Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!DKAUNI2!UK3W From: UK3W@DKAUNI2 (Matt Will) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia Subject: Re: Re: To Peter: saved, Message-ID: <"90-02-08-13:22:39.08*UK3W"@DKAUNI2.BITNET> Date: 8 Feb 90 18:02:28 GMT Sender: Practical Christian Life Reply-To: Practical Christian Life Lines: 28 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM Gateway John, thank you for your note. We agree on the point that we have to learn a lot from other people - from a human viewpoint; and so we have to try to understand their ways of life, too. As Christians, we have to be good listeners too. But if we go back to the Bible, in the example of being hospitable towards others, we find Jesus teaching the very same. Okay, I agree that some people might feel more obliged to be hospitable if it is a sacrament. But that's one of the outstanding points in the Bible: there are very few sacraments, and the highest of them is the sacrament of love. I agree that we have many times failed in showing this love to others, and we have fought against our brothers and sisters rather than fighting against the ennemy. But what do you mean exactly by your phrase (or c.s.lewis' phrase) "Where Christianity differs, I side with Christianity"? I have already said it, but I'll repeat myself: You can only accept or reject the Bible and there is no alternative. You cannot take only a couple of points. Maybe I did not understand what you mean by Christianity. If you mean what has been made out of God's word by humans (including all the ter- rible mistakes like burning "witches" and wars for the sake of conver- ting people by force), we do not have to accept this. As humans, we are all subject to making mistakes, so we should go back to the Bible to evaluate what we are doing. Of course this book was written by humans, but as it was written under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, it has no contradiction although it was written by more than 30 different authors! That is what I meant by infallible. I have to excuse myself if my past posting sounded like a flame, because it was not intended to be one. Peace, Matt