Tag Archives: gentleness

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Take heed that you are not consumed by one another”

Sean Herriott, of Meet Joe Convert, reminded me of an important topic for Christian bloggers that I’ve mentioned before.

"A sense of superiority –my own need to be right — can actually be completely divorced from truth, and still give one the euphoric feeling that God is on their side. I’m sorry to say that I’ve justified things to myself — and to others — that were not only wrong, but harmful and destructive. I’ve tried to persuade myself and people I knew that my way was right, even when it clearly wasn’t."

In response to the increasing influence blogs are having on culture, Christians must be more vigilant of their true motives and the impressions they make on their fellow man. I’ve seen some ugly back-biting on Christian blogs, much of it perpetrated against fellow Christians. What kind of message does this send to nonChristians? Rey, of The Bible Archive, is also concerned about this.

"For some reason, when people go online and put on the veil of anonymity they tend to ignore any of the rules that govern common society. Civility gives way to sarcasm. Patience gives way to brevity. The tongue is fully unleashed through the fingertips and the typist revels in his own wisdom."

"Brothers and Sisters, this should not be the case with we who believe! We are in the world, yes, but we are not of the world. We are to remain different from the world, keeping the flavor of our profession before men — otherwise what use are we? We must not appear like other men, who professing to be wise do horrendous things in the name of their wisdom, following their own so-called knowledge and desires. Let us stand apart from the crowd evidencing the light of the life of Christ within us. This light is not to be hid, but to shine — not so much the light of ‘my-knowledge’ or self-proclaimed wisdom but the love of Christ that abides in those who are saved."

"Fellow brothers and sisters, I beg you, control your tongues in this public forum. Those words you type are your only testimony here in the virtual world. It is your only tangible evidence of Christ in you — why trample it underfoot and unleash all those prohibitions that are so evident in scripture?"

"I don’t speak of ‘testimony’ only towards those who are in the world. I imagine if they stumbled on one of these sites and saw the way that Christians call each other everything from ‘unwise’ to ‘blaspheming heretic worthy of hellfire’ they would sit in their scorn saying ‘ah, they’re no better than me.’ This is sad in itself. Rather I speak of the fellow believers who may not be as strong as the rest of you. Christ spoke of washing each others’ feet not simply in keeping each other’s doctrine or walk pure, but in loving each other as Christ Himself has loved us, set aside the joy that was before Him and humbly gave Himself for us. "

I now humbly request my fellow Godbloggers to write about this serious issue from their own perspectives. My readership is loyal, but small. This issue must be dealt with by all bloggers who call themselves Christians. The more voices denouncing enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, and the like and enouraging love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, the better.

The Sin of Nice

Recently, the proprietor of this blogspace, Mr. Funky Dung, commented
about the "nice things" I say here from time to time. Though I am reasonably
certain that Mr. Dung intended it as a compliment, perhaps in the vein of "nice
arse kicking" or "nice proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem," part
of me was quite taken aback [I meant it in the sense of "nice reasoning"
or "well thought out response" or "good points". – Funky]

You see, "nice" has been registered as a complaint leveled against
Evangelicaldom in recent years. And as one of the token Evangelicals in these blogparts,
I must confess that I take the criticism to be all too often valid. I am therefore
probably more sensitive to occurrences of this word that most folks, not having
been accused of the sin of nice, use in a completely innocent, even complimentary,
way. Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up

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Foaming at the Mouth

[Minor mistakes of grammar and spelling have been fixed. – Funky]

Theomorph, my resident atheist gadfly, seems to be losing his cool. His latest tirade against Christianity lacks the kind of logical consistency and civility his previous posts had. Continue reading

Scandala

No, the title's not a typo. It's Latin. "Scandal" comes from "scandalum". It's means "stumbling block", "temptation", or "trap". With all the talk of priestly impropriety and pro-choice Catholics, it's easy to miss more ordinary forms of scandal. Each one of us can be a stumbling block to someone else's faith. Non-Catholics, and non-Christians in general, see us as representatives of the Church. Our pompous self-righteousness doesn't jive well with Christ's message, and we look like hypocrites as a result.

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Point of View

There's an interesting post on The Dawn Patrol about counterproductive evangelization. Specifically, several Catholics clumsily tried to convert her from Protestantism. I understand the reasoning, but the approach left a lot to be desired. I have a news flash for self-righteous catechism thumpers. Protestants aren't the spawn of Satan. Nor are they doomed to Hell. They are Christians like us, with whom we should work to make the world a better place, rather than treating them like heathens or pagans.

As an ex-Protestant who cares deeply about reuniting the Body of Christ, I cringe at preachy attempts to, as one friend puts it, "upgrade" Protestants. I wasn't so much won over by argument as I was by Christ-like example.

There is a flip side to this, though. Each time a Protestant tries to "free" me from my "bondage" as a Catholic, I get a step closer to beating one with a clue-by-four. The Catholic Church is not the whore of Babylon. We do not worship Mary or the saints. We do not believe works save us. We are Christians just like you. Jack Chick is a moron who spreads hateful lies.

Ya got that?!? Now…The next one of you primates…even touches me…HYA!!! *BANG*