The Christian blog-o-sphere has become a valuable resource for me. I find a good amount of inspiring material throughout various blogs. Lately, I’ve been reading some thoughts about the relationship between Christianity and culture. There are many who are crying that American Christianity has overly succumbed to western culture. Let us utilize the analogy of the frog in a pan, whereas the frog’s self-protective mechanisms are not alerted due to the frog’s steady acclimation to the increasing heat. These voices are calling us, as Christians, to recognize that in our steady acclimation to our culture we have nearly reached the point of spiritual death. In our assimilation of the materialism and vain priorities of our culture we have nearly lost all sensitivity to the heart of God. This process of preoccupation with matters of this world is gradual, imperceptible to our better senses. Discussions of this type most often revolve around the economic disparity between the rich and the poor. Some go so far to say that economics is the greatest human barrier in the world, greater than religion, race, or nationality.
I throw this out this evening for your input. Do we as Christians stand in need of a major wake-up call? Does Jesus’ stern warning regarding the dangers of being rich apply to you and me (middle-class Americans rather than assuming it is directed to the extremely wealthy)? Are we foiled by preoccupation with matters of our culture and hence missing the greater call of discipleship?
Friday, November 25, 2005
What do you think?
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3 comments:
I think money is the least of America's worries. It's what we spend our money on that's the problem. We are spending it on ourselves! We claim that we need entertainment and therefore, go out and indulge ourselves on a daily basis. Entertainment has become our God. We say God is our God and Jesus is our Lord but we live in such a way that proves otherwise. We should be ashamed at this cruel realization, but instead, we actually believe that we're doing nothing wrong because "God wants us to be happy". It's really quite sickening!
Americans love movies, television, concerts, the internet, sex, and Food. We worship these things! And we do this because "It feels good to our worthless sinful bodies". We are so pathetic and don't even realize it. We are using all of the above mentioned things to try our best to fill the void we have in our lives. That void is a huge hole and it's in the shape of God. Nothing else is going to fill in that shape. ONLY GOD. Americans spend all of their time trying to get rid of the very thing they need for complete satisfaction and salvation---God.
I say, YES! We as Americans definately need a wake up call and the church needs a big goose in the butt! Wake up, Christians, and change!
This matter is definitely complicated and change, too, is complicated. We need to be careful in our critique of our culture and Christianity not to over-simplify the issues. There are few black/white rules we can employ that sufficiently address the complexity of living as Christians in America today. We tend to float about in life from one commitment/event to another without much attention given to an overarching set of priorities. In this default process, we become more deeply entrenched in things of our culture rather than growing in the call of discipleship (Jesus' call is moreoften countercultural). So how do we proceed from here? Jesus' "off-the-wall" response to the rich young ruler was, "Sell your possessions and give to the poor." What kind of statement do you think he would make to us?
"...the church needs a big goose in the butt!"
Thanks for that image, Jennifer :P
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Well, we are called to be holy. That is, set apart. How we separate ourselves from the world and still exist as an influencing force on those around us sometimes seems to be at odds with each other. Jesus associated with sinners...but he didn't take part in the sin or approve of their sin. But association tends to numb our perceptions and, well, sometimes we just forget where the line needs to be drawn.
Check out my article on holiness in this week's bulletin.
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