Observations from the Methodist Blogger Profiles, III

What intellectual thesis do you think is most important to combat?

Andy Bryan:
Pharisaic rigidity. Jesus fought against the “my way or the highway” people of his day, and lo and behold, they are still around today.

Michael Daniel:
That man is into doing good only because he is expecting something in return. We view too many actions and question ulterior motives when we refuse to realize that man is quite capable of doing good for the sake of goodness itself

Richard Hall:
Individualism.

Greg Hazelrig:
It would probably be the individualistic view of those who believe it’s all about them and Jesus, while love of neighbor is absent from their thinking. I just love the quote from Jim Wallis’ book God’s Politics that goes “God is personal but never private.” These people are often times the ones that hold to the belief that once they have become Christians they can do pretty much what they want while judging others for their sinfulness. People may not say this, but many live it.

Steve Heyduck:
Following on my previous answer, that we in the US are somehow “beyond” culture and particularity.

Larry Hollon:
The thesis that science and religion are incompatible.

Grandma Jean:
I don’t waste my time on stuff like that.

Whit Johnstone:
Prosperity Theology. It’s the antithesis of the Gospel.

Lorna Koskela:
Erm …can I skip this? Seriously the belief that all truths are equal is anti-scriptural. We should respect people’s right to believe what they choose, but we cannot in all honesty say that their belief is right and when asked we must learn to say that Scripture says and we believe that salvation comes from belief that Jesus is the Christ and died for our sins.

Gregory Lee:
Liberal theology where the deity of Christ is denied.

John the Methodist:
Collectivism – the notion that people only have value as members of groups, rather than as individuals. It is collectivism that has led to the worst evils the world has known: communism, fascism, and the Teletubbies.

Craig Moore:
Call me a ‘modernist,” but I hate to conceive of a world without absolutes and any reliable authoritative truth. I think that people need to have something bigger than themselves to believe in, inspire them and guide them.

Chris Morgan:
The underlying philosophical principle of determinism, a principle seldom clearly expressed but appearing everywhere. Sex-ed classes assume that because teens have sexual urges, they must inevitably act upon them. Criminal defendants claim that their actions are determined by their upbringing. “We can’t help it,” everyone seems to say about something.

I, on the other hand, believe quite strongly in personal responsibility. No one forces a man to have an affair with his secretary. Those who are fired because they do not come to work on time have no one to blame but themselves. I am certain everyone will encounter the unexpected, even the unfair. But we must own our actions and reactions; we are not all innocent victims of circumstance. I believe a great deal of personal growth takes place when we recognize our capacity for choosing wisely and take responsibility for doing so.

Jonathon Norman:
I think in our culture- the idea that “it’s all about me”/ie individualism is a HUGE problem that must be addressed by the church, and responded to. An affect of individualism is that Christians tend to see our relationship with Jesus as personal rather than communal (it’s just me and Jesus). I won’t go into specifics here, but both conservative and liberal Christians suffer theologically from individualist theology. If we take the Trinity seriously then we take serious that God is communal in nature

Gerry Charlotte Phelps:
The conceits that science has proved Christianity false, and that God does not exist; and that modern scholarship has debunked the Bible.

Beth Quick:
I think it is important to combat views like those that hold God directly responsible for things as acts of punishment, such as God punishing America in September 11th because of gays and lesbians in the world, or God punishing Southeast Asia with earthquake and tsunami because of non-Christians. I think those views can be so harmful to people, their faith, and their relationship with God.

Shane Raynor:
Religious and moral relativism. We have high-profile people within our own denomination who teach that there are ways to eternal life apart from Jesus Christ. This is unacceptable.

Gavin Richardson:
“God is Dead” by nietzche. Being in youth ministry I get questions from my youth that they feel that God is dead (they don’t actually know of nietzche) but I feel it’s a feeling more and more people are feeling comfortable to finally say ‘this is my view of God, but I don’t want it to be.’ So I see part of my role as a minister in helping people relate to their God that is alive.

Brett Royal:
I don’t believe that truth is relative. If two people believe differently, and their beliefs are mutually exclusive, at least one of them is wrong. I had a coworker make the following comment to me (almost verbatim): “To me, God doesn’t exist. If you believe in God, that’s ok, because to you he does exist.” I told him that he is missing the point. Either God exists or he doesn’t. If He does exist, my coworker’s disbelief is not going to make God not exist. On the other hand, if God doesn’t exist, all the prayers in the world will not conjure him up. We can’t both be right. We can agree to disagree, but we can’t both be right. To say we are both right is nonsense.

Josh Tinley:
I don’t know if this counts as a philosophical thesis, but I abhor the practice of classifying everything as either liberal or conservative, left or right.

Joel Thomas:
Objectivist-type philosophies such as those of Ayn Rand because they conflict with Christ’s command of “love of neighbor.” Although I disagree with libertarianism, which seems a distant cousin to objectivist philosophy, libertarians can and often do feel there is a moral obligation to help by private means those in need. Objectivist philosophy, however, seems centered around the created, as opposed to the Creator.

Dean Snyder:
If I had to pick one, I guess I’d go with laissez-faire capitalism -- the idea that human welfare is best achieved by a free market left to its own devices; the idea that less government involvement in economic decisions such as pricing, production, labor, and distribution of goods and services improves human welfare in the long run; the idea that weak individuals should be sacrificed for the greater good. In social life, its spiritual equivalent might be called “survival of the fittest.”

Jay Voorhees:
Individualism and consumerism. These are the ethical challenges that put our society most at risk.

Cole Wakefield:
What an interesting question

Dave Warnock:
Christian Faith is a personal thing disconnected from Christ and his Church that should not affect the whole of life or other people.

John Wilks:
In terms of evangelism, relativism has to be the biggest issue. Relativism and monotheism are flatly incompatible. Besides, relativism, when it gets passed academia and into practice, becomes "might makes right" and opens the door for great oppression and injustice.