Question: How do you reconcile tolerance and evangelizing
Warren: I’m a breast cancer survivor. I’ve had breast cancer and melanoma. If I felt like that . . . And let’s just say I heard that you or someone close to me was diagnosed with cancer, and I felt like that I had something that was going to cure your cancer. I would be a terrible human being if I didn’t at least offer it to you. Now you might decide, “No thank you. That sounds like a really radical thing. I think that’s a quack. I’m not really interested in it.” That wouldn’t change my wanting to be with you and to have a friendship and a relationship with you even though you might decide you didn’t like what I was offering. So I think the same thing applies as in . . . in Christian faith, or evangelizing as you said. I happen to believe that I have . . . not because it’s mine, but because God in His word says, “I want a relationship with every human being.” I know that. And so I would be a terrible human being if I didn’t offer that to you – to at least just say, “Here’s what I found. Here’s the relationship I have. I’d like to introduce you to my friend God. I’ve got my little card here: Kay Warren, friend of God. I’d like to introduce you.” And if you said, “Thank you very much. I appreciate that, but I’m really not interested.” Then I would say, “Okay. But let’s be friends. Hey, can we go to dinner tonight?” You know or, “Would you pick up my mail for me while I’m gone this week on vacation?” It should not affect the level of relationship. But neither should I not tell you what I think is the most important news in the whole world.
Recorded on: 12/11/07
Discuss
David Edwards-Smith on January 18, 2008, 10:17 AM
I think of faith as trust and openess. In faith we trust our questions and the process of life to unfold answers. Those answers are stepping stones to the next questions. I feel evengelicas think they are the gatekeepers to the true questions and the answers the alpha and omega to the human condition. This creates a condition of otherness and distrust which is the anthesisis to the core religious teachings of compassion and oneness.Think of the potential for peace in the world if religious orders began to understand they do not have the answers. I believe answers are only stepping stones to the next question. This is the adventure of the human spirit. Notice that she points up for god. I see a problem in the evengelical concept of "god". Why is "god" seen as an ultimate parental being in evegelicals. The core of the worlds mythologies and quantum science speaks of "god" as the base reality we perceive to be seperate from. This perception of seperatness I believe is the core to human suffering. Essentially we are all in this together noone and nothing is seperate from "god".
David Edwards-Smith on January 18, 2008, 10:20 AM
Can an evengelical teach by pure example without ever spouting the word of god? Can their smile impact someones heart without needing to establishing their religious "authority"?
When she "offers" the truth of god which is then declined. She first establishes her authority. In her mind can she really continue the relationship without the sense of judgement and otherness which is the core of human suffering.
David Edwards-Smith on January 18, 2008, 3:17 PM
I think of faith as trust and openess. In faith we trust our questions and the process of life to unfold answers. Those answers are stepping stones to the next questions. I feel evengelicas think they are the gatekeepers to the true questions and the answers the alpha and omega to the human condition. This creates a condition of otherness and distrust which is the anthesisis to the core religious teachings of compassion and oneness.Think of the potential for peace in the world if religious orders began to understand they do not have the answers. I believe answers are only stepping stones to the next question. This is the adventure of the human spirit. Notice that she points up for god. I see a problem in the evengelical concept of “god”. Why is “god” seen as an ultimate parental being in evegelicals. The core of the worlds mythologies and quantum science speaks of “god” as the base reality we perceive to be seperate from. This perception of seperatness I believe is the core to human suffering. Essentially we are all in this together noone and nothing is seperate from “god”.
David Edwards-Smith on January 18, 2008, 3:20 PM
Can an evengelical teach by pure example without ever spouting the word of god? Can their smile impact someones heart without needing to establishing their religious “authority”?
When she “offers” the truth of god which is then declined. She first establishes her authority. In her mind can she really continue the relationship without the sense of judgement and otherness which is the core of human suffering.
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