In this video, D. A. Carson reflects on the accusation that Christians are intolerant and sectarian, showing that there is no way there is a community that has no limits.
I suspect that one of the most common objections against Christians and Christianity in the West today is that Christians are inherently bigoted and closed-minded; they consider some things to be true, some things are not; distinguish between heresy and orthodoxy. their own rules of conduct, morality, certain things they approve of, and others they disapprove of. He’s arrogant. This causes divisions. Without building the civil community and establishing a truly tolerant society, the inevitable result of being sectarian is the end of the year, and for those who have grown up in some of the strongest postmodern tendencies, under the influence of Michel Foucault, all claims to tell the truth are in fact claims of power, they are forms of manipulation. Instead of fostering freedom, they simply produce repression.
- And yet.
- When you look at the claims on the surface.
- They are problematic.
- No community is completely inclusive.
- Tim Keller in New York likes to use this example: Let’s say you have a gay.
- Lesbian.
- And transgender committee working in a big city.
- Working for inclusion.
- And they’re making great progress together and trying to get stronger.
- Mutually.
- And then.
- Suppose one of your members comes to the committee meeting one day and says.
- “This is going to sound strange.
- But I had a strange religious experience.
- I met a lot of strange people.
- They are Christians.
- And my whole life has changed.
- I don’t see things the same way anymore.
- I’m not convinced that homosexuality is just an alternative way of life.
- And the others say to him: “Well.
- We think you are wrong.
- But your opinions are welcome; we always want to be with you.
- And as the weeks go by.
- The tensions rise as they walk in different directions.
- They are attached to different values.
- Until.
- Finally.
- The committee staff told that member.
- You really don’t share our views anymore.
- He is walking in another direction.
- Their perceptions of right and wrong are different from ours.
- We are not sure that you are still on this committee.
- We think it will be good if you quit.
- They just carried out an excommunication.
See? It is impossible to be fully and infinitely open, because even this infinite openness is based on the assumption that such infinite openness is a good thing, so if someone begins to say that it is not good to be infinitely open, he feels that he must reject that person precisely because he cannot be infinitely open to the person who does not have his vision of being infinitely open; that is, in a finite world, every community inevitably has limits; inevitably, there are inclusions and exclusions.
By Don Carson. Copyright The Gospel Coalition, Inc. Original: The God Who’s Here?Part 4 The God Who Legislates
Translation: Alan Cristie. Revision: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel. Editora Fiel © All rights reserved. Original: Are Christians intolerant and sectarian?D. a. Carson [The Current God 4/14]