Friday, July 07, 2006
Individualism and the Either/Or
Keep reflecting on two links I put up yesterday. This one that looks at the question of Christian activism or wiaitng on God, and this one that looks at doctrine v. emotion. I cannot help but wonder why these are "either/or" questions.
The short answer to my wonder is that when we take an individualistic viewpoint, a person only has so many capabilites and interests, but aren't we called to a communal viewpoint? Further, once our primary viewpoint is individualitstic, the individuals want the community to come along with them, instead figuring out where they belong in the community. Thus the either/or debate is born.
Salvation may indeed be an individualistic event, but sanctification is something that only happens in the context of community. Evangelism is to the individual, but maturity only happens when that individual becomes part of the whole.
Just some thoughts:
We seem to have the hardest time separating character, devotion, and morality from occupation, vocation, and avocation. In the end this is why the old line denomination MUST be preserved. For them the church is something an individual joins, whilst the modern independent evangelical church is supposed to be an "expression of" the individual. Do you not see what happens?
The individualistic viewpoint results in internal bickering. Such internal bickering can only be the desire of the enemy, for if we are busy fighting each other, we are not busy fighting him.
Indeed, the church has let us down so many times, but that does not mean we abandon her - that means we join her and fix her.
Related Tags: indiviual, individualistic, either/or, the church, Christianity, Evangelicalism
The short answer to my wonder is that when we take an individualistic viewpoint, a person only has so many capabilites and interests, but aren't we called to a communal viewpoint? Further, once our primary viewpoint is individualitstic, the individuals want the community to come along with them, instead figuring out where they belong in the community. Thus the either/or debate is born.
Salvation may indeed be an individualistic event, but sanctification is something that only happens in the context of community. Evangelism is to the individual, but maturity only happens when that individual becomes part of the whole.
Just some thoughts:
- Your gift is not THE gift.
1 Cor 12:4 - Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.
- Your gift is no better than anyone elses.
1 Cor 12:21 - And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
- Your gift is not for you, but for the the community.
1 Cor 12:7 - But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
- Your gift does not separate you from the rest of us.
1 Cor 12:15-16 - If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.The simple fact of the matter is that there are some of us good at doctrine and some good at emotions, some good at activism and some good at waiting - but all are necessary, all are part of God's plan, and what a person is good at is not what makes them a good man or woman of God!
We seem to have the hardest time separating character, devotion, and morality from occupation, vocation, and avocation. In the end this is why the old line denomination MUST be preserved. For them the church is something an individual joins, whilst the modern independent evangelical church is supposed to be an "expression of" the individual. Do you not see what happens?
The individualistic viewpoint results in internal bickering. Such internal bickering can only be the desire of the enemy, for if we are busy fighting each other, we are not busy fighting him.
Indeed, the church has let us down so many times, but that does not mean we abandon her - that means we join her and fix her.
Related Tags: indiviual, individualistic, either/or, the church, Christianity, Evangelicalism
