tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208218375684269596.post1382544612348839187..comments2020-04-02T13:36:26.560-07:00Comments on Falling With Style: The Cultural pendulum of puritySteve Allistonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11182927730748229373noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208218375684269596.post-4923066968039731562012-11-30T01:30:15.319-08:002012-11-30T01:30:15.319-08:00Great article, food for thought! I think your mot...Great article, food for thought! I think your motif of "plundering Egypt" is powerful for two reasons. Firstly, Israel were given great freedom in plundering. There are pointers towards the true purpose of this in Revelation 21:24 "...the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into [the New Jerusalem]." I think this shows that not only can we be redemptive, but we are expected to be redemptive for God's glory. The harvest of God's Kingdom is not just souls saved but also all the fruits of righteousness that have filled the Earth through God’s blessings, particularly through Christ and the Kingdom of God. His blessings have increasingly affected people and as a result even secular culture is full of his glory, in the same way that Egypt was full of gold. I think a failure to claim these things for God's glory is an abdication of the Church's duty and allows God’s enemies to wrongly claim the treasures of Christ as their own. The flourishing of righteousness as a fruit of the Kingdom enables us to be more optimistic than Tertullian or Origen were about the purpose and priority of a redemptive approach.<br />I think the second thing is that the building of the golden calf was an obvious, avoidable, rebellious act of idolatry. God, and Moses, expected the people to have known better and they held them accountable for their actions. There is a parallel in 1 Corinthians 10 of Paul calling for this discernment from one of his church plants. I think that if we have clarity in defining the Gospel and its purpose, as in the Early Church, then discernment is easy and relevance and connectivity should be fruitful rather than dangerous. I think where the Church has fallen short of this in the past is in its understanding of the purpose of the gospel. If it is just to save people from judgement then whatever gets people to make a decision for Christ is legitimate. If however the purpose of the gospel is not only salvation eternally but “to call people… to the obedience that comes from faith” (Roman 1:5) then our approach has to uphold that obedience, the holiness and righteousness of God’s covenant people. Additionally, just as righteousness has flourished in the world since Christ, so also has wickedness. With these things in mind I think what is redeemable about our culture is probably more restricted than some would like to suggest.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com