The previous item has been rattling around in my brain ever since I posted it. I'm struck by the beautiful simplicity of Mel Gibson's advice to Robert Downey Jr. about getting sober... find your faith, and don't worry about the form as long as it's rooted in forgiveness.
I hear a lot about folks like Gibson, characterized as pulpit-pounding doctrine dictators, and I know quite a few people who fit the description perfectly. It came as a bit of a surprise that Gibson would give such ecumenical direction to his friend, if that is indeed the way he communicated it to RDJ.
There is so much negativity wrapped up in the word "Christian" these days. People claim the title who act anything but. I have a lot of virtual acquaintances who are downright proud of their unwillingness to forgive, and literally dare God to chastise them for it. I know others whose priorities in faith put personal demonstrations of forgiveness, grace and mercy below doctrinal purity for its own sake. And I am always at a loss for whether I should identify with such people, because their faith seems to be so very different from my own.
So I wonder if this could be used as a sort of shorthand... mine is a faith that is rooted in forgiveness, i.e. God has forgiven me, and thus I forgive you.
What is your faith rooted in?
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