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My last Blog about theological diversity in the church ended with my contention that Christians of all stripes must find some common ground for discussing the differences that exist between us about issues that range from the nature of God to Jesus to the Bible to core beliefs. I am not so naïve as to think that I can provide that common ground, but I want to be among those who try to point the direction. Others are doing the same and this is a good thing. What I have to offer are guidelines (for lack of a better term) that I have been teaching students and church members over several years that seem to free them from anxiety about differences among Christians about what to believe.
These guidelines are grounded in a common sense awareness that most people think for themselves whether the church likes it or not. The challenge Christian leaders face is to provide a framework in which people of faith can reach conclusions on their own that are grounded in the tradition of which they are part. We simply have to find a way to help people have faith without requiring them to stop thinking for themselves (which they will not do) or exerting pressure on them to conform to established doctrine. In short, it is time for the Christian community to accept the real world of individual autonomy and religious pluralism, both of which make conformity in belief unrealistic.
This will require a recognition that being a person of faith in today’s world is more difficult than it may appear to be. In what follows I make no assumptions about what you believe, where you are on your journey of faith, what you fear, or what you worry about in your relationship with God. You may be comfortable where you are and don’t want to be disturbed. Or you may be barely hanging on to faith. But what I can assert is that questions and even doubt are not enemies of faith, nor is the fear of truth a friend. We are given minds to think with as well as hearts to love with, and mature faith needs both.
Unfortunately pastors and lay people think the primary problem is declining memberships as if the theological issues that lie beneath this decline don’t matter. As a result, the credibility of Christianity itself now hangs in the balance. Growth and decline, programs and consultants have preoccupied churches and their leaders to no substantive end. That is because the issues Christians and churches face go much deeper than how to grow a church or reinvigorate one that is dying. At risk is not simply church life, but the Christian message itself and what it actually means to live as a Christian in the modern world.
The guidelines I will discuss might be described as boundary markers that provide a context for the kind of theological discussions I think are needed in the church. In a real sense they indentify the nature of the challenge you face if you want to resist letting someone else define your faith or impose their understanding of God and Jesus on you. What those guidelines are will be the focus of my next Blog.
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