As a Christian I have understood from the very begetting of my spiritual life that being a Christian is following Jesus and not any old Jesus BUT the Jesus revealed in the book- the Bible. From the start of my spiritual life I have been advised to daily read the bible and find the will of God for my life. Constantly I was told 'live the book'- put the book into practice. Furthermore i was enjoined to adhere to biblical inerrancy which states that the writers were inspired by God and that the teachings of the scriptures are the VERY word of GOD. Admonitions such as 'follow the Maker's instructions' and 'what would Jesus do' were commonplace at the inception of my Christian life. Therefore the bible speaks with an authoritative voice about life not only 'spiritual' life BUT all of my life. It had the definitive statements on all aspects of life touched on in the BOOK. Therefore my walk as a believer was to be regulated by the 'word of God' and to deviate from this was 'sin' missing the mark- the bullseye of God's fullness for whatever area of life I was thinking of - dealing with. Whatever that is not of FAITH is 'SIN' which evangelicals mean that which deviates from the plain teaching of the scriptures is 'SIN'. This leads to the conclusion that the biblical teachings on matters such as marriage, divorce, parenting, love, sex, dating, masturbation, relationships, anger, forgiveness, salvation, church life, community, leadership, women, children, men, love.... and all the other aspects revealed were AUTHORITATIVE and were meant to be obeyed.
BUT as I have discovered over these many years the teachings of the Scripture are given only a nodding assent to by Evangelicals and are not required to be obeyed in any committed way. The power of the scripture has been robbed the insane rise of individualism in post Renaissance times.
This leads us to look at the actual way that Evangelicals live their lives-
Marriage breakdown accepted and allowed. Between 30% & 50% of ALL Evangelical marriages end in divorce. Marriage is not in vogue with Evangelicals.
Abortion- the ratre of abortion is actually higher according to the stats I have seen in evangelical circles. The teenage pregnancies are the same as anywhere else and the abortion rate is high. LIFE is not in vogue with Evangelicals.
Child abuse- spousal beating, law suits and many other social issues that we read about in the secular arena are as pronounced in the Evangelical Churches. Forgivness is not in vogue with Evangelical Christians.
Church hopping- church splits occur more often among Evangelical Churches. The average Evangelical has been 'committed' to 5 different church groups in their lifetime. Community is not in vogue among Evangelical Christians.
Clear teaching in the scriptures on 'LIFE' are routinely ignored or suspended as Evangelicals deal with their 'real lives'.
The question is 'WHY'?
However on such issues as homosexual marriage and 'gay rights' modern day Evangelicals are willing to take to the streets and protest and spend lots of money fighting the 'MORAL DECAY' in society.
Come on now - smell the coffee- the moral decay is centered in our neglect of the simple instructions on being fully human as revealed in Jesus the Christ of God. As long as the church accepts relational breakdown as acceptable the breakdown of other relational areas will continue to spiral.
Doug overexposed
looking back to go forward
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Sin distorts our relationality in different ways. In the light of this, homosexuality is just another form of relational breakdown, ie. the breakdown between the natural sexual/procreative relationship between a man and a woman. Moreover, the homosexual relationship is grounded entirely in the individual(s) while the heterosexual relationship, while just as important to the individuals, is also grounded in the larger community (through producing & raising offspring).
Evangelicals are quick to lament the breakdown of this particular relationship but don't address the larger breakdown of relational structures that, as you point out, they are just as implicit in as the rest of society.
Post a Comment