Orthodox: “Committed to exegetical living.”
Radical: “Willing to do whatever and go wherever the Spirit leads, even if it doesn’t make sense.”
*Taken from Forgotten God by Francis Chan
For far too long we have had lines drawn in the religious realm.
Words like:
Conservative
Liberal
Radical
Traditional
Re-born
Spiritual
Charismatic
All these words have been assigned to define what camp of religion you fall into.
We use them to define people and faith communities. We use them to help us determine who is in our group, our way of thinking, and who is not.
For a long time I didn’t know what camp I fell in to. I feel at times, depending on who I’m with I can be all these.
The more I’ve read about the life of Jesus the more I’ve realized Jesus was the same. He could have fallen into any of these descriptions.
So, here is why I say I’m a orthodox radical.
I believe in the word of God. I am conservative in my view of the Bible (in the religious world we call this Theology: study of God), in that it is truth and I must live it out.
But how I live it out is a entirely different (this would be called Methodology: a body of practices).
Being led by God in our lives will require us to do some really crazy looking things. Like packing up your family and moving all the way across the world to a place where you know no one.
Being led completely by God in our lives requires us to be a little radical in how we look, act and talk in this world.
So, am I conservative or am I liberal?
Am I traditional or am I radical?
The answer is simple…yes!
Everyday I’m discovering more of who I am in Jesus.
Justin Cherry 