Beyond the arguments

Now that I have finished Brian McLaren's generous orthodoxy some reflections!  My overwhelming impression is that Brian is not going to let theological arguments come between him and encouraging the kingdom of God on earth!  Not arguments about hell, or denominational stances on baptism or liturgies, or approaches like pentacostalism versus meditative, or rationales for Jesus' death, or even one religion versus another.  He goes for a "post" position - beyond theological turf!   He says that Jesus didn't plan to start a religion - just encourage people to follow the fundamentals of loving God (without a rigid definition) and your neighbour (whether from different churches, religions, beliefs - friends or enemies)..... and the rest is kind of .... well... superfluous!  And I liked his style.

Some passages from his book that I particularly liked:

"How many children in Sunday school learn (that) radical sense of Christian servant identity as opposed to Christians are nice people and know the truth and do good.  Non Christians are bad people who don't.  Therefore we need to avoid non-Christians or convert them as fast as possible or try to pass laws to keep them under control and protect ourselves from them - until we can escape them forever in heaven?"

"The more I learn from Jesus, the more I cringe when I read passages in Exodus or Joshua where the God of love and universal compassion, to whom Jesus has introduced me, allegedly commands what today we would call brutality, chauvinism, ethnic cleansing or holocast.  I ache when biblical passages are used to reinforce an escapist, determinsitic or fatalistic view of the future, to assert the subjugation of women by men, or to justify a careless attitude towards our beautiful God-given planet".

"...I don't beleive that making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many circumstances (not all!!) to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Bhuddhist, Hindu or Jewish contexts".

So go Brian!  Such a refreshing, "now" centred faith that is inclusive, humble and outward focused.