In his Difference and Repetition (1968), the late French philosopher Gilles Deleuze warned that just because something looks like it's being repeated (or is the same) doesn't mean that it is. Things change, people change, the world around us is constantly changing, so no two occurrences are exactly the same.
I'll save you from further philosophical blusters and let explore at will. I should mention that I bring up Deleuzian repetition because the phenomenon is seen over and again in the debate over Christianity and gay issues. The repeated story in the media is that Christian leaders, particularly black ones, hate gays with the fever of Hades. The story and faces are repeated again and again.
So I was relieved when I read of a new turn of events in the same repeated story, and that is of Christian leaders who urge congregations and followers to take the good word literally and love everyone, including gays.
More than a dozen pastors and ministry leaders speaking during "The Nines" leadership webcast last Friday asked for acceptance of gays in the church. Pastor Gregg Farah of Shelter Rock Church in Long Island, N.Y. offers a new perspective:
"It's easy to talk about 'those people,' but those people have names, are committed to their partners, love their children and want deeper relationships with God... Christ commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Are you wondering how to engage a gay couple at your church? Love them. In order to fulfill the Great Commandment we are to love people and we also have to love God. To do that we have to look at what the Bible teaches on this topic and be honest and clear on what we believe... This is not the time to look the other way."
Farah's progressive perspective isn't a new concept, but it's a fresh way of addressing the changing face of our societies. The church, at least in Farah's eyes, faces a crisis between inclusion and continued alienation--hitting on the fragile consideration of how a body of proclaimed love deals with issues that (in their eyes) contradict holy teachings.
It would be premature and naive to suggest that Farah represents the 'new church.' But Deleuze would be happy to see that, this time, the pattern has shifted.
Read more at Christian Post.
I'll save you from further philosophical blusters and let explore at will. I should mention that I bring up Deleuzian repetition because the phenomenon is seen over and again in the debate over Christianity and gay issues. The repeated story in the media is that Christian leaders, particularly black ones, hate gays with the fever of Hades. The story and faces are repeated again and again.
So I was relieved when I read of a new turn of events in the same repeated story, and that is of Christian leaders who urge congregations and followers to take the good word literally and love everyone, including gays.
More than a dozen pastors and ministry leaders speaking during "The Nines" leadership webcast last Friday asked for acceptance of gays in the church. Pastor Gregg Farah of Shelter Rock Church in Long Island, N.Y. offers a new perspective:
"It's easy to talk about 'those people,' but those people have names, are committed to their partners, love their children and want deeper relationships with God... Christ commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Are you wondering how to engage a gay couple at your church? Love them. In order to fulfill the Great Commandment we are to love people and we also have to love God. To do that we have to look at what the Bible teaches on this topic and be honest and clear on what we believe... This is not the time to look the other way."
Farah's progressive perspective isn't a new concept, but it's a fresh way of addressing the changing face of our societies. The church, at least in Farah's eyes, faces a crisis between inclusion and continued alienation--hitting on the fragile consideration of how a body of proclaimed love deals with issues that (in their eyes) contradict holy teachings.
It would be premature and naive to suggest that Farah represents the 'new church.' But Deleuze would be happy to see that, this time, the pattern has shifted.
Read more at Christian Post.
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