More from Dick Keyes:
"One of the powerful appeals of Christian tribalism is its promise of safety."
He is referring to the view that staying well north of sin is the safe way to live. This may be true, in fact, as Andy Stanley says, is often the wise course of action. But Stanley and Keyes both point out, the gap between wise and wrong is not a moral absolute and we shouldn't treat it as such.
"I would suggest that nothing is safe about being more restrictive than God's word. In fact, it is pretty dangerous...'And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?'(Matthew 15:3)" Those are JC's words, not Keyes'.
"Protestant fundamentalism's many moral prohibitions-against playing cards, dancing, going to the cinema, or drinking even small amounts of alcohol-are difficult to find in the Bible. Yet,...they are held...[as] absolute moral principle. So many children...find it so arbitrarily restrictive that they turn away. By adding [these] to Scripture, we relativize the Bible and make it seem to be just part of a conservative ideological package."
1 comment:
This book sounds really interesting....It seems what he's talking about is true freedom vs. perceived freedom.......the perceived freedom one gets from a legalistic/moralistic/religious view........we could discuss at length the extra biblical rules we've been subjected to and all that does is blur, at best and hide, at worst the real truth to freedom of Christ....
I'd like to hear more.....
Post a Comment