Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Danger: This Product Contains Christian Elements

I appreciate Rob Bell's mention in his book Velvet Elvis of the danger of denying truth can exist outside of our safe "Christian" environment. The thing we Christians try to do is take something from the "world" and Jesus it up. We try to make it ok for Christian consumption. I've done this myself. I've tried to take things and wrap my little Jesus label around it. As if He would be proud I wouldn't defile myself with anything that doesn't have the mark of the fish. We set out to separate ourselves from others and from things that do not claim to be Christian. Why? Have we forgotten we are all humans and we are all falliable. Christian or not. Even if we don't identify ourselves with "Christ," we can and likely do have something good about us. Even if we do identify ourselves as "Christian" we have faults. You see, truth can be anywhere. If the REALITY is that God is present everywhere, then could we say that truth can be anywhere? Even if something is not overtly labeled "Christian"? I love this point Bell makes: in the book of Acts, Paul affirms the truth and claims it wherever he finds it (p. 79).

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