From BLUE FOREST SOAPBOX |
On the whole, to say that I do not care for Evelyn Waugh's novels would be an understatement, but I do think this quote from "Brideshead Revisited" most excellently sums up a disturbingly common view of Christian faith:
... religion was a hobby which some people professed and others not; at the best it was slightly ornamental, at the worst it was the province of .... the intolerance, hypocrisy, and sheer stupidity attributed to it for centuries. No one had ever suggested to me that these quaint observances expressed a coherent philosophic system and intransigent historical claims; nor, had they done so, would I have been much interested.Granted, the evangelical church today spends a lot of energy trying to be relevant... but although I don't suppose non-Christians would now necessarily view the church's observations as "quaint", neither do they generally view them as "a coherent philosophic system" or "intransigent historical claims".- Dallas Willard's "Knowing Christ Today"
1 comment:
The gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who believe it is the power of God. Historic Christianity makes such fantastic claims it's no wonder that it is looked on as such by outsiders. Also, in our times people are jaded and have given up hope, and the Bible teaches us to hope for such supremely wonderful things - to see the face of God? To be fellow heirs with CHRIST? - so that's part of the modern difficulty in believing.
p.s. Linda (#55) is Willard's daughter . . .
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