- I went to a church service recently where the pastor stood before us and said he was going to begin a new series on The Kingdom of God. I was a bit excited about this, especially because I did not expect it at all from this pastor. He taught how the Kingdom of God is different than the kingdoms of this world. Then, because it was Memorial Day, we closed by with a patriotic song and a time of remembrance for fallen American soldiers. I am definitely not against honoring people who sacrifice themselves for my country, but found it more than a bit ironic to do so after a sermon on the Kingdom of God. I tried to imagine Jesus taking a moment to thank the Father for the Roman soldiers and their hard work. It just seemed a bit strange...
- I have witnessed on more than one occassion this week the giving of a certain test at my church. It was a test to see if the test-takers knew their Ten Commandments. The test literally said that the 10 are just as important now as they were when they were given. Is it just me, or did Jesus teach something deeper? Isn't it ironic that we stick with the Old Testament when Jesus gave us something new that was supposed to move us past the Law? I wonder why we want people to memorize the Ten Commandments, but never quiz each other about the Sermon on the Mount... I'd blog on that one, but I'm sure you already know what I'd say.
How about you? Have you seen any classic church irony lately?
Peace,
Matt
2 comments:
i question myself and others at times wonder if we are acting like OT Christians... but also need to take into consideration Jesus came to fulfill the law and not abolish it, so i shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water.
when't your next silhoutte rant?
I think I'd like to skip the irony part of it and just focus on the question. What bearing do the 10 commandments have on our lives and shared existence as the people of God?
First I think that Jesus is deepening the ten commandments in most of his teachings and it's important for us to hold both (example: ten commandments and sermon on the mount). I was thinking how wierd it is though that Christians talk about how important the ten commandments are a lot but mainly what they mean is don't have another religion besides Christianity, don't steal, lie, commit adultery, don't swear (which that's not really what that command means) and basically just be moral because God said so. I think there is much more there but we treat as such. We also leave out remembering the sabbath and in general don't unpack the depth of these commands. What if we really dove into what it would mean for us in our day and age to not have any graven images before God? Man I would be really interested in that but I'm also scared of what I would have to give up.
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