Quote:
Originally Posted by mrnoble
Thank you, thank you for making this my new favorite all-time CD thread. By introducing biblical exegesis as a standard for FIRST, you have not only opened the proverbial can of worms but you have also allowed me to speak on the topic in which I am formally trained (in Seminary).
Last week I took a team that included two Muslims, an Orthodox Jew, and a Seventh Day Adventist to CMP. There are numerous ways in which participating in FRC potentially conflicts with their beliefs and practices, including having events on a Saturday (Sabbath), and serving the team cheeseburgers. They and their families make choices and compromises in order to allow them to be part of the team, and we also make some compromises as a team to accommodate them. Still it's their choice to participate or not, knowing who and what we are.
If we want to quote the Apostle Paul, here's one for you:
"For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
1 Corinthians 9:19-22
Much more importantly, though, FIRST IS NOT A CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATION. Feel free to run your team as you see fit, but if you want Christian Robotics I strongly suggest you look elsewhere.
That would be me. They're already printing by the way, and my first customer (not really the right word, these are being sold at cost) is a team mother.
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I don't think the intention of the post was to state that FIRST is a Christian organization.
However, there are people in FIRST who do take Christianity seriously and find that comment offensive. For example I had the gift of being able to mentor a phenomenal FLL team this year that won the Colorado championship and got to get a trip to worlds. After coming out of the awards ceremony a couple members and parents headed to Einstein and arrived just in time to hear will's interview. The parents immediately left with the kids and a really bad idea of what FRC really is. Recruiting this young engineers to my FRC team now involves convincing their parents that this is not "standard FIRST conduct."
I love FIRST because of the way it embraces Gracious Professionalism; should we tolerate having statement that lies far outside of GP said in front of +10,000 people of all cultures and ages?