{"id":739,"date":"2007-11-03T23:11:57","date_gmt":"2007-11-03T23:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2007\/11\/issues_issues_i.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:45:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:45:32","slug":"issues_issues_i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2007\/11\/issues_issues_i.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Issues, issues, issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had written this back in July but never posted it. I guess I thought it needed something, I don’t know what. Seems finished as I look at it here in November, so here it is. \ud83d\ude42<\/em>
\nDan Edelen has a great post today<\/strike> back in July about divisions and finger pointers, appropriately entitled Throwing Stones in Glass Houses of Worship<\/a>.
\nPrompted by a debate over the modern existence of the charismata (Dan’s a charismatic) on another blog, he rightfully points out that there are nut-jobs in every stripe of Christianity, including our own. We love to tear down those who are in another tribe by singling out the public crazies and then characterising the entire groups as just like them. It’s far too easy to do, and I find myself doing it too. You find out someone’s denomination and you immediately assume a lot about them, based on the infamous in their group. It’s sad and we need to battle this every day.
\nI once had a guy show up here from a comment I left on another blog. He came by, not because he thought I had said something interesting, but because he had heard I was from the ICOC. I mentioned that there were reforms happening and his comment, after many disparaging comments on my church (calling it a cult) and indirectly on me, was something along the lines of “Time will tell just what kind of reformer you are.” Part of me was offended, but mostly I didn’t care. I was seeking the truth and continue to do so, and will hopefully continue to grow and change. Hang around and see what I am, I thought. Unfortunately, he left no email address and he hasn’t bothered to come back. He had made his statement on my faith, and that was it.
\nWhy do we do that? Certainly, there are plenty of crazies in the ICOC saying and doing crazy things. There are wacky, embarrassing mainliners too, and Baptists, Methodists, Catholics and on and on. They seem to get all the attention. Why? Because we like to look at them, point our fingers and say “Look at that nut job!”. If they’re nuttier than we are, then we can breathe a sigh of relief and take the focus off of ourselves.
\nThe other night we had a little knock down drag out thing with the girls before bed. Jessica was wronged by her sister, reacted badly and then I reacted badly to her. She lamented that she had told them repeatedly that she didn’t want them in her room when she wasn’t around. Why do they keep doing it when she asked them not too? She was indignant.
\nI reminded her that she’s been doing that to me for 12 years. Why doesn’t she stop? I think it hit home. \ud83d\ude00
\nNear the end of our talk, I had to apologize for yelling at her. I told her that it’s just part of being a Schaefer man. I’m not sure what it is, but we slide right into shouting with the quickness. My Dad does it and his dad did it too. We hate it and we battle it, but it rears its ugly head all too often.
\nMy point was that we all have issues, it’s part of being human. To keep harping on others’ issues is to pretend that we don’t have our own and only distances us from those who see their own issues all to clearly and are looking for help in dealing with them. When people do wacky things to us or act in wacky ways as Christians, we need to fight the natural reaction to judge and instead act in grace. Sure, we can teach, admonish and even rebuke where appropriate, but all in the spirit of grace.
\nWhat would Christianity look like if we all focused on these 2 things?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Doing our absolute best to act according to God’s will (and always learning better what that means).<\/li>\n
  2. Overlooking it as much as possible when others fail at 1.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I had written this back in July but never posted it. I guess I thought it needed something, I don’t know what. Seems finished as I look at it hereRead More Issues, issues, issues<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIssues, issues, issues - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2007\/11\/issues_issues_i.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Issues, issues, issues - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had written this back in July but never posted it. 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Don't panic, read on.) A couple of weeks ago I came across this post at Radical Congruency which quoted an entire article by Greg Kendall-Ball at the New Wineskins blog. It was about why folks leave the church. Now in my church family\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":566,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/10\/im_still_here_2.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":739,"position":1},"title":"I’m still here ….","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"October 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry 'bout the silence, I've been busy with another project. I'm setting up a blog for my wife's family to be able to share news, stories and pictures. 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Please hit back and refresh to check before re-submitting your comment (you might want to compsose your words in another program so they aren't lost).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":604,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/hebrews_1132_12.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":739,"position":3},"title":"Hebrews 11:32 – 12","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, here I am again, back to my QT journal after another 3 month absence. I am always surprised and disappointed by these lapses in my reading, but I don't know why. 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