tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post8751671467352703472..comments2024-03-10T10:40:32.319-07:00Comments on Pyromaniacs: Open Letter to Greg Damhorst & Cameron NationsPhil Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00649092052031518426noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-20555633872626632102011-03-22T19:18:56.011-07:002011-03-22T19:18:56.011-07:00Here's an active link to Cameron's respons...Here's an active link to Cameron's response:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.faithlineprotestants.org/?p=404" rel="nofollow">Cameron's Response</a>FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-717958790331435742011-03-22T10:01:20.680-07:002011-03-22T10:01:20.680-07:00Just caught this as I was perusing the internet th...Just caught this as I was perusing the internet this morning:<br /><br />http://www.faithlineprotestants.org/?p=404<br /><br />I am not sure if this will lead into further posts here ar on your blog, Frank, but I am looking forward to how this dialogue works itself out. I felt compelled to leave them a comment regarding 2 Corinthians 6:14 and how they think the interfaith movement meets with Paul's instruction there because that is the first thing that comes ot mind for me with movements like this. Jesus certainly didn't see the need to partner up with people who had false beliefs. Although He did take the time to show them the truth.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13987985549747283669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-77294057501441847552011-03-21T09:15:58.764-07:002011-03-21T09:15:58.764-07:00I often wonder if the people who invoke "love...I often wonder if the people who invoke "love like Jesus did" have ever really read the Bible. In the four gospels alone, you can see Jesus directly confronting a Samaritan woman at the well about her own sin and pointed her to the truth and she came away rejoicing and spreading the word that Messiah had come(John 4). Or how about the rich young ruler? Or when He told the adulteress who He pretty much saved from being stoned to "sin no more." (John 8:11) And then there is Revelation...where He intsructs John to write letters to the churches about what He had against them.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13987985549747283669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-25543499740164384172011-03-21T06:18:57.453-07:002011-03-21T06:18:57.453-07:00DJP -
Um... isn't evangelism pretty much by-...DJP - <br /><br /><i>Um... isn't evangelism pretty much by-definition always " an interfaith environment"?</i><br /><br />I.Love.That.<br /><br />I was pretty much thinking the same thing, except, my mind wandered to: Maybe they are looking for strategies to infiltrate false religions so as to subtly challenge them with the true gospel. <br /><br />Then I thought, "Nahhhh, I'm a hopeless romantic about people using the term 'interfaith' as a strategy for real evangelism, and not just some huggable ecumenism."<br /><br />Besides, I've never seen infiltration in the Bible. Jonah walked through Nineveh and pretty much said, "40 days and you're destroyed."<br />And he didn't even have good intentions or a good attitude. Talk about tone issues.<br /><br />Frank - an excellent letter. Keep 'em coming<br /><br />-KirbyKirbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04036811702165687007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-87080955287243143152011-03-20T17:41:51.014-07:002011-03-20T17:41:51.014-07:00[quote]
| Isn't Jesus in
| charge of those jud...[quote]<br /><i>| Isn't Jesus in<br />| charge of those judgments?<br /><br />You don’t seem to understand this, but Yes.<br /><br />You know: it’s actually the purview of you local municipality to set speed limits in your neighborhood. Once the speed limit is set, it is what it is.<br /><br />But if they set the speed limit in my neighborhood to 15 MPH, and there’s a person who repeatedly drives 60 MPH thru my street where my kids are playing, it’s entirely right of me to say to him, “Hey bub: the speed limit is actually 15 MPH. If you don’t stop driving 60 MPH on this street, you might actually kill one of my kids, but you will most certainly eventually get a ticket.”</i>[/quote]<br /><br />Frank: Oh, thank you so much. I'm remembering that one.<br /><br />It would also be good for taking a conversation to the issue of the reality & clarity of revelation. (Given the existence of posted speed limits, your point is blatantly obvious.)Jugulumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09932658890162312549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-53393440951676904332011-03-20T09:31:43.773-07:002011-03-20T09:31:43.773-07:00The authority Frank Turk displays from speaking bi...The authority Frank Turk displays from speaking biblical truth boldly and in a loving manner is refreshing! Especially in a culture that, kind of, doesn't like that stuff, you know?