Tony Campolo Steps Outside Orthodoxy

Compromising the gospel, you decide.

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• Campolo

[codyraymiller]

There is a fine line here. I agree that we are not to go around declaring who is, and who is not, saved. However, we must remember that their is a clear standard of Salvation, and that is Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:12, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

By this standard we HAVE TO declare (in general terms) that Muslims and Jews are NOT saved, because they do not profess Jesus Christ as their Savior.

[suckyskiz]

Sounds pretty good to me. Tax rates, high or low, have nothing to do with the Christian message. I fully agree with Tony that, despite my own personal feelings towards homosexuality or abortion, people should be free to choose to sin or not to sin. God even gives us that freedom. As for the last part, it's true that Jesus is the way, truth, and life, but he is also saying that we don't know a person's heart. The Apostle's creed recognizes the authority Christ as judge, not ourselves.

[xtriager]

Why do Christian conservatives want to keep government out of public healthcare, but see no issue with religion in healthcare or government banning certain practices in healthcare?

Why do Christian conservatives have a huge issue against government taking care of the poor - a Christian commandment - while they have no problem dictating government involvement against homosexuality?

[ToBeSaltnLight]

So we should repeal all laws, so that everyone has the freedom to do what they want. Since laws rob people of their "choice". What a poor rationalization. Christians cannot support abortion, because it's murder. Progressives and Conservatives do not follow the teachings of Jesus.

[hymnologist]

None of this is outside orthodoxy.

[nepistepa]

@TheStrong32 You refer to people's attitudes once they are already "engaging in sexual activity". I think the point would be that changing the ideology of babies not being human till birth to an ideology where they are human at all stages would affect a lot of people's approach to sex full stop, ie, even before they decide whether or not to engage in any sexual activity, rather than only once they are engaging in it. The idea that ideologies affect behaviour very little isn't worth replying to.

[TheStrong32]

@nepistepa I agree with you in oposing the rather fatuous argument that a fetus is somehow not alive (unless one wants the child, in which case it is). However, merely changing the terminology (and even the ideology) will do very little to prevent unwanted pregnancies. When one is engaging in sexual activity, one is not thinking about conception (if one were, it would would not be an unwanted pregnancy). Honest a open education and good contraception is the best way to prevent abortions.

[TheStrong32]

@JackTheJust Um, long-term celibacy was very deinately practiced in Jesus time (that's the reason for His comment about eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven). I do agree with you about education + better, safer birth control. Abstinence-only has been a disaster. The best educational model is encouraging abstinence and at the same time providing robust, scientifically-based sex education (including the proper use of contraceptives).

[TheStrong32]

They both make really good points. The priesthood of the individual believer has to be respectedd. Otherwise, there is no room for the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said, "The letter of the law kills, the spirit of the law gives life." When one group's interpretation of Scripture becomes the law of the land, we end up with the Inquisition.

[nepistepa]

@JackTheJust "In the time of Jesus ... Long term celibacy was not practiced"??? You're too uninformed for me to waste any more time on.

[JackTheJust]

@nepistepa First point is that "long term" celibacy is unnatural & unhealthy. In the time of Jesus, teenagers married & had children so Long term celibacy was not practiced. Enough of celibacy. I am interested in decreasing abortions. Education + better, safer birth control will decrease inconvenient, unwanted pregnancies. PERIOD No Pregnancy = No Abortion. Dehumanization is better defined by devout Christian Air Force Pilots dropping cluster bombs on women & children for praise & a paycheck.