Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
In "reality" there is one big hall with no rooms. That is the ideal. But we don't live in the ideal. Even Lee admitted this with his reality of the Kingdom vs appearance of the Kingdom dichotomy.
There are different rooms. That is the practical reality. Appealing that there is only one real room would be fine if you didn't insist that your room is that room. Doing that is worse than there being many rooms. No one is wise enough to insist that his vision of what the one room should look like is correct. Only nutballs do that.
So the practical reality is there are many rooms, small and large. Then there is one little bitty tiny room in the corner. It has one occupant who is busy hammering nails in his walls to make them stronger while insisting his room encompasses the entire hall. This is Evangelical's room. Please try to not let the hammering bother you.
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I think that the ‘hall’ analogy is a good one, and given that C.S. Lewis clearly stated that he was not out to promote his Anglican affiliations, it would be hard for anyone to accuse him of promoting denominationalism or a certain state of Christianity. In his preface, he makes a striking statement:
The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable. It is fairly clear that he felt people should embrace what is available rather than to wait around for what they think they want. I would tend to agree with that.
Evangelical tells us that we can’t believe in the Lord and also “believe in” denominations. I’m not sure what to make of this type of reasoning, but one thing I do know is that denominations have been one of the primary ‘faces’ of Christianity. Who is anyone to question the legitimacy of such groups? By questioning the legitimacy of a group, it is also questioning the legitimacy of all of God's people who are involved in such groups. That is what I find to be the most troubling.
Unity is what happens when people find common ground. It doesn’t come by insulting everyone who disagrees with a particular point of view. That is what builds up wall in the first place. I have come to realize that the ideals that seem to be so enticing always turn out to be just out of reach. That is why I think there is wisdom in the advice to just pick a door and make the best of it.