Blog question for the week following August 23, 2009

1. Please read Ephesians 6:10-20. Visualize the images presented by the writer: the armor of God, praying in the Spirit constantly, wearing chains. All speak to our calling to provide an assertive Christian witness to the world.

I saw a poll the other day in which 81% of Christians professed to be open-minded. In the same poll, only 56% of non-Christians found Christians to be open-minded. What does this mean? Does any attempt to speak of faith in Jesus Christ, or to live as a Christian, come across as intolerant in a world in which everyone lives in his or her own private universe? Or is there a problem with Christians that they themselves don't recognize? What is the correlation between being a person of conviction and being open-minded? What are the limits to the church's hospitality? Do we have standards?