Friday, July 11, 2014
Of Babies and Bathwater
@ First Thoughts B.D. McClay mourns over how many have an opinion on Calvinism without really knowing it:
I did this as a youth, I know better now.
Why this cultural trend exists I understand completely, but why the church caters to it rather than fight against it I do not understand. Is not the essence of our mission to make disciples? Would not disciples be people that drink deeply of wisdom? Is Christianity not by definition counter-culture?
What most troubles me about this trend ; however, is the divisions it as rendered into the fabric of Christianity. We now dismiss our brethren on the basis of a sound bite understanding of who they are and what they believe. Such does nothing but limit our effectiveness at influencing the culture. We defeat ourselves.
defeat understanding
Calvinists get a bad rap, but how many of the critics really understand him? James R. Rogers points out how few of us read the Institutes or bother to think seriously about CalvinHow often that is true with so much in life, particularly in the media driven, sound bite consuming, hero's journey watching age. All messages are reduced - there is no depth, no context, no meaning. Things of vital importance are reduced to an easily consumable bite, swallowed whole and judgement rendered.
I did this as a youth, I know better now.
Why this cultural trend exists I understand completely, but why the church caters to it rather than fight against it I do not understand. Is not the essence of our mission to make disciples? Would not disciples be people that drink deeply of wisdom? Is Christianity not by definition counter-culture?
What most troubles me about this trend ; however, is the divisions it as rendered into the fabric of Christianity. We now dismiss our brethren on the basis of a sound bite understanding of who they are and what they believe. Such does nothing but limit our effectiveness at influencing the culture. We defeat ourselves.
defeat understanding
