What's the Point
I was told of a blog entry by a Presbyterian Pastor on the
subject of what amounts to consumerism in American Christianity. I was left
feeling that this pastor felt it important to make his "brand" of Christianity
more relevant and convenient to the
consumer.More importantly, what I was
left with was a question of what the point of Christianity is? Modern
Evangelicalism would tell us that a simple "decision for Christ" is all that
matter, and after that you may do what you like with some degree of impunity (as
modern Evangelicalism is pretty strongly Calvinist, with a good dose of
predestination and OSAS). If that is all that is necessary, then, by all means,
do what you must in order to achieve that
decision.Unfortunately, that view is,
at best, a post-reformation view. In reality, I think it only dates back to the
19th century. It is not, at any rate, a Christian view. Providentially, Fr.
Freeman has posted a blog entry on St. Athanasius, and his view of
salvation. This view (which is the correct view - noting that nobody has ever
questioned it, until perhaps more recent times), is that we need to be united
and conformed to Christ in a real way. That takes time, and it takes sacrifice.
Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, was hardly interested in either entertainment
or convenience, which seem to be the drivers of the modern non-denom Christian
movement. How can we make that a primary driver for worship and the structure
of a church, and expect that the end result will be a person more conformed to
Christ? Simple answer - we can't.
Posted: Tuesday - October 30, 2007 at 10:16 PM
