Orthopraxy vs. Orthodoxy

I've realized that acting out what I believe is more important than knowing exactly what I believe.

It's been a long decent. I've lost my claim to evangelicalism. I've lost friends. I've made enemies. But, at the end of the day I realize that I've made progress and after my "decent" I've finally found a breath of fresh air.

I've argued the "Arminianism/Calvinism debate" - so desprerately trying to make clear in my own mind and world what God didn't find fit to make clear in the scripture - so many times, but I know how God feels about the poor and marginalized ... and yet I do nothing.

We marginalize the distinct and clear and maximize the obscure and ambiguous when reading scripture. We find 6-9 verses (depending on interpretation) that mention homosexuality as a sin and we build a doctrine that shuts out sinners from the grace of God. We have church splits over baptismal procedure - both denominations know that we need to love our friends, enemies, and everyone inbetween.

I don't know what I believe. I'm not sure if I believe in the virgin birth, I don't know if people who have never heard the gospel go to hell, and I'm not sure that I believe the Bible is inerrant. But, I do know that there is enough in the scripture that I do believe that I can get a start on living out my faith. I want a right living. I want to love the poor, the marginalized and the sinners.

I want to live radically. I see a church that has a lot of orthodoxy and no orthopraxy. We know exactly what we believe but we don't act on it at all. I think that if the church focuses on orthopraxy we won't deny all orthodoxy. I just believe that if your'e living right you will want to know why you believe that.

In times when I'm not sure what I believe about the little things - but I know how I should live.