After 8 days together with many of you It was real to see the community and family that emerged. I contend that we can thank the putting-aside-of-who-we're-not-in-exchange-for-God-has-created-us-to-be
for this happening. With that in mind it seamed fitting to discuss how truth has found it's way into culture once again in the vehicle of the Foo Fighter's song "The Pretender":
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday,
ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around
life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does
for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so
well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even
thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from
the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly
respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down
to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops
well-formed maturity in you."
Keep in mind how the thinking Christ-follower is to approach truth in culture:
"Three Important Questions
Ed Stetzer, a church planter and missiologist, has developed three
insightful questions to ask as we engage our culture through a biblical
worldview and wade through the many complexities of being sent by Jesus
to reach the world:
o What aspects of culture do we receive?
o What aspects of culture do we reject?
o What aspects of culture do we redeem?
These questions take into account that God created all things good,
but that sin has twisted, marred and stained all of creation. Thus, the
question of whether to accept certain aspects of culture is rarely
straight-forward, but must be looked at carefully as there are
components that we are able to accept, some that we reject, and many
that we are able to redeem. This is the task of every Christian who has
been changed by Jesus and joins him on his mission of reaching the
world for the gospel. Thus, each month we
“Engage” in order to
help students think as missionaries, view the culture through a
biblical worldview, and develop a heart for joining Jesus as he carries
out his work of redemption."
Jesus spoke about forgiveness in Matthew 18:23-25. His statement
that just as the Father has forgiven us so must forgive others stands
in apposition to the cultural idea that we withhold forgiveness and
therefor have power over the one who caused us pain. So what do think?
What aspects of the Pretender do we reject?
What aspects do we receive?
What aspects do we redeem?
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