Discerning Changeable Culutral Traditions from Unwavering Scriptural Teachings - Hymns Once Again

I'm happy to be part of the Churches of Christ/Christian Churches.  Our origin, like many of the great church movements, centered around getting back to Scripture.  Where would we be if great people of faith like John Wesley, Martin Luther, and the people in our own movement like Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone did not emphasize being faithful to Scripture and relevant to the culture over adhering to the traditions of the church.  

Yet all of these movements became ensnared by traditions once the God-inspired reformers left.  Each man-made tradition eventually quenched the Spirit and caused the church to falter until another reformer came along and once again threw away all tradition to present the Gospel in a culturally relevant way.  The honest truth is that the great reformers used culturally relevant ways to communicate the Good News.  Those who came after those reformers often confused the call to get back to the Bible with the culturally relevant methods the reformers used.  They would cling to the methods rather than the Spirit that inspired those methods.  We, as ambassadors of the Good News, need to be great students of the Bible, sensitive to the Spirit, and discern the difference between cultural traditions that can change and teachings of Scripture that are unwavering.

One of the more obvious and easier to point out traditions in the current church are hymns.  There is no biblical mandate about singing songs, some of which were rewritten bar songs, that were written in the 1800s or early 1900s.  These were not written during the time of Christ and they are not the hymns referred to in Ephesians 5:18b-19.  "Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart" Eph 5:18-19 (ESV).

The words of many of the hymns are beautiful, inspiring, and are worth singing, but a church is not right or wrong with God because they sing hymns.  Some modern songs have just as great words, and I'm sadly sure there will be people arguing to sing them in fifty years. If a church could be more relevant to the culture around them by using a music style that is the language of the people, then they should do that whether that music style is their personal preference or not.  Because when it comes down to it, we should be willing to discard any tradition that is not based on Scripture if it will help us be more effective ambassadors of God's kingdom.  Clinging to traditions that we like at the cost of alienating those outside of the church is exactly what all of the great reformers rebelled against.

Martin Luther was a great reformer because he fought for the language of the Bible and the gathering of believers to be in the language of the people.  He considered it folly that the church attempted to instruct the masses in a language that they did not understand.  There was nothing productive that would come from people participating in the empty ritual of listening to a message they could not understand and connect with.

The same is true with the style of music.  An outdated style can be as great of a "language barrier" as a foreign language.  If the church is not using a style that can be found on the non-Christian radio dial, then what cultural barrier do we expect a seeker to crash through before connecting with God through music.  I remember being a seeker in a worship service and being touched by God during the culturally relevant worship service, music that really is no longer culturally relevant.  I would be wrong to say that those songs that touched my heart should be the ones we use today because they should still be able to touch hearts just the same.  The purpose of worship in church is to instruct and bring people into the presence of God.  Those missions are hampered if the music is not culturally relevant.

We are not in the kingdom of God to please ourselves.  It is all about God, bringing about his will, and bringing people to Him.  If there is any obstacle to the Gospel, let it not be some tradition that we enjoy.  Let us make sure that it is Jesus' radical demands on people's lives and never allow any tradition to get between that message of Jesus and the seeker.  The traditions we personally enjoy should be quickly and lovingly tossed aside when necessary for the greater good of the kingdom.

Lyrics to my favorite Christmas Song - Ska La-La-La-La's Snowball Fight

Snowball Fight by Ska la-La-La-La
Well I’m walking in a winter wonderland
With a cold one in my hand
Yeah, I want to be a blessing to someone
God’s given me a gift
Like Nolan Ryan if you get my drift
Today the youth group wants to have some fun

The other sides slow like Eeyore
But I’m bouncing around like Tigger
You’ve got to pick your hiding place
And I wish this tree was a little bit bigger

[chorus]
Now I know
Why God made snow
1-2-3 Let’s Go
It’s a snowball fight
Snowball fight
Snowball fight
Snowball fight

Well I don’t want to miss the mark
But I just hit some bark
It was enough to scare Roberta have to death
If you look behind that shrub
Boy there going to need some deep heating rub
And I know they’re back there
I can see their breath

Now if I hit you in the face
Well I mean it all in love
Cold, white flakes of fun
Sent down from above

