"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea."
One day the disciples of Jesus saw a man casting out demons in Jesus' name but tried to stop him because, as they said, "he wasn't following us."
Pardon me, but it's baloney like that that gives Christianity a bad name.
So much is being done to alleviate suffering in the world in the name of Christ. The hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, the enslaved are freed. In other words, the Kingdom of God is being built. Yet some of us sit around and argue and criticize saying, "They aren't with us. They are fundamentalists. They aren't doing this for the right reasons.". Or we say, "Those are liberals and their good works are the works of the devil in disguise." And the world watches as we argue and try to put a stop to one another and those who were young in their faith - those Jesus calls "these little ones" who believe in Him, are totally turned off.
When we do that - when because of our own tribal theological preoccupations, we turn people off to Christ - one sad day we'll wake up and see what a disservice to Him we've done and we'll wish a great millstone had been tied around our necks and we had been thrown into the sea.
Here's another option. I get it from Habitat for Humanity. It's called "the Theology of the Hammer" and it basically says this: If you can swing a hammer then you are theologically qualified to come and help build God's Kingdom.
And it has been my experience that even if you can't swing a hammer, you are welcome to come and learn.
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