Friday, November 28, 2014
Pretending to Reality
Mark Roberts:
I don't think it would matter what the music was or who was preaching. People would just want to be there. I know I'd want to go to church at that place.
attractiveness church
So what if we were to dress up like God? No, I'm not envisioning wearing a robe and a beard like God in the Sistine Chapel or putting on a Norse warrior costume and winged-helmet like Thor. Rather, I'm thinking in light of Ephesians 4:24: "[You were taught] to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Notice that the new self we "put on" as if it were an article of clothing is "created to be like God." This doesn't mean, of course, that we become all-knowing and all-powerful. We are like God when it comes to "true righteousness and holiness."What if rather than trying to get people to church with better music and programs we tried with this? What if everyone in the church tried to be a person so like Christ that the place just seemed magic?
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Notice that putting on the new self has to do with actual behavior, not just with inner beliefs and feelings. Even as Galinsky and Adam found that one has to feel the doctor's coat in order to act like a doctor, so we need to feel our godlikeness through doing actions that reflect God's own actions. This thought is similar to what we read in Ephesians 2:10, where God "created [us] in Christ Jesus to do good works." As we put on our new self, engaging in behaviors in imitation of God, choosing to do and speak like Jesus, then we will experience our newness in Christ. Moreover, if "enclothed cognition" is correct, actually finding ourselves acting more consistently like God than we might ever have imagined.
I don't think it would matter what the music was or who was preaching. People would just want to be there. I know I'd want to go to church at that place.
attractiveness church
