Hugh Hewitt has a good analysis of the effect of Durbin's, and now Pelosi's, ridculous remarks on the war on terror and the nation in general. Thats all for politics for now.
One of the biggest faults of the modern 'evangelical' Christian church (in America), in my opinion, is its formation of a sub-culture mimicking mainstream America. They've taken the idea of being "in but not of the world" (paraphrased from John 17:15-16) and reversed it. Instead they are now very much of the world, but not in it.
To discuss how the church is of the world is a fairly easy discussion. All the statistics show that there really is very little difference between Christians and non-Christians when morals are in question. In fact, Christians are about as likely as anyone to: get divorced, have sex outside of marriage, have an abortion, use illegal drugs, become addicted to porn or gambling, even cheat on their taxes. Okay, I don't have links to back up all those claims, but if you doubt they're true would any scientific proof really convince you? I think its evident if you know many Christians that most of them are about the same as the rest of the world in most respects.
Now, I don't think that not being of the world should mean that you act socially awkward or shun any activities that non-Christians like. In fact, I don't think that in regular day-to-day actions you might notice much difference between a Christian who is not 'of the world' and someone who is. But its the motivation thats different, and the moral judgements. I, of course, have no power to judge the motivations of anyone else, so we'll have to go with the moral judgements. And, as I said, I think its evident that moral judgements, despite all their cries for of morality in culture, are not much different in Christians than in non-Christians.
However, Christians have managed not to be 'in the world' in a very realy sense. They've created two categories to put everything in: sacred, and secular. Something is either one or the other. If its secular, they say, Christians should have nothing to do with it. And so for every 'secular' thing out there, modern Christian society has tried to make a 'Jesus-centric' copy to fit in their sterile 'sacred' world. The fact that most of these mock-ups are of poor quality and obviously inferior to the original should be a source of shame in itself. But the greatest misfortune is that this practice has led to cultural isolation of Christians.
Christians who follow this practice of secluding themselves in a world untainted by The World have essentially cut themselves off from mainstream society. They have nothing in common with their neighbors. They have no friends outside this world, unless they're "trying to reach them for God." They have essentially marginalized themselves in the view of the rest of humanity. Making the Church appear to be nothing more than a cage of sub-par products that some crazy people lock themselves up in. As stated before, they don't even get the morality thing going for them anymore. They do talk about being moral a lot though, so people might mistakenly think that it is a cage of sub-par products along with a restrictive moral code that condemns people. Wonderful.
Now, I'm not suggesting that Christians should immerse themselves in a non-Christian lifestyle. I'm suggesting that Christians come out of their holes and start living a Christian life. The Church isn't doing any better than the world when it comes to morality, so what harm can there be in relaxing the walls? Its not like the immoral world is going to corrupt the Christians because they are already corrupt on their own. Instead they might find a world of beauty, people with whom they can form life-giving relationships, and new ways to see God's glory that didn't fit into their 'sacred' box (like art or literature that is not focused on being churchy). And in doing so they might be able to more fully achieve the Christian ideal of loving everyone and condemning no one. And the Church might once again become something attractive to people by filling needs and soothing pain. And then we'd all be a lot happier, I bet.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'm in. I think that's a very well phrased assessment of the situation, and I like what you had to say about how Christians have nothing to lose, since they're not doing any *better* than the rest of the world, and how the sacred/secular distinction is marginalizing.
The strange thing is that this margin is flexing so much political muscle these days.
I also liked what you had to say. A lot. I would contend, however, that the sacred/profane distinction is an inevitable consequence of being human in a society (see Durkheim for an explanation). Rather than trying to minimize that distinction (or getting rid of it wholesale for that matter) why not make it meaningful? Why not make “Christian culture” unstoppably and crushingly superior to any alternative (a la Bach, Rembrandt, Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, Eliot, Lewis, etc.) rather than accepting the terms of an inferior cultural model? Just a thought.
I agree that Christian culture should be the best. As I said, its a source of shame that a 'Christian' product is often an inferior one. If we, as we are instructed in the Bible, worked as though for God in all we did we would create superior products all the time. It should be general knowledge that if something is done by a Christian its going to be done well and its going to be done right, and for a fair price for that matter. But, the shameful truth is that none of those statements is often true. Luckily, we all, being us Christians, can help change that perception if we ourselves consistently work hard at whatever we do to make our products the best they can be.
Good call.
Post a Comment