Hmm and ouch to Tony Campolo's "Letters to a Young Evangelical" excerpt. And oddly, all those ouches were inspiring. Take, for instance, this one:
"There is little doubt that the tentacles of Western technology, and the social changes that come with it, sooner or later will reach out and affect every tribe and nation on earth. Given that expectation, I would prefer that preliterate societies first encounter the West via missionaries, who have the best interests and salvation of indigenous people at heart." --TC
The preceding paragraph strikes motivational fear into me. I have a blog friend who is connected to someone (who is connected to someone) who lives outside the U.S. People in that country base their assessment of Americans upon what they see on television news. And what makes the news in our country? Mmm-hmm. Send the missionaries. If God has called them, be sure to support them. Share our nation's best people rather than our worst reputation.
The next section is a good humility check and grace-extension reminder. Who am I to complain?
"Young people often tell me that they are wary of the institutional church because they believe it is filled with hypocrites. Well, it is. What these people fail to understand, however, is that it is because the church is filled with hypocrites that they'll be right at home in it. If they don't think their own lives are filled with hypocrisies, then they are blind to the truth." --TC
2 comments:
Everyone's a hypocrite, you just have to try to be the best person and the best Christian you can be.
:o)
Bingo. A little self-checking and a whole lot of grace! Good thing we have a good Model for that, eh?
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