Steven Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill write: "If the basic paradigm is flawed or incomplete, no amount of effective application or implementation is going to bring optimum results." (First Things First Everyday, p. 363). This is a major possibility with regard to Christian teaching, if in fact holy does mean whole rather than set apart.
Holy is so fundamental as a character trait that it is the A1 on the list of character priorities. It is also the only character trait that is substituted for God's name of Yahweh. It is part of Yahweh's basic character, which then also implies it must be part of Jesus' as well, since his name literally means "Yahweh saves". It is also part of the third person of the Trinity's designation as "Holy Spirit." There is no other moral term that equals it in importance, unless you also include its forgiving sequel of "Steadfast Kindness".
What I find that many people don't seem to understand, like Covey, Merrill, and Merrill do seem to understand, is that increasing our capacity of application or implementation does not remedy the problem of an overall decline in church goers in the United States. Many churches that I have visited and many especially among church planters see the key church growth to be in application or implementation, when in fact the basic paradigm might be flawed.
If holy does not mean "set apart", then that will be the case. This could explain the meager overall results from megachurches, when you look at the whole picture in the United States. They have increased their own numbers in the their limited convtext, but they have not changed the overall picture of the decline in church numbers in the United States nor in the larger Western world.
The question must be asked: Could this be because the basic paradigm for God's character is flawed or incomplete? Could this then explain how such a massive and well-intentioned effort on the part of many church planters has made such a meager impact on the larger picture? Can we face such questions? To face it will required courage over timidtiy.
In Christ,
Pastor Jon
Showing posts with label assemble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assemble. Show all posts
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Whole Means Healthy so Stop the Opposite
Sometimes Christians behave badly unknowingly. There is a lot on the line when I say that holy means either whole or set apart. They point in diametrically opposed directions for action.
Let me illustrate. This morning on my cutting board, I began with a whole carrot. Because I want to eat the carrot with greater ease later today, I quartered the carrot. In the one case, I was dealing with a whole carrot. In the other case, following my action of cutting the carrot, I was dealing with a carrot that was quartered rather than whole. This is how stark the contrast is between these two ideas, when it comes to taking or choosing a course of action.
The root idea of set apart comes from the action of cutting. The root idea of wholeness is reflected in the opposite action of the leaving the carrot whole. It is seen in the action of uncut. One biblical scholar even uses the analogy of an uncut stone in Deuteronomy to express wholeness.
Allow me to mention one piece of history to reflect how much your course of action can effect others. Then I will return to the present and your decisions.
One very important event in the history of the church in the late 1800s was set off by a course of action that may have been effected by understanding holy as set apart. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a great British preacher, left the Baptist Union over what he called the Downgrade. This whole episode became known as the Downgrade Controversy. What is important is that one of his themes was from the verse that says: "come out from among them and be ye separate" (KJV). Now while this verse does not have holy directly in it. You can see the likely connection that Spurgeon may have made in his mind, if he understood holy as set apart.
Spurgeon had said many times in his sermons that holy means moral wholeness. Yet he also said in other sermons that holy means separateness or being set apart . He also may have brought in the idea of purity in relationship to this word, because of his extensive reading of the English Puritans.
I have a strong sense that when push came to shove for Spurgeon, he made his decision to leave the Baptist Union partly because of his understanding of holiness as separation or being set apart. It was not uncommon from the time of Martin Luther until his day for Christians to recognize both of these meanings for this word.
His action was not just his own. He influenced an entire movement and gave energy at least indirectly to the fundamentalist movement later. Could his course of action been different, if he understood holy as only moral wholeness? It is possible.
Our courses of action will be different, if we understand holy as meaning either as cut or uncut. Holy is a major word for giving us lifestyle instructions in the Bible. It is even on many of its published bindings. It influences courses of action.
I pray that we have not behaved badly as Christians, because we have misunderstood this word. I fear that I did for many years behave badly, because I misunderstood it. I grew up with only the meaning of set apart. I may then have behaved even more extremely than Spurgeon.
I pray that you will be cautious in deciding whether to cut the carrots apart in your life. You may find the strong possibility that you should have left the carrot whole. That could be a little hard to swallow later. As one person puts it, "Be prudent ... when dealing with the unknown or the unpredictable."
Spurgeon did not have some of the scholarly resources we have today to influence his understanding of holy. We do have them. We will be held responsible for our course of action in a way that he was not. We will be judged more harshly, if we choose the wrong course of action.
Please show due caution in cutting yourself off from others. Remember, you could be taking precisely the opposite course of action to what God would have you do.
In Christ,
Jon
Let me illustrate. This morning on my cutting board, I began with a whole carrot. Because I want to eat the carrot with greater ease later today, I quartered the carrot. In the one case, I was dealing with a whole carrot. In the other case, following my action of cutting the carrot, I was dealing with a carrot that was quartered rather than whole. This is how stark the contrast is between these two ideas, when it comes to taking or choosing a course of action.
The root idea of set apart comes from the action of cutting. The root idea of wholeness is reflected in the opposite action of the leaving the carrot whole. It is seen in the action of uncut. One biblical scholar even uses the analogy of an uncut stone in Deuteronomy to express wholeness.
Allow me to mention one piece of history to reflect how much your course of action can effect others. Then I will return to the present and your decisions.
One very important event in the history of the church in the late 1800s was set off by a course of action that may have been effected by understanding holy as set apart. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a great British preacher, left the Baptist Union over what he called the Downgrade. This whole episode became known as the Downgrade Controversy. What is important is that one of his themes was from the verse that says: "come out from among them and be ye separate" (KJV). Now while this verse does not have holy directly in it. You can see the likely connection that Spurgeon may have made in his mind, if he understood holy as set apart.
Spurgeon had said many times in his sermons that holy means moral wholeness. Yet he also said in other sermons that holy means separateness or being set apart . He also may have brought in the idea of purity in relationship to this word, because of his extensive reading of the English Puritans.
I have a strong sense that when push came to shove for Spurgeon, he made his decision to leave the Baptist Union partly because of his understanding of holiness as separation or being set apart. It was not uncommon from the time of Martin Luther until his day for Christians to recognize both of these meanings for this word.
His action was not just his own. He influenced an entire movement and gave energy at least indirectly to the fundamentalist movement later. Could his course of action been different, if he understood holy as only moral wholeness? It is possible.
Our courses of action will be different, if we understand holy as meaning either as cut or uncut. Holy is a major word for giving us lifestyle instructions in the Bible. It is even on many of its published bindings. It influences courses of action.
I pray that we have not behaved badly as Christians, because we have misunderstood this word. I fear that I did for many years behave badly, because I misunderstood it. I grew up with only the meaning of set apart. I may then have behaved even more extremely than Spurgeon.
I pray that you will be cautious in deciding whether to cut the carrots apart in your life. You may find the strong possibility that you should have left the carrot whole. That could be a little hard to swallow later. As one person puts it, "Be prudent ... when dealing with the unknown or the unpredictable."
Spurgeon did not have some of the scholarly resources we have today to influence his understanding of holy. We do have them. We will be held responsible for our course of action in a way that he was not. We will be judged more harshly, if we choose the wrong course of action.
Please show due caution in cutting yourself off from others. Remember, you could be taking precisely the opposite course of action to what God would have you do.
In Christ,
Jon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
