[Vision2020] gift-giving

[keely emerinemix]

What I mean, Joe, is that while I believe, as a Christian, that none of us is "good enough" to merit salvation, many people in faiths other than mine, and who would disagree with what I've just said, are very moral, kind, decent folks.

To me, all morality comes from God, was best demonstrated in the incarnation by Christ, and is something that permeates all faiths, at least in their plausible interpretations, not the fanatical ones.  That said, my belief in Christ as Savior and my desire for others to trust him the same way doesn't mean that I can't learn goodness from other sources -- especially when so many of my Christian brethren act so unlike the Christ we worship.  Every person I interact with, I think, has not only been made in the image of God, but also has something to teach me.

My job is just being open to it.

Keely
http://keely-prevailingwinds.blogspot.com/




Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:06:27 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] gift-giving
From: josephc at wsu.edu
To: kjajmix1 at msn.com; vision2020 at moscow.com





Re: [Vision2020] gift-giving


The downside of unbridled evangelicalism is that it turns off as many folks as it converts. But it is a complicated issue.



What does it mean to say “Christianity doesn't hold a monopoly on virtue”? Why not? Isn’t this Christ, for crying out loud?



That opens up a spectrum of questions, none of which I expect you to answer. None of which I could answer.



Part of me wants to say that each of us tells a different story, all of them equally true. But that only sits well with me to the extent that they all share general, metaphorical features and that it is these features that are important and not the particular, literal features of any world view. 



But only in a given sense, for in another sense the particular, literal features are the most important of all.



Joe



On 11/30/08 12:01 PM, "keely emerinemix" <kjajmix1 at msn.com> wrote:





To my off-list correspondent (there are a few of them, actually) --



Yes, I do think it's sad that Paul's Wiccan friend shows such generosity of spirit in her gift-giving ethic when so many followers of Jesus, myself included, act during the holidays in a way that denies the Christian teachings of selflessness, self-denial, generosity, unattachment to possessions, and love.  But I'd also point out that we have lots to learn from not only this Wiccan priestess, but all other people of goodwill.  



Christianity doesn't hold a monopoly on virtue.  Lamentably, though, its adherents often display behavior that makes the virtue demonstrated by followers of other faiths look a lot more like that of Christ than what we do.



Keely

http://keely-prevailingwinds.blogspot.com/







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