Consistent Inconsistency: 4 Ways to Address Churchgoers’ Contradictory Beliefs
By SI Filings
Oct
04
2022
112 reads
"Paul was not self-focused; he didn’t spend his days beating himself up mentally for his failures and shortcomings. But he did have a healthy distrust of his own inclinations, and he saw to it that the circumstantial doors to those inclinations were kept closed." - Olinger
Reposted from August, 2021.
Judging from what I’m seeing, hearing and overhearing lately, a lot of conservative Christians are really worked up right now. Details vary, but the general feeling seems to be that recent developments in religious liberty, LGBTQ trends, mask and vaccine “mandates,” and Afghanistan mean all we hold dear in the U.S. is now collapsing.
With the exception of Afghanistan, most of the alarm seems focused on loss of freedom. On Afghanistan, concerns are appropriately more focused now on the casualties from Thursday’s attack in Kabul. A week ago they ran the gamut from the suffering of Christians there, to national embarrassment and the frustration of our military, to betrayal of allies …to the feeling that Joe Biden is an inhumane monster.
For my part, though I have concerns about cultural trends and the Afghanistan mess, I don’t see our times as unprecedented. The word “perilous” fits, but that’s been true for a pretty long time. I don’t feel the sense of doom that many of my fellow Christians and conservatives seem to feel right now.
I’m sure some would say my problem is naïve optimism, arrogance, ignorance, or bias. That may be part of it, son of Adam that I am—but there are also other factors.
The disaster in Afghanistan isn’t World War II’s battle of Okinawa or Vietnam’s Battle of Ong Thanh. Admittedly, it’s hard to find historical examples of American failures bringing greater peril to American and allied civilians.
"Our field of reasoning goes only so far as the stories take us, and no further. ... the validity of any argument must, indeed, can only be demonstrated through a personal narrative. Do I believe that the healthcare profession is completely corrupt, full of greedy, lying malpractitioners? I need only share my personal story of falling afoul of poor medical care" - Ref21
The question: “If you had to choose between the two, which do you feel is more important for the good of America? That we have the best potential president in the White House or that the Church maintains a good witness before the world?” - Michael Brown
"Some people get a little too caught up in the news, right? Not you, of course.... just in case, you might want to check into a new study from Taylor and Francis, that found compulsive news consumption is a true terror for your mental health and even takes a toll on your physical health." - Relevant
"I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me." - Desiring God
Quillbot "suggests its main use would be for someone to improve their own writing.... Instead of the difficult work of understanding and then putting an author’s words into your own words, this tool allows students to automate the process." - DBTS Blog