Hans Küng on peace, "There will be no (global) peace among the nations without peace among the religions. To have peace among the religions there must be dialogue between them." I would continue . . To be able to dialogue we need both a common framework of ethical standards, mutual trust and respect (haven't even touched upon theological interpretation or practice).
Moving from world peace to a smaller scale consideration; If those who claim to be Christian (let's not even extend this to other faiths) cannot agree ethical standards and exist in a state of limited trust and respect regarding other groupings or denominations what chance is there for the world?
I have spoken with people who tell me that it is becoming increasingly difficult for them (meaning their fellowship) to be in partnership with the CofE because of the goings on in American Anglicanism (by which they mean the ordination of homosexuals) and the lack of leadership and by this they mean 'Biblical leadership' from the über pointyhead (i.e. Rowan Williams). Not only that but others, who they assume will be doing the leadership thing at local levels, seem to be either saying nothing relevant about Biblical Christianity or are taking positions which cause even more distrust and unease.
The time is coming when some fellowships will, I am sure, look at the CofE and its excesses rather than the local clergy and their fidelity to the Word, and act against it. Many of the BOPS (Bums on Pews) are beginning to find a marked and obvious distrust of the CofE and feel that it stands against the faith that they have and weakens the position of Christians and Christianity.
The time has come to cease issuing comments over 'regrets' and begin to issue clear and Biblical directions. To have pointyheads claiming that two views supporting totally opposite realities can exist coherently in one body is to misunderstand that great theologian Montgomery Scott (AKA 'Scotty') in that, "You can't mix matter and anti-matter!" We can have a broad church but it needs to be a Christian church as well.
Perhaps Williams needs to consult that other religious leader, Arsene Wenger, who is doing a fair job of having a team who are up there and doing something attractive. Oh that we could say that!
Right, third meeting of the day done, tea finished - off we go again . . . .
3 comments:
"Peace among religions" Difficult, but not insurmountable. If the will exists in Man?
I am certain that it is God's will, I sometimes wonder how much it is shared by man.
In my opinion we are all called to work for unity-between and among the peoples of faith and the world. Unity does not and cannot mean that we all agree about everything. We all have our boundaries and they don't overlap enough to achieve that sort of unity.
What I think we can aim for is to respect each other even when we profoundly disagree, and to speak well of each other and our leaders, even when we profoundly disagree. As I have been discovering in this role, people of faith can read the bible and draw very different conclusions. What is interesting is to see how much our previous wounds influence those decisions.
Maybe we can only reach consensus when all our wounds are healed?
Starting at the bottom and working up, I totally agree with the wounds comment. Sadly I see wounds inflicted by experience and wounds inflicted by those who teach other that 'so and so' are not 'true Christians' like us.
We need, very much, to realise that there are different interpretations and that some things are central and some are not. The problem is that people want to fight and even though they cry peace, what they often mean is merely peace on my terms. Which brings us nicely to UKV's point.
God wants us to be one but how many want this outside of being 'their' one?
Thanks guys
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