I am impressed that the words below were spoken by two Lipscomb University professors and that an interfaith gathering recently took place on campus:

To live peacefully with Muslims and Jews, Christians must put aside the notion that their faith requires the creation of a Christian kingdom on Earth, a Lipscomb University theologian told an interfaith gathering at the university.

“We are not going to get very far in our relationship with Jews or Muslims if we do not let go of this idea,” Lipscomb professor Lee Camp said at Tuesday’s conference.

As I’ve said before, I don’t expect someone to forfeit their beliefs in the name of tolerance, but I do hope that we can all find a way to be respectful when sharing our viewpoints by acknowledging that other legitimate perspectives exist.

I’m a Lipscomb high school alumnus, and I’ve had my share of frustrations with the institution over the years. That said, there are many kind-hearted, well-intentioned people who attend, work for or otherwise contribute to life on that campus. I don’t think that this kind of event or the words above would have generated anything but outrage when I was a student. This kind of forum is major progress.

This is heavy handed, but I agree with it. I think this ought to apply to all of us, even beyond those of us who are Christians. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with entertainment or wanting to enjoy leisure time, whether it’s taking in a movie or doing something else. (Not that the Passion of the Christ is really anything people “enjoy” inasmuch as it depicts a very painful series of events.) No one person among us can save the world, but we can all give of our time and our money to make the world a little bit more hospitable for people who are in need.

Even though this cartoon is dead-on accurate in my opinion, maybe Christians are an easy target because the Bible calls us to such a high standard in trying to emulate Christ. There’s a paradox in seeking that goal because it’s unattainable for us as fallible beings, and yet it is noble and admirable to want to live humbly and be of service to other people. Christians can’t possibly live up to the standard Christ established, but it often doesn’t help that many of us, myself included, don’t seem to take that goal very seriously in how we live our lives. (It doesn’t help, either, that a lot of us think that we have God all figured out and in our hip pocket, but that’s a topic for another post.)