The VNP award for Christian Authenticity goes to….Jeff Lucas

Jeff Lucas, for the second time, wins the above award (See here for the first time). Jeff writes for Christianity magazine, although he is in fact a teaching pastor at Timberline Church, Colorado (Lucky them!). There is stiff competition for VNP’s “Christian Authenticity” award amongst Christianity magazine columnists and they have come up for it before. See here: 

http://viewsnewsandpews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/epistemic-play-pen.html

http://viewsnewsandpews.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/healer-dealers.html

Jeff’s latest article can be found in the June edition of Christianity magazine and is entitled A Dangerous Passion. As the title suggests it is a warning about what happens when passionate serious minded Christians, who see every issue in black vs. white terms, go on the rampage – as Jeff can testify from personal experience. Here are some quotes: 

Passionate Christians can be highly dangerous. I’ve reached that this awkward conclusion after too many years of pastoral leadership …. I’ve seen people wounded, churches split and lives ruined by sold out, white hot, do-or-die zealots…. 

And that’s just the start. The article is so worth reading that I scanned it and it can be read below. Jeff is certainly not against passion per se; his problem, I think, is with the mindless bigoted passion of the spiritual ultras who take themselves far too seriously. As I always say: 

Polarisation passion feeds. Passion polarisation breeds. Polarisation is passion's cause, for crusade and holy wars.

And here's another good saying that I have used before: (An epitaph found on a tomb in St Stephen's church in Norwich)

A scholar without pride, a Christian without bigotry, devout without ostentation.

(Click to enlarge)

Holy Healers!

Point to the evidence Hinn!

As my last post touched on the subject of healing I ought to post the following for the record. 

The June edition of Christianity magazine has a letter from a Peter Saunders who signs himself as the chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship. He says:

The 4000 Christian doctors who belong to the Christian Medical Fellowship Fellowship believe in God's power to heal both in response to prayer and through the gift of medicine. We also believe in the positive effect that Christian faith has on health, which is supported by scientific research.

So here we have a guy who is likely to be very knowledgeable about Christian health issues and at the same time not especially biased against the possibility of miraculous healing. But this is what he goes on to say:

Although God chooses to answer prayer in many ways, there is very little hard evidence that miracles of the sort that Jesus and the apostles performed - instantaneous miraculous reversals on major diseases and disabilities - are happening with any great frequency in Britain today.

That, need I say, concurs with my own observations. However, it is quite likely that Saunders testimony would count for very little amongst the pious ultras who would probably regard much of the medical profession as part of a Godless system. In any case as we saw in my last post any attempt to check up on  apparently miraculous healings may be regarded as at best unnecessary and at worst a sign of resisting the Holy Spirit. But on this subject Saunders writes:

If Jesus was not afraid to have his healings examined by the priests, then we should also seek objective verification [by medical professionals] of any healing claim.

Great advice! But I am afraid that this all rather presumes a culture which respects the medical profession. Unfortunately many marginalised Christian spiritual ultras have a tendency to despise professional medicine and write it off as "man's way". Criticism of their culture will automatically register amongst them as an affront to God, such is their conceit.