Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World

2. 2

3. Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World

5. Can there be peace among passionately faithful people?

6. 6

8. humor anti-humor

15. Why did the chicken cross the road? Albert Einstein: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken? Sir Isaac Newton: Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest. Chickens in motion tend to cross the road. A nun: It was a habit. Hamlet: That is not the question. John Donne: It crosseth for thee. Colonel Sanders: Did I miss one?

16. Why did the dinosaur cross the road? (2 answers) What is the chicken’s deepest dream? Why did the Texas chicken cross the road? Why did the chicken go to the seance?

17. Can you imagine Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed walking together ... If they could cross the road together, might it be possible for us to follow them?

18. Starting Point:

19. We already know how to do 2 things quite well:

20. We already know how to do 2 things quite well: 1. how to have a strong Christian identity that is hostile toward people of other religions.

21. We have the only way. You are going to hell. We are God’s chosen. You worship false gods. resistance is futile. you will be assimilated - or eliminated. STRONG-HOSTILE

22. We already know how to do 2 things quite well: 1. how to have a strong Christian identity that is hostile toward people of other religions. 2. how to have a weak Christian identity that is tolerant (benign) toward people of other religions.

23. it doesn’t matter what you believe. all religions are the same. all roads lead to god. only sincerity matters. doctrines divide. keep religion private. weak-benign

24. We haven’t yet learned ... to have a strong Christian identity that is benevolent toward other religions.

25. Because I Follow Jesus, I love you. I move toward “the other.” I break down walls of hostility. i stand with you in solidarity. you are made in God’s image. i am your servant. I practice human-kindness. strong-benevolent

26. A Popular Misconception: Our religious differences keep us apart.

27. Actuality: It is not our religious differences that keep us apart, but rather one thing we all hold in common:

28. Actuality: We build strong religious identities through hostility toward the other.

29. Give people a common enemy, and you will give them a common identity. Deprive them of an enemy and you will deprive them of the crutch by which they know who they are. - James Alison

30. Hostility has had survival value ... but it may now threaten our survival.

31. "Historically, the amity, or goodwill, within the group has often depended on enmity, or hatred, between groups. But when you get to the global level, that won't work... That cannot be the dynamic that holds the planet together... But what would be unprecedented is to have this kind of solidarity and moral cohesion at a global level that did not depend on the hatred of other groups of people." (Robert Wright, Nonzero: The Logic Of Human Destiny, quoted in Evolutionaries: Unlocking The Spiritual And Cultural Potential In Science's Greatest Idea, by Carter Phipps)

32. Can Christians today build a new kind of identity ... based on hospitality and solidarity, not hostility, to the other? strong-benevolent

34. Five Challenges 1. Historical 2. Doctrinal 3. Liturgical 4. Missional 5. Spiritual

35. Must doctrinal differences always divide us?

36. From Follow the Sacredness, by Jonathan Haidt • http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/forget-the-money-follow-the-sacredness/ • Despite what you might have learned in Economics 101, people aren’t always selfish. In politics, they’re more often groupish. When people feel that a group they value — be it racial, religious, regional or ideological — is under attack, they rally to its defense, even at some cost to themselves. We evolved to be tribal, and politics is a competition among coalitions of tribes.

37. ... The key to understanding tribal behavior is not money, it’s sacredness. The great trick that humans developed at some point in the last few hundred thousand years is the ability to circle around a tree, rock, ancestor, flag, book or god, and then treat that thing as sacred. People who worship the same idol can trust one another, work as a team and prevail over less cohesive groups. So if you want to understand politics, and especially our divisive culture wars, you must follow the sacredness.

38. “Sacred groupishness” often makes a “centering idol” out of a list of doctrines. Doctrines provide a loyalty test ... helping us test others for membership in our safe group. Doctrine is not simply about “truth” - it’s about loyalty, safety, security, and groupishness.

39. But doctrine can have another meaning ... another purpose: Doctrine can mean “a healing teaching.”

40. What might happen if we took a second look at our core doctrines - not as centering idols, but as healing teachings?

41. healing teachings intended to bind together what has been torn and broken (re-ligion)?

43. The Healing Teaching of Creation

44. The Healing Teaching of Original Sin

45. The Healing Teaching of Election (or chosen-ness)

46. The Healing Teaching of Incarnation

47. The Healing Teaching of the Deity of Christ

48. The Healing Teaching of the Holy Spirit

49. The Healing Teaching of the Trinity

50. The Healing Teaching of Inspiration of Scripture