Post Modern Reality III

            Is there anything wrong with Christianity’s theology or doctrines?  Is there anything wrong with systematic theology, eschatology, soteriology, ecclesiology, missiology, exegesis, and hermeneutics?  Is there anything wrong with inductive Bible studies and expositional preaching?  Do the aforementioned actually provide turnoffs for postmoderns to Christianity?  Absolutely not!  In my experience, many churchgoers are turned off by these stuffy, elusive, pedantic elements of digging into the Holy Scriptures. The majority of my non-Christian peers are turned of by Christian dogmas, hypocrisy, and social snobbery.

 

Dogma, by definition, is any belief or teaching that is trusted without rational argument.  To use the Chritianese, they are the things simply accepted by faith.  The turnoff is that these do not make sense to non-Christians and many Christians are unable to offer any explanation to demystify these dogmas.  Postmodernism adheres to the belief that religious truth makes sense, as do truths about the natural world.  Everything requires a sensible and well-thought explanation for everything.  “Because that’s the way it is,” and “You have to take it on faith,” just don’t fly with most Postmodern individuals.

 

Hypocrisy is a problem for all generations.  When the predominate sentiment is “Do as I say, not as I do,” or high and lofty morality is preached from the pulpit and no one, including the preacher, lives according to them, people are turned off.  A stereotype of hypocrisy surrounds the modern church.  Child molesting priests, gossips, backstabbing rumors, and the whole myriad of other sins that infest our churches ruin everything.

 

There is hope, however.  My definition of hypocrisy is: the continuous, intentional behavior that is contrary to the set of morals and values that one professes to adhere to.  The key is repentance and forgiveness.  When you intentionally act against your morals, it is repentance that will prove you innocent of the label of hypocrite.  As Christians, we must redeem ourselves by actively seeking forgiveness when we mess up and falter in our daily lives.  Our walk with Christ isn’t private, it’s very much public.

 

Finally, our churches are full of expectations and traditions that have turned Christians into social snobs.  Social snobbery deals with that which is and isn’t acceptable at church.  The predominate notion is that one must wear their Sunday best to church.  This causes people who don’t have a suit and tie, a pair of pants without holes or an ankle length skirt to feel sheepish and hesitant about going to church.  Because of snobbery, subcultures like Goths, who pine for the word of God, are made unwanted when they go to church and are alienated and given sermons about “Christian dress codes.”  How would your church respond if the local homeless shelter were to attend the Sunday morning service and the shelter’s Chaplin, as the guest preacher, shares a sermon on James 2:1-13?  We preach a “come as you are” gospel to all peoples, but we turn a blind eye to their true needs and turn away the masses who do not meet our self image of a Christian.

 

We have a massive hurdle to jump as Christians.  We must learn what we believe as Christians and why we believe those things so we might be prepared to give a defense for the hope in us (1 Peter 3:15).  We must actively engage the lost and hurting souls who surround us, sharing our lives and the Gospel with them.  Be complacent no longer.  Be not ashamed of the Gospel (Rom. 1:16-17).  Go forth and proclaim the Gospel in action and words to all peoples the Gospel of Christ.

BCM LAN Cram

Dec. 5, 2008, will be the first, ever BCM LAN party – LAN Cram 2008. The party will be from 4pm – 2am at LCCC in room TC120.  There will be a $2 cover charge for pizza, sodas & door prizes.We will be playing Counter Strike: source and Team Fortress 2.  If lucky, there may also be some RTS game play with Command and Conquer Generals.  Remeber, if you can’t make to this party, start training for the two LANs we hope to host Spring semester 2009.

Post Modern Reality II

Given last time’s simplistic, brief, nutshell history of postmodernism, why is the modern church surprised that its evangelistic efforts yield so little?

 

Christianity adheres to absolutism.  Christ is the only way to salvation.  The Bible is the only authority on God and living.  God’s laws apply to all humanity all the time.  Postmodernism believes in relative truth: What’s right for you isn’t right for me.  They often believe that it doesn’t matter what religion you are as long as it isn’t contrary to the inalienable human rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  To top it all off, the importance of relationships is an inhibiting factor.  The church’s evangelism and discipleship are institutionalized – learn and purge Bible instruction courses.  Postmodern society emphasizes an interpersonal learning model where the instructor actively demonstrates how he/she applies what they teach – a “don’t tell me, show me” mentality.  In brief, the church is an ideological bastion of everything that postmodernism is against.

