There is a certain franticness to how Christians are responding to what is called the “rapid, discontinuous change” we see in our culture. Rather than the future being a long slow upward progressive climb, we’re finding, to our horror, that it’s more like a rollercoaster, with dips, dives and turns everywhere. We’re getting exhausted just reading the books about what we should be doing to sort it all out (see almost every book written in the last twenty years with the word “Church” in the title – Ed), never mind actually doing anything.
My latest article for Evangelical Alliance’s Engage online magazine offers a daring solution: Take A deep breath, hold your nerve and do nothing! Sounds a little lazy. Sounds a little naive. But what exactly do I mean by “doing nothing”?? Have a read of the full article here and find out.
And while you are at it, explore the rest of the EA Ethos site – it has some great resources on it.
I agree that is it very important not to immediately feel the need to ‘respond’ to every new thought and trend, but equally, when these trends become powerful, Christians need to examine how this trend sits within their faith.
An understanding of your own opinion on marriage (say) and how it maps to current trends will allow you to clarify your beliefs by occasionally challenging them with the opinions of others.
Do not sit quietly to the side and ignore the changes of the world, examine them from time to time, every now and then they might just teach you something.
…or to put it another way, never assume you are the one that is right…
I agree James. To assume one is right is to reach the conclusion before doing the groundwork. If however, after having done the groundwork, you reach the same conclusion, the assumption is less an assumption and more a conviction. So my beliefs about issues (marriage for instance?) are not established by trends (which come and go), but by convictions built over time and through observation. Only those who hold convictions, not assumptions, are able to display grace and magnanimity to those who hold equally strong, but polar opposite convictions. Which is exactly why politics in this country is so poisonous.