My friend Keith Giles over at Subversive Underground published part 2 of his article on "Destroy the Christian Subculture", first seen over on TheOoze.com. Keith and I agree pretty much wholeheartedly on this issue. I've been in trouble with some of you before by refering to the Christian subculture as a self-imposed ghetto system. Keith hits the heart of the issue with this quote:
it's not the people who are evil. It's the system we've created which generates money in the name of fear. We retreat from the world we were born into, and called to have an impact on, and we create our own Christian-version of the world which is sanitized and drained of power, impact, relevance and meaning.
Generates money in the name of fear. Wow. When I read that thought earlier I knew Keith had hit a home run. We retreat, we run away, we create the "safe and fun for the whole family" atmosphere and the world becomes hell in a handbasket. We become weak and soft and irrelevant. In the name of fear. In the name of money.
But perfect love casts out fear. The love of money is the root of all evil. Love for the Way of Jesus will take us into the world, into the place we fear, and will anoint us with power from on high.
2 comments:
Called by Jesus to be "in the world" but not "of the world," we choose rather to be "of the world" but not "in the world."
Too often we copy the values and structures of society rather than create a true counter-culture that infects the world with the germ of godliness.
Great observation from both of you.
You're right, Taratinzwe, it's a fine line to walk in balance. Passion for being "in but not of" can't lead to compromise with the world's standards, or once again you lose the relevancy. You cannot use the "in the world" argument to justify sin. Well, you can but you shouldn't.
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