Should Christian Culture Trump Secular Culture?

Back when I took Introductory Sociology in college, we were taught that culture is the totality of the customs, laws, mores, religious influences, art forms of all sorts, and popular understanding which comprise the social life of a very large group of people or a sub-set of people. Thus, for example, there is an American culture, very broadly defined. But there is also a Southern culture, a Northeastern culture, a Midwestern culture, and a Western culture. Within those cultures there are various Indian (or Native American) cultures, an Appalachian culture, a Lutheran culture, a vegetarian culture, and so on. Having lived on Hilton Head Island for an accumulation of thirty years, and in Bluffton for six years, I can safely declare to you that there is a Hilton Head culture and a Bluffton culture, and nary the twain shall meet. Years ago bumper stickers proclaimed, “Bluffton Is a State of Mind.” It still is, but just more so now.

Via Dolorosa: The Temptation of Self

any charismatic gift, every charismatic gift, is ultimately a gift from God. And no one was more gifted in charismatic abilities than Jesus. But Jesus, also more than anyone else, knew that self can be a huge distraction if one intends to devote his life or her life to the service of God. The temptation of self is a temptation for anyone, but especially for someone of great talent and ability.

Via Dolorosa: The Temptation of Power

The Apostle Paul described what Jesus did in some magnificent theological prose. He said that though Jesus was “in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be snatched away (from God,) but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus knew very well what divine power was, but he wasn’t going to try to expropriate it from God. By so doing he had no other option than to lower himself, and to start walking the road at the end of which he knew inevitably there was a cross awaiting him.

Bad Belief is Worse than No Belief

It is obvious that one person’s “good belief” may be the very essence of another person’s “bad belief.” Religious fundamentalists of any stripe are convinced that those within their religion who do not believe as they believe are anathema, and should summarily be drummed out of the corps.

The Origin of Repentance

We repent because we realize that God loves us. We don’t decide to follow God’s law and therefore God accepts us; we finally realize that God accepts us and therefore we decide to follow His law. That is the message the cross is intended to illustrate. It isn’t the cross that saves us or Jesus’ death that saves us; it is God who saves us, but that is supremely illustrated by means of the cross.

Suffering for God's Name

Is it better to be persecuted and deeply committed, or to be left alone by the government and the wider society and thus probably to be less committed? As in so many other things, it is what it is. We live in a liberal democracy which does not attack or undermine religion. Other Christians live in nations or regions where their faith is constantly under physical or other forms of attack.

Enough Stuff

Many people have no qualms about the amount of stuff they have. They have it, and that’s that. Nobody is going to call them to task for it, not even Jesus. But there are more sensitive souls who are faced with ethical quandaries about their stuff. Should they sell a house that is larger than they need and buy one which is more commensurate to their needs? But if they do, will they lose money in the sale of the bigger home and pay through the nose on the purchase of the smaller one? And if so, is that wise; is it prudent? Would God approve their throwing away money? Should they buy a hybrid car in order to use less gasoline, and thus do their very small bit to slow climate change, if in fact the climate is changing? And again, they will have to pay more for the hybrid, and get less for the gas-guzzler. It’s a puzzlement, isn’t it?

The Necessity of Positive Spin

What do we do when misfortune befalls us? How do we handle it? Do we immediately go into a decline, and bemoan our fate, or do we try to make the best of it? When the doctor gives us bad news, or we think that the Grim Reaper has arrived at our doorstep or our safe little island in the sea, do we deliberately go into Negative Mode, or do we rely on Positive Mode?

Have our Judges Become Too Politicized?

The prophet Isaiah lived in Jerusalem about 750 BCE. He was incensed by judicial miscarriages of justice. Judges were taking bribes, and the law was regularly being subverted. Thus Isaiah quoted God as saying, “I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isa. 1:26). There can be no clearer illustration that judges and justice are theological issues.

Wrestling With God

The jig is up. The match is over. We emerge victorious in our defeat. He whom we meet face to face, He who bests us in the contest of wits and wills, gives us a whole new beginning to a whole new life. To win against God is to lose; to lose against God is to win. We cannot go forward without pain. We cannot get back into the Promised Land without meeting God on the other side of river. The way from here to there requires preparation and exertion, but ultimately and most of all, it requires submission. We can’t get a new start, a new hope, a new name, unless we are willing to grapple with the One who will not let us go.

Should Behavior Improve With Age?

God created the human race with the capacity to follow His commandments and to live together in peace and harmony with one another. I am not talking in this sermon about how we should behave as nations and cultures and societies, but rather how we should behave with one another as individuals. God intended us to co-exist without seeking to harm or take advantage of others, and He created us with the ability to manage to do that. The question is this: Do we actually do it? Does the socialization of our youth lead into a peaceable kingdom in our adulthood? Does our behavior improve with age? Should it?

Isaiah and the Messiah: The Suffering Servant

A military Messiah can only guarantee yet more military activity, but a comforting and consoling and vicarious Messiah can bring peace on earth, and good will to all peoples. As we see in the verses of Isaiah 53 however, the Bible does not clarify all mysteries. Sometimes, instead it magnifies the mysteries. The Bible may prompt more questions than it provides answers. It also may turn the glorious into the mysterious.

Comfort, Christmas, and Communion

Christmas comes four days after the shortest, and therefore darkest, day of the year. After the emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire, Christians superimposed Christmas onto an already existing Roman winter holiday, thus making Christmas one of the holiest days in the Christian year. Therefore glorious light is thrust into the thickest darkness, hope into devastation, and peace into great conflict.

Isaiah and the Messiah: The Root of Jesse

During Advent, we are studying various messianic passages from the prophecy of Isaiah. Today we are looking at two verses from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah which talk about the Messiah as “a shoot from the stump of Jesse” (11:1) and as “the root of Jesse” (11:10). Who, you might ask, was Jesse? Jesse was the father of King David, and David was considered the greatest of the Israelite kings by most Jews throughout most of history. During biblical times, it was believed that whoever The Messiah would be (“The Anointed One” of Israel), he would have to be a descendant of David. In their minds, that was a messianic “given.”

Isaiah and the Messiah: A Child Is Born, A Son Is Given

Jesus Christ did not become the Messiah of the Christians on the basis of his parentage or birthplace or social class. Furthermore, he became their Messiah as much on the basis of what he said as what he did. He became their Messiah on the basis of how he lived his life. But his life was not anything like what the traditional Jewish concept of the Messiah decreed it should be. Jesus never appeared to be regal or monarchical; he appeared to be one of the people of the land and not the people of the city. He clearly claimed to be a servant, and not a master, a bringer of peace rather than a fomenter of war.