tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325145031187510736.post3120863360025486867..comments2023-10-15T03:59:53.104-07:00Comments on Empires and Mangers: Lapsing into ChaosAnthonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422741111661150588noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325145031187510736.post-50461724067028388802012-06-18T13:45:34.314-07:002012-06-18T13:45:34.314-07:00"One thing all Christian brands shared in the..."One thing all Christian brands shared in the several hundred years after Jesus life on earth was that they were not identified with political parties or ruling elites. And at that time it was the Christians who were undermining ancient assumptions, many of them of the sorts of evils that currently make the front page." Well said. <br /> Just to clarify: I did not mean to idealize the past. People are people, no matter what the culture or time in human history. The point I was attempting to make (perhaps unclearly) was that certain background ideals bring a general stabilization to the culture. This does not mean it makes the people awesome people, but if the ideal is a good one, it provides boundaries within which universal human behaviors are either curbed (if they are bad) or encouraged (if they are good). <br /> Did that clarify my point, or did that just make it worse? :)Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17422741111661150588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5325145031187510736.post-67158939353492711592012-06-14T06:00:24.651-07:002012-06-14T06:00:24.651-07:00But there is always a background behind the foregr...But there is always a background behind the foreground. And, of course, we can't see it when we are embedded in it. The collapse of aspects of the post WWII culture, which, itself, changed much from the pre WWI culture led to a cancer of anti-communism and civil repression which infected the church. That the sixties would erode religious values as well as social morays should, then, be no surprise. The church was identified with the establishment and the two stood hand in hand against change. When the church detaches itself from the prevailing culture (and gets out of politics), Jesus may again come to the foreground as more than a Deified mask on the face of the Conservative Established powers, but, rather as the face of God, then the Church might return to its grounding (background) as it had been in the early years. <br /><br />In those years it was highly diverse. But one thing all Christian brands shared in the several hundred years after Jesus life on earth was that they were not identified with political parties or ruling elites. And at that time it was the Christians who were undermining ancient assumptions, many of them of the sorts of evils that currently make the front page (remember Ruden's book on Paul?).<br /><br />I do not disagree with your pessimism about this culture's future. I do disagree with what seems like an idealization of it's past. As someone who works with seniors, I can tell you that the Church attendance you speak of was often not a reflection of a deep devotion to Christ. The marital commitments were not as often a reflection of fidelity as it seemed on the surface.<br /><br />Our civil religion is a poison that continues to flow in the veins of the established churches of all denominations. How civil religion has infected the three things you mention above is a discussion that is too long to mention at this point, but, rest assured, dissolving convention is not a threat to the sovereign rule of Christ.JLFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16160029560791897049noreply@blogger.com