[chorus]

Though your sin may be red as scarlet
It will be made white as snow

Tis the season
To lose all inhibition
At Christmas time I just praise the Lord
And pass the ammunition

[chorus]
Now I know
Why God made snow
Now I know
Why God made snow
Now I know (yeah!)
Why God made snow
1-2-3 Let’s Go
It’s a snowball fight
Snowball fight
Snowball fight
Snowball fight

Snowball fight
Snowball fight (hit it!)
Snowball fight (This is going to hurt you)
Snowball fight (more than it is going to hurt me)
Snowball fight
Snowball fight (alley oop)
Snowball fight (Woo! – Launching missile number two)

Creating a Jesus State - On Christian Exodus

I've been trying to avoid being contentious, but I can't.

The other day when I brought up Christian Exodus, Crystal replied in a follow-up post saying, “Now concerning a Christian Nation, the logistics will shoot that idea down quicker than anything else. Land, roads, taxation, etc etc.” Although she went further, she wasn’t alone in this reply. I also talked to Josh Kissling and he brought up the same thing in my store.

What should be our proper response has been plaguing my heart ever since. I didn’t want to bring my conclusion up because I don’t want to cause strife and I like both Crystal and Josh, but I have to get it off my chest or I will go crazy.

When the topic of Christian Exodus comes up, the thought that it isn’t possible should be the least of our concerns. If God is calling people to it, then whether it is possible doesn’t really matter. Should we be the type of Christians that worry about whether that which God has called us to is possible? Or are we to be the type of Christians that follow God’s calling no matter how irrational or illogical it may seem? I think it was very irrational for Jesus to die on a cross to save the world. Hosea could have been saying, “Lord, it is not logical for me to marry a prostitute.” Abraham could have told God, “This is where my family is and where I am supposed to be. That is completely irrational that you would want me to leave this land I was born in and go to this so-called ‘Promised Land’.” But it is in the things that are irrational or illogical that God turns the ways of the world upside down.

The first and most important thing is whether Christian Exodus contradicts Scripture. That one I am not sure on. If it contradicts Scripture, I would love to see verses. But we cannot say that just because the Bible doesn't give directions on how to do government means that God doesn't have a plan for it. We are given the Spirit to help us work through things the Bible doesn't directly address.

The second thing we can look at is church history. The modern church seems to be oblivious to the past. But in order to understand if this is something God calls Christians to, we can look at the past. Because if he called people to it once, then it is something he can call people to again. Was John Calvin called of God when he tried to create a theocracy in Geneva? Do we think God called the Mayflower over here to start a Christian colony? Many of the American colonies were started due to people being “called” by God to sail across the ocean and start governments that would be focused upon doing the will of God. They had to leave behind their present environments where they could’ve been more effective personal witnesses of Christ, but, apparently, they were called onto a different path because God had bigger plans in the works than just the one or two individuals they would win to the Lord through personal relationships. God is always trying to redeem the whole world. He always is looking at the big picture which we sometimes have trouble seeing.

Now this leads to the heart of the matter of Christian Exodus. I believe God is in the process of not only redeeming individuals but of also redeeming societies, which would include governments. The question that is important, and that we should tackle, is whether God would call anyone to leave their environment, go to another place, and change a corrupted government into a government that is focused - although they will fail - on following God. They key thing is that they would be striving to be what God wants them to be.

The American government is not Christian. It might have resemblances of Christianity, but it is failing on many levels. It is not striving to be what God wants it to be, and I do think a government can try to be what God wants it to be. However, I do not know what the proper response of this is. I am not a total supporter of the Christian Exodus, but I am not a naysayer yet. I actually haven’t heard a solid reason to be a naysayer. The most convincing argument is being a witness to those around you, but history has shown God's call away from that in the past. All of the people against Christian Exodus act like it is obvious to be against it and don’t explain why it is obvious. I am having trouble understanding how it is obvious when I look at this in the context of history. God wants to redeem the whole world. Would Christian Exodus somehow prevent God from waking people up or might it be the alarm clock the world has been waiting for?

Maybe I'm wrong. Please let me know where I am, so that we all can grow.

And watch out for the potholes.