ArchivedDoes society define Christian standards?Beads Wrote: Beads, This same issue has brought itself to my attention over the last few years and it has troubled me greatly. I see us, as Christians doing exactly what you described in that we seem to feel good about our holiness if it is just a little bit holier than the world-and often that is not by much. I see this very clearly in the kind of movies and TV shows we watch. Most Christians will have their own personal blacklist of those shows that are too immoral, too violent, contain too much magic, etc. The wide variety of Biblical answers we seem to get concerns me, especially because the Biblical proofs seem so involved, lacking simplicity, and lacking a sense of authority, but only offering vagueries. Anything that establishes rigid guidelines is said to be legalistic, so we all seem to be left to our own interpretations and our own walk with Jesus. Has anybody not noticed what the problem with this is? We are social creatures! We desire to live among other people. We DO live among other people. If my only possible concern as a Christian is for my own holiness, then I have no hard and fast reason to raise my children any certain way. Basically, I have to pray and pray that my spouse will see things my way. I have to pray that the people in my community will happen to see things exactly my way. I have to pray that people will choose to seek God on the same things. Do you realize the disgustingly high percentage of hard praying Christians who have sent their children off to public schools only to see their children compromise their chastity which results in them having cursed marriages down the road? Sure, there are great stories of exceptions! But isn't it a problem that there are so few exceptions? The problem with this reliance on every individual hearing the voice of God is that only a small percentage of people have a high intrapersonal intelligence. While the rest of mankind may have very high musical, athletic, spatial, interpersonal, logical, or linguistic abilities, they simply don't spend too much of their time questioning the way things are, the way things have always been, or the way things should be. There is nothing wrong with these people, in fact, they are often much more gifted in other areas than those who have high intrapersonal intelligence, but they usually spend more of their time doing what they are good at than they do analyzing God's will concerning many important moral issues. While this is one thing that has caused me to take a serious look at the big picture of what ails Christianity, I can tell you this. Take the example of television. For years, Christians have been railing about this TV show and that TV show. The shows that many Christians struggled against a decade ago are now normal viewing fodder for most Christians. At least in this area, here is the underlying problem. Life, you see, was given to us by God making us stewards of everything he gives us. This includes our time, our money, and, most importantly, each other. What few Christians seem to understand is a concept that has been taught brilliantly by Steven Covey, that applies perfectly here. That is, people should focus, if possible, most of their time on activities that help them to be fruitful within their circle of influence. What the electronic world has done is give us a load of entertainment options, none of which have anything to do with us being fruitful within our circle of influence, instead tempting us to care about things that are outside that circle of influence. A song by my favorite Christian band-do I enjoy that by myself (mostly) or do I really enjoy it with people inside my true circle of influence? (Would it not be better if we simply sang and played songs together among friends without the strange band’s accompaniment?) How about the movie or the TV show itself-are any of the people in it even remotely within my circle of influence? Is the plot of the silly show or movie within my circle of influence? If not, why should I care one smidgeon about these Hollywood actors/actresses, the characters they portray, or the outcome of their silly plots? Oh, what about the world news and the local news-shouldn't we care about that every day? Gee, I don't think our daily devotion to these "important" news items is as important as we think. When was the last time we had a meaningful effect on the outcome of what happened on the news? Do you see my point? If anything, daily doses of the news cause us to expend a large fraction of our free time on something we can't change 99.9% of the time. Is that any way for us to live? While we are soaking up the world's worries, there are so many people around us who really need us for something. A child that wants to play with us, a friend who needs some advice for their marital problems, an old man next door who could really use some company. To sum this up, we should be much less concerned about the content of Hollywood's junk and much more concerned about the fact that we are ignoring our God-given influence over the people around us by spending big chunks of our daily lives on activities where we are completely operating outside our circle of influence. That is the real problem. Of course, this simple truth alone is not enough. And yet I don't know how many churches will ever mention the aforementioned principle, (with all of its implications) lest they lose the support of their flock, subsequently losing their memberships, subsequently losing their tithes. Indeed, how in the world does someone sow in the spirit pure unadulterated truth and expect to reap material rewards? Sure, I know tithes can be proven Biblical. I still have a problem with it. I am currently scouring the earth for the faith that best helps man to fulfill the following covenants with each other that I believe sum up the "Will of God". Sometimes I wonder if the Bible's length and Christian theology's complexity is not actually an obstacle to the following covenants really being honored between God and God's people: 1-Spouse to Spouse (TRUE LOVE/DEVOTION TO/HONOR FOR) 2-Parent to Children (TAKING CARE OF THEM PERSONALLY DURING INFIRM YEARS OF INFANCY, RAISING THEM WELL, WISELY GUIDING THEM INTO PURE MARRIAGE) 3-Children to Parents (HONORING THEM (ALBEIT PROPERLY), NOT SPEAKING EVIL OF THEM, MAKING SURE WE PERSONALLY TAKE CARE OF THEM WHEN THEY BECOME INFIRM) 4-Believer to Fellow Believer (a limited number whom we fellowship with in our homes. One at a time NOT several at once) KEEPING A REGULAR SCHEDULE OF FELLOWSHIP, BLESSING THEM, HELPING THEM) 5-Believer to The Infirm of Society (ACTUALLY TAKING AN ORPHAN, A CRIPPLE, SOMEONE ELDERLY, SOMEONE POOR UNDER OUR WING TO HELP THEM) 6-Believer to The Stranger/Foreigner (PLEDGING OURSELVES TO LIVE IN PEACE AND HONOR WITH THEM)-especially refusing to take up arms against them to kill them in the name of government "objectives". This is actually everyone not previously listed, even if they live down the street. 7-Believer to God (PRAYER, STUDY, MEDITATION, WORSHIP, OBEDIENCE, TRUE DEVOTION, etc.) Perhaps one of the first mistakes we make is that we choose to make regional alliances with people who, we can only guess, are like us because they live around us, go to our church, or live in our city or country. I have recently realized that the person half way across the world may be no more a stranger to me than the fellow who sits next to me at a College Football Game and cheers for the same team I do. In fact, there are a great many honorable people half way across the world whom I am sure honor the "Will of God" much more than the guy next to me at the football game. Instead, the person who has eaten at your table with their family and whose table you have eaten at with your family, and with whom you regularly share your love of God, are the only people who you can possibly claim are not strangers. Jesus may yet be the key to my search, however, modern Christianity seems to be a sick creature and I trying to figure out what ails it. The fact that superb sermons are taught on a weekly basis in many churches around the world does not seem to be the cure. I would like to be able to call every good man around the world, who humbly tries to honor God, friend and brother. I am sick of insisting that he adopt my complex theologies, so long as he shares in my sincere reverence for our Creator, so long as he seems willing to devote himself to the 7 Covenants of God. Peace 2 God's People |
🌈Pride🌈 goeth before Destruction
When 🌈Pride🌈 cometh, then cometh Shame