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Jon Birch... I salute you... In four frames you have captured some of the serious concerns I have with my denomination or tribe.I pull my hair out when people I know... good people I know... refer to themselves as Salvationist when asked about their faith / religion. Sure... I am a Salvationist but I am a follower of Jesus first and foremost - God comes first!
Busy-ness does not and never will equate with holy-ness... so why then is there an implicit expectation that we should be at everything and commit to everything... without exception?
Why too does worship come before prayer and learning?
Jesus instructed His followers to go out into the world... tell people of the good news that is the Gospel... and make disciples. He didn't ask us to make denominations... churches... worldviews... ideologies... bands... choirs... etc etc.
I doubt I am alone in thinking this... and it is not solely a criticism of my denomination... or should I say... my experience of my denomination.
Would the Army be the same without its symbolism? Remove the crest... the flag... the pictures of William and / or Catherine Booth... the uniform... and as we stand naked... do we still stand proud as followers of Jesus and soldiers in the Salvation Army?
I would hope so.
Let's get our perspective right... and keep our eyes on Jesus... and the people we have around us... and stop perpetuating the denominational nonsense that holds us back.
Its all for His kingdom, afterall... or is it???
2 comments:
thank you very much for the link and your wonderful comments. these are exactly the kinds of issues i'm trying to raise through asbojesus and it's really great to read a comprehensive comment like this. thanks for getting it! cheers, j:-)
T
Jon's 'toons are being appreciated by a wider & wider audience.
I see uberblogger Scott Hodge has feature on in his latest post:
http://www.scotthodge.typepad.com
J :-)
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