Church Turmoil

[Gene]

Provoked by a somewhat more specific discussion on the cause of church splits, it seems required of me to attempt the articulation of a general cause that underlies the specific in any particular instance. While it may be semantics, maybe it matters what we mean by liberal and conservative. In the old USSR, the conservatives were the bad guys, while in US politics they were the good guys. Context matters. While we often decry the liberal drift of our churches, Christianity is inherently liberal in the best sense. Therein lies the seed of demise in most incarnations of the true church.

The impulse to love the other is the most noble of Christian goals beyond loving our Lord. We are also much convinced that we are saved by Grace alone, and being quite aware of our own proclivities, humility dictates taking a gentle, some might say permissive, stance toward those with whom we disagree. How can we restrict membership based on practice when we recognize our own sin and the falleness of humanity, and we are not saved by works anyway? And isn't the church made up of those who are saved?

It is not original with me (I have some doubts about the possibility of original thought in any case, surmising it to be rare in the most intelligent of persons and therefore likely non-existent in moi) to view organizational direction as always moving downstream, roughly seen as from conservative to liberal. If we use the Jordan River as a metaphor for time in a sense and church groups as boats on the river maybe this can be illustrated. Our journey begins at a higher elevation and makes it's way to the sea of Galilee. While there are unexpected and at times very violent storms in this area, there is also abundant life, nourishment. Some boats will be unable to weather the turbulence, but others, well piloted, will draw immense sustenance from these waters.

Being compassionate sailors, over time we welcome aboard more and more people whom we sincerely desire to share in the bounty we are experiencing, but fail to properly train in maritime skills, while simultaneously giving over a portion of the management of the vessel to those who have no skill in navigation or storm survival. At some point the consensus of those aboard changes, we sail out of the lake and down the river further, terminating in the Dead Sea. This is a less precipitous drop than that of the upper River, perhaps lulling us into thinking things are not changing so much.

The trick is to know when to get out of the boat and find one that is still in the lake of orthodoxy. There is a temptation both to seek the turbulence of newness represented by the upper river and the ease of being carried along by the relatively placid current of the lower river, a course that requires very little effort on our part. We tend to have great resistance to changing course and propelling ourselves upstream once in the grip of the current. After all, we are still in the river. Right up until we are not, and observe that we have entered the Dead Sea.

[temporal1]

Provoked by a somewhat more specific discussion on the cause of church splits, it seems required of me to attempt the articulation of a general cause that underlies the specific in any particular instance. While it may be semantics, maybe it matters what we mean by liberal and conservative. In the old USSR, the conservatives were the bad guys, while in US politics they were the good guys. Context matters. While we often decry the liberal drift of our churches, Christianity is inherently liberal in the best sense. Therein lies the seed of demise in most incarnations of the true church.

The impulse to love the other is the most noble of Christian goals beyond loving our Lord. We are also much convinced that we are saved by Grace alone, and being quite aware of our own proclivities, humility dictates taking a gentle, some might say permissive, stance toward those with whom we disagree. How can we restrict membership based on practice when we recognize our own sin and the falleness of humanity, and we are not saved by works anyway? And isn't the church made up of those who are saved?

It is not original with me (I have some doubts about the possibility of original thought in any case, surmising it to be rare in the most intelligent of persons and therefore likely non-existent in moi) to view organizational direction as always moving downstream, roughly seen as from conservative to liberal. If we use the Jordan River as a metaphor for time in a sense and church groups as boats on the river maybe this can be illustrated. Our journey begins at a higher elevation and makes it's way to the sea of Galilee. While there are unexpected and at times very violent storms in this area, there is also abundant life, nourishment. Some boats will be unable to weather the turbulence, but others, well piloted, will draw immense sustenance from these waters.

Being compassionate sailors, over time we welcome aboard more and more people whom we sincerely desire to share in the bounty we are experiencing, but fail to properly train in maritime skills, while simultaneously giving over a portion of the management of the vessel to those who have no skill in navigation or storm survival. At some point the consensus of those aboard changes, we sail out of the lake and down the river further, terminating in the Dead Sea. This is a less precipitous drop than that of the upper River, perhaps lulling us into thinking things are not changing so much.

The trick is to know when to get out of the boat and find one that is still in the lake of orthodoxy. There is a temptation both to seek the turbulence of newness represented by the upper river and the ease of being carried along by the relatively placid current of the lower river, a course that requires very little effort on our part.

We tend to have great resistance to changing course and propelling ourselves upstream once in the grip of the current.

After all, we are still in the river.
Right up until we are not, and observe that we have entered the Dead Sea.

truly.
i believe RZher recently used the upstream analogy, it's useful.
often, propelling upstream happens when our status quo becomes painful.
pain effectively motivates to seek the better way. proven over+over+over.

i suspect modern medicine has insideously skewed perceptions (?)
we now have such widespread+effective means of pain-avoidance and control, legal and not legal, present day perceptions trend toward believing "no pain" is the one+only acceptable state of being.

i can't see how this would not have profound impact on (world views?) including understanding of faith and all matters of church.

[cmbl]

The impulse to love the other is the most noble of Christian goals beyond loving our Lord. We are also much convinced that we are saved by Grace alone,

As an ex-Protestant, this is the part where I grumpily ask, grace alone from what?

and being quite aware of our own proclivities, humility dictates taking a gentle, some might say permissive, stance toward those with whom we disagree. How can we restrict membership based on practice when we recognize our own sin and the falleness of humanity, and we are not saved by works anyway? And isn't the church made up of those who are saved?

Given the tenor of your post, I think you're being descriptive rather than prescriptive here - that is, describing the argument that gets made rather then getting behind it yourself.

But to the argument itself, I would say that I for one am quite happy with the idea of restricting membership based on practice of things that according to Paul's letters keep one from the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6, Eph 5). Or to use Johannine terms, because I think that "keep his commandments" is something possible to do, I'm quite happy restricting membership based on whether people obey Jesus' commandments in the sermon on the mount.

Being compassionate sailors, over time we welcome aboard more and more people whom we sincerely desire to share in the bounty we are experiencing, but fail to properly train in maritime skills

And of course we must wonder whether the people themselves sincerely desire to share in the bounty, and if so, whether they are willing to do what it takes to share in it. Wanting to have been set free from sins is not the same thing as being willing to be set free.

The trick is to know when to get out of the boat and find one that is still in the lake of orthodoxy.

I think that orthopraxy should also be required in a "boat search".