tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post2668724895344142340..comments2024-03-28T09:52:15.415-04:00Comments on Common Denominator: Generous Orthodoxy 5-6 A Missional EvangelicalKen Schenckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-27027940734629347042009-05-13T15:20:00.000-04:002009-05-13T15:20:00.000-04:00Why is it that people get so caught up with making...Why is it that people get so caught up with making a BIG differences? If I decide to go home and take care of an ailing parent, is that "missional' enought? Or is that something less than giving up all for Christ? <br /><br />It is usually when we take our eyes off the small stuff that the big stuff gets messed up...for without introspection, we are doomed to become dangerous to others and ourselves....Angie Van De Merwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12617299120618867829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-32622184244770568132009-05-13T08:23:00.000-04:002009-05-13T08:23:00.000-04:00I should probably note here my own untrained under...I should probably note here my own untrained understanding of the term Salvation is: ultimate reconciliation and communion with God. Reading your earlier review of McLaren's Chapter 4 thoughts on "saving" and "salvation" I find little to help me connect McLaren's thinking on salvation with the coming of the Kingdom. <br /><br />I am not surprised as I find that the technical meaning of the term is generally fuzzy, and that most people, even and especially the theologically well-trained, in arriving at their own theological understandings tend to re-fit the term to their own personal circumstances. I am sure that I have done this as well. <br /><br />Perhaps "Salvation" IS a personal term, something which is worked out uniquely and idiosyncratically between God and each of God's creatures; my Salvation may not be recognizable to another, nor their's to me. That certainly seems to be the case here on earth as we each seek to sort out the concept in anticipation of what we know not.<br /><br />JohnJohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06245470576919732592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-13306454025043095642009-05-13T08:00:00.000-04:002009-05-13T08:00:00.000-04:00I agree with you John in the same way that I agree...I agree with you John in the same way that I agree that a person's belief on eternal security doesn't matter if we are all living the way God wants us to live.Ken Schenckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-39602992866792551282009-05-13T07:37:00.000-04:002009-05-13T07:37:00.000-04:00I have not read 'Generous Orthodoxy' but issues wh...I have not read 'Generous Orthodoxy' but issues which you raise in your partial review caught my attention.<br /><br />You challenge McLaren's dismissal of the question of who is and how many are saved. If we accept the proposition that our commission is to go and make disciples, then it does not matter who or how many are saved or who or how many will ever be saved. <br /><br />The commission operates regardless of anticipated success rate of our efforts. Information regarding our personal success at the mission, the ultimate success of the mission is simply not important. It may feed our vanity to think we are having an impact, it may encourage us to know that the mission will succeed or that our efforts will matter, but in truth the commission stands even if we will never successfully disciple a single individual.<br /><br />More to the point, we are called to make disciples, not effectuate or even contribute to anyone's salvation. Salvation for one or for all, is ultimately in God's hands, to be granted as a matter of grace to whomsoever God sees fit to grant such grace. <br /><br />The object of our effort at disciple-making is not to "save" souls for Christ, but to contribute to the building of the Kingdom on earth, and that we can do even if we don't know the box score of the Salvation game.<br /><br />By the way, if we are about earthly Kingdom building, then how we as representatives of the Kingdom are viewed, appreciated and valued by those whom we seek to bring into the Kingdom is perhaps our most important asset.<br /><br />JohnJohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06245470576919732592noreply@blogger.com