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Your Dominant Thinking Style: Exploring
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You thrive on the unknown and unpredictable. Novelty is your middle name.
You are a challenger. You tend to challenge common assumptions and beliefs.
An expert inventor and problem solver, you approach everything from new angles.
You show people how to question their models of the world.
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Have I told you I don't believe in dinosaurs. . . .? | | |
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You Are 28% Nerdy
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You're a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd.
You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they've become a part of mainstream culture.
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|  | Currently Watching
Dinosaur
By D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, Max Casella, Hayden Panettiere, Samuel E. Wright, Julianna Margulies, Peter Siragusa, Joan Plowright, Della Reese, Matt Adler, Sandina Bailo-Lape, Edie Lehmann, Zachary Bostrom, Cathy Cavadini, Holly Dorff, Greg Finley, Jeff Fischer, Barbara Harris (II), David Allen Kramer
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As quoted on Monica's blog:
"We are no longer a Christian nation, at least not just; we are also a Jewish nation and a Muslim nation and a Buddhist nation and a Hindu nation and a nation of non-believers. And if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would it be James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus which suggests slavery's ok and that eating shellfish is an abomination? or we could go with Deuteronomy which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith; or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount, a passage that is so radical that its doubtful that our own defense department would survive its application?"
-Barack Obama
This quotation intrigued me, not because I think it makes a valid point, but because I think it is a good representation of the wide spread misunderstanding of Christianity that our American culture has developed. I'm really referring to the latter part of the quotation, not the first sentence. I think the first sentence carries a different emphasis that I'm not addressing here. Furthermore, I do not mean to imply by the following that I believe we should expel non-Christians and try to create a pseudo-Christian nation (I don't believe it possible for man to create a "truly" Christian nation. . .only God can do that. . .anything we attempt would simply be a legalistic, dogmatic version of a religious commune on a larger scale). The suggestion is not Biblical. What I mean to address is the suggestion that it must be decided "whose Christianity to teach" or, worse yet, which passages of Scripture are valid.
One of the great things about our nation is that we carry a respect and defense of individual rights and freedoms that most of the world does not recognize. I cherish that about our nation, since it guards so many things that I hold dear, such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, etc. But I also get frustrated with that about our nation. Anytime a good concept gets taken to the extreme, it tends to lose the essence which made it a good concept to begin with. Such has happened, in my humble opinion, with regard to our defense of human rights and individualism. We have allowed individualism to become more important than truth. We have allowed individual rights to supercede morality.
It is this evolution of extreme individualism that I think has in part led to the fact that such a question as quoted above can even be asked. Since when is Christianity anyone's but God's? I don't mean in the purely philosophical sense, I mean truly and really. If we presume Christianity to be what it claims itself to be, then how can it be anything but God's own story of His love for His people? Yes, there are doctrinal differences and theological interpretations to come into account, and I understand that on the surface it is that which is being addressed in the question. But I think the moment we begin to say that we adhere with any one particular leader's Christianity, we are misplacing the focus and losing the very basis on which Christianity is founded. We delegate Christianity to the category of mere religion, which loses the very message of Christianity, being that it is a relationship with the personal, living God of the Bible that makes us a Christian, not adherance to a particular dogma.
Furthermore, I think the biggest misunderstanding revealed in the quotation is that any part of the Bible in and of itself should be taught as "Christianity". True Christianity embraces every single word of the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, and can only be properly understood and handled within the context of the whole. What good is it to teach that Christ has made restitution for our sins, if we do not also teach that our sin requires restitution? What good does it do to teach that God loves us, if we do not also teach that God is sovereign? The Sermon on the Mount is meaningless outside the context of Christ's provision for us on the cross. To remove the character and historical reality of who God is and the power of the Holy Spirit to enable believers to accomplish what God calls them to do on the Mount is to reduce the gospel to a type of humanitarian aid which has little relevance in a culture so full of Barney rhetoric. The Bible is not a "helpful book of magic formulas" which can be legalistically followed in order to attain specific goals. The Bible is the revelation of God and His plan to and for His people, and can only be taught, understood and accepted within that context, in its entirety.
So, whose Christianity should we teach our children? God's. Which passages? I suggest Genesis 1:1-Revelation 22:21.
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| I've posted a selection of pics from the CVPC Fall Family Retreat/Missions Conference over on my multiply site. Joanna, I thought you'd want to see them. Even got a couple of shots of your mom and me on the rope swing together. It was our shining moment, of course. Lots of fun. Truly wish you were there. | | |
| Choose a band/musician and answer only in song titles by them: Since Scott already did U2, Suzanne Vega
Are you male or female? As Girls Go
Describe yourself: Left of Center, Small Blue Thing, Tired of Sleeping
How do some people feel about you? Book and A Cover, Private Goes Public
How do you feel about yourself? Rusted Pipe
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: Undertow, Fat Man and Dancing Girl, Last Year's Troubles, The Queen and the Soldier
Describe your view on significant others and crushes: Honeymoon Suite, No Cheap Thrill
Describe what you want: Book of Dreams, Harbor Song, Sand Song
Describe how you live: Those Whole Girls (Run In Grace); Night Vision, As A Child, Pilgrimmage
Describe how you love: Golden, Lightning, Woman on the Tier (I'll See You Through), Knight Moves, Some Journey
Share a few words of wisdom: Blood Makes Noise, Birth-Day (Love made Real), Straight Lines
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