July 08, 2004
How to be a loyal opposition

Telford has a new FAQ up responding to a former student who's trying to introduce new (which means, from the sound of it, non-fundamentalist) theological ideas to his youth group. It sounds, actually, like good advice for people trying to change any institution. I especially liked this bit:

First, resist the impulse to buy into the myth of self-righteous dissent. This has a long tradition in both our culture and its Christian circles. With both Jesus Christ and Martin Luther as handy patron saints, self-righteous dissenters imagine themselves the glorious would-be saviors of a rotten and God-forsaken establishment. Though this is sometimes the case, it is rarely so (in fact, it is less the case with even Jesus and Luther than many think). This mentality is responsible for a lot more broken institutions and abused individuals than revivals and redemptions. It feeds pessimism and cynicism among the dissenters and fear and intimidation among the institutions. This is, not least, because it assumes that God is behind you and has abandoned them. Don't go there — not yet, anyway, not as long as there is even a remote chance that (a) the Spirit still dwells and works there and (b) you might need some correction.

Yeah, I've been there.

Posted by Camassia at July 08, 2004 10:47 AM | TrackBack
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