Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Less Filling
Mary Eberstadt writes at great length at First Things about the demise of mainstream protestantism which she pins squarely on the something she labels as "Christianity Lite." (HT:K-Lo) She defines Christianity Lite as faith without morality:
And then I wondered - We Protestants are big in talking about "spiritual disciplines." Why don't we talk about simple obedience when we have such discussions? A Google search on the matter reveals nothing about morality. Not that there is anything wrong with reading scripture or prayer, but it seems to me that abstaining from extra-marital sex falls into the same category of preparing my heart for Christ that prayer does. The Holy Spirit has a hard time showing up when I am engaged in fornication just as much as when I am engaged in less that uplifting television programming.
Seems like even when we get to the "hard stuff" we are copping out."
By this I mean the multifaceted institutional experiment, beginning but not ending with the Anglican Communion, of attempting to preserve Christianity while simultaneously jettisoning certain of its traditional teachings—specifically, those regarding sexual morality. Surveying the record to date of what has happened to the churches dedicated to this long-running modern religious experiment, a large historical question now appears: whether the various exercises in this specific kind of dissent from traditional teaching turn out to contain the seeds of their own destruction. The evidence—preliminary but already abundant—suggests that the answer is yes.She makes a heck of a case here, one I essentially agree with, but the legalistic nature of her tone does not sit well with my Protestant heart. Morality, void of the true conviction of the Holy Spirit, is as vacant and "lite," as intellectual ascent absent behavioral consequence. Were lies the language of balance between the two.
And then I wondered - We Protestants are big in talking about "spiritual disciplines." Why don't we talk about simple obedience when we have such discussions? A Google search on the matter reveals nothing about morality. Not that there is anything wrong with reading scripture or prayer, but it seems to me that abstaining from extra-marital sex falls into the same category of preparing my heart for Christ that prayer does. The Holy Spirit has a hard time showing up when I am engaged in fornication just as much as when I am engaged in less that uplifting television programming.
Seems like even when we get to the "hard stuff" we are copping out."
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