Week Ten: Final Choices
This was the final week of this ten-week focus group. It's really been a pleasure working through this series with this neat group of people, so much so that this group is going to continue as an ongoing cyclical focus group. I'll get back to that in a moment.
Schaeffer addressed the future (our present, in many ways) in this installment. He looked at the inevitable product of humanistic thinking--authoritarianism. Insightfully, he steered us away from viewing authoritarianism strictly in terms of dictatorships and suggested that authoritarianism is getting a foothold incrementally in the Western world. People continue to want personal peace and affluence and are often willing to give up freedoms to assure that they have them. While some people suggest that the Patriot Act is such a compromise (and it is in many ways), I suggested that this creeping incrementalism can be seen more subtly in the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act and similar legislation. These appear on the surface to "get the money out of politics" but in reality are efforts designed to keep incumbents in office and restrict the 1st Amendment rights of dissenters.
The solution to this problem? People turning and returning to Christ and biblical teachings. Christians do not have to be in the majority to have an impact on the consensus. Particularly in an age when apathy seems to rule, those willing to speak and act out of a vibrant Christian faith will have a disproportionate impact on society, not only because of their contrast to the status quo but because God is working in them and through them.
May we have the courage to be such people.
Though this group was only a ten-week commitment, I believe we've discovered a unique niche. I've enjoyed the discussions as much as the book and video, and think that something very good and edifying has been born here. As a result, what was started as a short-term group is going long-term. In January, those who wish to continue, and those who wish to join us, will be kicking off the Dead Theologians Society, Lakeview Edition. This group will be working through the works of dead theologians (truth in advertising!). We will read a book, a chapter or selection at a time, and come together to discuss it. This blog will be exchanged for a new one: dtslakeview.blogspot.com It is bare at the moment but details will be posted in the coming weeks, both on the blog and in the bulletin (possibly) and small group catalog.
Schaeffer addressed the future (our present, in many ways) in this installment. He looked at the inevitable product of humanistic thinking--authoritarianism. Insightfully, he steered us away from viewing authoritarianism strictly in terms of dictatorships and suggested that authoritarianism is getting a foothold incrementally in the Western world. People continue to want personal peace and affluence and are often willing to give up freedoms to assure that they have them. While some people suggest that the Patriot Act is such a compromise (and it is in many ways), I suggested that this creeping incrementalism can be seen more subtly in the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act and similar legislation. These appear on the surface to "get the money out of politics" but in reality are efforts designed to keep incumbents in office and restrict the 1st Amendment rights of dissenters.
The solution to this problem? People turning and returning to Christ and biblical teachings. Christians do not have to be in the majority to have an impact on the consensus. Particularly in an age when apathy seems to rule, those willing to speak and act out of a vibrant Christian faith will have a disproportionate impact on society, not only because of their contrast to the status quo but because God is working in them and through them.
May we have the courage to be such people.
Though this group was only a ten-week commitment, I believe we've discovered a unique niche. I've enjoyed the discussions as much as the book and video, and think that something very good and edifying has been born here. As a result, what was started as a short-term group is going long-term. In January, those who wish to continue, and those who wish to join us, will be kicking off the Dead Theologians Society, Lakeview Edition. This group will be working through the works of dead theologians (truth in advertising!). We will read a book, a chapter or selection at a time, and come together to discuss it. This blog will be exchanged for a new one: dtslakeview.blogspot.com It is bare at the moment but details will be posted in the coming weeks, both on the blog and in the bulletin (possibly) and small group catalog.
posted by Nate at 9:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home