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Tcpc Point 4 Of The 8 Points


minsocal

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I would like to start a conversation about Point 4 of the TCPC 8 Points.

 

TCPC Point 4 states:

 

"By calling ourselves Progressive, we mean that we are Christians who:

 

Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):

 

believers and agnostics,

conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,

women and men,

those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,

those of all races and cultures,

those of all classes and abilities,

those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope"

 

In the study guide for Point 4 there is the following explanation:

 

"Progressive Christians take a different approach. From our reading of the gospels, we have come to the conclusion that the followers of Jesus are to welcome all people without imposing on them the necessity of changing their attitudes, their culture, their understanding of the faith, or their sexual orientation. To take this position a step farther, we would also say that the established members of a church should always be alert to the possibility that they are the ones who must do the changing. They always must be ready to adapt themselves to the people they hope to welcome."

 

First, I want to say that I support this viewpoint, especially with the explanation. However, on first look I wondered if anyone would take this an an endorsement of class differences, which I would be uncomfortable with.

 

Am I being too analytical?

 

On the other hand, the explanation does provide quite a challenge to us as we engage "others" and struggle with the problem of putting people into categories.

 

Does this really mean that we should we be thinking along the line of placing each person into a category of one, and adapting to people and not to categories?

 

Comments?

 

minsocal :D

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Minsocal

 

I would not say that you are being over-analytical. That's what most of us must do these days to unwrap issues and understand their applicability in this difficult world. To the extent that this unwrapping process excludes the views of others, then it would be wrong. But as humans we are compelled to label new-found things as they are unwrapped in order to create orders of new knowledge in the process.

 

But I believe that your final comment is the most telling in your post. It is my belief that we are all here to fulfill an implicit promise of ONENESS that was brought to us in the messages of the world's great religions, and especially so in the Judeo-Christian traditions. It is why we worship the most high together usually, and now in places such as this we are entering new ways of attempting to attain ONENESS some day in the future. But of course peace is necessary before that might be realizable, and we're pretty far away from that it seems.

 

When and if that ever happens, then the world will be transformed into something quite different than what it has been, and certainly what it seems to be now. I've used this term before here and I believe it describes such a future goal and transformative event, Harmonic Convergence. It seems to be a musical term but actually crosses many learning disciplines into understandings of how the world really operates at all levels on a natural basis.

 

But then, too, we seem to be collectively destroying the natural world with our diverse and necessary material pursuits. But I did see an article in the news today about a varied group of Evangelical Chrstian leaders bonding together in support of taking action to halt the global warming catastrophies that are already upon us all. There is always hope, along with faith and charity.

 

flow.... :rolleyes:

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Minsocal

But I did see an article in the news today about a varied group of Evangelical Chrstian leaders bonding together in  support of taking action to halt the global warming catastrophies that are already upon us all. There is always hope, along with faith and charity.

 

flow.... :rolleyes:

 

Would you believe that one of the Evangelical Christians is Rick Warren of "The Purpose Driven Life"? Good for him.

Edited by AletheiaRivers
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I did some reading on Rick Warren recently, he's actually an honorable guy. I think it was on beliefnet. Worth reading... he gave all the money the church ever paid him back, tithes 90%, lives on 10%, involved in poverty/HIV in Africa - his wife first, then him too - touching story about meeting a lay pastor who walked a couple of hours/wk to a post office to read his sermons on the internet - the only teaching he'd ever had - then came back to his village to relaty the message on Sunday. Warren said it made him cry.

 

Anyway, I didn't like the book, and expected to be distainful... ended up impressed. Kinda nice. :)

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I think the writers of this ‘Point’ might be thinking more about the inclusiveness of language rather than the difference of class. If ‘class’ as we usually think of the word was the goal in the language they would have had to put many more in their list of different groups. However, with the ones that they did, they pretty well covered the majority of different folks out there.

 

I am a believe in the difference of people and the separation of each into ‘class’. That does not mean that I feel we should be put into a ghettos, each to his own. Rather, I feel that we are different and that difference is what makes us common.

 

To use a cliche, sameness is fascist. To make a decision we have to divide along some lines and go from there.

 

What do you think?

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He has continually taken stances like that, that aren't universal among conservative evangelicals. Good for him-- again!

 

--des

 

Minsocal

But I did see an article in the news today about a varied group of Evangelical Chrstian leaders bonding together in  support of taking action to halt the global warming catastrophies that are already upon us all. There is always hope, along with faith and charity.

 

flow.... :rolleyes:

 

Would you believe that one of the Evangelical Christians is Rick Warren of "The Purpose Driven Life"? Good for him.

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