“We shouldn’t be shocked when non-Christians find Christian virtues out of date, incomprehensible or just plain hateful………But we also shouldn’t be surprised when the ‘natural’ world’s aversion to godliness starts to have an effect on Christians as well. We find it very easy to be influenced by the world’s way of thinking”
“Some of the things the Bible regards as good and praiseworthy we begin to find a little daggy and distasteful.”
This is a real problem for most Christians I know. Notions of piety and dignity are considered soooo un-hip, man, usually being tarred by the assumption that they are just self-righteousness going by different names. In years of regular home group (bible study) meetings, I have found that this is very often at the core of people’s difficulty in being publicly open about their faith - not that they will encounter hostility, rather that everything about it will just be seen as daggy. And there’s nothing worse than people thinking you’re a dag! (heck, let’s embrace it! go out and sandal-sock with pride!)
But I am as guilty of this as anyone, probably more so, and admittedly it is a large part of the reason this blog has had so little Christian content for so long.
Payne’s comments on flippancy are even more challenging.
*sulkily shakes fist at Tony Payne*