Christians becoming Post-Modern, or Post-Moderns becoming Christians?

I've been trying hard lately to figure out why people are so fascinated with “Emerging” and with the Post-modern movement. There are a lot of discussion regarding the definition of these ideas and whether or not people are on either side of the issue. I respect the desire to renew our minds and learn things that will bring others to Christ. However, most of what I’ve seen is side-taking and nit-picking over an idea that, once a definition is attached to it, it's no longer what it was. I'm not saying that every discussion regarding these ideas are this way, but I am becoming more and more concerned that we may be in the first stages of a new division in the church. Which, I don't feel is worth our temporary enlightenment brought on by trying to be attractive to a generation that will soon be replaced by another one.

I Corinthians 1
10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ." 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul? 14I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." 20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

“… but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” Noticed he didn’t say, “Christ crucified was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, so we read a book by Rabbi Levi Elchanan called “Understanding modern Jewish blocks and how to keep from knocking them down”. Or “How to fool a foolish Gentile without letting on that you think he’s a fool”.

Please forgive my sarcasm.

He did one thing to reach his mulit-cultural audience; he preached Christ crucified. And he did it knowing that the Jews stumbled over it and seemed like foolishness to the Gentiles. What an idea. There are many different audiences in the New Testament that the apostles preached to. But they had one simple message. It was consistent, unwavering, and unapologetic. Jesus Christ was crucified once, for all. And each of us need to die to our old selves and put on our new selves. The Bible says nothing of clothing ourselves with the things that make the world feel comfortable. Just read Acts 5:10-16

10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
The Apostles Heal Many 12The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. 13No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.

Some may say that we need to understand the “normal” people before we can convert them. And here is where we run into our problems. We try to look, sound, and act like a post-modern in order to attract the post-modern man. We are then supposed to tell them that they need to put their old life to death and take on the life of Jesus. But Jesus wasn’t a post-modern man. In order for them to attract another post-modern person, they would then have to confuse the issue by reverting to their old way of thinking and talking.

What a mess. Some believe that in order to communicate with the world we need to stop talking like we do in church and speak the way that the non-believer does. What we then have is us not being ourselves and trying to sell ourselves as something that we’re not and God never called us to be. The language that we should use to reach the lost is the same one that Christ used, Love. Not words, but actions. Not philosophy or new doctrine, but compassion and charity.

I do understand that some of every new movement in Christianity is a hopeful remedy to the problems of yesterday’s church. I understand that there are a lot of things that were instituted in the church because of situations that are now no longer relevant. We need to keep ourselves in check and take care of unfruitful practices. We would agree that traditions need to be done away with when they steal the focus from Jesus. Solutions to yesterday’s problems should be no different. When a church is no longer relevant to the everyday life of the believer and holds no attraction to the un-churched, we need to aim our efforts to being more Christ-like. Not more modern, or post-modern, or Gen-X’d, or the like.

I wonder why there aren’t any new books on Christ crucified. Perhaps it’s because it’s already been written in the Bible and the only way to make money from it is to surround it with a new Bible translation that is easier to read and has pictures in it that doesn’t look like they were drawn in the early 70’s. Maybe not, but that’s my take on the book phenomenon. Want to know what to do, read a best-seller written by some guy who lives on the other side of the country whose successes come from doing things that appeal to people who are nothing like the folks in your subdivision.

Vent coming, skip this paragraph if necessary. Ok, some guy in California does some things at his church and the attendance explodes. Since his attendance increases we assume that the almighty hand of God touched that church and put a stamp of approval on everything that was done there. Every other church in America buys the book by the box and preaches, teaches, and devos the heck out of it. They implement the concepts, adapt to the practices, and the church in America strangely doesn’t pour out the windows like alice in wonderland after she took her magic pill. I mean, come on, 16 million copies of a book of modern answers in the hands of Christians all over the country and our overall attendance isn’t up? There’s still orphans and widows who are distress? Divorce in Christian families is still a huge problem? Sorry for the cynicism, but I just don’t get it.

http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/downloads/religion_in_america.pdf

What would have happened if the attendance at his church didn’t increase? Have you ever read a book titled, “Our numbers are way down, but we’re more spiritual then ever”? Or, “How to make people want to hang you on a cross” and the supplemental booklet, “Effective breathing while hanging on a cross”. I don’t think so. Books are published because they sell. Not because the church needs to learn what’s in the book. Some may say that the book sells because it’s what the church wants and needs. Then why all of the marketing and the different bindings and the supplemental material? Because that’s how you sell a book to someone who wouldn’t otherwise buy the book just from reading the title. Have you ever seen a commercial for the Bible? Me either, just for the book of Mormon and other Jehovah’s Witness literature. Kind of makes you think, huh?

