I've done another guest spot at Jason Clark's blog entitled Living in sin/living in love: the both/and reality of cultural accommodating Christians? Here's a taster for you:
"We live in a world full of shades of grey where these good/bad characteristics will be interwined. I can also see how christian culture could be bad in the same sense that the culture of the world can be bad (e.g. the hurt men have caused women through blame and opression), even if it is dressed up in more holy sounding clothes. Conversely I can also see how sometimes the culture of the world can/will have good values/norms/institutions/artifacts (closer to God’s heart/dream/longing) than those found in most churches, e.g. equality between men and women or environmantal compassion and justice. In that case ought my response be one of accomodating with the world - or at least going back to bibleview to see whether that has become too constrained and here is God using the world to beckon me on into being part of God’s dream for the world"
I’ve always liked Romans 13-15 as an explanation of this – the right way (God’s way) is written on the hearts of man, it’s just our freewill that chooses his way or not (the human/God paradox). So I’d like to ask, how much of what we do as Christians is just a generic human response (e.g. how much of corporate worship – song singing – is just the euphoria of joining together with other like minded people; similar to the feeling of large gig or political protest) that we attribute solely to God being present, and then call it a fundamental of Christians meeting together. Others faiths claim the same kinds of experience as we do – which means we’re wrong or they are. Surely the only thing Christianity has going for it is the open door to a relationship with God through Jesus rather than having to treat him like an angry parent that needs to be appeased?
Sorry to go off topic there….
Posted by: Tim | 23 September 2006 at 11:45 AM