"Well, crying isn't gonna bring your dog back . . . unless your tears smell like dog food. So you can either sit there crying and eating can after can of dog food until your tears smell enough like dog food to make your dog come back or you can go out there and find your dog."
- Homer J. Simpson
Friday, June 3, 2005
Judson Heartsill over at the Boar's Head Tavern just wrote a post that warms my Thomas Kinkaid-appreciating, CCM-listening, theologically-challenged, dumb Baptist heart.
I think this is something that needs to be said from time to time. I quote his post in full below:
For a bar, we don't make nearly enough toasts. I'll try to fix that.Thanks Judson.
I want to celebrate a character who has the dubious honor of sometimes getting kicked around not only by people like the BHT, but also by people like the Totally Reformed.
I'm talking about the low-minded Christian.
Everybody knows one. Or two.
They send you chain blessing emails. (Send this back to me and 5 other people, or you're a mean pud who doesn't like God). They send you emails PURPORTEDLY by Andy Rooney about how there's pictures of the 10 commandments everywhere in Washington D.C. on buildings.
They probably believe the earth is 6,000 years old.
They're Christians primarily because they don't want to go to hell.
They want to go to heaven primarily to see their grandma.
They watch some TBN occasionally.
They gave you a copy of "The Purpose Driven Life".
They're threatening to give you a copy of "Your Best Life Now".
If they even know what apologetics is, they probably think it's demeaning to Christians.
They read certain portions of Ephesians and tell you "now, I just can't believe that Paul really means what he's saying here, on election."
Know the type?
Here's some other facts about some of them.
They believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead-- something only God could have revealed to them.
They watch their tongues.
Singing hymns or praise songs makes their heart leap upwards.
They read their bible every morning at 5:00 AM.
God is using them, right now, to make his will be done on earth.
God bless them.
High-minded Christian: You know a lot. Are you putting all that knowledge to use to serve your Master and your fellow slaves? Or are you using it to stoke your ego? It pleases God to use the weak. Just how weak are you? As weak as your low-minded brethren? I sure hope so.
And God bless you, BHT guys. You take a lot of abuse, sometimes from me. I lift my diet coke in silent toast to you.
Trackbacks:
Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/2135.
Comments on "A Toast to the Low-Minded Christian":
2. jen
- 06/03/2005 4:28 am CDT
Thanks for the post, Bill. I don't know why I'm still amazed that God plants a thought in my head and then reasserts it through others.
5. Daniel
- 06/03/2005 6:05 am CDT
excellent. I feel like sometimes I'm in the middle of these two groups and I can appreciate both viewpoints.
Thanks for drawing our attention to it Bill.
6. Raindream
- 06/03/2005 9:15 am CDT
I should go fill a frosty mug with milk. Cheers!
The conclusion of this post is beautiful. It reminds me of a sermon by Covenant Seminary President Brian Chappell, in which he said that we in the Presbyterian Church of America value doctrine highly and appropriately but may err in believing that God saves through sound doctrine. I may struggle with this still. Does God save through an acceptance of sound doctrine? No, he saves by grace through faith. While sound doctrine is critical, salvation is a gift from the Lord through faith in the Gospel.
11. Dan Paden
- 06/04/2005 2:41 am CDT
Thanks for posting that. I can't count the number of times I've stood in awe as people I knew couldn't possibly understand--whether through accident of birth or the brain damage brought on by previous drug abuse--anything more complex than "Jesus loves me, this I know," uttered the most passionate, heartfelt prayers imaginable, or washed people's cars for free (and a chance to share the gospel), or trudged all over the neighborhood with bags of popcorn and an invitation to a church movie night. These are the people whom God has provided me as a means of teaching me that no matter how much I learn or how great my understanding becomes, it is all worthless if I don't have love. Great intellectual understanding without great love to accompany it is great tragedy.
Heh. I spelled "Thomas Kinkade" wrong :-)
I think I'll leave it just the way it is . . .