You can listen to an extended audio clip of Fonda's comments at Rolling Stone magazine's web site here.The Week reports on some of Fonda's comments about Jesus:
I am utterly fascinated by this man. I feel what he preached was revolutionary, and it's totally what we need now. The most revolutionary statement anyone could make is, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Whew, man, if we could live what he taught, everything would change. But it ain't what goes by the name of Christianity right now.Some Christians might quibble with what they will see as the "incompleteness" of Fonda's witness for Christ. But I tell the people of our congregation, "You can only share what you personally know of Christ." To assert as truth what you haven't experienced as truth is dishonest and phony. To be a witness for Christ is to tell how His story has intersected with my story and to help others, after careful listening and heartfelt dialogue, to see how all of that intersects with their stories.
Imagine the courage it takes for someone from Fonda's milieu to say, as she does in the clip at the Rolling Stone site, "I'm a Christian and I'm still figuring out what that means." That's honest and compelling...far more so than the "witness" of rule-makers and bigots who parade as spokespeople for Christ and give Christian faith a bad reputation!
3 comments:
Imagine the difference in the overall tone of conversation if Christians in general took the attitude of "I'm a Christian and I'm still figuring out what that means." It puts us on the same side as those struggling with or looking for faith. We all continue to grow in knowledge of Christ and in a life that becomes (hopefully) daily more like Him. Someone once said, "Christianity is a moment of decision, and a lifetime of adjustments."
This is interesting, and I hope she's sincere. But you have to wonder sometimes at the things people say, especially lined up with the majority of things that they do.
Did you see what she did to Stephen Colbert?
From the short sound byte at RollingStone.com, it sounds more like curiosity than conversion. She seems to want to selectively choose which part of the Bible she wishes to be true. Her comments are based on feelings or experience and not on an ongoing relationship.
While all Christians find Jesus utterly fascinating, and we agree that loving your neighbor as yourself is one of the two foundations that Christ described as the totality of the Law, she seems to still struggle with loving God as her master and Lord - which was the first commandment Christ prescribed along with the one she mentioned.
She describes Jesus as a man who "carried God" - not divine deity himself. She states she is still struggling with the whole concept of what happened at his crucifixion, but does not mention his resurrection at all...
I personally am glad she is now saying that God exists and hope she sincerely seeks the Truth with everything in her. We all become more accountable as God's truth is revealed to us - whether we reject it or accept it.
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