Spirituality that breeds love or debate!

I have to say that I tend to steer clear of a lot of Christian bloggers because I can't bear some of the judgmental garbage that happens when they begin to rant about some issue or other.  There are, however, a few that I can't live without.

One of those is the blog by Pete Wilson, who is senior pastor at Crosspoint Church in the Nashville area.  I follow him on Twitter and read his stuff as often as I can and it seems as if every single thing I read from him comes straight from his heart.  He is positive, always publicly encouraging his staff and church members and he challenges those around him to think beyond themselves.

His post today was about a controversial book called "Mere Churchianity" which wonders whether the church has much to say about Christ any longer.  He quotes a passage from the book and then asks his readers to comment. 

Here's the passage he quotes.

"We have a culture-war spirituality that produces Christians who might never share their faith but are ready at a moment’s notice to debate politics, abortion and civil union for gay couples. It is a spirituality that calls down fire on its enemies and shapes its followers into intolerant soldiers waging a morality crusade. Its kingdom is the eventual triumph of moral conservatism, and its spirituality is conflict and argument.
 
Can we honestly say that Jesus was a culture warrior? Can we say that the spirituality of Jesus is geared to turning you into a noisy talk-radio pundit? Is our anger at the decline of culture really a dependable guide toward the experience of God?"

The comments on the post are as intriguing as the original post and as the book.  I think this is a discussion that we as Christians need to be having often! 

When will we stop allowing our personal bigotry, agendas and problems to guide the church and actually allow God to lead us in the way that He wants us to go?

I've ordered the book to my Kindle and am actually NOT looking forward to reading this.  Pete Wilson says that the book ticked him off.  Great. 

I just keep going back to the same words that I will use over and over again.  We can not allow the ugliness that wells up in each of us to overcome our relationship with the world around us.  We have to face everything with love and if we don't have enough to handle things we don't understand, are fearful of or just plain don't like, then we need to recognize our great need for the love of Jesus. 

It seems as if this topic keeps leaping up inside me.  So, I just keep writing about it.  Love has to win out over our culture and our interpretation of our culture!