 

So does this mean that Christianity is doomed to disappear into the underground until the next paradigm shift or spiritual revival?  For the love of all things holy, NO!  As previously quoted, “there is nothing new under the sun”.  That means that neither postmodernism nor traditional evangelism tactics are truly new or antiquated.  These two polar opposites have the same core essential value – relationships.

 

Christianity is and has always been all about relationships!  Christ spent time and developed close personal relationships with the twelve disciples.  He spent time with social outcasts – lepers, swindlers, and prostitutes.  The apostles labored over establishing relationships through out their ministries.  Throughout the centuries, humanity has sought out and formed communities.  Humans, with some exceptions, seek companionship, belonging and camaraderie.  Because of this, Christianity shall always have a “way in” to the lives and hearts of all generations.

 

There is, however, one pitfall and hurdle the church must avoid regarding relationships.  It lies in this anonymous quote:

            “Christianity with the Greatest Commandment and without the Great

Commission is Legalism.  Christianity with the Great Commission and with out the Greatest Commandment is a Social Club.”

 

            We must avoid being a social club and proclaiming a vain gospel.  If we proclaim the Gospel without a genuine concern for the people we are evangelizing to, we proclaim a vain gospel and present ourselves as hypocrites.  If we love our neighbor as ourselves but never take the Gospel beyond the four walls of the church building, we are committed to a social club and might as well post a sign on the sanctuary door that says, “Christians only, No sinners allowed.”

             We need to poke our heads out of our secluded “Christian counter culture” delusions and engage those who are condemned to eternity in Hell.  We need to stop the incessant bickering between evangelical protestant denominations over unessential theologies, dogmas, and doctrines and find out how we can work together for the glory of God.  We must get serious about the divine mission we have been given: to proclaim God’s redemption of His creation.

Post Modern Reality

            We are told that we have entered into a new era of Postmodernism where relationships are the keystone of everyday living, there is no truth except that which the individual has proven (either by experience or by convincing argument), and the prevailing moral is: do what you want as long as you don’t hurt anyone else.  We are sadly disillusioned.  Despite the truth and reality of the values of postmodernism, it is a movement that has been building and gaining speed for the past two centuries.

What we now term as the postmodern cultural climate of today, began with the Bohemians of the 1800s.  The Bohemian ideology was analyzed by the philosophers of the day.  Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and their contemporaries tilled the fertile fields of the human thought and planted the seeds of existentialism: God is dead; man is free of the need for deities.  By the end of the First World War, existentialism had germinated, sprouted and blossomed; and its fruits were harvested in the 1930s and 1940s.  However extreme the existentialists proved to be (Sartre, Dostoevsky, Kafka), there were more “down to earth” contemporaries (Hemingway, Joyce, and Faulkner) who simply explored the meanings of existence while painting pictures of everyday life.  The torch of questioning existence and truth was then passed on to the Beats – Ginsberg, Keruac, Burroughs – thinkers, writers and artists who were tired of war and civil strife.  In the end, our reality of postmodernism went from the Beats, to the Beatniks, to the Hippies, and finally to the children born in the wake of a society burned out on war and drugs.

When one looks at human history to see where we have been, it is evident that many things change, but many more things remain constant.  As Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.  So there is nothing new under the sun (NASB).”  There is nothing new about postmodernism and the modern church should not be surprised by it.

Fourth Annual Harvest Fest 2008

Fourth Annual Harvest Fest will be on October 31, 2008 at Laramie County Community College Student Lounge. The night will start at 6:00pm. Activities will include, various carnival games, cotton candy, free photos, a spooky hallway, costume contest, a cake walk, and lots of candy. Attendance is free.

The costume contest will start at 7:15pm with various age divisions. Prizes will be awarded to the winning costume.

Come join the fun in a safe and warm atmosphere.

