Red Letter Christians (Tony Campolo's Blog)

[Alex]

http://www.redletterchristians.org

The goal of Red Letter Christians is simple: To take Jesus seriously by endeavoring to live out His radical, counter-cultural teachings as set forth in Scripture, and especially embracing the lifestyle prescribed in the Sermon on the Mount.

Ironically, it was a secular Jewish country-and-western disc jockey in Nashville, Tennessee who first suggested that title. During a radio interview with my friend Jim Wallis, that deejay declared, “You’re one of those Red-Letter Christians – you know, the ones who are really into all those New Testament verses that are in red letters!” When Jim said, “That’s right!” he answered for all of us. By calling ourselves Red Letter Christians, we refer to the fact that in many Bibles the words of Jesus are printed in red. What we are asserting, therefore, is that we have committed ourselves first and foremost to doing what Jesus said.

The message of those red-lettered Bible verses is radical, to say the least. If you don’t believe me, just take a few minutes to read Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In it, Jesus calls us away from the consumerist values that dominate contemporary America. Instead, he calls us to meet the needs of the poor. He also calls us to be merciful, which has strong implications in terms of war and capital punishment. After all, when Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he probably means we shouldn’t kill them.

Gandhi once said that everybody in the world knows what Jesus teaches in those red lettered verses — except Christians. Today, lots of people share that same kind of disappointment with the American church. We want to change that.  ...

Tony Campolo

[Alex]

by Tony Campolo
March 31st, 2011
http://www.redletterchristians.org/losing-faith

[Alex]

by Tony Campolo
April 1st, 2011
http://www.redletterchristians.org/why-christians-dont-like-jesus

As the Red Letter Christian movement came to be known, I realized it would never be accepted.  This is because many Christians don’t really like the God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.  They want the God that is in the black letters.  He is the God that legitimated war and many Christians feel more comfortable with war than they do with a God who tells them to love their enemies and to overcome evil with good.  ...

...they want a God who will provide infinite punishment for limited sin.  ...

...They don't like the God who touches lepers, embraces Samaritans, declares women equals, and has the audacity to say to gays, lesbians, transsexuals, and bisexuals, "Whosoever will may come."  ...  

...They want a God who, when they march off to war, will be on their side...

...Instead, the God of the red letters is the God that we find in the Beatitudes.



Alex's comment:  Well-said!

[Alex]

http://www.redletterchristians.org/lose-yourself/

[Alex]

Religionless Spirituality
by Tony Campolo
April 10th, 2011
http://www.redletterchristians.org/religionless-spirituality

...unless churches recover ministries of healing, environmentalism, and meditation, people will leave to have these concerns met elsewhere.

[Alex]

Digging Deeper: The Coming Evangelical Split
by Jimmy Spencer Jr.
April 9th, 2011
http://www.redletterchristians.org/digging-deeper-the-coming-evangelical-split

A difference in methodology: Practice vs Scripture

The Traditional View: Christianity is a set of beliefs that are rooted in the inerrant Word of God, the Bible.

The Progressive View: Christianity is a lifestyle modeled by Jesus—to be imitated and practiced.

A Difference in Theology: Exclusive vs. Inclusive

The Traditional Exclusive Theological view: "We have a fairly firm idea of who is in Heaven and out to Hell."  Exclusivism interprets that Jesus is The Way and Truth and Life—and that people need to consciously believe this to experience grace at the end of their life.

The Progressive Inclusive Theological view: "We have a fairly loose idea of who is in Heaven and out to Hell."  Inclusivism does not believe that everyone must consciously make a profession of faith.

This theological difference strikes straight into the heart of the way people frame Christianity.

It strikes straight at the heart of what Jesus is about. It strikes straight at what we think happened on the cross 2000 years ago. Ultimately, was the Cross an excluding event—or an inclusive event?

Is God more exclusive or inclusive?
This is not a peripheral value…and so you see our issue.

Two radically different lenses thru which to see the God.
Two radically different lenses thru which to engage our neighbors.

In the end—I think you’ll see traditional evangelicalism march faithfully forward with it’s leaders, speakers, methods and theology in tact. This will be a victory for them. Alongside them will rise new leaders who strike off and attract millions also—they will be practice focused, progressive and inclusive oriented speakers and leaders operating with a new set of vocabulary and methods. This too will be a victory for them.

[Alex]

You Might Be An Evangelical Reject If. . .
by Kurt Willems
June 15th, 2011
http://www.redletterchristians.org/evangelical-reject