In discussion with workmates yesterday we came round to the topic of being 'counter-cultural' (CC) and it led to my considering what being counter-cultural is really all about. I see CC as being something positive and extremely valid and value the fact that, in a Judeo-Christian construct, we are not of the world but in the world, sojourners and strangers in an alien land and that we live 'differently'.
Whether the issue is tattoos, a hard subject in today's multi-coloured (and later faded and sagging) world, or piercings (do they get bogeys on the nose wotsits) which leave me cold and extremely turned off or many of the other (then and now) issues - I can always find a reason for the proscription. What saddens me is that some look at Church and see the fact that we are different and scream for us to comply with the standards and legal instruments of the world at the expense of out 'otherness'.
Now before people reach for their stones, or words, which usually (despite the saying) do hurt more than stones (and take longer to heal), and set about me, I am not saying that we should practice discrimination. I don't want slavery to be re-introduced (we call that lay ministry where I am) or people to be burnt at the stake BUT I do want us to realise that we have a very powerful message in the otherness and difference that we live within.
My problem is that when others were having occultic tattoos the people of God were refraining from tattoos because they wanted to show their allegiance to one God and the absence of such things was a silent witness. A quick aside - one of my soldiers had a tattoo and when we went to a Chinese restaurant the waiter sniggered when he saw it. Asking the soldier what it was, he told me it was 'good luck - long life' - popping to the loo I asked the waiter and he said, "Western idiot' (or a ruder version actually) Seems that even today tattoos speak volumes about who we are and what we represent!
When everywhere else was into weird and wonderful sexual stuff, the people of God were into heterosexual, monogamous (eventually!), fidelity ridden marriage.
It is a shame that we have slipped into so many ways of the world that people rarely see us as being any different and in fact abuse us when we are different because it says something about them as well as us!
It is sad that when we had people come and lead a debate on the consecration of women that one spoke of scripture and orthodoxy whilst the other spoke of the Bible having nothing much to say todays as it was merely an archaic, patriarchal and irrelevant book for today. Seems that we need to toss it out because we live in a world where women are equal and even in the ascendency!
I'm not interested in being like the world. I am not interested in putting people down because of who they are but then again I do reserve the right to to accept or reject what people CHOOSE to do when it goes against the teaching of the orthodox Christian faith. I am not interested in the foolish people who want to believe that once we are approved of by the world and approve of all that they do the people will come flocking in. If there is no difference between what is to be found within a church building and what exists outside then the otherness and the reason to come in is lost.
Aha aha (I love that bit in the Bible) I hear you say, but we will be able to preach Jesus. Indeed you will, but you will able also to deny Him and His words and the basis of all that He is that is to be found in the Old Testament and so will issue forth only hollow words.
Otherness is supported by, and supports, a relationship with the one true living God won by the sacrifice of God made man, Jesus (the Christ) and lived out through the enabling of His Holy Spirit - all else if froth and dissipation. If we don't live as He commands then every day of our life is an act of rejection and living against Him, not for and not with!
Pax
2 comments:
I am with you, but up to a point.
"I do reserve the right to to accept or reject what people CHOOSE to do when it goes against the teaching of the orthodox Christian faith"
OK, but Jesus specifically warns us against a legalistic approach that lays burdens on others which we are then unwilling to help them carry (Matt. 23:4, Luke 11:46). Trouble is, it seems that some of the attempts on the part of Christians to "alleviate" the burden may rest on false assumptions, and in some cases simply adds to it.
"In the world but not of it" has always been a tricky line to negotiate - what Christians may or may not do, with different individuals and groups coming to different conclusions. This is so whether the issue is "meat offered to idols", visual arts and iconography, consumption of alcohol, dancing or a host of others.
Our distinctiveness is more than simply deciding which side of particular lines we stand. The real distinctive is whether, in the midst of all this, we can still end up loving one another as Christ has loved us.
I don't do legalism but I do do obedience and this, like everything we do, comes down eventually to the issue of choice.
That said, when others find themselves burdened by the result of their, or someone else's, choice or beset by illness or other load, I am there to support and cone alongside.
Rules and legalism are religion but relationship and a determination to choose rightly are the relationship that is Christianity.
I agree with love being a facet of what Christian is (how can any do other - and yet do) but love begets actions = Christianity. Action without love begets religion, and there are plenty in that camp!
Pax
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