Monday, June 06, 2011
Often Confused
Justin Taylor looks at a book "The Triumph of the Therapeutic". The book is from 1967 and it seems quite prophetic is terms of pronouncing the direction the church has taken in the ensuing decades.
I note simply how often we confuse our spirituality with our emotional states. They are not one in the same thing. The reason the church has progressed along the lines the author saw is because worship now seems more about emotional stimulation that spiritual.
Here is a core question for me, from whence has the confusion arisen. It's not "bad doctrine" - it's consumerism. That's where society is so the church followed along so we could keep people coming through the doors. Society got there by a variety of mechanisms, not the least of with is the overwhelming affluence even the poorest among us enjoy in comparison the the rest of the world. Who has time to worry about how they feel when they do not know where the next meal is coming from?
So how does the church appeal in a society so situated? I would suggest, as I have so many times before, that it is by being radically winsome - by following the example of Christ in the middle of our affluence and media filled society and being demonstrably different. It is by discovering our own spirituality in unique and different ways.
Christ was a Jew in Roman occupied Israel. The Apostles were all Jews and some affluent Roman citizens. They changed the world. Think about it.
I note simply how often we confuse our spirituality with our emotional states. They are not one in the same thing. The reason the church has progressed along the lines the author saw is because worship now seems more about emotional stimulation that spiritual.
Here is a core question for me, from whence has the confusion arisen. It's not "bad doctrine" - it's consumerism. That's where society is so the church followed along so we could keep people coming through the doors. Society got there by a variety of mechanisms, not the least of with is the overwhelming affluence even the poorest among us enjoy in comparison the the rest of the world. Who has time to worry about how they feel when they do not know where the next meal is coming from?
So how does the church appeal in a society so situated? I would suggest, as I have so many times before, that it is by being radically winsome - by following the example of Christ in the middle of our affluence and media filled society and being demonstrably different. It is by discovering our own spirituality in unique and different ways.
Christ was a Jew in Roman occupied Israel. The Apostles were all Jews and some affluent Roman citizens. They changed the world. Think about it.
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