With friends like these, who needs.....

I spent a recent morning on the porch, listing to the rain and leafing through the latest issue of a popular Christian magazine. While I appreciate the scholarly attempts at great journalism, I am disturbed by the search for “truth” that then appears controversial and judgmental. 

When does our “religion” become a tool to judge and condemn others, rather than a rallying call to worship together and to share the mystery of our faith?

Here are just a few of the issues being debated in this one magazine in our divisive search for “truth.”

• Should we love those who are evil or “wish judgment upon them?”
• Can the Christian faith be reconciled with the new frontiers in brain research?
• Are children’s sports programs building character or diminishing church attendance?
• Does counting Christians killed in political or ethnic conflicts as martyrs “take away” from the deaths of active witnesses?
• If it more Godly to live in the slums with those who need help or to responsibly protect our families?
• Does God still speak to us audibly or only through the Bible?
• Is Yoga a healthy, calming and much needed exercise or a subversive introduction of Hinduism and New Age spirituality?
• Is “religious indignation” justified Godly anger or simply a way to make ourselves feel superior?
• Is it wrong to savor a great meal or should we, like St. Augustine, “fight against the pleasure in order not to be captivated by it?

Granted, these are interesting topics of conversation but I fear that while pursuing the “”truth” in such matters in our Christian circles we miss the opportunity for connection and compassion with our next door neighbor.  

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Dan is the author of the New York Times best-selling 48 Days To The Work You Love , No More Dreaded Mondays and the newly released Wisdom meets Passion. He has been a guest on CBS' 'The Early Show,' MSNBC's 'Hardball with Chris Mathews,' Moody MidDay Connection, and the Dave Ramsey Show. Dan has spoken at the White House Christian Fellowship, and is in high demand at national conferences on aging and changes in the workplace, and at universities and churches.  Over 130,000 people have subscribed to his weekly newsletter, his 48 Days Podcast consistently ranks in the top 3 under Careers on iTunes, and the 48Days.net business community is viewed as an example around the world for those seeking to find – or create – work they love.