That's about as American as you can get.
It's on our money. It's in the very fabric of our constitution and in our psyche.
At one time, everyone knew what this phrase meant. It meant that we believe and trust in the God of the Bible - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
No longer can this said of America.
The reality is, in today's world, this phrase means something like, "In God, Allah, Krishna, Buddha, Kabbalah, goddess, spirit, etc. we trust."
The question for the church and Christians is not why it is this way. The church has to come to terms with the reality that this is the way our pluralistic world is.
The question for the church and Christians is how will we live out our faith and how will we will share our faith in a pluralistic world without coming across as arrogant or naive?
That's the question.
2 comments:
James,
I think that while we must share our faith with love, kindness and humbleness, we will still be seen as arrogant and/or naive. How could we not in a culture that believes that each person has their own truth or that the Spirit is leading in different ways. It is important that many of us become teachers in that we begin explaining both scripture and commonsense ways of understanding truth. And our lives must speak truth but we must take the risk and speak words also.
Viola, you're absolutely right that both our creeds must match our deeds. There is no escaping the exclusive claims of Jesus. But because our task is to share our faith in a way that the people in our culture can understand and hear, we need to take great care in how we bear witness to Jesus Christ. We can do it in a way that honors both God and people, and we can do it in a way that turns people away from the message and the person of Jesus Christ. I am proposing that the church will do a better job when we recognize the pluralistic nature of our world.
Post a Comment