I love looking at things in ways in which I have never seen them. Never before have I noticed, particularly, the Theological differences between the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence. Now I clearly see the encroaching of enlightenment humanistic ideals. Even through this, however, the United States remained in acknowledgment of the Sovereign God of the Christians. The enlightenment did indeed have effects on American Christianity, specifically a shift from traditional Christianity to contemporary Christianity, and a very individualistic view about our relationship with God, but nevertheless, Christianity remained.
Today, however, we see a similar shift from God, but in a much more drastic manner. The focus is already on ourselves, and has been for quite some time, but now the shift is going from religion altogether, or possibly moreso from deocentrical religion to new age mysticism. But is this necessarily a bad thing?
The American church is unquestionably strongly divided. Division is wrong amongst Christians, but we have been dealt it already by our ancestors. American Theology is loose, always changing to fit our whims; we skip from church to church looking for the best concert and entertainment we can find; we throw our hands in the air for 'worship' and sit back and criticize the preaching. If anyone is as grieved by the state of our church as I am, persecution is no foreboding word. Persecution is a privilege given to us by Christ. Follow Christ, and you are free to suffer, free to face persecution. Persecution cannot hurt us; only strengthen us. What is the most it can do? Further God's kingdom? Let us embrace our secular society with joy that God's church in the United States may once again draw close to Him!
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Seth, I agree with you that persecution is necessary to strengthen the church and perfect and refine the body of Christ. 1 Peter 5: 10 says, "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered for a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast." Christians are elsewhere exhorted in Scripture to take joy in our persecutions, thanking God that we can suffer as one of His own . This is an incredibly countercultural idea. One that distinguishes Christians from the rest of the world. This concept can't be understood except through the mind transformed by Christ. The results of such a mindset are visible and powerful in China. The Chinese house church network has long gloried in their sufferings. Sufferings; such as prison, torture, separation from loved ones, and even death; that our American sensibilities can hardly comprehend. However, the church in China has grown at a rapid rate and unexplainable miracles are regular occurances. As Tertulian said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Oh that God would give us bodies that don't long for comfort and spirits that thirst for His presence!
ReplyDeleteI love the end of your post where you talk about persecution. As Christians, we go through hardships. Like Job, he had everything taken away, yet still he praised God. Going through rough times and persecution really strengthens us sometimes. The bad thing is though, many times we wait till a troubled time to seek God and we don't give him enough credit when things are going well. Anyway, I enjoyed your post and really liked your challenge in the last sentence!!
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