Friday, September 12, 2003
In many parts of the world, "cultural Christianity" is dead or dying. You now can't expect the customs and traditions of your society carry you along to make sure you do things like get baptised, get confirmed, go to confession, or avoid the occasion for sin.
Now you have to be committed. In the West, in the US and from what I hear, in western Europe, in Canada, we are in situations growing more and more similar to what it was like in the early days of the church, a time where the church finds itself in a non-Christian culture, where there are cultural constraints growing about living the Christian lifestyle.
Being a Christian now takes many definite choices. It often means not doing what most people do. I avoid many movies, TV, some books and magazines, mostly because they are anti-Christian and/or reflect the acceptance of a morality that doesn't agree with my Christian beliefs. I had to give these up to be honest to my faith.
I don't listen to a lot of popular music, including music that I used to enjoy, because I see the lyrics as again reflecting a morality that doesn't agree with my beliefs, and I don't want these things affecting my walk with God.
It touches many aspects of life: what type of work is proper, what type of person do I vote for, what to I teach my children, what clothes do I choose?
At the center of all these decisions has to be Christ.
A Catholic bishop in the US recently pointed out we are living in a time where the popular culture is at war with the Christian lifestyle. Looking about at so many things in this country, I realize how much that is true.
Now it is time for us to know our choices. Being for Christ now is a commitment that is like swimming upstream, against the common flow (it always has been, but now it is much more noticable!) Every one of us is called to be witnesses to the truth of Christ, and now those witnesses become more and more important.
Now you have to be committed. In the West, in the US and from what I hear, in western Europe, in Canada, we are in situations growing more and more similar to what it was like in the early days of the church, a time where the church finds itself in a non-Christian culture, where there are cultural constraints growing about living the Christian lifestyle.
Being a Christian now takes many definite choices. It often means not doing what most people do. I avoid many movies, TV, some books and magazines, mostly because they are anti-Christian and/or reflect the acceptance of a morality that doesn't agree with my Christian beliefs. I had to give these up to be honest to my faith.
I don't listen to a lot of popular music, including music that I used to enjoy, because I see the lyrics as again reflecting a morality that doesn't agree with my beliefs, and I don't want these things affecting my walk with God.
It touches many aspects of life: what type of work is proper, what type of person do I vote for, what to I teach my children, what clothes do I choose?
At the center of all these decisions has to be Christ.
A Catholic bishop in the US recently pointed out we are living in a time where the popular culture is at war with the Christian lifestyle. Looking about at so many things in this country, I realize how much that is true.
Now it is time for us to know our choices. Being for Christ now is a commitment that is like swimming upstream, against the common flow (it always has been, but now it is much more noticable!) Every one of us is called to be witnesses to the truth of Christ, and now those witnesses become more and more important.
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