The New Testament is filled with commentaries on the Pharisees of the age. And, if you've been in the Church for awhile, you've probably heard the comparison of the old Pharisee to the modern "legalistic" Christian. Though, there is some truth to that comparison; the Pharisees, indeed, focused religiously on the law. However, the comparison, I believe, falls short in its expression of the realities of modern day Christianity. The modern day Pharisee is not the "legalistic" Christian, but, in fact, it is modern day Christianity as a whole.
Separation of the sacred and the profane has always been at the core of Christianity. And, I have no problems with that; it makes complete sense. But, it seems more and more that the modern Church has taken this separation to an extreme, and this extremity works to create a unique subculture that alienates all of those who do not belong.
This Christian subculture has developed into a seemingly hegemonic apparatus. With the rise of specialized products, such as Christian books, Christian music, Christian clothing, and so on, the gap between "Christians" and the "lost" begins to spread wider and wider apart. The advent of these subcultural artifacts has made it possible for Christians to never engage with the world outside of the "Christian" bubble. And, that, I feel, is what most modern "Christians" are stuck in.
The body gets so focused on the inward that it neglects the ones that are yenning for something much more than the secular can offer. The "Christian" community caters to itself with the production of inwardly focused products. It has been conditioned into us that once we decide to follow Jesus we must start listening to Christian music, reading Christian books, and attend Christian events. And, I refuse to accept that.
Jesus called us to go out. He did not call us to create an alienating subculture that neglects the ones who so desperately need Him. And, just like how the Pharisees in Jesus' time focused so much on themselves, the modern "Christian" so often neglects the lost due to their own inward focus.
1 comment:
The inward focus seems predicated on the fact that Christians need to have an active walk with God; filling one's life with Christian books, events, and music, etc., helps facilitate that. There's nothing wrong with that, but you're saying it becomes wrong when it creates ever-widening boundaries between Christians and nonChristians.
I'm curious about how the outward focus (the opposite) would look like in practice.
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