It would seem that when people find out some of my beliefs, they suddenly exhale a sigh of relief. Now that they know I’m one of “them”, they can safely talk about those “other people.”
“Ah! Voted for Bush, I see. Not one of those God-less Democrats.”
“Oh, good. You’re not Catholic. You know how those Catholics are.”
Furthermore, if I checked all five of Calvin’s boxes off, I could be in the Reformed club and share with my brethren what it is to be Reformed and how wonderful the Reformed faith is. But what if I don’t know for sure what I believe? I guess that leaves me on the outside looking in.
I have a secret to let on. I may have voted along conservative lines during this past election, but I don’t share Republicans’ disdain for those who voted for John Kerry. I may be a part of the Protestant church, but I don’t waste my time determining who is hell-bound and who isn’t. I don’t know how the Word of God resolves the tension between the free will of man and the sovereignty of God and I don’t think less of people who believe one way or another.
Since when did we start validating people based on what they believe? I don’t want to love those in “my club” and sneer at those on the outside. I want to minister to everyone God calls me to. Those who believe what I do. Those who don’t. The strong, the weak, the tempted, the proud.
I want to be a part of the church. The body of Christ. I don’t want to be a member of your club.
I’m with you. All those other people suck. 😉
[Hey, I learned it from you! ;)]
Well, except for that bit about checking off any of Calvin’s boxes. My bad.
I voted for Kerry. For me, working out my faith with fear and trembling means that I don’t claim to know it all and that I might be wrong about lots of what I believe.
I think that, with the exception of some of our most core beliefs, we must be willing to question what we believe and re-think it with new assumptions from time to time, otherwise we risk the danger of burying our heads in sand and closing our ears up to what God wants to tell us, and I think “working out our faith with fear and trembling” as the Word of God puts it, describes that aptly. Thanks for posting a comment, Marc. It’s always to good to hear from you. 🙂
This makes me think a little bit of the liberals I work with… When they starting ripping on Bush, I can often enough agree that it’s a problem. So they take me as one of their own. I’m a foreigner in their club, though.