Who would have ever thought that I would be back, and so very soon. I want to switch it up a little. My passion still stands and I'm sure I will come back to what has been talked about in the last 20 posts. Where I am now is really confused with the church and post modernism. I have heard some great ideas that people keep saying "that sounds good" lets go with it. Are they Biblical ideas though. I don't think that you can just say something sounds good and change your entire life on just that. Nathan maybe you know something about this. Theresa you know stuff. Justin you too. Please tell me something here.
posted by Joy | 12:46 PM
3 Comments:
OK! You sound desparate for a comment on this, so I will, although I'm not sure I have any real answers for you.
First, if you don't know if something is Biblical, look it up in the Bible. Go to the concordance and all that and find all the verses on the key words that come to your mind. Then, look up the verses and read the stories around them and possibly even the introduction to the specific book of the Bible you're reading. I've done this method and usually end up finding something helpful or something at least to think on. I sometimes cop out and just ask others what they think, but ultimately I think the Holy Spirit can speak the most clearly to us through the Bible.
I'm wondering what specific ideas people have said that you are referring to here.
Plus, I agree that no one should just say something sounds good and then suddenly change your entire life around. But all you can do is learn all you can about it, pray, read your Bible, get other's opinions, and let the Spirit guide you to a wise decision. Often it seems there is no clear answer. That's tough. I do believe that sometimes God says "It's up to you, you could go either way here."
OK, that was a lot to say seeing as how I don't really know for sure what you're talking about. haha
It is my opinion that too many people go based on what seems to be a good idea... What I mean by that is, they go based on feelings too much. I'm not saying that how you feel doesn't matter at all, however, it is dangers to get caught up in your emotions and make a decision based on how you feel at a given point in time. Is that what you were looking for or did I misunderstand your question?
Joy-
I have read "A New Kind of Christian". You mentioned that you were reading it. Here's the thing. I am not so sure McLaren was wise in trying to embrace post-modernism in the Church the way he has. It is not that post-modernism is a bad thing in itself, but very few people really know what it is all about. Even philosophers struggle to capture it with clear definitions. I think what we have established is the nature of modernism, but post-modernism is much slipperier. So, on that note, any ideas you are getting about post-modernism, I suggest you ignore the labels and the appearance of big differences and strip each concept down to its bare bones. Ask yourself, regardless of the way the world is going, "How do I feel about this?" "Is my feeling Biblical or are these new ideas Biblical?" "How do these ideas change my faith?" These and many more questions might help you more than discovering exactly what these labels are or where they came from (although there is definitely a need to do so, just maybe in another context). Anyway, that's all.
Nick
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