Quote:
Originally Posted by lambdalady
Wolfman, there is no sin in joining a christian orgnization. Repent from what? You sound as confused as the message you just sent. Please don't take offense to that, im just trying to make sense of your thinking.
The sin that you are trying to get at in your message would be rejecting others based on how they look. No one here is doing that. You are assuming that just because one person joins a group that is prodominently one race that they are automatically rejecting people of another race. But that is not it. People join organizations for a number of reasons. You can still be in an organization that is prodominently one race and reach out to others. Like your trying to say "christianity is color blind right?" So why are you putting so much emphisis on race in certain organizations?
And the last time I checked your fraternity was still prodominently black with "christian principles" and I use that term lightly.
But I do have a question for you. Do you not feel convicted about the things that go on in your fraternity that need repentence?
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Read carefully: I was responding to one thing you said.It was meant to underscore the point about what constitutes Christianity--it's more than nomenclature, it's a serious theological issue that even Christians don't address properly. We, Christian and non-Christian, alike live in a fallen world;everything we do is sullied in some way. We all sin;all our institutions,Christian and non-Christian,are corrupted in some way.My point is this:if one says one is a Christian or one proclaims that a particular institution is,then it should mean that one should be sure of what one is saying.The issue of race/ethnicity and religion was THE issue that was a dividing line in terms of what was the true gospel in earliest Christianity. It was the earliest controversy in the church, the one which caused the Apostle Paul to start his own mission outside of the Jerusalem/Antioch ambit.Christians should be the leaders in "diversity" if they understood what the Pauline gospel is about.It's not simply one thing among others, a historical thing, or the "natural" way people behave..Paul spent his all his energy traveling around the eastern Mediterranean to found and build Jew-Gentile churches of God as a sign of the eschatological fulfillment of advent of the age to come when God would reconcile all in his Messiah,Jesus.Paul failed but what he taught and lived was the truth. To say one is a Christian means that one is held to a higher standard than others,esp. if one is proclaiming to be a light to others.Invariably, we,Christians,show our feet of clay,too.This should lead to a type of Christian humility and empathy with all people.
I don't think--I know, based on sound biblical theology and experience--that Christians aren't inherently better than anybody else.It's by God's grace that we grow and are transformed as we walk in this way of life.It doesn't really bother me theologically that many brothers in my Fraternity don't really live up to the profound Christian principles it was founded upon.I've seen Christians who are liars,cheats,racists,violent bullies,greedy scoundrels, adulterers,fornicators in churches.In fact, some of the most profound Scripture is the Psalms, of which many were written by (or ascribed to) David, a murderer,adulterer, liar,bloody warrior,etc. And the greatest leader of God's people was a murderer (Moses).I have to repent everyday myself so I understand this. In my Fraternity, we have these discussions all the time--sometimes very charged! There's a bit of a difference if one is founding Greek orgs as Christian over against other organizations,many of whom were founded by Christians or have a strong Christian heritage or ethos. I can understand the rationale if there are some things that most Greek orga do that they don't consider "Christian" or if they have a specific evangelistic purpose. My provocative argument is this:if one is doing this on theological grounds, then why not go all the way and conform to the vision of the Gospel.Like I said,none of us are what we should be. We ask for forgiveness and struggle to do and be better. It's okay to admit that we may not be all that we should be--whether for individuals or for oganizations and institutions.That's better than watering down the Gospel or denying it by rationalizing our sub-Christian praxis.
