #1, clarifying his language.