Here is a good column by a retired minister: It's time for moderate evangelicals to speak out. He urges Christians to stand up for what is right, but adds that we must be careful in how we say it. Here are a few highlights:
"At the same time, when we do become involved politically, we must always be careful to state our cause with language seasoned with salt."
"How tragic that so much of the language of involved Christians degenerates into hateful expressions of intolerance that does violence to those with whom we disagree."
"I happened to be in Basel, Switzerland, when the late Mennonite theologian, John Howard Yoder, presented his paper on the biblical peace position to the great Swiss theologian, Karl Barth. ... Fine and good, but after Barth read it, he gave his appraisal. I was standing nearby and heard his response: 'It's a great treatise, but it's so violent.' Barth was showing his sensitivity to not only physical violence, but verbal violence as well."
Amen! Christians should be peacemakers in what we do and what we say. Let us all attempt to tone down our rhetoric so that it is not so violent.
"At the same time, when we do become involved politically, we must always be careful to state our cause with language seasoned with salt."
"How tragic that so much of the language of involved Christians degenerates into hateful expressions of intolerance that does violence to those with whom we disagree."
"I happened to be in Basel, Switzerland, when the late Mennonite theologian, John Howard Yoder, presented his paper on the biblical peace position to the great Swiss theologian, Karl Barth. ... Fine and good, but after Barth read it, he gave his appraisal. I was standing nearby and heard his response: 'It's a great treatise, but it's so violent.' Barth was showing his sensitivity to not only physical violence, but verbal violence as well."
Amen! Christians should be peacemakers in what we do and what we say. Let us all attempt to tone down our rhetoric so that it is not so violent.
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