<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4Steve Kellamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15690576650744565989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-29649066050644583772011-03-18T13:06:02.544-07:002011-03-18T13:06:02.544-07:00Gonna have to flash my ignorance card and say I do...Gonna have to flash my ignorance card and say I don't know about the 1920's liberalism. But I think I know the difference between a religious anthropologist and a missionary. We are called to be the latter.Merrilee Stevensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770625841767761025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-62674667610190079922011-03-18T11:16:27.695-07:002011-03-18T11:16:27.695-07:00Um... isn't evangelism pretty much by-definiti...Um... isn't evangelism pretty much by-definition <i>always</i> " an interfaith environment"?<br /><br />What kills me, over and over again, about Emerg*'s and their enablers, is that they re-hash 1920's liberalism, as if it were a newly-launched expedition.DJPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16471042180904855578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-54285624131461499602011-03-18T11:10:44.225-07:002011-03-18T11:10:44.225-07:00"Cameron and Greg are looking to discover wha..."Cameron and Greg are looking to discover what evangelism looks like in an interfaith environment."<br /><br />First of all, why? Is that what we as evangelical Christians are commissioned to do, ultimately? <br /><br />Secondly, I think a reading of the book of Acts, especially Acts 17:22-31 would be a good place to look if Cameron, and Greg, and Carly want to discover what it looks like. Then, when given opportunities to be heard, try to emulate what Paul said and did. That I could agree with.Merrilee Stevensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770625841767761025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-45375917538521148302011-03-18T10:01:31.213-07:002011-03-18T10:01:31.213-07:00Steve stole my line that I was gonna steal! You, s...Steve stole my line that I was gonna steal! You, sir, are a mind bandit. But well-played nonetheless.<br /><br />But otherwise, whenever I read peoples' responses to Frank's posts I wish that dictionaries the world over would file them under "Irony" first, and then "Log in Your Eye" second. This coming from a logger extraordinaire.Yuriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18241662775221669029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-35441960264036374002011-03-18T01:36:42.906-07:002011-03-18T01:36:42.906-07:00I think it is appropriate at this juncture to cons...I think it is appropriate at this juncture to consider the words of that inimitable sage and philosopher Inigo Montoya, when he said, and I quote:<br /><br />"<i>You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think that it means.</i>"Steve Bervenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02137453259611119361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-65283540140245976352011-03-18T01:08:05.135-07:002011-03-18T01:08:05.135-07:00I love having internet access in the airport.I love having internet access in the airport.FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-73815383302978430262011-03-18T01:07:20.563-07:002011-03-18T01:07:20.563-07:00[con't]
| Remember, it
| was Jesus who accep...[con't]<br /><br />| Remember, it <br />| was Jesus who accepted the <br />| Gentiles and rejected the high <br />| brow, pharisee Jews. So why <br />| should we, as Christians, not <br />| strive to show God's love to <br />| those who are different from <br />| us?<br /><br />I have no idea how that statement applied to what I actually wrote. Where did I say that Greg and Cameron should not love other people? What I did in fact say is that their version of “love” (if you think that’s the right way to put it) excludes the authority of Scripture, the primacy of the Gospel, the work of Jesus Christ, and the specific need of personal conversion. It also excludes the Christian basis for making moral choices – because they intentionally exclude Christian moral reasoning from their basis of cooperation.<br /><br />Are they Christians? Let’s say “yes” without any qualification. Is what they are doing a function of Evangelical sensibilities? You can’t demonstrate how that can be true. <br /><br />| Perhaps, that love will win <br />| them to Christ. I shudder to <br />| think that the hell-fire and <br />| correction you seem to want <br />| to throw at them would do a <br />| better job of evangelizing <br />| than Cameron and Greg's <br />| approach to love.