On Anne Rice: Please Read Beyond the Headline
Even though I am in Germany, the headline about Anne Rice has reached here. The headline says she has left Christianity. The reading of the article says she has reacted against the tone of many tied to the faith who simply reflect a faith that is anti-this and anti-that.
Even though I am in Germany, the headline about Anne Rice has reached here. The headline says she has left Christianity. The reading of the article says she has reacted against the tone of many tied to the faith who simply reflect a faith that is anti-this and anti-that.
Now I do not accept all that she says nor do I think walking away from many in the community is the way to love those for whom Christ died and to whom we are related as fellow Christians, but I think I understand at least some of her point. It is that many in the church do not reflect well the Christ they identify with. Any pastor knows this as the church is a community, not of perfect people, but of redeemed people who should be growing spiritually but often come up short. There also is an issue of how we stand up for and represent what we believe, especially when the church stands opposed to things the world accepts. There is what we believe (or sometimes discuss those things) and how we discuss it. Tone and content are both important. She is raising that question in a way that should lead to some internal reflection.
Hopefully the door is not closed on this topic for her reflection. Hopefully we can reflect on the issue it raises.
8 Comments
Donna Baird
I am interested in watching
I am interested in watching D. Bock blog and I am unable too.
Lynn L
Organized Religion
Organized religion is a problem to many people. It tends to foster a falsely inflated sense of what is right, but doesn't necessarily reflect the God of great love for all people. In the view of some people, it seeks a more appearance-based or legalistic criteria for what is right, as opposed to evidenced-based reasoning, which is a turn-off to many people. I think what Anne Rice is doing is a symbolic act of disavowing some of the beliefs and interpretations of the church, and the tendency towards what is perceived as the self-righteousness–or ignorance–that a superficial view of the Bible fosters. One example is the still-popular belief in a six-thousand year old earth, when science has established that the earth is more than 4 billion years old. She has left organized Christianity–she has not left her faith in Christ. I think there are many believers in Jesus Christ who feel the same way. The church has also demonstrated a compassion for those in need around the world, and has reflected the love of God in many ways, seen and unseen by the masses. That said, hopefully this will open the door for some people who are turned off by the politics of Christianity, to find the one, true living God, who offers eternal life to anyone who seeks Him with an honest and open heart. Hebrews 11:6.
samuel ward
i would like to subscribe
i went to the page tied to the RSS feed link and it was a page full of text. why will it not let me subscribe to Dr. Bock's blog? is there another way?
Darrell L. Bock
On Trouble Subscribing
Those of you having trouble subscribing, try this:
right click on the rss link, copy the url/link location, and add it to their feed reader.
Magnus Nordlund
a jewish reading of the gospels and NT
Dr Bock! Do you know if there are any Rabbis or any orthodox jew who have written about the gospels or NT i.e how they view certain aspects of its high christology or the johannine prologue…
Sometimes it can be refreshing to read the viewpoints from a radical different perspective to pinpoint what we Christians really believe regarding Jesus…
Sincerely Magnus Nordlund
Darrell L. Bock
Jewish Reading
Magnus:
Joseph Klausner (older treatment)
Geza Vermes
Amy-Jill Levine
Don Hagner has a book on Jewish readings of the gospels.
Darrell Bock
Robert A.
re: New movie on the devil
Hi Darrell,
Have you heard of the new movie about a guy who sues the devil for $8 trillion?
Would love to hear your review – I heard the film is amazing.
Loved your comments on 'Expelled' when it came out 2 years ago.
R.
Darrell L. Bock
Movie on the Devil
R:
I am in Germany for the year and will not see it.