Sunday, January 25, 2009

All is not opposites

I've been thinking lately how bizarre it is that people (myself included) are so polarized in their thinking on so many issues. It's as if we only see the world in pairs of opposites.

For as long as I've been around evangelicals in particular, it seems like most "believers" will only ever acknowledge two "positions" on many issues. Here's a few examples:

  • Republican or Democrat
  • Calvinist or Armenian
  • Old or New Testament
  • Legalistic or Licentious
  • Covenant or Dispensational
  • Liberal or Conservative
  • And the list goes on!
Why is it that we are so polarized in our view of life that we must lump all people into groups at the outer edges of every issue of life, as if all people are either/or and never something else? This is very apparent to me as I look at blog posts and the follow-up comments. Often I see this "oh, you don't agree with my position, you're one of those..." types of comments. I've witnessed this person more times than I would like too!

That's one of the things I love about Jesus. He's so anti-stereotype. No one could look at him and say, "oh, I've seen this before, that's such and such...". Jesus is totally unpredictable - he's ... WILD!

And so, if we bear the name of "Christian" (lit. Little Christ), shouldn't we posses the same characteristics of being anti-stereotypical and completely non-categorical? Maybe if we focused less on trying to pigeon-hole one another into the black and white buckets we put one another into, we'd have more time and freedom for Jesus to produce his wild life in us!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Andrew,

What a breath of Fresh air. I think you nailed it on Democrianity, or perhaps it is Christiocracy? It would appear that our country began with Christians trying to implement a freeman's version of Christianity. This morphed into cultural Democrianity. Cultural Democrianity is undergoing severe rejection by the public, evidence of rejection of involving anything religious within Public activities. But that rejection has lead to the new religion of Coexistianity. This is the new flag being promulgated by the United States across the world. Now homosexuality is being called a gift from God. It may be time to get back to basics and focus on Jesus. Democrianity will not save anyone. And certainly Coexistianity is a lousy replacement. All that is left, is... Jesus and Him crucified for my sins and everyone's sins. We must accept His forgiveness so that we can forgive everyone around us. And accept his acceptance of us into His family. We are here to help lead people to Christ, not to help them find salvation through Democrianity or Coexistianity. Bottomline, following Christ pure and true is going to cost us, and is the only answer. Now is the time to share the gospel regardless of the craziness of those stumbling around in the dark. The days of Democrianity are over, and it is ok. Jesus is the only reason we are here, and that is a good thing to pursue.

Sven Masterson said...

Anonymous - thanks for posting. I didn't know anyone read these things - especially years later!!!