<br /><br />Can you indicate where I threatened anyone with Hell? I asked them to stop demonizing others, and stop hiding under the cover of a movement they don’t belong to, and to stop pretending that many (I would argue “most”) Christians aren’t already a light-year ahead of their new-adult status in the Christian life.<br /><br />If those three things are true about them, they ought to repent of them. If they are not, I’ll be glad to stand corrected. But asserting that I somehow used the moral equivalent of a “God Hates Fags” sign to talk to them about how they are making pretty serious mistakes is, well, laughable. Your moral outrage so far in this comment is a lot more highly-charged than mine was – and I only mention it because tone is a concern you have put on the table.<br /><br />| (Surely you <br />| must realize that Cameron and <br />| Greg did not specifically <br />| address their views on their <br />| own approaches to evangelism <br />| in the open letter to you, and <br />| therefore you can make no <br />| assumptions regarding it...see <br />| above complaint--you really <br />| shouldn't accuse others of <br />| doing things if you intend on <br />| returning the favor--it really <br />| reflects poorly on your <br />| credibility no matter how <br />| intently you attempt to <br />| establish it. Though you may <br />| have not inferred this from <br />| their letter to you, Cameron <br />| and Greg are looking to <br />| discover what evangelism <br />| looks like in an interfaith <br />| environment.)<br /><br />They actually did speak to their approaches to evangelism in their letter to me, and then in the comments here again, and then in private letters. They do not deny in the least that evangelism is, for them, only a passive activity “they hope God will give them the opportunity to do”.<br /><br />Seriously.<br /><br />That’s not an Evangelical attitude toward evangelism: it’s too passive to be such a thing. It might actually be hypercalvinist – there’s no telling really why suddenly God’s sovereignty is such a delicate thing for them when his sovereignty over the moral law is pretty much an invisible attribute in their philosophy.<br /><br />| I have MANY <br />| other problems with this post, <br />| but, honestly, it's not even <br />| worth my time.<br />| This comment <br />| has taken me long enough <br />| already. <br />| <br />| Sincerely, <br />| A Christian who almost <br />| became an atheist because of <br />| Christians like you and your <br />| friends. (Hint: You or your <br />| friends cannot say, "Well, <br />| good riddance if she doesn't <br />| want to be a Christian!" <br />| because that would be <br />| exceedingly un-Christlike.)<br /><br />… speaking of tone …<br /><br />[30]FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-9956080193482813472011-03-18T01:06:47.129-07:002011-03-18T01:06:47.129-07:00[con't]
| First, is it
| really your call to...[con't]<br /><br />| First, is it <br />| really your call to be making <br />| such judgments?<br /><br />Yes.<br /><br />| Isn't Jesus in <br />| charge of those judgments? <br /><br />You don’t seem to understand this, but <i><b>Yes</b></i>.<br /><br />You know: it’s actually the purview of you local municipality to set speed limits in your neighborhood. Once the speed limit is set, it is what it is.<br /><br />But if they set the speed limit in my neighborhood to 15 MPH, and there’s a person who repeatedly drives 60 MPH thru my street where my kids are playing, it’s entirely right of me to say to him, “Hey bub: the speed limit is actually 15 MPH. If you don’t stop driving 60 MPH on this street, you might actually kill one of my kids, but you will most certainly eventually get a ticket.”<br /><br />If he says to me, “Oh yeah? Shut up! Well the police are in charge of that judgment!” What he is saying is that he’s not guilty unless they catch him. That gets it exactly backwards: they will catch him because he is guilty, and my telling him to stop or else he’ll get the punishment is <i>not executing the judgment</i> but <i>warning him that it is coming</i>. <br /><br />Is it Jesus’ call to throw liars into Hell? Why yes: it is. Is it only Jesus’ job to warn liars that hell is waiting for the unrepentant liars? Not according to the New Testament. And, you might be surprised to find out, not according to anyone who thinks that discussion is healthy and useful.<br /><br />| Perhaps it's you who is <br />| "denigrating the bible." <br /><br />That’s a nice assertion. I think that if we open up the Bible, you’ll find that you have no idea what you are talking about.<br /><br />Here’s what you are saying: “Because only Jesus hands down the final judgment on people and their sins, there are no ordinary means by which people and judge each other without supplanting Jesus and denigrating the Bible.”