"We have to test everything. Just because I'm a Christian and I'm trying to articulate a Christian worldview doesn't mean I got it nailed. God has spoken, and the rest is commentary, right?" - Rob Bell
so i spent yesterday night like i always do... at "HA-U" (pronounced hey you) which is the youth group i work with, followed by the usual "Wednesday Night College & Career" session. Me and a friend have been taking turns (along with the interim college minister who is actually the singles minister) teaching these wednesday night lessons and for the most part have been fairly successful in our goals... See, I go to a Southern Baptist Church. Not anything close to foot-washin conservative, but conservative nonetheless. So getting our commrades to open their minds a bit to what a bible study could be has been a challenge.
We have made some excellent progress with some folks I never thought we'd get anywhere with though. And before you accuse me of just peddling my own take on christianity at the expense of others, understand this: I really don't care if you approach christianity differently than I do as long as you made the attempt to think it through. One of my best friends in the world is a 7-point Calvinist (the last 2 points are: No need to evangelize, and Fatalism...wink wink Andrew). Another friend of mine quotes the bible in King James English (which cracks me up because I then have to go look it up anyway just to see what he was saying!). I disagree with a lot of the things that both these guys say, but I learn the most about god, myself, and our relationship when I'm arguing with these friends.
The point is that many self-proclaimed christians have not seriously thought through what it is that they're suppose to be proclaiming (to their own impending doom i worry)! Hence the record number of seat warmers that fill the pews of southern, and more generally, american churches. PEOPLE,... WAKE UP!!! 1st Corinthians was written to a people who would not grow up. You cannot stay a baby forever. Repeat after me, "There is no stasis in Christianity. You are either moving towards god or away from him."
"I have taken my good deeds and my bad deeds and thrown them together in a heap. Turned from them to Christ and in him I have peace." - David Dickson
Thursday, December 14, 2006
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5 comments:
Welcome to the blogosphere, Tony. I'll be in HSV on Saturday, so let's together sometime thereafter.
Tony,
Would you mind articulating in your own words what it means to be postmodern?
CAJ
i think postmoderns represent an interesting mix of neo/paleo-orthodox beliefs and philosphical/sociological locality.
a perfect example is our debate on the role of women in the church. I agree that the bible doesn't need to use the neuter gender when refering to god, but I also don't believe that an amorphous god who created women with brains that are equal to the size of a man's regardless of what borat says, just decided to arbitrarily call it "sin" when she teaches men.
What regulates your doctrine, then? Every worldview must have an established epistemological basis.
What "philosophical/sociological locality" are you relying upon to reveal the mind of God?
Doctrine would then be regulated by ecumenical church tradition, the bible, and current leadership (although this last one is somewhat of a challenge to most protestants). I'm have to admit I'm somewhat Hauerwasian on the last one... "The idea that you can read and correctly interpret the bible without any moral guidance is just stupid!"
As far as the second question goes, locality is locality. It does not in and of itself reveal the mind of god. Locality simply gives us a starting point by which to engage the world. I would argue that it is ignored at the peril of most churches. To force someone to subscribe to a particular worldview as if it is analogous to the faith is dangerous and, in my opinion, somewhat ignorant.
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