Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Going Postal Over Culture?

Mark Driscoll has a good article on Christians and culture called, "Why Christians Go Postal Over Facebook, Jay-Z, Yoga, Avatar, and Culture in General."

He writes...
I’m not advocating either a permissive or a restrictive approach to debatable cultural issues. Rather, I am encouraging Christians to involve themselves in culture not merely for the purpose of entertainment but primarily for the purpose of education. As a missionary, you will need to watch television shows and movies, listen to music, read books, peruse magazines, attend events, join organizations, surf websites, and befriend people that you might not like to better understand people whom Jesus loves.
 He offers a helpful taxonomy for dealing with culture:

·     Receive – There are things in culture that are part of God’s common grace to all people that a Christian can simply receive. This is why, for example, I am typing on a Mac and am going to post this blog on the Internet without searching for an expressly Christian computer or communication format.

·     Reject – There are things in culture that are sinful and not beneficial. One example is pornography, which has no redeeming value and must be rejected by a Christian.

·     Redeem – There are things in culture that are not bad in and of themselves, but can be used in a sinful manner and therefore need to be redeemed by God’s people. An example that has resulted in a great deal of media attention is sexual pleasure. God made our bodies for, among other purposes, sexual pleasure. And, although many have sinned sexually, as Christians we should redeem this great gift and all its joys in the context of marriage.

Check it out here.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Subversive Manger Scene


Pretty clever commentary on our culture, IMHO.

[HT:  Reclaiming the Mission]

Back in the saddle?

Attention my dear five friends of this blog: 

I have been away for a while, really for a good half a year.   Why?

*  I've stopped blogging in order to focus on launching New City Church.  
*  I've stopped blogging in order to redefine (for myself) why I want to blog. 
*  I've stopped blogging in order to refrain from making snarky comments about US politics (not that there is anything wrong with that--I've just needed to check myself & motives for doing so).

So, what now?  

*  The church is launched and we're having a blast watching God work.   Not that there is not more work for us to do, but I feel like this blog is no longer a distraction.
*  Why do I want to blog?  Mainly just to reference stuff that I may want to remember, to keep up writing, and to share things with you--my faithful five friends (which may be even fewer now that I haven't posted anything in forever.  
*  I really have to refrain from political comments.   I'm neither Democrat or Republican (generally--snarky comment coming--I think the Dems are driving the car off the cliff at 85mph while the Republicans are content to drive it off at 65mph).   I'm generally conservative, but don't think our Republic comes anywhere near what was originally envisioned by the Signers of the US Constitution.   Plus, I'm living in Canada now, and Canadians are pretty snarky about US & Canadian politics.  

So yeah, I'm back in the saddle.