<br /><br />Here’s what the Bible says:<br /><br /><b>My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.</b> (James 5:19-20)<br /><br /><b>If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.</b> (1 John 1:8-10)<br /><br /><b>See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.</b> (Heb 12:15-17)<br /><br />I could go on, but you get the idea: the Bible is pretty keen on the idea that we should offer correction to each other for the benefit of one another. It’s a shame you don’t agree with the Bible.<br /><br />| Second, you accuse Cameron <br />| and Greg of not being true <br />| Christians because they wish <br />| to work with those of other <br />| faiths in non threatening <br />| environments.<br /><br />Actually, I did not say that at all. I said they were not “Evangelicals”, and I spelled out exactly what that means. Please re-read that, and if it needs further clarification, I’ll be glad to answer your specific questions.<br /><br />[more]FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-60436435624121247762011-03-18T01:05:30.475-07:002011-03-18T01:05:30.475-07:00Hi Carly --
| I would like to make a few
| comme...Hi Carly --<br /><br />| I would like to make a few <br />| comments and ask a few <br />| questions about your reply. <br /><br />Super: that’s called dialog, and I welcome it.<br /><br />| First, I would like to note how <br />| angry your post sounds, <br />| especially as compared to <br />| Greg and Cameron's response <br />| to your first letter. Perhaps <br />| you should work on your tone <br />| if you don't want others to <br />| think you're attacking those <br />| around you.<br /><br />I. Didn’t. See. That. Coming.<br /><br />Could you indicate one sentence in this post which has an improper tone, and what that tone is? I’d be extremely pleased to see it and to, therefore, amend it to a tone which would not offend you. To say “the whole thing” is to say, “I can’t be bothered to make any sense here – just trust me that you are offensive.”<br /><br />In Greg & Cameron’s letter, as I pointed out, the <i>began</i> by demonizing me: Chris is a “leading figure”, and I am just a blogger who “targets” him. The tone there is obvious: moral superiority – which, we must admit, is funny given their lack of real urgency about morality as a basis for driving social improvement.<br /><br />Objecting to my tone and pointing out where that tone is evident are two different things, and I welcome you to do the latter. Right now I’m not compelled by your complaint as it has no substance.<br /><br />| Second, you make <br />| quite a few assumptions in <br />| your post about Cameron and <br />| Greg, none of which seem to <br />| be founded on information in <br />| their post. Perhaps you <br />| shouldn't commit the same <br />| sins you accuse others of <br />| committing.<br /><br />Again, any evidence of this would be welcome. Asserting I am naughty doesn’t do anything for me – least of all, give me a basis for improving my activity in the future. Help me to be better.<br /><br />| My real question <br />| though is, what is your stance <br />| on judgment?<br /><br />In one respect, it is the same as yours: one should do something about what is wrong in the world when one witnesses it, and especially when one is the victim of the mistakes or intentional sins of others.<br /><br />In another respect, it is different than yours: it doesn’t matter how someone else’s actions make me feel. I said something in the post which, according to Chris, is patently wrong: he didn’t filter my dissenting comments, but they were lost by the comments system. You’ll notice that, rather than call Chris a liar with a tonal problem, I immediately posted a retraction & correction.<br /><br />It doesn’t matter how I feel about Chris’s correction: I should do something about what is wrong in the world, even when it is me.<br /><br />And our views of judgment are different in another way: I think judgment is how we actually improve things, and you think judgment is how we ruin things. See below. <br /><br />| You seem very <br />| quick to judge Chris, Greg, <br />| and Cameron, even telling the <br />| latter two that this is their <br />| "chance to repent."<br /><br />Let’s make sure we get that last part right, Carly: it is their chance to repent of misrepresenting me, of discounting and dismissing the real Christian efforts which surround them and came before them, and of pretending to be “Evangelical” – either by becoming actually-Evangelical, or by repudiating the use of the term.<br /><br />See: judgment is how we improve things. If they lied about me, they can do better. If their ideas are not new and there is a deep Christian history of doing better than they are proposing, and if being “Evangelical” means something different than they mean by it, they have things to repent of. In <i>exactly</i> the same way I needed to repent of my false accusation of Chris and the comment stream, they have at least 3 things to repent of.<br /><br />The discussion improves when this happens, but you don’t see it that way at all. You think telling someone to “repent” is somehow unkind or unwarranted. I think it’s what Jesus actually said to do.<br /><br />One of us is wrong.<br /><br />[more]FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-35860595657310072342011-03-18T00:04:29.601-07:002011-03-18T00:04:29.601-07:00Cameron --
