While it’s absolutely true that we in America have NO real concept of what it means to be persecuted as Christians, or as churches, what it means to experience religious persecution, I think it’s startling at just how often we hurt each other and ourselves and our brothers and sisters within the church. We allow Satan to have a field day attacking us, taking us “off message” by getting all worked up over things that just don’t’ matter in the grand scheme of things…
Just in the last few days, I’ve heard of fractures and divisions that have led to members of the body of Christ wishing failure and hurt on another congregation just because they “didn’t get their way.”
And we wonder why people are tired of “the church” or why people consider Christians to be hypocritical.
I have my share of failures, sin, and lots of baggage. But that’s NO excuse for any of us to EVER attack the Church…Christ’s bride…Christ’s body, Christ’s witness on earth to the world…a part of Christ’s incarnation to help make life on earth more like it is in heaven.
It would also do us well to do a better job defining what’s sacred, what’s a sacred cow, what’s biblical, what’s tradition, and what’s traditionalism. As Jaroslav Pellikan once said, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Those are Two VERY different things.
Maybe a little “Fiddler” would help us remember the difference?