Things I Think…
1. It is impossible to have any sort of unity without an agreement on what is true in a given situation. Compromise on solutions demands that we have agreement on a given set of facts. Without that agreement we have anarchy. Welcome to 2019…where we have tens of thousands of religious sects claiming to be the church and almost as many special interest groups trying to form one nation. The center has not held…
2. This is post modernism…where everything is “true” if you choose it to be…”knowledge” is power and we all fancy ourselves to be kings…
3. When I got my first computer in 1996 I thought that the internet would raise the level of literacy and shared knowledge exponentially…what I didn’t realize is that it would also take it down exponentially as well…
4. I am not a “fundamentalist” because I cannot intellectually assent to the fact that a tiny percentage of us are right and the vast majority of us wrong about the Christian faith. There is right and wrong throughout orthodoxy and God condescends to our weakness. These are the “essentials” of Anglicanism…which we also debate internally because God is not offended by earnest inquiry…
- The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as “containing all things necessary to salvation,” and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.
- The Apostles’ Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.
- The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself – Baptism and the Supper of the Lord – ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of Institution, and of the elements ordained by Him.
- The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church.
5. A “culture war” demands an enemy…and counting the people in the culture as enemies immediately distorts the Gospel we’re supposed to carry to them…
6. I have come to the conclusion that we will see (or our children will see) a complete collapse of the church and state as we’ve known both to this point. It will take a calamity of major proportions for us to give up our individual “truths” and settle on agreed upon verities for the sake of survival…
7. What happened to “they will know us by our love?
8. I wonder how all those young people accustomed to “safe spaces” will react when life hits them in the mouth…repeatedly…
9. A damn fool doesn’t become a prophet just because he gets online…
10. The addendum to all of this is that Christ is still ruling and reigning over this hot mess…
Culture wars are real but our battle is to fight on ground where we can die. For me that now means freedom, especially freedom of speech. Everything flows from that foundational post. Freedom of religion and press are derivatives, at least in some ways.
BD,
Those are American values, but are they “biblical” ones?
I might die on those same hills with you, but I’m not sure I can frame them as “Christian”.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
W.B. Yeats
Well said, Michael…
Thanks, Duane…Yeats is sounding like a prophet…
Michael,
I am preaching through the last week of Jesus on earth and he was embodying the prophets as he addressed Israel/Jerusalem. The prophets assumed free speech in that they were willing to be killed. The under-reported story of that last week might be the dynamics of how the ‘crowd’ was flipped from believing Jesus was a prophet to “crucify him.” It was a carefully manipulated process IMO.
And no freedom of speech is not a christian issue it is a human issue that makes it all the more powerful for Christians to espouse.
Dread,
“…freedom of speech is not a christian issue it is a human issue that makes it all the more powerful for Christians to espouse.”
word!
Old Testament, no freedom of religious expression under Joshua, at least.
New Testament – Paul said there must be heresies to prove what is true. Jude says to remain quiet about gov’t matters we know little about.
Reign of Christ – no freedom of speech.
Freedom of expression is not a biblical value but a human one – one that we are allowed by God and men to enjoy and blessed with under grace. Our “freedoms” outside of the decalogue do not seem to be much of a priority for God. Maybe that’s because he knew we would cling to them rather than him.
Guitar Man,
It is good to agree. Safe to say we need that kind of moment. Thank you.
Dread,
Always, my brother!
Even in our most difficult disagreements we’ve never stopped loving each other, praying for each other, asking Jesus to care for each other and this family.
#3….I too was thinking in the mid to late-90s that with the advent (can I use that word here?) of the internet, information sharing will benefit us all.
HA!
I think the statement you ask about in #7 is still in full force. I work with 4 mission type ventures around town and folks love the help we provide – even things as simple as feeding free breakast to the spring breakers, or those who come to the food Bank.
They know us by our love – but their recognition of our love is not our motivation.
6. I have come to the conclusion that we will see (or our children will see) a complete collapse of the church and state as we’ve known both to this point…
True, we are cruising at lighting speed now… Take this blog as an example, 5 years ago Michael was considered avantgaurd and verboten by many in Christendom, today he right up there with Mister Rogers and Walt Disney!