Thanks for your note, and for Greg'...Cameron --<br /><br />Thanks for your note, and for Greg's e-mail. I only really blog once a week these days, so there's no harm in taking your time to respond. I did take about 2 weeks to get to your letter, so the least I could do is give you that much time to think about my rejoinder.<br /><br />No hurry, but please: respond to what I have said and not what you think my real concerns are. My real concerns are plain here:<br /><br />1. Demonizing or misrepresenting people to make you point look better is dubious at best, but it is what you did in your letter.<br /><br />2. Your idea isn't new, and it isnt half as compelling as the liberal Christian activism that came before it -- except that it doesn't really believe that a Christian moral foundation is needed to act on it.<br /><br />3. Your view isn't the least bit "Evangelical" unless we change the definition of that word. <br /><br />If you ignore every other word I have posted on this subject and respond to those 3 concerns <i>as I have expressed them</i>, we'll be getting somewhere.<br /><br />ANd I thank you again for your time to consider it.FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-33820034276907293152011-03-17T19:46:15.352-07:002011-03-17T19:46:15.352-07:00Dear Strong Tower,
I'm sorry that I came acro...Dear Strong Tower,<br /><br />I'm sorry that I came across as spiteful, but behind that spite were legitimate questions that I specifically addressed to Turk. I am perfectly willing to wait until he comes back from his week hiatus to hear his answers.<br /><br />CarlyCarlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05561148134891601641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-59289789978712920242011-03-17T19:37:47.619-07:002011-03-17T19:37:47.619-07:00Carly-
You sound bitterly hateful and mean. Your ...Carly-<br /><br />You sound bitterly hateful and mean. Your judgementalism is obvious and quite unlovingly not Christlike.<br /><br />Can you possibly calm down and without the emotional spikes, point to something of substance with which you disagree?<br /><br />Oh, by the way... do you really think it is wrong to call people to repentance? Then what are you doing here calling for Frank's?<br /><br />"I shudder to think that the hell-fire and correction you seem to want to throw at them would do a better job of evangelizing than Cameron and Greg's approach to love."<br /><br />So, we're to take it that Jesus was doing a poor job of evangelism when he said, "So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.<br /><br />Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_6nYMMgTTI" rel="nofollow">Yeah, that sound like the elusive butterfy love, alright.</a>Strong Towerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13834108238546908018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-53026416240343619012011-03-17T18:57:41.724-07:002011-03-17T18:57:41.724-07:00Turk,
I would like to make a few comments and ask...Turk,<br /><br />I would like to make a few comments and ask a few questions about your reply. First, I would like to note how angry your post sounds, especially as compared to Greg and Cameron's response to your first letter. Perhaps you should work on your tone if you don't want others to think you're attacking those around you. Second, you make quite a few assumptions in your post about Cameron and Greg, none of which seem to be founded on information in their post. Perhaps you shouldn't commit the same sins you accuse others of committing. My real question though is, what is your stance on judgment? You seem very quick to judge Chris, Greg, and Cameron, even telling the latter two that this is their "chance to repent." First, is it really your call to be making such judgments? Isn't Jesus in charge of those judgments? Perhaps it's you who is "denigrating the bible." Second, you accuse Cameron and Greg of not being true Christians because they wish to work with those of other faiths in non threatening environments. Remember, it was Jesus who accepted the Gentiles and rejected the high brow, pharisee Jews. So why should we, as Christians, not strive to show God's love to those who are different from us? Perhaps, that love