I think I'm a Mennonite!
First post in a long time. This blogging thing takes a lot of effort.... and my lack of a life leads me to many days of nothing to contribute. Anyways, thinking through different theological issues/ stances in preparation of my church plant have engaged my thoughts a lot recently. Isn't it interesting that there's so much disparity amongst different denominations theologically... yet each one has to come off as utterly convinced they are 100% right? Hrmm... I'm siding with the idea that no one is 100% right all the time, thus we should approach theology with a lot more humility. I always try to live by the words of Karl Barth, who once said that he believed 75% of his theology was correct... he just couldn't tell which 75% it was.
I was listening to a Shane Hipps sermon from a couple months ago when he shared with his new church, Mars Hill Bible Church, about his Mennonite roots.... and guess what? Theological humility was one of its distinctives! So much of what he was describing seemed to resonate with how I thought, I feel a certain kinship with my Mennonite brothers and sisters. I think I'll get super excited the next time I run into a Mennonite... think we're related or something, haha! Here are two other distinctives that Shane mentioned:
1) Taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously. This one doesn't seem that significant... but it is. How many times have you heard "Jesus didn't really mean that..." in reference to a sermon on anything from the Sermon on the Mount? Loving your enemies? Storing treasures in heaven rather than earth? Judging others? Loving your enemies? (this is where Mennonites get their stance on being pacifists) I've heard a lot more sermons teach "this is what Jesus really meant" rather than teaching on taking his words seriously.... and its refreshing to hear how Mennonites challenge themselves to live out what Jesus says.
2) Not having distinctions between who's in and who's out. Mennonites refuse to have such distinctions, allowing the life of faith to challenge everyone on the daily basis. Compared to who we are supposed to be, we are all a whole lot closer to each other than we are to the gold standard of Jesus. Thus its pointless to delineate between who's going to Heaven and who's headed to Hell. That's God's job... in the meantime, each and every one of us is to be stretched and prodded to live out the tremendously counter-cultural teachings shared in the Bible.
So what's not to like about the distinctives of theological humility, taking Jesus' words seriously, and not judging people? I loved hearing it, and for what its worth, I think I'm part Mennonite!
I was listening to a Shane Hipps sermon from a couple months ago when he shared with his new church, Mars Hill Bible Church, about his Mennonite roots.... and guess what? Theological humility was one of its distinctives! So much of what he was describing seemed to resonate with how I thought, I feel a certain kinship with my Mennonite brothers and sisters. I think I'll get super excited the next time I run into a Mennonite... think we're related or something, haha! Here are two other distinctives that Shane mentioned:
1) Taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously. This one doesn't seem that significant... but it is. How many times have you heard "Jesus didn't really mean that..." in reference to a sermon on anything from the Sermon on the Mount? Loving your enemies? Storing treasures in heaven rather than earth? Judging others? Loving your enemies? (this is where Mennonites get their stance on being pacifists) I've heard a lot more sermons teach "this is what Jesus really meant" rather than teaching on taking his words seriously.... and its refreshing to hear how Mennonites challenge themselves to live out what Jesus says.
2) Not having distinctions between who's in and who's out. Mennonites refuse to have such distinctions, allowing the life of faith to challenge everyone on the daily basis. Compared to who we are supposed to be, we are all a whole lot closer to each other than we are to the gold standard of Jesus. Thus its pointless to delineate between who's going to Heaven and who's headed to Hell. That's God's job... in the meantime, each and every one of us is to be stretched and prodded to live out the tremendously counter-cultural teachings shared in the Bible.
So what's not to like about the distinctives of theological humility, taking Jesus' words seriously, and not judging people? I loved hearing it, and for what its worth, I think I'm part Mennonite!
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