While I was surfing...

I found two articles this morning worth passing along here. While they are unrelated they nevertheless have something to say about the aesthetic that is evangelicalism. The first post by David Murray concerns forgiveness. Murray asks if we are obligated (indeed, is it even possible) to forgive someone who does not want it?

We must not forgive everyone regardless of their response to our offer: Forgiving someone before they repent is un-godlike, avoids dealing with serious issues, and while it might offer some temporary and superficial relief, does not produce long-term satisfaction to the conscience nor reconciliation.

The second post is from Adam Parker. His is a response to Rachel Held Evans' announcement that she is no longer an evangelical. Parker uses the hapless Miss Held Evans merciful departure as an opportunity to ask if "evangelical" is a meaningful designation.

I'm intrigued by the idea of someone dropping evangelicalism. If RHE did "step away" from the evangelical table, how would that look any differently for her? The last I read, she doesn't even go to church (much like the Blue Like Jazz dude or Rob Bell or my friends who were reading Brian McLaren back when it was hip). There is no "evangelical roll call," after all, where you can remove your name. There is no President of the Evangelicals who will note your departure. It is no denomination with a written set of views that you can compare to see who does and doesn't belong. The idea of evangelicalism has really been precariously held together over the past fifty years with a bit of shoe-string and duct tape. As long as everyone who called themselves "evangelicals" believed and behaved like evangelicals were supposed to, the movement had some assumed identity.