will win them to Christ. I shudder to think that the hell-fire and correction you seem to want to throw at them would do a better job of evangelizing than Cameron and Greg's approach to love. (Surely you must realize that Cameron and Greg did not specifically address their views on their own approaches to evangelism in the open letter to you, and therefore you can make no assumptions regarding it...see above complaint--you really shouldn't accuse others of doing things if you intend on returning the favor--it really reflects poorly on your credibility no matter how intently you attempt to establish it. Though you may have not inferred this from their letter to you, Cameron and Greg are looking to discover what evangelism looks like in an interfaith environment.) I have MANY other problems with this post, but, honestly, it's not even worth my time. This comment has taken me long enough already. <br /><br />Sincerely,<br />A Christian who almost became an atheist because of Christians like you and your friends. (Hint: You or your friends cannot say, "Well, good riddance if she doesn't want to be a Christian!" because that would be exceedingly un-Christlike.)Carlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05561148134891601641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-46062235847854502842011-03-17T18:47:54.055-07:002011-03-17T18:47:54.055-07:00Hey guys!
Glad to get involved in the comment str...Hey guys!<br /><br />Glad to get involved in the comment stream here. I apologize for our silence; as a student, I've had final exams in preparation for Easter break and have not had time online save for checking my email and the news. (Greg too has been rather busy.) We do plan on responding to you, but it may take a few days. Despite what you believe, we did read your letter to Chris, Frank-- many times, in fact-- and also much of the material on your site.<br /><br />You bring up some valid points in your response. Look forward to better articulating a few of our own stances, and hopefully dispelling a few of the assumptions that you and your readers seem to share about Greg and me. <br /><br />Best,<br /><br />-Cameron Nations.Cameron.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08072308755070089090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-76624527615784456632011-03-17T18:46:04.560-07:002011-03-17T18:46:04.560-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Carlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05561148134891601641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-30882426311479805972011-03-17T04:05:51.901-07:002011-03-17T04:05:51.901-07:00I agreed with and liked the four points used to de...I agreed with and liked the four points used to define what (and, more importantly, WHO) is an Evangelical. I shall use these in future as a succinct way of expressing my 'Evangelicalism'. <br /><br />I felt that the courtesy of your writing added weight to the arguments you expressed.REBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10023341240385711020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-44725612350816046592011-03-17T00:14:42.181-07:002011-03-17T00:14:42.181-07:00I find approaches to ministry like that of your su...I find approaches to ministry like that of your subject confusing to say the least. What exactly is it we are calling people to, if not the Gospel? What is it you "evangelize" if the bulk of your ministry is building a socially-acceptable consensus based on a heavily ecumenical ministry model which puts equal emphasis on appealing to agnostic humanists, cafeteria Christians and avowed atheists?<br /><br />It would seem they are far less interested in conversion than conversation.<br /><br />I'd call that talking people to death.Steve Bervenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02137453259611119361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-63101634103863677442011-03-16T23:46:47.082-07:002011-03-16T23:46:47.082-07:00For the record, I don't have anything against ...For the record, I don't have anything against administrating comments. We administrate them here -- without using the screening feature, to be sure. My concern in the preface to the letter was against a policy which does not allow dissenting voices any opportunity to be heard, and Chris says he has no such policy. That's a good clarification for me, and for the state of this exchange.FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-65185136508103645932011-03-16T23:37:47.448-07:002011-03-16T23:37:47.448-07:00Chris --
Welcome back from your service trip, and...Chris --<br /><br />Welcome back from your service trip, and thanks for your clarification -- I'll note the correction in the post.<br /><br />I look forward to your response.FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.com