I tell you, Church on Sunday was confusing. What on earth do we call it? I mean its been Easter for the last 1500 years, yet suddenly we've all been hit with the revelation that it isn't really EASTER; that's a pagan holiday. No, it is Resurrection Sunday! But wait... are we going to include our roots and Jewish Bretheren? Well then it's Pascal. Wait, wait... Pascal doesn't recognize Jesus. So it's Resurrepascalster... whew is THAT a mouthful.
Hey, just to throw this out there. How about we consider something that seems totally arbitrary and yet at the same time might be related (and I know I'm gonna step on some toes here, so brace yourself. Maybe grab a chocolate Easter - I mean Resurrepascalster Bunny to chew on to defuse the stress)
a) " Construction of meaning. Postmodernists don’t care about talks about whether truth is out there, they are not like the X-files. They are opposite, they don’t CARE if the Truth is out there. What they say is that when they construct meaning, they construct meaning through language. Language is how we make ourselves out to be what we are. Language only makes something true for the person using that particular language. So for example, ‘Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life,’ is only true for Christians because that is the language we choose to use about Christ. ‘That rose is beautiful’ is beautiful to us because that’s what we choose to call it but it may be ‘ugly’ to someone else."
a) Wait, you say. What on earth do your class notes have to do with this whole Easter.... Resurrepascalster controversy?
The whole deal with Postmodernism is 'what does this term do for you." There's no centralized term for anything, there's no truth out there that is solidified that we can all reference. If it irritates you or doesn't work for you, just redefine it. Now as Christians, we would NEVER do something like that... right?
Well, I'm not sure thats true anymore. We're so focused in our special little branches of 'redefining' stuff. We've got the 'carnal Christian' with the John Piper-ites, the 'Resurrection Sunday' with the intellectuals, or 'Redeemed Pascal' or whatever with the hard-core intellectuals. Dude, whatever happened to just saying 'Easter'? Yeah okay its based off of a pagan holiday. Most of our songs are based off of songs or tunes or styles that originated in a pagan way. Hate to break it to you, but if you look at the Tabernacle waaaaay back in the Old Testament, the styles of their worship followed the trends of their days as well. Those Cherubim guarding the Ark of the Lord on the Lid are fashioned in a style common on most religious artifacts from Canaan.
Yeah, we need to be distinct from the pagan world around us. We also need to be centralized. Its been Easter for at least 1500 years if not longer. Redefining all the terms right now out of reaction to something isn't helpful, it's causing confusion. I mean, whats next, a secret handshake to get in through the Church doors?
Okay I'm exaggerating a little bit and probably sounding like I'm over-reacting. Yes we need to 'take back' the Christian holidays for the Lord. But we aren't going to do that if we don't start with what is in our hearts. Leave the Easter Bunny alone for a minute while you examine your own heart: when was the last time you told an unbeliever what the Easter Story IS? Stop trying to fight for appearances to suit your preferences! Trust me, if you actually DO what the New Testament says, you won't have time to worry if they call it Easter or Pascal or Jimmy John's Cheap Sandwich Day (I made that up, btw. I don't know if JJ's had cheap sandwiches yesterday). If you are honestly doing what Christ Commanded, you will be tired, hungry, and frustrated as you pray through trying to make His message more understandable to a lost and dying world.
Traditions are good. I love traditions, really I do. But not when they become distracting. Not when changing them to suit our latest fad in theology or inter-church-and-doctrine-controversy. And yes people, we do have 'fads' in our doctrine and theology. Its okay, just accept it. But what is the POINT of them? Are you growing in maturity in Christ? Is your love for Him overflowing so that it is visible? Are people inspired when they see you to read the Bible and find out what it is that you have? Are you making people jealous that they don't have the Holy Spirit in their life like you do?
I'm not saying that I'm doing it perfectly or, 'Quick! Reject what THEY are saying and come over here and do what I am saying!'
All I'm saying is, 'What is your point? Because so far its just causing confusion and knocking off the center that has united us on this particular Sunday every year for the past one and a half millennium. There's been thousands of Christians before you who have the Holy Spirit and are thoughtful people. Why do you think you are so special to have figured it out where they couldn't?"
Harsh, yes. Brutal? Probably. Needed? Well, I don't believe in going along with what someone says just because they threw a bunch of syllables together that sounded pretty and are confident about how they sound. I've been around intellectuals too long.
Now if you excuse me, I need to go grab something out of my EASTER BASKET before I go prepare for my apologetics class paper. And yes, this paper is being utilized to share the gospel with Muslims on Thursday. The point of us being Christian academics and theologians is to better prepare us to engage a fallen world and irritating lost people. Are you engaging lost people? Or are you snarling about the inconvenience when they shock you with their depravity?
N Not really the Happy Easter post I was planning on, but I didn't know before this weekend that I wasn't allowed to post a Happy Easter post, I was supposed to write a Happy.... Resurrepascalster post.
~Princess Ouch~
Excellent. I heart this.
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