The Quaker Prophet: I Am An Evangelical Quaker

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

I Am An Evangelical Quaker - Are Quaker Values Evil?

Sometimes "Yes," Sometimes "No!"

Sadly, too often we Friends cut ourselves off from the very Life the power of which, flowing through us, rocked our spiritual ancesters' world.

Spirit guidance is the true primary "Quaker Value"

We as a Society of the Friends of Jesus, like many other groups within the Church, spent many years living under the locks and keys of specific, judgmental do's, don'ts, human patterns, and Quaker cultural laws that supposedly answered the what, when, where, and how. But the truth is that these "good things" shut us, and our lives, off from the flow of the Holy Spirit and brought us brokenness, exclusion, and spiritual death.

Spirit breathed answers to

"how then shall I live in this moment?"

In the past, "Quaker Values" referred to Biblical emphases that Quakers held in conscious thought as foundations to Christian community and guides to interaction with all of persons. You will note that "value" does not provide a prescription for what, where, and how a proper answer is lived. "Values" were "queries" to take daily, moment by moment, before the throne of God for Spirit breathed answers to "how then shall I live in this moment?"

Further Readings On Quakers and Quaker Values

by this blogger:

Joyful Abandon

A Look At My Roots

Who Are The Friends Of Jesus?

Try This Old Quaker Practice - The Church Meddling In Your Business

The Quaker Prophet

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments Moderated After 14 Days:

Statement of Faith

God. We believe in one God existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has always been and will always be the only God. There were none before Him and shall be none after him. We also realize that many, if not all, of the characteristics and aspects of God's nature including His love, grace, righteousness, omnipotence, omniscience, holiness, and tri-unity are beyond human understanding except as He reveals them to us by the Spirit.

The Father. We believe that the Father created all things in heaven and on earth. He created human beings, as a special creation, out of a love for us and desires a personal relationship with each of us.

Jesus. We believe that Jesus Christ is wholly God and wholly man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life and died on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. Further, He arose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven. In taking on the humanity of man and being tempted in all ways like us, He provided an example of the life in this world that is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit and personal direction of God.

Holy Spirit. We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict men, making them aware of their sin, of their need for salvation, of the righteous judgment of their lives here on earth, and of the need for redemption of soul, mind, and body as well as the wholeness of the salvation available through Jesus. The Holy Spirit regenerates, guides, instructs, and empowers the believer for godly living, maturation in faith, and faithfulness in service.

Salvation. We believe that the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ provides the only way of redemption, justification, sanctification, and salvation for all who believe. Any who attach additional works of man as a requirement for salvation are false in that they infer Jesus' death is insufficient in and of itself to save and that human beings somehow have the capability to save themselves. Nevertheless by His saving grace He restores to us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to live the obedient and faithful lives for which we were individually, and as mankind, created.

Accepting the Sinner, Denouncing the Sin. We believe that God does not tempt anyone to sin, but that we, each one, are tempted when, by our own evil desire, we are dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death which is experienced in this life and, except for grace, in the life to come. We believe that no sin is too big for God to forgive except, as Christ declared, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as Christians we should be open and eager to share the good news of the Gospel of God’s grace with everyone regardless of their sin or affliction. Such declarations leading not to an incomplete, non-biblical faith, but rather to a granting of repentance, making Jesus Christ Lord of our lives during which, because of His great love, we strive towards holiness and turn away from our sinful ways into both inward and outward righteous as the Lord reveals.