hey beloveds,
i am clearing out my old drafts in my blog. here’s some stuff that i started working on and then didn’t finish. there’s going to be a lot, so it will take some time. the only change i am making is to give this little introduction at the beginning, brief comment at the end, and then to add “graveyard posts [#]:” to the beginning of what the title is saved as. there will be lines separating the post i drafted and these intros and conclusions. so enjoy this look at how my mind has worked overtime. here’s the fourth post:
My friend and fellow pastor Josh says we need to be careful about STDs in the Church. I think he’s right!
To clarify, I am talking about spiritually transmitted diseases. Had ya going for a minute there didn’t I?
He is preaching a sermon series right now where he critiques some of these spiritual diseases that he is worried are infecting the church: legalism, dualism, literalism, and futurism,
There are many “isms” as I will call them – or STDs as Josh would call them – that are threatening to infect our faith and keep us from growing in Christ. Our goal is for Christ to be formed in us (Gal. 4:19). But just as our growth and health in our bodies can be hindered by disease and poor diets so our faith can be hindered from its proper development and health because of disease and poor diets. Here are the diseases I think we need to be on the look out for (in addition to the four Josh provided): moralism, traditionalism, ritualism, Gnosticism, Arianism, Marcionism, and tribalism.
On Moralism
Morality is good, but it has been idolized by certain evangelical circles as if that is the point of the faith. Morals – being a good person who does good things – are a good thing to encourage in people, of course. I am not saying we should be bad, but what I am discouraging is that moralism that seems to have all the definitive rules figured out on what one should and shouldn’t do as proper behavior. It is those we scoff at others who don’t follow thier rules
i think this had a lot of potential as a post. i still remember having the discussion with josh about his sermon series and i really enjoyed it.
peace out girl scout,
a.
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