An " Anaemic " blog...
These past few weeks has seen a few episodes of unsettling articles blogged and reported in social media. I am not against social media, in fact I think these days it is a valuable and helpful way of communicating to the current world. I am a blogger afterall. I am active on facebook. I tried instagram, but struggled... also twitter. ( struggled there too).
Last week there was this blog written that was not that complimentary of TSA. There had been a previous article which slammed us, and after some horrid weeks and some adjustments, TSA modified its wording, which whether you loved it or hated it, was a little more aligned with our positional statements. Well anyway, this blog had another go. I felt enough was enough, so I challenged it and my first challenge was published. And then shot down. Actually the writer called me in subsequent blogs, "a biblical anaemic Christian" which of course messed with my head.
What I think is sad, is that I responded to these allegations and my follow up comments were not published. I challenged the writer if he had made contact with senior TSA leadership to discuss our position and gain clarity ? But he did not respond to me, nor print that comment in his blog. Which tells me he didn't contact senior leadership at all before going to print. I also invited this guy for a coffee and a chat ..face to face... so far, no response.
When you blog, you do in fact leave yourself open for criticism and all kinds of wonderful remarks, and yes you can control that and decide what you will or wont publish, however if a thread starts and then is cut off, it reaks of something a little deeper, especially when you dont agree with the writer or challenge them. It seemed to me, and in reading this guys blogs, if you agree ..you get published, if you dont agree or challenge ? You will get slammed .
This is a big debate, which will in fact divide the church worldwide over time, if it hasn't already.
You wont win any friends anywhere by making comment one way or the other. So having said that, I sometimes think, it may be best left unsaid... and prayed about. Not everyone will agree with even that. And especially that guy.
Sigh !!!!
So here's what I really think... for what it's worth.
Love Jesus. Serve Him. Look for ways to honour Him. Understand and read the Bible. Understand the human condition. Understand how God made us the limitations and expectations of our humanity. What it means to be God's Children. And to be salt and light in our world.
To speak truth with grace.
To show compassion and love to others, to try and be the kind of people that would do what Jesus would do if He were here in person on the earth today. To call sin what it is. And to offer grace and a way for forgiveness in the process. To be gentle and kind, to be loving and sincere, to be self controlled and merciful, to be firm in our faith and to seek forgiveness for our sin (everyday if needed), to not boss others around, to be true to what we said we would do and be in our soldiers/officers covenants when we signed them, and if we have failed, then confess our sin and repent and get back on track ourselves.(personally)
And for us in TSA to remember this...
We are The "Salvation" Army.... we are in the business of getting people saved and added into the Kingdom of God. Whatever and however we do that, who cares, as long as it happens.
When Christians turn on each other its a sad day.
When one Christian thinks He has complete truth, or is better than someone else, its a sad day.
Jesus came to save the lost, the least and the last.. I am one of those kind of people.
And you might not want to hear it... but so are you !
Praise the Name of Jesus for His love is for all people.
He loves us all, He wants us to stop sinning and to start living in His pure love.
Oh what a day it will be when we do that .
.........
Finally, I got to preach a brief word to 20,000 people over the weekend. What a privilege that was for me, I pray we will all take our opportunities when they come along and speak truth to our world, that Jesus is a loving God who cares about every single person on the planet.
He hates sin, but love us anyway.
that has a lot of implications, yes... but lets be gracious in how we share that truth.
Last week there was this blog written that was not that complimentary of TSA. There had been a previous article which slammed us, and after some horrid weeks and some adjustments, TSA modified its wording, which whether you loved it or hated it, was a little more aligned with our positional statements. Well anyway, this blog had another go. I felt enough was enough, so I challenged it and my first challenge was published. And then shot down. Actually the writer called me in subsequent blogs, "a biblical anaemic Christian" which of course messed with my head.
What I think is sad, is that I responded to these allegations and my follow up comments were not published. I challenged the writer if he had made contact with senior TSA leadership to discuss our position and gain clarity ? But he did not respond to me, nor print that comment in his blog. Which tells me he didn't contact senior leadership at all before going to print. I also invited this guy for a coffee and a chat ..face to face... so far, no response.
When you blog, you do in fact leave yourself open for criticism and all kinds of wonderful remarks, and yes you can control that and decide what you will or wont publish, however if a thread starts and then is cut off, it reaks of something a little deeper, especially when you dont agree with the writer or challenge them. It seemed to me, and in reading this guys blogs, if you agree ..you get published, if you dont agree or challenge ? You will get slammed .
This is a big debate, which will in fact divide the church worldwide over time, if it hasn't already.
You wont win any friends anywhere by making comment one way or the other. So having said that, I sometimes think, it may be best left unsaid... and prayed about. Not everyone will agree with even that. And especially that guy.
Sigh !!!!
So here's what I really think... for what it's worth.
Love Jesus. Serve Him. Look for ways to honour Him. Understand and read the Bible. Understand the human condition. Understand how God made us the limitations and expectations of our humanity. What it means to be God's Children. And to be salt and light in our world.
To speak truth with grace.
To show compassion and love to others, to try and be the kind of people that would do what Jesus would do if He were here in person on the earth today. To call sin what it is. And to offer grace and a way for forgiveness in the process. To be gentle and kind, to be loving and sincere, to be self controlled and merciful, to be firm in our faith and to seek forgiveness for our sin (everyday if needed), to not boss others around, to be true to what we said we would do and be in our soldiers/officers covenants when we signed them, and if we have failed, then confess our sin and repent and get back on track ourselves.(personally)
And for us in TSA to remember this...
We are The "Salvation" Army.... we are in the business of getting people saved and added into the Kingdom of God. Whatever and however we do that, who cares, as long as it happens.
When Christians turn on each other its a sad day.
When one Christian thinks He has complete truth, or is better than someone else, its a sad day.
Jesus came to save the lost, the least and the last.. I am one of those kind of people.
And you might not want to hear it... but so are you !
Praise the Name of Jesus for His love is for all people.
He loves us all, He wants us to stop sinning and to start living in His pure love.
Oh what a day it will be when we do that .
.........
Finally, I got to preach a brief word to 20,000 people over the weekend. What a privilege that was for me, I pray we will all take our opportunities when they come along and speak truth to our world, that Jesus is a loving God who cares about every single person on the planet.
He hates sin, but love us anyway.
that has a lot of implications, yes... but lets be gracious in how we share that truth.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteJust so everyone is aware.. I have as a policy on my blog that no anon comments will be published. People who make comments must be verified . In the case of the comments made here, around the other blog user, it was that only half of the comments thread was published, not allowing for the right to respond and shed light on his argument. Neither was there an opportunity for me to defend myself. Just for clarification. If you disagree with me here, and wish to make a valid comment, that is not aimed at outright slander has often been the case in some comments by anon readers, then it wil be published. But only if you are identified clearly as to who it is saying it etc.
ReplyDelete