Our nation has been in a moral uproar of sorts since the big mishap during halftime of the Super Bowl. Did any one else notice this? All of a sudden there is a realization of the depth of our society’s degradation. We think things are getting worse, when actually, human sin and our falleness has always been a constant. Man is the same he has been since the fall. Sinful.
It seems as though I am a cultural commentator. I am fascinated with the relationship between the culture and genuine Christianity. As we have been called as believers to “colonize” the world we live in, more times than not the culture has more influence on the Church than we have on the culture. As the word “Post-Modernism” infiltrates theological circles and church services, we face the same opportunity to reach a certain segment of society as Paul did.
Acts 17:16-21
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. And some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,” because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; we want to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.
Sound pretty postmodern to me.
In a world of “Wardrobe Malfunctions”, swim suit editions of sporting magazines, internet porn, abortion, spam and MTV, the cross of Christ is still seen as religious mythology and now, a movie that seems to be anti Semitic.
This culture we need to “colonize” does not think much of church buildings, what kind of music we have when we “worship” or what color the carpet is. They leave that stuff to the religious. What they are concerned with is if we actually believe all the stuff we say we do. And IF we do, why is there such a gap between what we say and what we do. Why is there such a care for those inside the church rather than those who are not there? Why is there such a difference between what the Bible says and how Believers live their lives?
There will always be “wardrobe malfunctions.” Stories in the OT make that look like Barbie and Ken. Let’s get on with the business at hand: Colonization of the world for the Glory of Christ and the salvation of the lost.