What You're Saying
by Motte Brown on 10/30/2006 at 12:32 PM
There's a saying: "Politics is downstream from culture."
For years, politically active Christians seem not to have understood this, and put the cart before the horse by trying to "transform the culture" through political action. You write: "As secular humanists continue their attack on the moral fiber of this nation, he contends it's disgraceful that Christians aren't more involved the political arena." Restoring the moral fiber of the nation is going to take a lot more than political action. Real cultural change has to come from the bottom up, not the top down; by changing people's hearts and minds rather than by taking over the apparatus of the state.
The end result of political involvement is that we're a bunch of political whores who are being used by GOP candidates to get them elected. Take the abortion issue. If the Republicans were truly pro-life, they would have outright banned abortion years ago when they gained control of Congress and the White House. But they haven't, and we can see where their priorities lie. (An outrageous example: The American Enterprise's "Darlin' Arlen")
One way to see why is to look for perverse incentives: they have no incentive to ban abortion because then conservative Christians and pro-lifers would have no reason to elect them. Instead, they hand out useless bones like the Partial Birth Abortion ban.
Simon
An Unapologetically Dark House on Halloween
Thank you, Mr. Brown, for your thoughtful and certainly God-submitted response to the Halloween debate. Living here in Australia where Halloween has not caught on in a big way, this is something we haven't yet had to address. Only a handful of kids will head out trick-or-treating in our neighbourhood this year. But, were involvement a real option, I'd have to consider the Scripture which exhorts us to abstain from all appearance of evil. Surely there must be some confusion when Christians willingly embrace activities which are based on a pagan theme.
One of my seven year-old music students came to me with an interesting thought during his lesson last week. "Mum says I can do Halloween," he said, "But I just don't want to. I know it's not of God. But then I do want to, cause it sounds fun. But I want to be godly." On his own, his conscience was telling him that Halloween might not be "godly". That was a powerful message for me. I encouraged him to ask his mother if he could perhaps have a little party to celebrate All Saints' Day, on November 1st, and remember godly men and women of the past.
Thanks for being bold enough to tackle controversy head on. Regardless of whether I agree with your final conclusions or not, I appreciate Boundless' thoughtful and Bible-centred approach. And in this case, I'm with you in your final consensus :).
Blessings,
Danielle, WA, Australia
I enjoy your blog. But I have to say that Motte's latest blog was a tad OTT (over the top), a mite reactionary to Tim Challies' Halloween post.
Reactions are always dangerous. Challies was speaking from a considered stance but Motte bordered on an ad hominem attack.
Motte may be the stronger brother here (Romans 14). Should he not bear with Challies' alleged weakness?
Blessings,
Mark, Surrey, BC
Excellent post.
I read with interest your posts on the topic of Halloween. Though I'm not a parent, I presume someday I will be making decisions about how/whether to celebrate Halloween at my home.
I think that Halloween is really what you make of it -- if you go into the week of Halloween filled with dread that this demonic holiday is taking place, you will probably feel like there is serious spiritual warfare taking place. If you allow your kids to dress up in something innocuous and ring the doorbells of their grandparents and a few trusted friends and enjoy the candy afterward, it will probably feel like a harmless pastime. And I absolutely agree with Dr. Dobson -- parents should stick to their own convictions. Unfortunately, that's sometimes easier for those with the strict anti-Halloween values to do without having guilt heaped upon them by other parents.
It occurs to me, though, that if we spurn Halloween but instead opt for a church activity like a Pumpkin Party, Fall Fling, or Bible Character Dress-Up Night (and I'm not talking about Reformation Day or All Saints' Day, as those do have some historical significance of their own) we are essentially celebrating Halloween -- we're just calling it something else. And I find it ironic that the fundamental Christians who decry contemporary Christian Music as "just a bad copy of the world's rock music" will be first in line to haul out Dad's old bathrobe for a dress-up night or brush up on their pumpkin-seed-spitting skills for an "autumn" celebration at church.
Kristen
Reading the different viewpoints on Halloween has been very interesting for me as I am evaluating my own response to the holiday. Ted Slater's comment comparing Halloween with Ramadan struck a chord with me. I have lived in Muslim countries and I have found that the meaning that Muslims place with Ramadan is different from person to person. Some people are just fasting out of cultural obligation, some are trying to earn their salvation but some are earnestly seeking to know God better. I have spent the past three years keeping Ramadan along with Muslims all around the world, praying with them that they may truly find God through Jesus Christ. Can we as Christians find a similar response to Halloween or is there truly no redemption in it?
Bethany
P.S. I really enjoy reading Boundless and getting alternative views on American culture today. Thanks and keep it up!
Interestingly up until the 1900's just about every great "thinker/philosopher" believed in the existence of a higher being. Perhaps they didn't put their faith into practice or were Deists but believed in a being nonetheless.
I once asked a psychiatrist whether or not she believed that God/religion was real or simply a result of evolution; a way for humans to cope with things they don't understand. She answered that although she believed in evolution and didn't think the current descriptions of God were true that there certain things in this world she could not explain. Thus she said for herself she has developed an "in between" philosophy on the matter.
