graeme
The Bible and the emergence of common sense
Posted on: 10/10/2008 08:40
The Archbishop of Canterbury recently published an article (in The Economist, I think), in which he compared those who had faith in the free market to solve all economic ills - as well as those of other ideologies - to idolators.
His reasoning is that an idol like the golden calf is the creation of man, and the great error is to ascribe god-like qualities to anything man made. It is an error because anything that man makes is not perfect and will, therefore, eventually fail you.
In other words, thou shalt have no other gods before Me is not an arbitrary order coming from an old dude with a beard up in the sky. It is a very practical warning against humn folly.
Indeed, that is true of all of the ten commandments. There is nothing arbitrary about them because civilization and survival itself are not possible without them.
We should not think of The Bible simply as commands in a vacuum. Far more than that, it reapresents the highest development of our common sense, and as one goes through it one sees an evolution of that common sense to the principles outlined by Jesus.
Our success in building national societies owes everything to our application of those basic commands within our nations- and that is true of non-Christian nations which have very similar legal structures.
Our failure, notably in international affairs, has been our denial of all those principles.
I sometimes think we overdo the command aspect of The Bible to the neglect of the common sense aspect.
graeme
Comments
graeme
Posted on: 10/10/2008 08:40
any bumpy thoughts on this?
graeme
4chun8
Posted on: 10/10/2008 08:49
graeme, in one of your other discussion groups, you take about teaching youth about the church and world - is the above the way you draw them into discussion? How does your church community live "church in the world?"
revjohn
Posted on: 10/10/2008 09:07
Hi Graeme,
I agree with you.
On one level it is a simplistic response along the lines of, "God said it, I believe it, that settles it."
Which is mighty lean on interpretation. Why does God say it? What does God want for us in it? What does it reveal of God and God's character?
We are called not only to be hearers of the Word but doers of the Word also. I believe that calls for a deeper engagement that skimming the surface.
Grace and peace to you.
John
graeme
Posted on: 10/10/2008 09:20
drawing them into discussion is one objective, but it's still in its very early stages. They aren't used to discussion, and most have the attention span of a gnat. But that's the way I'm working on it.
I'm not really in a position to answer how our church community deals with this in a practical way. For most, of course, church is an hour on Sunday. They value it. But most integration occurs at a personal level There is, of course, a weekly Bible study session, a time for missions in the service, and i have begun a current events group which tries to look at world events in a Christian context.
I'd like to see a teen group and young adults. Not sure how to start it because we're lean on both types. I remember my own YPU days in Montreal (at Erskine-American) with fondness.
graeme
killer_rabbit79
Posted on: 10/10/2008 19:35
Makes sense. You can see in our society and (especially) American society the negative effects that coveting can have on a culture if coveting is not only socially accepted, but encouraged.