That’s the way we learned it
Arthur at “the voice of one crying out in suburbia” makes a good point in his post “Yeah but.” No, many times we don’t want to know what Scripture teaches. And, when we do know, it’s much more comfortable to conform Scripture to match our lives (through various hermeneutical tricks) than to conform our lives to Scripture.
It wasn’t long ago that I couldn’t imagine church without steeples, hymnals, staff, pews (or chairs in rows), Sunday School, children’s programs, men’s ministry, women’s ministry, tithes and offerings, dress clothes, pulpits, preachers, Youth groups, revivals, search committees, choirs, little plastic cups and little pieces of bread, discipleship programs, evangelism programs, etc.
Why? Because that’s the way I learned it. Scripture was always taught in light of what we did, not the other way around.
Plus, we were quite comfortable with the way things were, and it worked.
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Your right. The church today is neither biblical nor traditional but rather cultural. We do things the way we do things not because that is the way things have “always” been done but because that is the way things are being done all around us in the most recent stages of Christian history.
And, sadly, thanks to new technology, Christians have perfected George Orwell’s 1984 big brother effect so that many people are afraid to even think about doing things differently.
Fortunately, a few renegades have ventured outside the box with enough affect to make everyone think.
“…little plastic cups…”
We got goblets for communion now? When did the church splurge on that? Can we put grape juice in your list of things that you used to not be able imagine a church without?
=)
EnnisP,
I think most people would be surprised if they learned that most of the things they learned about the church have only been around for a generation or two.
Jonathan (Talloaf),
I’m all for dropping the little cups. As for grape juice… now you’re crossing the line. Where would the church be without Welch’s? 😉
-Alan