Comments on: What kind of religious “center”? http://thinkingreed.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/what-kind-of-religious-center/ "Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" - Blaise Pascal Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:52:45 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Christopher http://thinkingreed.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/what-kind-of-religious-center/#comment-20552 Christopher Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:59:16 +0000 http://thinkingreed.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/what-kind-of-religious-center/#comment-20552 Lee, You made a good diagnosis theologically. I admire Gomes, but cringe at that distinction. Jesus and what he points to are one. 19th and early 20th century liberalism is alive and well, making of Christiantiy about a social program in the guise of faith. What Christianity offers, as Luther, gets so clearly is the end of needing to worry about our salvation. God does that for us in Christ Jesus. We are freed up then to love our neighbor (and our enemy). Or quoting Luther on my latest rant on "What is the Gospel?" from last week: “Love is demonstrated in the first place by the fact that he has left us an example. As he gives himself for us with his body and blood in order to redeem us from all misery, so we too are to give ourselves with might and main for our neighbor.” (Martin Luther “The Sacrament of the body and Blood of Christ – Against the Fanatics” Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, Timothy F. Lull, Ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1989), 331) Lee,

You made a good diagnosis theologically. I admire Gomes, but cringe at that distinction. Jesus and what he points to are one. 19th and early 20th century liberalism is alive and well, making of Christiantiy about a social program in the guise of faith.

What Christianity offers, as Luther, gets so clearly is the end of needing to worry about our salvation. God does that for us in Christ Jesus.

We are freed up then to love our neighbor (and our enemy).

Or quoting Luther on my latest rant on “What is the Gospel?” from last week:

“Love is demonstrated in the first place by the fact that he has left us an example. As he gives himself for us with his body and blood in order to redeem us from all misery, so we too are to give ourselves with might and main for our neighbor.” (Martin Luther “The Sacrament of the body and Blood of Christ – Against the Fanatics” Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, Timothy F. Lull, Ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1989), 331)

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