----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan Minette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <brin-l@mccmedia.com> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 2:52 PM Subject: Faith, Hope, and Decision Making
> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Nick Arnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <brin-l@mccmedia.com> > Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 6:46 PM > Subject: Re: Peaceful change > > > > > > > I can go back through the posts, but I see repeated claims that we > > > can find a choice that involves far less violence than war, yet > > > accomplish the most important objectives. > > > > Is a "claim" the same thing as a "hope?" Is an argument the same thing > >as faith? > > I have been struggling with an answer to this, because I've had very > difficult experiences with people who equate faith and hope with wishful > thinking. I think that there is the same type of difference between them > as there is between joy and having a good time. Let me relate a couple of > experiences regarding this to give a background for my thinking. > > First, I have experienced this type of thing in church related work, and > I've been accused of not having faith when I differ with the people. > The best example of this comes from our church Our church membership > started > dropping about 5 years ago, close to the time I joined the Session (the > governing body > of the church). There was a faction on the Session who believed that God > provides contributions to the church if the church is faithful to it's > mission, so that to look at these type of trends and working out why...and > then deciding which is integral to our mission (and thus faithfulness > requires us to accept the loss of membership) and what is not integral >(like playing hymns at a dirge-like pace which can be changed to >attract more members). ....would be a sign of a lack of faith. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
