Part two

2.) I’m not someone who gets easily upset by texts. But as I was reading post modernism the other day I freaked. I was so upset that I felt that I should go and talk to the prof about the material to try to get some redirection. The text was written by a pastor who had grown very disillusioned and angry with the church. In fact, I should probably be using a stronger descriptor then the word angry. Every time he referred to Christians he had some vicious adjective in front of it.
All I could think of was Dr. Eckley. One of the most profound statements that Eckley ever presented to me was that “If you aren’t making people angry as a pastor then you aren’t doing your job.” This is so true. And it is reflected in my life – I have no problem making people angry speaking the truth. BUT there is a flip side to this as well. You must speak the truth in LOVE. Not a single statement out of the article that he wrote was written in Love of his Christian brothers and sisters. What would happen if a non-Christian read this book? They would walk away with the impression that we are incapable of even loving those who are also Christians. This isn’t postmodern at all. In fact it’s a complete opposite from the ideal. In an attempt to make a strong argument, the author became exactly what he was advocating against.
How often does this shift also happen to us where we try so hard to be the opposite of what we dislike that we actual metamorphose into that which we hate. It’s like the paradox of life. I was reading Psalm 35 this morning where the author is asking God to destroy those who hate the author because evil must be destroyed. Words of this magnitude cannot be penned without hate flowing through your veins. Isn’t that just as evil? Just as much a sin? Where are the words of truth that are spoken in love?