Monday, January 05, 2009
Studying The Opposition
Dan Edelen at Cerulean Sanctum worries about what the real enemy of the church is:
The opposition does not need to "convert" us, he just needs to pervert us. In fact, if we guard to carefully against such "perversions," we run the risk of letting him through the door that way as well.
This is why, in the end being a Christian is a deeply personal thing worked out in a communal context, it is not a communal thing. Movements, paradigms, institutions, doctrines, etc. are all subject to perversions, and every one you can list, I am certain we can arrive at examples of it gone wrong.
What keeps such things from corrupting? US! You see, this is a question of judgment. Healing on the sabbath may violate Pharisaical dictate, but it clearly does not violate the will of Christ. Only someone rebuilt in the true image of Christ would be able to make that judgment as Christ Himself did.
The correct response to these perversions is not anti-perversion movements, it is personal discipleship.
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Fact is, if you look around the world, people are not rushing to atheism and secularism. Sure, in some places they’re buying the books, but not in the majority of the world. With the exception of small pockets of atheism and secularism in Western nations, the actual trend is toward a more progressive spirituality, a spirituality that may not—at least from undiscerning human eyes—appear to enthrone self, as does secularism. In fact, some people might even call it a new fundamentalism, a return to what are ultimately superstitious or flawed religious beliefs. Ask an African what is sweeping Africa, and he’ll not reply atheism, but Islam.I am deeply tempted to go off on charismatics here, the movement is a pet-peeve of mine. The gifts aren't, just the charismatic movement. However, to do so would miss what I think is the bigger and more important point here. I think charismatics might be the first to jump ship, but I think most of the church will do so because, whether it is over-focusing on the miraculous, or the liturgical, or just attendance numbers, the idea holds.
[...]
Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma magazine, claims a pastor he knows insists that many charismatics will follow the antichrist because of their devotion to supernatural signs. I think that pastor nails it. The deception that is coming is less obvious. It’s subtle. It’s sorta-Christianity, with a veneer of powerful wonders. It will have many of the trappings of what Western Christians have come to accept as Christianity but will actually be a complete lie. In some ways, we Western Christians have been test subjects. We’re just too drowsy to see it.
The opposition does not need to "convert" us, he just needs to pervert us. In fact, if we guard to carefully against such "perversions," we run the risk of letting him through the door that way as well.
This is why, in the end being a Christian is a deeply personal thing worked out in a communal context, it is not a communal thing. Movements, paradigms, institutions, doctrines, etc. are all subject to perversions, and every one you can list, I am certain we can arrive at examples of it gone wrong.
What keeps such things from corrupting? US! You see, this is a question of judgment. Healing on the sabbath may violate Pharisaical dictate, but it clearly does not violate the will of Christ. Only someone rebuilt in the true image of Christ would be able to make that judgment as Christ Himself did.
The correct response to these perversions is not anti-perversion movements, it is personal discipleship.
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