Why My Heritage Matters to Me

On this blog I like to look at issues that people don’t normally feel comfortable talking about publicly–the white elephant issues in the room, so to speak. One of the reasons I like doing this is because if we are to grow and become better than we must make the undiscussable discussable.

Many “undiscussables” are negative: people don’t like having faults pointed out. At the same time, some undiscussables, especially when it comes to a heritage we see issues in, are quite positive: people are uncomfortable recognizing the qualities that, if let go of, could hurt them in the long run.

Throughout the month of December 2016, I’m going to share the ten most-read posts of this year. Number ten actually wasn’t even published in 2016, but remains one of my most-read posts. Here’s to. . .

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11 Simple Values I Appreciate from My Anabaptist Heritage

worship service

Heritage is powerful. God saved Lot because of his family heritage through Abraham. If it wasn’t for Abraham’s intercession, Lot would have destroyed along with Sodom.

Everyone who knows the story of Lot remembers that his family became enemies to Israel. God pronounced judgement on them. The godly heritage of his uncle, which could have been passed on, was destroyed.

Why? Because of Lot’s choices. He chose the better fields, subsequently, “pitching his tent toward Sodom.” (Gen. 13:8-13) He later lived in the city of Sodom and would have gone up in flames with it if it wasn’t for Abraham. (Gen. 18:22-33)

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Why I’m Mennonite (and why that’s not the point)

I took a risk in asking some questions last week about Mennonite distinctives. I framed the questions so they would be probing, yet wide-open for any and all to answer. It felt risky, and proved to be so.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a pressure point. Call me naïve, but I honestly didn’t realize asking these questions would produce as many fireworks as it did. My intention was not to create an argument or discredit our Anabaptist heritage. It’s just that there are a few things I wanted to share with my generation and felt I had to first ask some (risky) questions.

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