Beginnings
A couple of quotes to get started:
"Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a Christian experience. We think we are doing our duty when we're only talking about it." - Charles F. Banning, The Christian Arsenal (online www.christianarsenal.com)
"Organized religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms. They were all very important when we didn't know why the sun moved, why weather changed or why volcanoes happened. Modern religion is the end trail of mythology," said Bruce Willis, from an interview in George magazine.
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I'm pastor of a small church here in the Atlanta area. I do not claim to be a great intellectual, theologian, nor even an overly pious person. I do love Jesus and try to live for Him, sometimes effectively and sometimes with struggle. I think Mr. Banning is quite right; we are lots better at talking than walking with our faith. Most everyone can talk a convincing religious conversation. What the world around us so desperately needs is those who proclaim with their lives a valid Christian faith- on Monday, as well as Sunday; at work, as well as church.
Now, the quote from Mr. Willis is intriguing. He makes millions of dollars as a Hollywood actor, and I suspect he thinks this qualifies him to speak words of import about religion. I guess we are all theologians, whether good or bad. I think he is right about the limits of "religion". Yet, in Jesus, we enter into a personal relationship with the living God. Such moves far beyond a stale and empty religion. Many skeptics, like Willis, have had their lives changed through an encounter with Christ. Read the story of the Apostle Paul in Acts 11.
What do you think?
