AN EVENING WITH SHANE CLAIBORNE
Author and Christian activist, Shane Claiborne, shares his journey and his mission. Claiborne is founding partner of The Simple Way, a faith community in Philadelphia that has helped to birth and connect radical faith communities around the world. He writes and travels extensively speaking about peacemaking, social justice and Jesus.
He will be with us Friday, April 27 at 7:00pm at Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Avenue.
So don't let the Christian angle keep you away. Check out the video above.
I've been "walking out" my path in Christ for sometime and many times I am at odds with the official party line. I think perhaps this is Shane's walk also.
So many times we are quick to encounter and know the word of God without understanding that we need to know the God of the word so that his Word by revelation can come alive in us. These must go hand in hand. We often use the word as superficial posi-think mantras allowing the depth and revelation of the Word to fall by the wayside; perhaps mantra and depth of revelation don't have to be mutually exclusive.
The famed story of Solomon threatening to cut a child in half was inspired wisdom. We take the uninspired framework and apply it to two guys fighting over a car; well the two are both just as soon see the car cut in half as let the other drive, right? This is a case of lack of revelation to rightly divide the word of God.
This is what many of us do, we misapply the word through our ignorance of the Word, through our lack of revelation. We are quick to affirm, "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me," when trying to accomplish some feat but not so quick to apply it to enduring circumstances when we are not in control; it is out of spiritual balance and superficial for many.
Much of today's church get's caught up in sin management and thought control, teaching that "we know what the word says and you must believe what we believe," or be in danger of being cast off into the netherworld of Hell.
Many including myself are often quick to quote without having revelation of the thing of which we speak. We can lend mental ascent to understanding that we do not have revelation on so much but in practical terms it can be hard to determine. So many of the do's and dont's of the church are not understood at the core, so much is handed down and accepted as "gospel" because of tradition not fresh revelation.
So what do we do with the Gay issue how do we apply the word? Personally I'd rather deal with, "anyone that looks on a woman in lust has already committed adultery in his heart," and work out my own salvation in fear and trembling than look for what is wrong in others without God's revelatory light. I know that it seems that there is a sin hierarchy but to the saints, believe the word when it says if you have broken the law in any one point you have broken the entire law. Listen to Paul when he struggles and says, " the thing I don't want to do, that I do and the thing I want to do that I don't do," and take comfort in the question and answer, "who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. If you consider yourself in Christ and you haven't figured out there is a war going on you need to, "check yourself before you wreck yourself."
I was on facebook recently and a guy who always talks about "the Lord" and "Jesus" and the "power of God," was openly lusting after a woman whose boyfriend had posted some pic of her in lingerie. He calls this woman holy and a saint and on and on and then pretty much says to her, "take it off baby!" He knows she is away from her husband and having an affair with a married man but he is undisciplined in the things of God, lets is dick rule or his flesh rule him and control his mind never realizing the Rhema word of God walking in deference to only the Logos. The fleshly mind is an enemy of God and can not obey the things of God.
We all should know that the gate to life is narrow and few there be that find it and great and wide is the gate that leads to death and destruction. Don't for one minute believe that because you said a prayer once upon a time, or can quote a lot of Christian mantras, wow folks with your prayers or even that because you know the truth that this will spare you from the coming destruction as you repeatedly spiritually shoot yourself in the foot, in the chest in the head. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! How foolish! Can't we see that faith without works is dead? if we have living faith it will produce just like a living orange tree will naturally produce oranges. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, this is different than what many of us think this says; faith comes by hearing the word of God... not.
I was talking to a beautiful Greek woman one night who is not in Christ and I was talking about wanting a trial I am going through to end even though there is much growth because of it. The woman understood exactly where I was coming from and shared some of her own trials and growth and said, "the trials never stop," and went on to further associate trials with spiritual growth. Christians do not corner the market on morality nor do they corner the market on spiritual wisdom.
We also should understand that different rules apply to those in Christ and those not in Christ. The only thing pertinent to those not in Christ is that they come to a saving knowledge of Christ, put another way, they come into a relationship with the Christ. In America it doesn't matter what one does outside of the Christ mind except to our own comfort level as "the redeemed. " I believe we should all think, "to hell with my comfort level, how can I love this person toward Christ, draw her or him to Christ in me the hope of glory?" Continually we turn our noses up at everyone that doesn't fit our moral code thereby condemning ourselves as hypocrites in most cases, because we compare our strengths to the weakness of others and may not even take account of our failings. Is it an inferiority complex or superiority complex that causes us to label people Not Our Kind if they see something different than we do in their walking out of the word of truth and love? How can we be in community with the community.
Once in Christ, we need to forgive each other from the cross as Christ has forgiven us. Forgiveness is not an easy proposition and it is an ongoing process.
I/we have so much to learn about Christ, so much relational ground to cover with Him but first we must acknowledge this fact and the fact we don't save our selves, even the very faith whereby we come to Christ who calls us, woos us, draws us is given to us. We love Him because He first loved us and have nothing to be proud of and nothing about which to brag.
Well I would love for someone to takes shots at what I've just pronounce or agree with it.
