I’m trying to figure out where the Old Life guys are coming from, especially Dr. Hart - Brother Hart. I can see their point in a way if they are saying that some of the popular ways of talking about transforming culture are not able to deliver on their promises. The Gospel is not a kind of magical pixie dust that we spread around. The Gospel makes demands on our lives. We are called to die to self and live for God.
Often the subject of suffering is left out of some Gospel presentations we hear today. If we just adopt the proper, Christian worldview, then everything will fall into place.
It’s like the joke about playing a country song backwards. If you do, you get your house back, your wife back, your dog back, your truck back.
Everything will go well for you from that point on if you receive Christ. In fact, all the bad things that have happened to you in life will be reversed.
If that is the kind of transformational theology that the guys are speaking against, then I kind of get where they are coming from.
Yet I think they are going too far. No, the effects of Christianity on our culture are not so dramatic. Well, I think that anyone who knows Christ can testify to the fact that their lives have seen dramatic changes. The more people believe in Jesus, the more change we see around us.
However, this world as it is will never be completely transformed. So, maybe that is what the guys are objecting to. This world will not be transformed into what it is supposed to be until Jesus returns. Meanwhile we occupy this world until He comes.
We are strangers and pilgrims, but we are also salt and light. It is complicated. I think that they have withdrawn from engaging the culture too much. Sure, maybe the transformational promises being made are over the top. However, the almost total withdrawal from politics seems to be going way too far in the other direction.
What I find very sad in our country at this point in time is the fact that the Democrat Party has turned so godless on important issues. Their continued, unquestioning support for Planned Parenthood, for example, is inexcusable.
There are other issues as well, but nothing is more important than protecting the unborn. Why? There are a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that those children are our future. More important than that is the fact that all human beings are made in the image of God. Anyway, I easily veer off into pro life arguments that I wish the Democrats still believed in. Both parties should be pro life.
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