Carboard Testimonies
I found this video on the plow.
The Church or the Church in Reaction?
I heard a lecture recently where the speaker was talking to Alan Hirsch about his banging of the missiology drum almost to the exclusion of everything else. Hirsch’s response was that the rest of the church is going one way so much, that he is seeking to strike a balance by going the other way.
In class today, I was presented with a similar situation. Our Hebrew class was talking about Psalms such as 139, which speak about the vengeful murder. Some of the men in the class were arguing that it is fair to focus on such texts because much of the church has forgotten that God is Just.
I argued that God is just, that he will make everything right and that our focus must be the expansion of grace, and in light of that fact we don’t want to swing the pendulum to one extreme because others have fallen on the other side.
Maybe this is one of those things that reveals my youthful optimism, and maybe I am just too young to see it this way, but it seems fair to say that many of the Christianity’s biggest problems are found when one group is swinging against the extremes of another group.
Wouldn’t it be better if the church was the church in every situation, constant and moving forward, rather than swaying from right to left depending on the decade or the issue. Maybe we should simply be balanced and trust that God is in control and that he will balance those groups that are on the extremes. I want to be balanced not the balancer.
I hope that every church that I am a part of will be a church of fasting and feasting, of contemplation and emotion, of joy and lamentation, of grace and justice. Never sacrificing one thing for the other.
The Way Christians Used to Live
For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.
The Epistle of Diognetus
The Battery Life of Christian Cultural Influence
It will not take you very long to find some Christian speaking, or writing about the waining of American Christian culture. In fact I bet it would be hard to find a Christian who has not personally thought about subject or has heard it from a friend or relative. The body is filled with “rumors or war”. It is the end of Holy Rome. This is an issue that goes beyond, modern or fundamental, because the most significant difference between speaks, probably revolves around whether this waining is a good or bad thing.
For many the time-line of Christian influence in western culture(not just America) would probably go like this:
If we thought about America our graph might look like this ((Depending on which historians or evangelical news program you follow.)) :
But what seems very interesting to me is that the percentage of “Churched” people has continued to increase from 1776 to 2000. ((Finke and Stark, p23))
Yet at the same time I think it is fair to say that the cultural impact a Christian Worldview has on American society is on the decline.
Our chart looks more like this:
So if Finke and Stark’s, thoroughly research conclusions, and our personal assessment both hold up, we are in a paradoxical situation, which must be given a deeper examination.
cont…
Makin’ It Great in 2008: Gettin’ it Done.
I’m not making any resolutions, but I do have some goals for 2008.
#1 To Read at least 4 Christian Classics. I hoping to read The Coming of the Kingdom, Lectures on Calvinism, Biblical Theology, and maybe Lectures to My Students.
#2 Go on a sweet vacation with Jo. I think we are looking into renting a cabin on the finger lakes.
#3 Write more each week.
#4 Walk and ride my bike more and drive less.
#5 Spend more time in prayer.
Im sure there are other things I want to do this year.
Responding to “Recovering a Covenanter Tradition”
I found a link to an article that a brother of mine wrote concerning what it means to be true to a denominations tradition. The whole article can be found here.
Here are a few thoughts on this article.
On Organic Growth. Your definition of root is wrong. Christ is clear that he is the root of any true branch of his Church. I must ask what do you mean by “Organic” If you mean by that: a slow process of acclamation, with the end result of the new looking like the old, than I think you are wrong.
Acts is full of examples of larger expansions of the church, not because of some pride over cultural heritage but many times in spite of that heritage. Additionally I think you would be hard press to say that they were organic expansion.
On stories forming identity and strengthening community.
In diverse situations we would find more stories not only about the killing times of Scotland, but of the grace of God in Commmunist China, his mercies in the Philippians, his protection in India. It is unthinkable for you to want to elevate one group of Christians stories over another. More stories revealing the Grace of God in many historical contexts is a good thing. The Covenanters of Scotland are not the start of your church. A more practical question would be: Why such an incomplete story. Stories are full of transitions, no story is complete if only the opening line has been read. What has happened in the last 400 years that should be retold by all Christians?
On Developing this identity in our children.
I cannot say it any other way, than to say you are Barthizing the common meaning of these words. community – does not come to its fullest expression when a focus on simply mimicking a culture set down before us. Look at any ethic neighborhood and that will become apparent. As new groups come in these communities are forced to do one of three things: 1st,Preserve their culture by keeping out those who are cultural different. 2nd, leave in protest. Finally they can chose to re-define what makes them a community, including their cultural habits and stories.
Localism – is a focus on what happens locally over and against Globalism, or Nationalism. Localism brings about diversity not uniformity.
Finally you said “Interestingly, while our denomination unanimously affirms the regulative principle of worship, we have reason to wonder if our unity is being swallowed up by diversity. No longer do our people have a valid expectation of visiting a RP Church in another city and experience a sense of familiarity. It seems we are bound together only by the Psalms.”
There is a great difference in trying to faithfully keep to the regulative principle, and believing that even in the circumstantial parts of worship that there must be uniformity, or that there is some unfaithfulness of one party when their worship has differences.
I wonder what you would say binds together the PCA? I know the bond that unites the PCA is our love of Christ, our commitment to the infallibility of Scripture, the historic reformed faith and to fulfilling the great commission.
Perceptions of Christianity
Thanks to Tony over at Sets’n'Service for the link.
Does this video ring true with you?
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