Reflections at Christmas time

Christmas is going to become more and more important as the years go by, as the Emerging church gets more popular (Or is it dead? Sorry, just touching some nerves :P), and similar liberal view of Christian spirituality permeate our culture.
As things like the virgin birth get called into question, the deity of Christ, the authority of the Bible, the historicity of the Bible, Christmas will become a time where the two views, that of Biblical Christianity and of extreme liberal christianity, will need to ask again and again these questions.

While the whole world looks on.

It will become a time where we can speak of Christ the way the Bible speaks of Christ, and where we can share with those who think they know the Gospel the real truth and weight of what it means to believe in a humble Saviour, divine yet human, took sin for us yet exalted, gave us the gift of new life by faith yet deserves all our praise by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Christ, born The King of our lives.

Some helpful things I just read:
C. J. Mahaney looks at the disturbing nature of the Birth of Christ, and why it's important to see it this way here

Albert Mohler revisits why the virgin birth is important to Christian belief here

'Cultural relevance'.. or cultural snobbery?

Often this passage is used to justify a new expression of church, in the name of cultural relevance:

1 Corinthians 9:19-23
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

And it's a fair call, I myself subscribe to a modern church methodology. But are we at risk of becoming the new cultural snobs?
I can't help but think that hip music, no robes or rites, 'missional' language and preaching to the postmodern persuasion is alienating many from the Gospel.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Are we possibly becoming too much of a Gentile to the Gentiles at the expense of becoming a Jew to the Jews?

Wisdom and Youthful ambition

About the quote, bear with me. I felt it important to quote it before commenting (sorry there isn't the greatest context for the passage):

1 Timothy 4
"¹¹Command and teach these things. ¹²Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. ¹³Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. ¹⁴Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. ¹⁵Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. ¹⁶Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers."

I had a conversation with my friend today about churches that are falling by the wayside, and specifically she was talking about her Gran's church. She spoke of a young pastor who came into the church and set about changing everything. Many of the elder members of the congregation left, until it was just my friend's Gran remaining. And her only reason to stay was out of a sense of duty, in essence to be a reminder that the older members of the church needed to be pastored as well. The church community is suffering the loss badly.

And I had a think about that.
And I thought it was concerning and important to think about.
In my youthful ambition, I can have ideas, and they may be good ideas, but without proper spirit-filled wisdom, and bad timing, and most likely a feeling of self-importance, I can find myself hurting Christ's church.

Paul writes to Timothy to set an example to those that are older than he is, through the way he speaks, the way he acts, and the way he loves. But primarily, Paul reminds Timothy to preach the Gospel, and this example is what will come if he applies it (the gospel) to his own life too.

This passage is both an encouragement and a warning.
We may be young and passionate, and we shouldn't be held in contempt because of this, but we are also under the Gospel, the message we wish to preach, and it is just as relevant to us.
Let us be wise, with a wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit, to teach the word setting an example through our actions, and our attitudes.
If our heart is on the Gospel, I would suggest that it wouldn't result in the migration of the older generation.

The Christian/Atheist debate

I am becoming increasingly tired of the Christian/Atheist debate.
Below I made mention of the Dawkins-Lennox debate, but I'm not just thinking of that, I'm thinking closer to home.
Recently I have been having a few discussions with Atheists via facebook. Mainly I have been acting as an arbiter, or simply discussing the Bible on it's own terms. I'm not into the Philosophy, and neither am I qualified to answer. Plus it can be a little dry.

But all this makes me wonder.
Is Christianity engaging the Atheistic community helping, or is it increasing the problem?
Are we simply giving tools of rejection to those who might otherwise accept the Gospel?
It seems the more we defend, the more voices that become educated in atheistic thought and come against us.

I'm also finding that in discussion, when coming back to the Bible, so much more gets discussed and considered. I don't think I'll become an apologist. I just want to preach the Gospel man.

"he will simpy be remembered as wrong"

I was having a conversation with my Dad today, about the Dawkins-Lennox debate. (Thanks Jolly) My Dad and I have a lot of interesting discussions, as he is a self titled Christian evolutionist, as he's a background in extensive but incomplete education in most areas of tertiary science and medicine. (I don't feel that puts him in a box) And I'm a Creationist as far as the bible takes me into the scientific discussion. (Neither, I feel does this put me in a box) and we differ on things that are not Gospel issues.

My Dad has a lot of Dawkins' books, and as I spoke to my Dad today, he was telling me that it is apparent to him that Dawkins wants to be remembered as much as Darwin:

"But I feel he will simply be remembered as wrong,"
He went on, after a pause that is so Characteristic of my Dad's conversation style,
"not in the Christian/Darwinism debate, but purely in evolutionary science."

Losing freedom..

"Christianity's claim to being the truth takes away my freedom.. all truth is relative"

"Post-modernism's claim to relativism takes away my freedom.. to believe the Gospel"

Gospel according to..

Second hand information can be good.. but sometimes it's really helpful to get back to the source.

This has never been more true than with the Gospel.
In the big bad world of evangelism so many people have their own idea of the Gospel, and preach it daily..:

• "Jesus was just a man"
• "The Gospels of Mark, Mark 2.0 (Luke), Mark 2.1 (Matthew), and John are all literalist revisioning of a Pagan Mystery religion."
• "There was no literal Jesus."
• "The Good News is there's a sale on Mormon ties and hoodies"

In our present post-christian society (anyone got a technical term for this?), we have the challenge of preaching and ministering the Gospel to those who have already "heard it" today..
They'll accept anything as Gospel..


..without reading it themselves.

How can we be challenging the secular world to be opening the Bible before creating their own version of the Gospel?