The most amazing thing about all of this is that within this broad spectrum of viewpoints collected on behalf of the Christian faith there could actually be agreement on the major tenants contained in this document.

This is a heavyweight declaration, covering the Christian position on life, marriage and religious liberty. 

It begins with a preamble: here are the first few paragraphs

Preamble

Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord…

It then follows with a declaration:

Declaration
We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and non-believers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God…

What follows is a very well written critique on the Christian position pertaining to the sanctity of life, the defense of Christian marriage and the concept of religious liberty. 

And to put an emphasis on how strongly we as Christians regard these ideas they included a segment that speaks to the use of civil disobedience as a tool in the arsenal of believers should their government pass laws that contradict those beliefs. You can read the declaration in it’s entirety at: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2009/11/manhattan-declaration58-a-call-of-christian-conscience 

But here is the question: Do you believe we as Christians should engage the culture in this way?

Do you agree with the document?

Should the prelude have included an apology for the evil things done in the name of Christianity?

Is this just another attempt at an ecumenical movement or does this document not compromise our beliefs? 

I would love to read your comments.

PB

 
Why is everybody out there in the Christian world fighting with each other? Aren’t we all on the same team?

You would think we were not if you read the Christian newsletters and listen to the people talk about church squabbles and association fights and divisions and read books on fighting for the truth, the truth wars, the worship wars and websites and radio shows about who’s on the inside and who is out…wow. 

People sure have differences within the Christian faith! 

The fact is some people play real loose with the word Christian, let alone the word church. Some so called Christians don’t believe the Bible is even inspired and some believe the KJ Bible is the only Bible that is inspired and won’t have anything to do with you if you don’t agree with them. Some believe Jesus wasn’t even God and others believe Jesus is all you get… no Father and no Holy Spirit. That’s a pretty wide swath for people who call themselves Christians isn’t it? 

Some so called Christians believe stuff that’s not even in the Bible, and others don’t believe anything at all but they all call themselves Christians. 

Some Christians live such strict lives they won’t even ride in a car, and others have no rules at all…they just do whatever they want to do and hey…no worries  it’s going to be ok…we’re Christians! 

Believers were first called Christians in first century Antioch because the people of Antioch thought they were calling them a bad word…well folks it has finally become a bad word. No wonder the people of today don’t want to become Christians…nobody even knows what one is supposed to be! 

From the inquisition to the reformation the word Christian has pretty much been dragged through the mud. The crusades didn’t help much either…who’s in charge of our publicity campaign anyway? We need to fire that guy. 

If I’m going to be persecuted for being a Christian, I want it to be because I won’t back down from my honest authentic faith in Christ, not because they think I’m some hypocritical slob who hates gays and shoots abortionists! 

I am not some self righteous homophobe who hates people and judges everyone that doesn’t agree with me… but there are a lot of people who call themselves Christians out there who are exactly that and they are messing up the image! 

It’s not the media that’s giving us the bad name it’s other Christians!

When the Samaritans rejected Jesus, the disciples had a wonderful idea: 

Luke 9:54-55

(54)  And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"

(55)  But he turned and rebuked them.

I guess this is not a new problem. 

Some people have begun to call themselves “red letter Christians” and I guess they only follow the words of Jesus because He was all about love and he never offended anyone? Have you ever read the words of Jesus? He offended them so much back there in Jerusalem that they put Him to death. And he wasn’t too easy on his followers either…He demanded some things of His believers. 

So how do we share our faith in a world like this? Our image is shot! 

People used to think that we were fanatics who believed in a God we could not see with a commitment that could not be measured. 

Now they think we are part of a marketing subculture. Think about it, we have our own bookstores, our own music superstars, our own TV shows, our own schools, some think we have our own political party… we all want to make lots of money and we believe God is the tool we can use to get everything we want. 

Can we change the perception? Maybe it’s too late. But we can be aware of the change and begin to view ourselves as a follower of Jesus…the term Christian has no meaning.

PB