Right?

I'm wondering, as of late, what it means to be right.

It is a big deal in the church to be right. At times, it seems, you cannot be called a Christian unless you are right. We make a big deal out of everything... worship, Christian living, Christian hope, salvation and the list goes on. Arguably in many cases its important to be right... to know the truth. It is important but is it necessary in every case?

Distinctions are made between protestant and catholic. These distinctions represent diverging viewpoints on what is right. Yet I am confident people are saved on either side.

People talk about the emerging church and traditional church. The dissonance between the two is a reflection on who is right. But both are seeking to serve and love God and be His church in the world...

I'm beginning to fear that the right is leading us into the wrong. The issue of 'right' is what tears the church apart. The issue of 'right' pushes people away because they are 'wrong.' I want to ask can't we all just get along?

Now I'm not willing to bend my core beliefs and I'm not trying to open the doors to heresy. But I'm just wondering if I can be with someone who calls them-self a Christian, loves Jesus, is trying to serve Him but may be way off the mark when it comes to doctrine. Clearly I can be with them but can I be with them and not make a big deal about where they are wrong?

I think God is working in the hearts of people who pursue Him and love Him. I don't think God is as concerned with where someone is right or wrong but rather he is concerned with getting to know them and them getting to know Him.

Maybe what I'm feeling is the call to unity and understanding. Perhaps we need to be addressing the ways in which we are brothers and sisters... even though I may baptize adults and you may baptize babies.

Let's not throw the baby out with the baptizing water... rather lets put all our eggs in one basket. Right?

Peace and Unity,
Pmtp

What am I to do with Jesus?

In my recent endeavors to become one that is educated I came across, rather, was told to read the book Jesus and the Victory of God by N. T. Wright. and I think I can rightly say I'm taken aback. Now it isn't that the book was horrible or that it was way beyond my thought process but rather it redefined my way of thinking about Jesus.

Wright approaches Jesus from a specifically historical perspective. Looking at what we as people today can know truly about Jesus. And the thing is that the Jesus we tend to talk about in church seems only a figure of who Jesus was historically.

The book brought out many questions I had never really thought of like:
Did Jesus always intend to die?
Why did he die (not the theological question but rather the social and historical question)?
What did Jesus think of himself?

And frankly these questions opened a whole new light within my thoughts on Jesus. For instance, it turns out, and it makes perfect sense, that Jesus wasn't talking to me. He was talking to a bunch of people around him, and specifically the people of Israel. And ultimately this thought was only a surface scratch on a larger picture being formed around Jesus.

The book brought up many interesting and life changing concepts, not in a devotional sense but rather a factual sense, which will eventually have ramifications on my devotional sense. I would recommend it to anyone longing to see Jesus. With that being said as well it is not a book to take lightly, it will shake things from our present understanding and force some deep questions into the open.

In conclusion Wright's book captures Jesus in a way we rarely see in the modern world. Also where Wright is not entirely perfect in his understanding the book points to a method of which we can begin to interpret Jesus. this post only stands to highlight a small part of this 660 page book but I hope it intrigues you.

P the P

(I feel very Markish for posting on a book but I think it has validation)