The Hermeneutic of the Gospel – Part 3

Walsh & Keesmaat continue with the introduction of an interlocutor (a questioner / conversation partner). The interlocutor responds:

Again, * All “boldened” sections have been highlighted by me. 

“When you put it that way, I can begin to see your point. Of the friends of mine who have abandoned Christian faith, very few of them stopped believing in Christ because of intellectual problems with the Bible or because they were seduced by some other worldview or belief system. Rather, they tend to abandon Christian faith because of the irrelevance, judgmentalism, internal dissension and lack of compassion they experience within the Christian community. Rather than finding the church to be the community that most deeply encouraged them in their struggles [exploration, questions, differing viewpoints, learning, growth and spiritual formation], they lost heart in their discouragement and lost their faith in the process. Rather than experiencing the church as the site of the most profound hospitality, love and acceptance, they felt excluded because of their doubts, struggles, [questions, experiences, learning etc]…”

Walsh and Keesmaat continue:

“This is our point. What makes an argument that is alternative to the gospel plausible? Is it the inconsistency of the argument? Is it scientific verifiability? It’s political and economic power [and “bums on seats”]? No, what makes an argument that is alternative to the gospel plausible is the implausibility of the Christian community itself.

[Whilst the interlocutor cites the irrelevance, judgmentalism, internal dissension and lack of compassion they experience many of us could name further experiences and lack, e.g. criticism, lack of authenticity, superficiality, a lack of empathy and understanding, a lack of encouragement, intellectual laziness and disinterest, inflexibility, change aversion etc.]

To be continued… by the final instalment

Comments

[erickeck]

wow, thanks for that post... good stuff