tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27237113.post5596096957600800978..comments2024-02-10T00:21:03.699-08:00Comments on Embracing the Risk: Why Do the Kids Leave?MarkChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14783588922999884233noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27237113.post-3070575846666738022010-08-09T08:40:29.229-07:002010-08-09T08:40:29.229-07:00At least the scribes and pharisees had a wife, a r...At least the scribes and pharisees had a wife, a roof over their heads and a pretty good idea where their next meal was coming from. While they had certain rituals they followed fastidiously, they led rather conventional lives when it came to "the big areas." I'm sure many in Jesus day considered his sexless, homeless, poverty-ridden existence as freakish.<br /><br />As Americans, our lives are characterized by extreme material comfort. Some even build theologies around God's supposed desire for our material success and comfort, as if a life lived in radical imitation of our Lord would be considered unbiblical. They preach that God wants us to be more wealthy next year. Others preach that people who live lives of consecrated singlehood in imitation of Jesus are unfit and unqualified to be pastors. We preach individualism in our relationship with God, convinced in the autonomy of the individual conscience apart from community or human authority and marvel in disbelief that God in the flesh would obey his mother at age 30 when he said himself his time had "not yet come." I'm not convinced this means Americans have left the faith in all but name, though I am convinced it means we are missing the boat on important aspects of Christianity. As a wider community, we are raising kids utterly incapable of comprehending the joy of a life characterized by poverty, chastity and obedience. The life Jesus lived is as foreign as the Koran to the average kid who attends Sunday School each week.Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16064119946449926285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27237113.post-80868959571983525812010-08-04T16:58:59.044-07:002010-08-04T16:58:59.044-07:00If their parent's (we?) raised them that way, ...If their parent's (we?) raised them that way, then wouldn't that suggest that their parents had already (mostly) left in all but name only? In which case, do we then blame the parents' parents?<br /><br />It's kind of ironic that Jesus would be considered a self-oppressed freak. In his day, the scribes and Pharisees were the self-oppressed freaks that Jesus was liberating people from.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00244577723092436958noreply@blogger.com