Convictions and Practices

I was reflecting on comments received on my last post. I found some of the suppositions evidenced interesting. I would make some observations which, I trust, are helpful: they are certainly at the heart of my understanding, in these matters.

 Theology, for me, is built on convictions and not propositions. Convictions always lead to and find expression in practices. This position I read as explicit in the teaching of Jesus. Because of this, ethical issues lie at the heart of mission, flowing out of the heart of Father God; expressed in and through the humanity of our Lord Jesus; a life in us resourced and empowered through the Holy Spirit. In this, mission and ethics are inextricably woven together.

There has been a failure, partly due to the introducing of marketing techniques into 'evangelism', to properly hold together the place of ethics and mission. Desperation to persuade others that God loves them can and has led, in tragic ways, to a rupture of the 'message of the Gospel' from the practice of the Christian life, as demonstrating a life rooted in the convictions and practices of the One God, expressed in and through the humanity of Jesus Christ.

There is a need to re-articulate the nature of Christian living as a commitment to holy living; to rediscover the joy of self-mortification in order to worshipfully express lives found anew in Christ. To offer people, in Jesus' name, not a product for consumption but a way of life for living. A way of life and living that is fundamentally different from that belonging to the agendas of the powers and principalities that dominate the lives of those held captive by the world. In other words, let's get back to reflecting on and implementing Biblical teaching on this.    

Basics

There are some matters of practice and behaviour that are so basic, so clearly evidenced in an understanding of Scriptural teaching of over two thousand years of Christian behaviour, consistent with a prior history of Israel's reception and adherence to God's instruction, perceived as so destructive of social coherency and healthy humanity, that it leads us to ask further questions when these practices are challenged or questioned.

This, in Baptist life on these Islands, is such a time. What do we really believe are essential indicators of repentance towards God and a Christian faith that evidences an encounter and surrender to the Living God? Is there a difference between being welcoming and loving to all and condoning and complicit with all? In what ways are those baptised into Christ expected to put to death themselves so that the life of Christ be expressed by the Holy Spirit through them?

I am deeply troubled, as are many, many others. Being baptist does not excuse us from acknowledging that some common practices need be embraced not only at a local congregational level, but across a whole Union of churches. The issues at stake are fundamental.