Let’s get back to the simplicity of the Gospel. Christ crucified. Acts chapter 2. It cuts the heart and is sharper than any double-edged sword. Hey, it worked for us. Why would we be so quick to insult it’s power by watering it down with ideas that won’t be relevant in 5 to 10 years? Let’s not forsake the convicting words of the Bible. I wonder what the ratio has been in the last 5 years between Bible reading and Christian book reading. I bet we don’t even want to know.

God Bless,

mitch

What is of most importance?

Written one week after Katrina made landfall

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, stories of heroism, strength, and determination are arising. But the pain is still there. With every photo streamed across the bandwidth of the internet, the pain is felt by even the most distant of onlookers. And it is in times like this when we find out who people really are. How do we reason in our minds the things we’ve seen and heard? How do we explain looting as a means of survival? Obviously, the rules of life change when situations change as they have in the Gulf Coast region.

Just over a week ago Pat Robertson, long time host of the TV show “The 700 Club”, announced that the U.S. Government should take advantage of their ability to “assassinate” Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Venezuela's Vice President Vicente Rangel in return called on the White House to vilify Robertson’s comments saying, "What is the U.S. government going to do about this criminal statement made by one of its citizens?" Another Chavez supporter in the Venezuelan parliament, Desire Santos Amaral said "This man cannot be a true Christian. He's a fascist."

On August 30, 2005 the Venezuelan leader and friend of Communist Cuba declared his eagerness to help the victims of Katrina. He announced his countries willingness to send clean water and fuel to the U.S. hurricane victims. We could make the argument that Chavez is only communicating a selfish propaganda, but the fact remains that he sees a need and is attempting to meet it.

One man in the fury of the hurricane learned from his wife what was of first importance. With her hand slipping from his and their house splitting in two, she told him that he could not hold her any longer and that his attention should be turned to their children. When real life dropped in like never before, and everything around them literally fell apart, they were forced to see what was most valuable.

At what level of danger or catastrophe do we realize how important our time with our family is? Are we too busy with worrying about politics and oil, or evil dictators? Do we get too caught up in our own agendas so that someone else ends up having more of an influence on our kids than we do? Or are we making the most out of our time with our spouses and kids? And do our loved ones clearly see just how important they are to us?

Just some questions to consider as we start another school year. God bless you and may God bless those caught in turmoil.

-Mitch

Who's the Boss?

George W. Bush is not Lord. The Declaration of Independence is not an infallible guide to Christian faith and practice. Nor is the U.S. Constitution, nor the U.N. Universal Declaration on Human Rights. "Original intent" of America's founders is not the hermeneutical key that will guarantee national righteousness. The American flag is not the Cross. The Pledge of Allegiance is not the Creed. "God Bless America" is not the Doxology.

Sometimes one needs to state the obvious—especially at times when it's less and less obvious.

If these statements are so obvious, why do our lives not always easily reflect our Godly calling like it should? Hint: “We Have an Adversary”. Satan, the “Prince of the Air” is creative and is constantly finding ways to draw our attention to things that are good, but just not great. “Vote for this”, “Stand for that”, “Champion a worldly cause”; we are bombarded with someone else’s mission every day of our lives.

So how do win the fight of taking back our lives? By filling our lives with service to Christ. Placing Him above all things and finding opportunities for our hands to find work and worth in the purposes of God.

Each one of us has a void that can only be filled by the Creator. Songs are written about looking for the one who can fill the “Hole in my Heart”. Well friends, look no further. He’s standing at the door of your heart, knocking.

We come together on a corporate level to worship and honor God. As we live our daily lives, let us strive to honor God with every thing that we do. And, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

In HIM,

Mitch Fewell

Mi Casa! 

God, Family, Music...