The Meaning of ‘Christian’
What does it mean to be ‘Christian’ or ‘christian’? In the same way that Islam is fractured and battling about what it means to be ‘Muslim’ or ‘muslim,’ the election of Donald Trump as the President of these United States has brought into the spotlight the fractured state of Christianity that Protestants and Catholics are experiencing. The same could be argued for those who are Jewish, whether practicing the faith or not. Reporting on a Pew Research document, the Washington Post, note that about a third of our citizens think to be a real American one must be Christian.
It was good to bump into a blog post by a colleague, Rev. Jan Linn. He blogs at Thinking Against the Grain at linnposts.com
Why I Believe Ministers Like Adam Hamilton Are Wrong
Rev. Jan Linn, Feb 8, 2017That desire to be a pastor to everyone is rooted in his belief that “the defining mark of the Christian life is not being right politically. It is expressing love.”
That is a point of view few Christians would disagree with, but its application to the political divide in our country and in Hamilton’s congregation is far from simple.
More than that, expressing love can lead ministers like Hamilton to believe, as he says he tells other ministers, that influencing people takes priority over irritating them. As I will show, I think that is a false dichotomy.