For those of you who missed the 5pm Weekend Away, we looked at the book of Daniel chapters 1-3. Daniel lived in a pagan world, and his situation has many similarities to our own setting.
So here is a part of the talk about how to live as a Christian in a pagan world:
"There are a few different ways that Christians have tried swimming against the tide. Or different ways that Christians have throughout history been swimming in the stream.
1. Stop swimming and float downstream (total assimilation)
The first approach is attractive because it is the easiest and definitely the most fun and the one in which you meet a lot of cool fish.
The first approach is to just stop swimming and float downstream. It takes little effort, and you can even do it in you sleep. And the rapids are a hoot!
We could call this assimilation. Where the way the Christian copes with living in a secular or pagan world is just to become like the world in every way. You no longer have the tension of living in a secular and pagan world as a Christian because for all intents and purposes there is nothing Christian about you any more.
2. Swim upstream every now and then
The second approach is to swim upstream every now and then. Like you could decide to swim upstream on Tuesday and Sunday nights (for example). Like swimming against the tide when you are hanging around with your Christian friends, but the rest of the time you are basically the same as the culture around you. Like you have the outward appearance of being Christian (going to church, going to HUB), but actually all your hopes and dreams and desires for your life and your future are no different from the surrounding culture. Your body might be at church, but your heart is out there. And because you only swim upstream every now and then, where do you end up do you think? Well, you don’t end up-stream!! You end up down-stream!!
3. Swim upstream in disgust
The third approach is much harder than the first two. And it is more suited to certain personality types: like Alpha-males.
1. Stop swimming and float downstream (total assimilation)
The first approach is attractive because it is the easiest and definitely the most fun and the one in which you meet a lot of cool fish.
The first approach is to just stop swimming and float downstream. It takes little effort, and you can even do it in you sleep. And the rapids are a hoot!
We could call this assimilation. Where the way the Christian copes with living in a secular or pagan world is just to become like the world in every way. You no longer have the tension of living in a secular and pagan world as a Christian because for all intents and purposes there is nothing Christian about you any more.
2. Swim upstream every now and then
The second approach is to swim upstream every now and then. Like you could decide to swim upstream on Tuesday and Sunday nights (for example). Like swimming against the tide when you are hanging around with your Christian friends, but the rest of the time you are basically the same as the culture around you. Like you have the outward appearance of being Christian (going to church, going to HUB), but actually all your hopes and dreams and desires for your life and your future are no different from the surrounding culture. Your body might be at church, but your heart is out there. And because you only swim upstream every now and then, where do you end up do you think? Well, you don’t end up-stream!! You end up down-stream!!
3. Swim upstream in disgust
The third approach is much harder than the first two. And it is more suited to certain personality types: like Alpha-males.
The third approach is to swim upstream and as you do that – spit in disgust at the other fish going downstream. Not only do you muster all your energy to keep swimming upstream, you have the mental resolve to despise the other fish around you – all they can do is swim with the tide. At night you lecture your kids saying ‘remember kids, even a dead dog can swim with the tide’. You don’t love the fish swimming down stream. You don’t care might what happen to them at their destination. You despise them. And look down your noise at them.
And even though you make a lot of money selling them imported Fish Protein Pills, as you bank your cash you secretly look forward to the day when they are all gone and you finally can live without them.
And even though you make a lot of money selling them imported Fish Protein Pills, as you bank your cash you secretly look forward to the day when they are all gone and you finally can live without them.
And you don’t mind how much damage happens to the stream from your v12 Fish Jet-ski, because once you’re upstream who cares how festy the stream becomes downstream.
4. Build your own swimming pools (ghetto)
The fourth approach takes more effort than all the others but is much more hygienic. This involves swimming by leaving the stream and going out and building your own swimming pools.
It’s a very attractive proposal this one. If you build it right, you don’t have to worry about logs in the stream or leaves; and all the signs around the pool can make it clear that you should keep left when doing your laps. And the really good thing is that by eliminating the unwanted fish, all the swimmers are now swimming in the right direction.
You become the tide!! Instantly you become the majority. Freed from worrying about those fish swimming past in the wrong direction you can focus your time and energy on Christian Fish political parties and debating the merits of home schooling. And after a while you can forget all about all the fish out there in those streams. In fact, you don’t even have to bump into them anymore.
This is the Christian ghetto approach. Like the immigrants who never learn the host language and who set themselves up as a sub-culture within the host culture that never really has to engage with the host culture.
There are some ways that Christians have in history lived in hostile and unchristian cultures.
1. Total assimilation
2. Outwardly Christian, but inwardly completely the same as the culture
3. Despising the surrounding culture
4. The Christian ghetto.
None of these options seem completely satisfactory do they? "
4. Build your own swimming pools (ghetto)
The fourth approach takes more effort than all the others but is much more hygienic. This involves swimming by leaving the stream and going out and building your own swimming pools.
It’s a very attractive proposal this one. If you build it right, you don’t have to worry about logs in the stream or leaves; and all the signs around the pool can make it clear that you should keep left when doing your laps. And the really good thing is that by eliminating the unwanted fish, all the swimmers are now swimming in the right direction.
You become the tide!! Instantly you become the majority. Freed from worrying about those fish swimming past in the wrong direction you can focus your time and energy on Christian Fish political parties and debating the merits of home schooling. And after a while you can forget all about all the fish out there in those streams. In fact, you don’t even have to bump into them anymore.
This is the Christian ghetto approach. Like the immigrants who never learn the host language and who set themselves up as a sub-culture within the host culture that never really has to engage with the host culture.
There are some ways that Christians have in history lived in hostile and unchristian cultures.
1. Total assimilation
2. Outwardly Christian, but inwardly completely the same as the culture
3. Despising the surrounding culture
4. The Christian ghetto.
None of these options seem completely satisfactory do they? "
4 comments:
What's with the pic Nige? Is that Liz in the foreground??
St Matts is obviously paying you way too much if your holidaying in Ibiza each summer!
Yair! Anyone else taken a close look at the photo (clicking on it helps)!
None of these options seem completely satisfactory do they?
Not completely satisfactory?
Not in any way satisfactory!
:)
Great to read your blog, Nigel. Will see you in a few days.
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