What some secularists in this world want is undeniable proof of a God (Bertrand Russell stated that if he did meet God face to face and was asked why he didn't believe he would respond that He (God) didn't give him enough evidence). However the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).
That does not mean however that faith is for the "weak", "unlearned", etc. We practice it all the time. In our criminal court trials for example, we issue the verdict "guilty" or "not guilty". "Not guilty" doesn't mean necessarily that the jurors think the person is innocent. It simply means that there is not enough evidence to overturn the default presumption of "Innocent until proven guilty". We in essence are "acting on faith" the same as in Christianity.
The crux of the evolutionist way of thinking is that rather than start out with an open mind most evolutionists have as their baseline postulate/axiom "There is no God". Thus it is relatively easy for them to explain away just about every argument for God because they already "believe" that there is no God to begin with.
However, the Austrian philosopher/mathematician Kurt Goedel proved that ALL logical conclusions (i.e. theorems) must be based upon axioms which can NEVER be proven and must be taken on faith. In layman's terms, it essentially means that all conclusions are based upon a set of assumptions which must be taken on faith. For the evolutionist it may be "There is no God". For those who do, it may be "There is a God". The point though is that both parties must act on faith so those that say they never act on faith are full of carmel soot.
Personally, I adopt the "Pascal's Wager" approach. I'd rather live like there is a God and through life's discomforts than not live like there is one and suffer the eternal consequences of His existence. If there truly is no God then my existence/memory on life, indeed everyone's becomes meaningless. But if there is God and if He is "keeping score" then how I live my life becomes very important and in the scope of eternity 80 or so years suddenly become of extreme value.
Mike
Top Ten Reasons Singles Aren't Marrying
You forgot one -- not being pursued.
I'm a single woman at 30 because I have not been pursued and I refuse to do the pursuing. I know many other woman who are my age and have also not been pursued, despite being available, active in the church, accomplished, focused on home and family, and all the other stuff we're supposed to be doing.
I just read the latest "Sex and the Single Guy" and I have to say that that's the approach I've taken all along to casual male relationships (not letting them be surrogate relationships to the real thing) and sometimes I wonder if that's why I find myself, at 30, still single.
But then, ultimately it must also be the will of God. I told Him I would wait on Him. And I'm still waiting.
RTL
I feel like 80% of the posts on this blog and your site lately have been about telling Christian singles (usually guys) that it's a good thing to be married, and to stop procrastinating, to stop coming up with excuses, to lower expectations (that is, don't keep looking for "the one"), and just get married!
The thing is, I, and probably most of the Christian guys I know, don't need this convincing. We all want marriage! We have for a while. But for a variety of reasons, it's not happening. For me, I just haven't met and gotten to know a Christian woman where we've both wanted a relationship with each other. As simple as that. But some of my guy friends are in relationships with Christian women, and it's been their girlfriend's hesitation towards commitment that's been the issue, not the other way around, as many of the posts on your site seem to indicate.
I guess I'd just appreciate a little more sensitivity towards the guys that do want marriage, but just haven't found a relationship yet, and those that want marriage, but who are waiting and earnestly seeking guidance from God about their girlfriend's lack of readiness. We don't need convincing. And a little more advice on how to find and get to know women before one can even initiate a relationship wouldn't hurt.
David
I find it very interesting reading this list of reasons why people delay marriage ... mainly because so many of them were reasons I have used at one point or another in my life. Growing up in a divorce-torn home left me ripe for the picking when it came to the devil's lies about marriage. Fortunately in the past two years I have been privileged enough to have mentors who went through Bondage Breaker with me and forced me to confront the lies about my inadequacy, fear, confusion, and skepticism about marriage and my past.
I would highly encourage others, male and female, to not simply "try harder" in this area of romantic relationships, but also look at the spiritual realm. After all, did God not create us spiritual beings? Why should we assume that this area of life is not affected by the spiritual realm.
I'm happy to say at this point that I am engaged to a lovely woman who shares my passion for God and cross-cultural missions. And hey, if God can take an insecure boy with no concept of what it is to be a man and turn him into someone willing and eager to tackle the challenges of marriage, then He can do that for anyone!
Jonathan
I think I would add, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" There is a reason why that quip has endured.
1. Jessica said the following at 9:16 PM on Mar 3:
Passive men, perhaps? I'm sorry, but in fundamental Baptist circles, their teachings on marriage are a little off-the-wall. The reason why is because there's so much talk that "God ordained marriage," and "marriage is God's design," but yet try telling that to a young single male who hasn't had any real guidance from these leaders in the church, about how to pursue marriage?!....hmm..I think I'm hitting the nail on the head here. I honestly think that God is going to hold certain young men who are called to the mission field, and who know that they were to pursue finding a wife, but didn't, accountable. There's going to be a lot of reckoning with God with some people of the opposite gender who didn't strike while the iron was hot, and as a result, a young godly woman who had dreams of being a wife and serving her husband, has their hopes dashed, and a whole NATION will be on its way to hell, because a certain man didn't do his job of hunting down his wife. I feel sorry for those men, really. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes right now. If people die and go to hell, and a young woman will go on never having fulfilled God's purpose for her life, it'll be the man's fault. That's the hard, frank truth. I am a truth-telling woman.