| |
|
home | board | compass
| prayer | eCard |
01/21/2003 Entry: ""
Can I have my word back please?I don't like to label people. Labels can be a means of wrapping people up in a word and then dismissing them. It is easy to forget that the labels we use to describe people do not define them. The Almighty has made us in such infinite variety that our labels can only ever be vague hints or approximations.You might guess from all this that today I'm trying to get rid of a label - but you'd be wrong. What I want to do is recover a label which has been (ahem) "borrowed". I want it back. The label is... (wait for it!) ... evangelical. There. I said it. I am an evangelical.My problem is, I reckon that word has been misappropriated and it's in danger of losing its meaning. It is beginning to be associated with a particular approach to the Bible, and sometimes with a particular style (or styles) of worship which have no exclusive claim to it.So what does evangelical mean? I'll quote the glossary in "An Introduction to the Christian Faith", published by Lynx Communications in Britain:
"One in whose Christian faith great importance is given to the teachings of the Bible as the basis for belief and to personal conversion as a necessity for true Christianity"That'll do me! Of course, I'm more than happy to share this label with others who might want to qualify it in different ways. Conservative, charismatic, radical, Calvinist, Arminian (and many others) would all be possibilities. Just don't try to claim that the word belongs to you alone. It's mine too!
Replies:
Well said. I've written in other places before about my aversion to labels. I almost never use one of myself, but if really pushed will use "evangelical" of myself.Shalom,Jan
Posted by Jan @ 01/21/2003 11:21 PM CST
Be my guest BD!
Posted by Richard @ 01/21/2003 04:01 PM CST
May I share it too? :^) Blog on!
Posted by Bene Diction @ 01/21/2003 03:47 PM CST
