Rodent Regatta

Marvin Olasky posted some comments and a link to an interview with Anne Lamott. Until I read this entry, I had no idea who Anne Lamott is. I missed the interview when it originally appeared in World magazine.

What strikes me most about the entry are the comments left there. Many of them resemble the fictional tale of Jesus running for President. I’m also reminded of a comment made directly to me by one of the senior leaders of a major ministry. It went like this: ”Everything began to fall apart when our pastors began to preach ’the love of Christ’ rather than the consequences of ’hellfire and brimstone.’” I was, and remain, astonished. In so few words, he managed to capture the essence of the debate between the fundamentalists and those they label liberals. Both labels are wrong.

There is an arrogance in critiquing the faith of others that is so distasteful. Who can judge whether or not someone has a proper view of God at each point along the way of a Christian’s journey?

I can tell you one thing. Christians who fail to live up to their claims of devout faith in the workplace do more to harm the Good News than any other failure I can see. It was well-said by a dear friend this week when he said, ”you’ve never been really manipulated in business until you’ve been manipulated by a Christian who is manipulating you in the name of the Lord.”

His words were more colorful than those, but carried the meaning.