There’s a lot to be said for living in a bubble.
For the first 14 years of my life I was safely cocooned from some of the harsher realities of life by an introvert nature, parents who were not that outgoing anyway, and a lifestyle centred on church attendance which in itself warned against the perils of the outside world. Bad stuff lurked out there, best be safe in the sanctuary.
Now of course I went out there – I went to the chip shop, I went to the corner shop, I went to a friend’s house and I even went to the library. That’s how wild and reckless I was back in the day. Yet even that was very sheltered. I’d been given a script as to how to conduct myself and stuck to it. I remember the first time proper I went to the cinema on a Summer Youth Camp – it was a daunting thrill because that was as bad as entering the devil’s domain as far as I knew at the time. Of course once the devil’s grip got a hold of me, I found myself going to the cinema more often. Even in recent times I have entered its realms to view a film that no one would have a problem with me watching in the comfort of my own home.
Point is – there’s a lot to be said about living in a bubble. Such shielding away from the world and what was in it, left me with a definition for what was out there based on people who rarely if ever frequented there. I developed a picture of it, that turned out not to be in tune with the reality. Don’t get me wrong there is plenty wrong with what’s going on in the world, but that that isn’t predominantly about the dens of iniquity like bars. pubs, nightclubs and of course cinemas. This has a lot more to do with attitude, mentality and worldviews.
It seems as if Christianity is destined to always be debating about something which comes down to which side of the balance things are assessed by when it comes to the world. Whether it’s about grace or the truth. Rarely is it an approach that honours both. Those who veer towards grace are often accused of taking things too far and condoning sin or worse still actively promoting it on the pretext that God loves the sinner and will deal with the sin in the sea of forgetfulness.
Those who veer towards truth are often accused of being far too legalistic in its application and as a result are more concerned about doing things by the book, than they are by doing things by the Spirit.
These perspectives are often based on a narrow worldview and a selective reading of scripture to support the preferred position. What is sad about it is the Jesus, the one that we appeal to in our debate, embodied both grace and truth and evidently showed that it was about forgiveness and restoration, whilst supporting someone towards making that decision in the first place.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 