Note: All this was written relatively quickly. I believe articulated the idea fairly well, but it could probably use some revision and that only comes with commentary! Comment!
Today, during the course of my 'blogbrowsing' I came across The Rebelution. Read this article by Dawn Eden if you want to get a description of what the blog is all about. The basic idea is that these two brothers want to change the world ... that's the short version. Their vision involves mobilzing the youth of America to make their lives matter. That's what I gathered from reading a few posts. The writers are both Christians.
Why am I telling you all of this? Well, after looking at their extremely prolific blog for a little while, a few ideas started brewing in my brain. This isn't an attack on those guys or anything. I'm just working out what their ideas made me think about.
1. The world's idea of power is not the same as God's. It's continually demonstrated in The Bible and in the lives of the saints that God works through weakness. Now, that does not jive well with the way that all of us are taught to think. The world says that to change the world we have to be wealthy, well-connected, and well-educated to make a difference - even to make a difference as a Christian. There have been several occasions where I have been told that it is good for Christians to go to college so that we can make a real difference in the world. To go along with that, there is this idea that Christians should excel in their studies.
My problem with that? First off, let me say that there is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy, well-connected, or well-educated. All of those thing can be gifts from God. However, they are far from necessary. Look at St. Joseph of Cupertino ... he was not smart or rich. He did not convert entire countries or write any classics of mystical literature, but he is a saint and during his life he was blessed with amazing contemplative prayer. He is an example to Catholics even now.
A plaque that I've seen on many desks at Franciscan University reads, "Faithfulness not success." That is how I believe we should change the world. God does not need us to be seen as powerful, wise, or even successful by the world. He can work through us no matter what our status. Christians can use the blessings he gives them for the good of the Church, but God can do just as much without them.
In my personal experience, it has been the times that I have had little to do with it when God works through me the most. I think the key is to make God's will ours. We can do this by getting closer and closer to Him every day. Worrying about building up our political, economic, or educational power will not get us anywhere. God can use those things, but he doesn't have to.
2. Pop religion is bad. What does that mean? Well, I think it's something I've noticed when it comes to Christian books, music, seminars, movies, and web sites. [Note: This is not a Protestant bashing session, I'm just speaking from my experience which is Roman Catholic.] Take the book The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren. I read the book. It was pretty good and gave me a few insights that helped me in my life. However, once it became popular, it was seen as this revolutionary new way of being a Christian. Churches devoted months to reading the book together along with purchasing Warren's other materials: guides, journals, etc. Now Rwanda is trying to be a "purpose-driven nation." That is a big deal.
The same thing happened with Wild at Heart and Secrets of the Vine. People tried to base their faith on these books. Even The Passion of the Chirst was used in a similiar way. I set that movie apart because of a key difference: Passion presented something that Christians have believed for 2000 years in a new medium.
So what's the problem with all of this? Like the examples I gave in Point 1, these things can be great tools for strengthening your faith and serving the Church; however, the Faith that is Christianity is not anything like a trend to be exploited. The Faith is from the Word of God. That Word is never changng, but always new. It's not something that needs to be changed to be relevant to the modern world. Media like the ones I named can have a positive effect on a person's faith, as most of them did for mine, but they are not the Faith itself. Yes, those things can revitalize or reinvigorate Christians, but they should not be relied on as the center of the faith.
The point? We need to base our faith on the unchanging but ever-new Word of God. Only Jesus can save us; not books, movies, music, blogs, seminars, conferences, etc. I believe that the Church that Jesus founded is still around today and it is the Catholic Church. I am not going to go into all of the usual Catholic-Protestant debate, but I will tell you what I love about the Catholic Church: When I look at the mass, all the sacraments and traditions, I see something that has endured since Jesus started it. How is that possible for a church with sinful, fallen humans? Lucky for us, humans aren't the only ones involved. The Holy Spirit has guided the Church since the beginning and will continue to do that all the way until the Second Coming. The richness of the faith is constant. Though traditions may have changed (example: The latin mass), Tradition has not changed. Sacred Scripture (The Bible) and Sacred Tradition (The oral tradition passed down from the Apostles) are they center of the Faith because they are all about Jesus, the Word of God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church has maintained the deposit of faith entrusted to the Apostles by Jesus Himself.
