Wednesday, May 2, 2012

BELIEF AND PRACTICE

Just aghast at people who believe they are 'following' Jesus by singing songs, going to church, studying theology, etc. 
The point of Jesus' call is to imitate him - mystically, symbolically, socially and pragmatically. 
The biblical idea commonly translated as believe is corrupted if people think it is just intellectual assent to unprovable ontological statements about Jesus. The word implies a commitment to living out the values of a community. 
To that extent - while I would not presume to make an eschatological principle out of this - I am not sure that non-'Christians' whose behaviour reveals a Christic principle are not better followers of Jesus than some whose discipleship stops at noisily proclaiming that He is co-eternal with God and died for their sins. 
Belief certainly starts with certain cosmological and epistemological assumptions, but becomes real when it becomes existentially real through one's decisions and choices.

No comments:

Post a Comment