HONEST TO BLOG

Christ And Culture Revisited

I've had a few days off of work which (un)fortunately coincided with a period of illness. I think I'm finally feeling better. And although I wasn't in a frame of mind to do any good reading, my thoughts turned to a discussion from my college days.

I was talking-up the culture engaging neoCalvinist worldview as usual, trying to arouse my comrades to arms in the great struggle for societal transformation. One friend in particular never caught the vision. He complained that in God's likely providence none of us would ever gain "power" in this world, and that my rhetoric was earthly and vain.

Of course, I knew he was right in a certain sense. The biblical view of Christian cultural influence doesn't demand that every sincere believer somehow become a CEO, civil magistrate, movie star, or any other kind of cultural "power-broker." But that's not the point at all. I was trying to articulate that even the believing slave is, by his slavery, serving the Lord Jesus. And couldn't my friend see how that changes everything?!

Well, it changed everything for me. And it has been a deepening multi-part harmony to the gospel's melody ever since. I was encouraged to read D.G.Hart articulate this perspective so clearly here.