MJMCCULL@OWUCOMCN (Mike McCully) (01/11/90)
Bob writes: >If someone were to >say, "I feel wonderfully connected to nature," would the first thing that >came to your mind be, "That person is obviously a Christian?" If so, why? I feel this statement could be made by a variety of people, some Christian and others not, so I wouldn't be able to tell the person's affiliation without more information. In my opinion, if we believe that God is the Creator of everything, I don't see how we can escape feeling some sort of connectedness with nature; we are all creatures together. Also, there is the idea that we should be responsible stewards towards nature. Doing what is helpful for nature would seem difficult if we felt totally alienated or disconnected, just like it is difficult to help another human when we have coldness and no empathy for him or her. The problem arises when people confuse or substitute their connectedness with nature for the deeper connectedness that they should be feeling for Gd, who transcends nature. We have to avoid pantheism and paganism in general. But we must also not overreact and throw out the baby with the bathwater. As someone said a while back (I think Keith), at times Satan might try to promote distortions of Christian ideas in order to tempt Christians to discard the idea altogether, thus becoming blind to God's true will. It is sad that there are Christians who don't care about ecological destruction, abuse of animals, etc. Peace, Mike
D2MG@SDSUMUS (Kurt Evans) (01/13/90)
Mike (McCully),
In the heart of your message was a real profundity: "At times
Satan might try to promote distortions of Christian ideas in order to
tempt Christians to discard the idea altogether." How true!
A couple of weeks ago I heard myself thinking, *Matthew 7:1-5 are
taken out of context and perverted so frequently, I wish God hadn't put
them in the Bible*. I was violently jarred when it came to me that the
reason these verses are twisted so often is because of their *extreme*
importance to Christian behavior. Satan's attacks on this passage have
opened my eyes to the necessity of really meditating on it.
In Jesus' name,
Kurt