Bam sucker!
3. Why am I saying all of this? The Rebelution blog got me thinking about how to change the world. I came to the conclusion that if you look at the history of Christianity, you can see that political, economic, military, and educational power are not necessary. Yes, they can be used for good ends, but God does not need the world's power to work. He can use them, but He does not need to. So what reason is there to actively pursue power?
I'm not saying that the Church should not be active in the world; in fact, it should be involved in every facet of life. But it should not be in the world on the world's terms. Though Christ has won life for us and conquered death and the Devil, we are still in enemy territory. Satan wants to take as many souls down with him as he can.
4. So how should we act? Here's my conclusion: We should be the best disciples that we can be (obviously) and we should do that on our own terms. The Church is the only establishment on Earth that was founded by Christ. No government, organization, or system is ordained by God. And that includes the United States. We need to see everything in terms of people and love them all like God does.
Fine!
4 comments:
Coolio! Very Smart!
Hello Mike. Your thoughts in response to my son's blog The Rebelution are well presented, and I agree with your insight that worldly power is not needed in order to change the world as God would have us change it. As a Roman Catholic you would have a clearer perspective than most on the dangers of "Christians out to change the world." History teaches us that wealth, political power and cultural dominance do not often get used properly, even by those who intend to be the good guys. But the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. (1 Cor. 4:20) That power is love. Not feeble human love, but God's strong sacrtifical love in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Individuals freed from the fear of death and the fear of lack to love one another fervently are an invading force in this evil world with all of its power structures and systems of exploitation. Most religion is simply part of the world as a means to power. But the thing that overcomes the world is our faith in a resurrected Lord whose death has paid our debt to God. True freedom comes only by means of regeneration and regeneration is a work of God in us, not a work of our own in which we could ever boast. As God brings people to life by faith in Christ, rebelutionaries are born for the work of loving one another.
As you study in seminary, I hope you will continue to be salt and light in the Catholic church and beyond it to the pop religion and churchianity that often poses and passes for Christianity in the Protestant world. As a pastor of a protestant church here in Gresham, OR, I see God at work daily. What God seems to be doing today is reviving His church in all places to return to the simplicity and power of His biblical design and purposes in Christ. Alex and Brett are having alot of fun interacting with other young adults about these issues. It stretches them and makes them think hard and deep. Thanks for contributing to the depth of their discussion.
In Christ,
Gregg Harris
Good points. Thanks for the commentary all. Keep it up. I'll probably do a followup post later.
For xtremeboccee:
Hmmm. I have studied Calvinism, the Puritans and the Pilgrims and this idea of lacking confidence in salvation is a myth. Their confidence was in the Scriptures. They looked, as the Scriptures told them to look, for evidence of God's grace in their lives, specifically for love of the brethern and a continuing battle against indwelling sin, but they did not confuse material wealth with God's blessings of salvation. That error came much later with the third and fourth generation children of the Pilgrims who, by the way, also drifted into universalism and unitarianism.
By the way, Saint Augustine taught and defended what later was rediscovered in the Scriptures by Martin Luther and John Calvin. Namely, that God is totally sovereign over all things and yet man is fully responsible for his own actions and choices. This is because man's will apart from God's grace is in bondage to his fallen nature and therefore all of his "free choices" come down to how he will sin next. Only by being born again by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone can we receive a new nature and begin to make moral choices that are both righteous and humble at the same time.
Also, Church tradition is a great treasure to be savored and preserved, but Scriptue alone is sufficient for Christian life and godliness. The Bible tells us that God has given teachers to Christ's church and so on the authority of Scripture we should all appreciate the ministry of gifted teachers, including the many great Roman Catholic teachers. But their authority is based upon their faithfulness to the Bible that they teach. God bless.
Post a Comment