I sometimes run across really really good quotes. Not all of them do I agree with, but I love the ones that make me think. Unfortunately, when I post them it doesn't lead to any discussion.
Let's try this.
In the comments, post your thoughts on this quote. Do you think its true/false? I might play devil's advocate on this one, but I love having these kinds of discussions with my friends. Check this quote out:
"An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body, and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost and the other a corpse…"
This quote was attributed online to E. Stanley Jones, a great missionary to India. Let's assume that the individual gospel has to do with you loving God, and a social gospel is you loving your neighbor (the two greatest commandments).
Can these two commandments be divorced from one another? I think that's what the author is saying. If we divorce the two, then neither one leads to salvation/eternal life. What do you think?
Discuss!
2 Comments:
Andrew- This is Teddy, Teresa's husband. She tells me about your blog from time to time, and makes me read it... I appreciate what our Lord is doing in your life, and the encouragement that your blog is to Teresa.
I should say to Teresa and me. Most of the thoughts that you're working through I've also been working through. And we're not alone.
Ol' E. Stanley hits the nail on the noggin with this one. I don't think that either of these two commandments lead to salvation together or apart. I believe that many will follow these commandments there whole life and be told to depart from the Almighty. And yet some will never grasp these two and enter into the Kingdom. It's a hard truth.
I do think that one without the other is very common and very dangerous in relationship to how we view/approach our Father. I struggle more often with the individual than the social, but they certainly go hand in hand. Look forward to your thoughts...
Thanks Teddy! I really appreciate your encouragement....
I agree with you-the scariest part of the Bible for me is the part where people are claiming to have done these things for Christ and Jesus tells them that He never knew them...
One without the other is too common, and it leads to the extreme of a liberal social gospel (acts of love lead to salvation) or legalistic fundamentalism (lists of rules to keep-in addition to Christ's teachings to achieve salvation/holiness).
Thanks for joining the discussion-this blog is a mirror of my myspace blog, so most of the discussion and traffic happen there-if you wanna see what's going on there, check it out.
www.myspace.com/11482895
Post a Comment