What does it do?
"There may not be a more dangerous weapon for violence or oppression than religion. It seems counterintuitive, but when human beings create religions, we use them to control others through their guilt and shame. True religion always moves us to serve others and to give our lives to see those oppressed find freedom." -Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way
I was struck by a question Doug Pagitt asked once (or was it Brian McLaren??)... "If you were doing one of those man on the street interview things, asking the question 'When you hear the word "Christian" what's the first word that pops into your head?' how long would it be before you got the answer 'Really good listeners'?"
That stuck with me...
I know that we need to balance the love we show with a certain challenging stance towards culture (No- it's not okay to sexualize 11 year olds, no-it's not okay to create a disposable economy, etc...) with a love and acceptance.
It just feels to me like if we could only get the second into people's consciousness by the way that we love, the way that we serve and the way that we give to others, maybe they might accept the first. Maybe the world could hear our critiques if they were sure of our love for them...
(BTW)I picked up this book again, mostly because one of the searches bringing people to this blog was this book's title. I'm glad I did. Erwin is a great thinker- one of those who is able to take the odd calcified "way we've always thought about it" and turn it upside down, give it a little shake and have something very cool pop out.
I was struck by a question Doug Pagitt asked once (or was it Brian McLaren??)... "If you were doing one of those man on the street interview things, asking the question 'When you hear the word "Christian" what's the first word that pops into your head?' how long would it be before you got the answer 'Really good listeners'?"
That stuck with me...
I know that we need to balance the love we show with a certain challenging stance towards culture (No- it's not okay to sexualize 11 year olds, no-it's not okay to create a disposable economy, etc...) with a love and acceptance.
It just feels to me like if we could only get the second into people's consciousness by the way that we love, the way that we serve and the way that we give to others, maybe they might accept the first. Maybe the world could hear our critiques if they were sure of our love for them...
(BTW)I picked up this book again, mostly because one of the searches bringing people to this blog was this book's title. I'm glad I did. Erwin is a great thinker- one of those who is able to take the odd calcified "way we've always thought about it" and turn it upside down, give it a little shake and have something very cool pop out.
1 Comments:
"Maybe the world could hear our critiques if they were sure of our love for them..." I think you're on to something there. I have a good friend who can tell me difficult things that are hard to hear. However, he can get away with it because the entire time I still feel safe and loved by him. I've often wondered how he does it. How can I make other people feel that safe and loved?
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