Christianity is being examined and redefined. (So is marriage interestingly enough.)
The surgeon's knife is being brought down between Bible and culture.
Traditions are being re-examined.
Assumptions re-examined.
It is almost as if the Church has finally caught up with the '60s and everything is turned on its head and the battle cry is peace and love.
~*~
Thinking, logic, reason, analysis. Amazingly important. Is there a time for traditions without any current meaning to be looked at again? Yes. Because traditions without any current meaning could be just meaningless appendages on a growing organism.
Then what is my problem?
I am feeling a lust for change.
I am feeling a bandwagon mentality--let's all jump on it together!
I am feeling that the new course has been set and it's no longer about understanding what's Scriptural and what's merely cultural. Instead it's about seeing how much present-day culture we can pour into the church and say that it's not culture but Biblical.
Grace is the Churchese translation of tolerance.
Love is the Churchese translation of "don't worry, be happy."
Relationship with God is the Churchese translation of I don't want any pressure.
~*~
My question: Are we really getting back to the Bible or are we just remaking the church in the image of our present culture? If we are really getting back to the Bible, then don't let me stand in the way.
But if we are remaking the church in the image of our culture, do I have to like it?
No, because everyone has their own culture and that's okay.
It's OKAY if a church is influenced by the culture it's in.
Funny though. Churches are striving to be culturally relevant. It's not a passive issue--the culture seeping into the culture. Churches are actually actively going out and trying to bring the culture into the church.
Doesn't that just sound odd?
Not bad, per se, just odd.
I thought the whole point was to get back to the Bible.
And now you're trying to get back to the culture?
Or maybe, more accurately, we're just trying to annihilate any traditions, assumptions, etc. that have been passed down to us from generations of believers before us that might be an offense to our culture.
But you know what? That's our history. That's our family. A couple thousand years of church history, thousands upon thousands of Biblical history--that's our history.
Yeah, mindsets might need to be updated. Heaven forbid that I should feel irreverential if I go to church without wearing highheels and a hat. But...argh...how does one say it?
In the process of revamping, can we just remember that the church has value to us?
In the process of weeding out misconceptions and whatever else isn't popular, in the process of bringing in modern life so we are culturally relevant and can reach the unchurched, can we just remember that it is ALL about Scripture and God and that it is NOT all about altering the structure of the church institution?
The point is not diversity.
The point is not cultural relevancy.
The point is not being missional.
The point is not being purpose-driven.
The point is not heralding back to Augustine or Martin Luther or John Calvin or Irenaeus or Tertullian.
The point is not getting on the bandwagon of tradition or the bandwagon of nontradition.
The point is the Truth. That's the point. That's what we live and breathe for.
It's simple.
And it's timeless.
And it's worked through all times and all cultures.
P.S.
I saw myself in this post: http://narrowpathstohigherplaces.com/what-you-see-is-what-you-get/ "No church was safe from criticism."
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