Twitter Account Open

BCM now has a twitter account.  It will be used for reminders of group events.  Please join at http://www.twitter.com/BCMcheyenne.

Spiritual Discipline part I

I am a firm believer in a regimented lifestyle and am fed up with the complacency of American culture. In my holistic view of life, I find that the spiritual and secular actively and directly influence each other. When I begin to be lax and lazy in spending time in personal Bible study and prayer, my daily life in the work place and my friendships become muddled. My life feels as though I am walking in a haze and am caught in the mindless routine of sleep, eat, work, and sleep some more. I become a zombie. When I adhere to a disciplined life of maintaining my daily time alone with God, my mind is clear and focused. I feel as though I am truly alive. Discipline is a foundational element to a full and fruitful life. And that’s what Dallas Willard has to say about our walk with Christ in his book: The Spirit of Discipline: understanding how God changes lives.

The importance of spiritual disciplines is under emphasized in the modern American church. It has be nearly a full century since the last spiritual revival of Western believers. We are left with only small, sputtering flames rising up from our swiftly dieing coals of faith. The last visible tongue of flame was the short-lived Jesus Movement of the 1970’s. Five generations have passed since the “modern” era began, and our faith is no better for it. The lifestyle of true, absolute surrender to Christ is no longer a vital element of the definition of Christian living. To paraphrase Dallas Willard: we believe that dutifully carrying out that which Jesus Christ taught in the New Testament is the definition of being Christ-like; however, it is living like Christ lived, not just obeying His direct commands, that conforms us to His likeness.

Spiritual Disciplines are the exercises that grow and strengthen our faith. They are what give us the ability to “take every thought captive for Christ (2 Cor. 10:5)” and to “beat our bodies into submission (1 Cor. 9:26-27).” They are how we “cast aside every sin that entangles us” and “run the race set before us (Heb. 12:1-2).” Spiritual disciplines are vital to our walk of sanctification with Christ.

As I continue to read through this book, I will detail each of the disciplines that Dallas Willard addresses. To give a small preview, the disciplines are: prayer, solitude, bible study, fasting, scripture memory, and service. I am eager to share what Mr. Willard has to say and how I grow through my application of these disciplines (testimonies past and present to follow in the days to come).

SYATP 2008

Three guys gathered around the LCCC North Flagpole at 8am September 24.  They prayed for various things including the college, upcoming election, military, and other relavent things.

See You At The Pole is a national morning of prayer at schools.  It has been going on since 1996.

Benefit Concert Pictures

Lots of pictures from the Concert are avalible at flikr and bcmcheyenne.org

Students Raise Money for Hurricane Relief

The Hurricane Benefit Concert on September 20, 2008 raised $245.12 for the Salvation Army and Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Fund. The evening was highlighted by the performances by Sons of Day, Everfound, and Paper Rings. Everyone enjoyed partaking in various carnival games, playing on an inflatable bounce house, and eating free food. Approximately seventy people attended.

The moneys raised will go to help disaster relief efforts of the Salvation Army and Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Fund. Uses include providing meals, shelter, personal hygiene, and rebuilding costs.

Even though the goal of $1000 was not reached, both organizations were grateful for the donation.

The Benefit Concert was sponsored by Baptist Collegiate Ministry. The event was helped by Health Education and Resource Team, Rotaract, and Across All Lines, each are Recognized Student Organizations at Laramie County Community College. In addition were The Vineyard Church, Frontier Baptist Church, Warehouse Community Church and Salvation Army.

During the event Alvin Trusty, pastor of Frontier Baptist Church, spend time sharing Christ. Band members from each band shared how Jesus made a difference in their life. Vineyard Church of Cheyenne provided free bottles of water to people there. Finally, BCM was able to build relationships with three other campus organizations. These relationships will continue to build as each takes turns hosting various events and spend time talking during down times.

NAMB funding was used to help pay for the band and rental of equipment.

Baptist Collegiate Ministry is a Recognized Student Organization at Laramie County Community College. For the past four years, it has provided a variety of opportunities for college students to explore their faith. To learn more about them visit BCMcheyenne.org.