You and Me Against the World?

An early church leader in the city of Alexandria by the name of Athanasius took a fierce stand against a heretical teaching--Arianism--which was becoming extremely popular among the churchmen of his day. It is said that on his grave marker were the Latin words Athanasius contra mundum. Translation: "Athanasius against the world."

I was challenged by a recent sermon at my church to consider my own ability to stand against the world when what the world has agreed is okay, is actually wrong.

I've often seen myself as a loner and a maverick...not one to follow blindly after the crowd either in matters of fashion, or ideology, or morality. My own family members would sometimes consider me a bit "flaky" when my creative bent asserted itself in ways that marched to a novel drumbeat.

The spooky thing is that I so often catch myself conforming to the pattern seemingly laid out for me by the surrounding culture, or even by whatever local ad hoc group of peers might be handy. It is often very easy to let others do the thinking for me and just automatically--and unthinkingly--fit in with what the crowd chooses to do.

Even for an odd duck like me, who has a strong non-conformist streak, the gravitational pull of the herd mentality exerts itself all the time. And the disconcerting thing is, that magnetic force isn't generally tugging me toward something good, true, or otherwise worthwhile. It's usually just the opposite.

What the authors of the Bible often refer to as "the world"--as opposed to the kingdom of God--is the combined anti-God characters and proclivities of the people and cultures and institutions surrounding us that would just as soon forget or ignore or deny God's existence. "The world" in that sense, is the mindset that happily leaves God out of all equations. Kind of like...

...(in biology class) "The universe and everything in it began with a humongous explosion, after which all the stuff you see around you came to be via an astonishing process of random mutations."

...(in philosophy class) "Truth is defined by the consensus of what the most people believe at any present moment, as influenced by the people wielding the most political power. There are no absolutes when it comes to morality...that is, no absolutes except the fact that there are no absolutes."

...(in a lot of churches) "Jesus was a great teacher but he might not have really said everything or done everything that his followers reported that he did. The whole idea of his death being an atonement that satisfied some angry supreme being, is no longer necessary in our enlightened society, and his resurrection from the dead is simply a helpful metaphor about self-renewal."

...(in sex-education class) "If both people enjoy it, go ahead, it's okay. Any unwanted consequences can be dealt with either with surgery, medicine or psychotherapy."

...(in entertainment and the arts) "Standards of beauty and propriety are only determined by the appetites of consumers. Fantasies about sex, violence and escapism have no bearing on real life behaviors."

There is a definite pattern that connects all these areas of human life. The choice to leave God out of the picture allows me to play make-believe and to devise a substitute "god" for my own universe. And when push comes to shove, there ends up being no more attractive candidate for the job...than myself! I can then be the sole arbiter of what is true, good and beautiful, with no pesky God to plague me with a bunch of rules and restrictions on my freedom and autonomy.

I think it was Immanuel Kant (the father of modern philosophy) who bemoaned the fact that without God, morality would have no meaning; therefore, even if God doesn't exist, we must live and act as it He does. It turns out that this was wishful thinking. When philosophers opened the floodgates to God's non-existence to the world, most people were more than happy to embrace the idea with both arms.

If this is the way the world is pulling you and me, with all the glitz, glamour and gadgetry at its command assisting it in its tug of war, what hope do we puny individuals have to fight against the force of its gravity? Sadly, I have enough sinful impulses left inside me, even as a Christian, to make the allure of the world's message highly attractive.

This is where Paul's words to the Roman believers come in so handy and practical and profound: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God...Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

It is so comforting to know that with every tug we exert against the downward pull of the world, we have a supernatural and infinite Strength...the Holy Spirit speaking through His holy Word...right there pulling alongside us. God never expects us to win this contest on our own!

Our visitor from Switzerland, Bertrand, said something very profound today in Sunday School: "Fallen man would rather be a god in a human-created world, than be a created being in a God-created world." This encapsulates the mindset of the anti-God world around us.

Which end of the rope are you pulling on in this cosmic tug of war?

Traditions, Traditions

Human beings have a love-hate relationship with their traditions.

On the one hand, we cling to and depend on the feelings of permanence and familiarity that they give us in an all-too-volatile and uncertain world.

On the other hand, if you are like me, you often find yourself impatient, resentful, pinched and chafed by the inflexibility of the burden that traditions lay upon us.

Traditions connected to family are a case in point that crops up on our radar screens at least once or twice a year. The rose-tinted glasses side of me looks forward to the idea of gathering all the kinfolk around the old homestead and catching up with all the far-flung goings-on that have taken place since we last got together to feast and play games and watch TV. But then...when the glasses get smudged by the catty remarks and the one-upsmanship and the brotherly advice that feels more like a kick in the groin...

...at that point, we might long for a tradition that requires us to skip a year. Or two or three.

Traditions can often feel as if they are carved in stone like the Ten Commandments:

THOU SHALT VERILY SHOW UP WITH THY JELLO SALAD IN HAND

YEA, THOU SHALT NOT MENTION THY SISTER'S DISAGREEMENT OF 1988

REMEMBER WHO DESPISETH WHOM AND TO WHAT DEGREE

ETC.

 

But then again, many family traditions are totally flexible, to the point of not having any structure at all when reunions take place, and having the whole group's agenda determined by whose opinions are the loudest, or whose physical ailments take precedence, or whose preferences as to activities give in the soonest due to strain and/or exhaustion.

 

I suspect that the traditions we feel most at ease with are those handed down to us by people whose character or memory is most loved and respected. If I was treated lovingly by a parent or grandparent who passed on their legacy of traditional practices to my generation, I would tend to honor those practices and continue them myself. After all, why mess with success? It worked for them in their day, why go to the trouble of reinventing the wheel?

 

And there lies one of the major tensions that come with traditions. More and more in our progressive culture, the traditions of the past have been and will continue to be challenged by the younger whippersnappers who come along. And traditions will undergo a definite shift: sometimes merely uncomfortable...all too often with the force of a pair of crash-cart paddles.

 

Think of the practice of church attendance as an example. Not very many decades ago, most businesses closed up shop on Sundays, not so much out of devotional piety, but because most all the consumers those businesses relied on were busy with non-commercial activities like dressing up and singing hymns and listening to sermons and eating large family meals together and taking naps.

 

In our day, the vast majority of people I work with might visit a place of worship for a wedding, a funeral or an occasional holiday...if at all. Sunday traditions for them have more to do with tailgate parties, big-screen TVs or fantasy sports leagues than the holy Trinity. There has been a definite shift in cultural traditions that has affected at least half the people you rub shoulders with every day.

 

The fragile thing about traditions is that, even if they are the glue holding a society together--think Tevye doing his "Tradition" dance down the street in Fiddler on the Roof--the individualistic desires and preferences of people can and do change according to the winds of the prevailing culture. For Tevye, the crisis came when his daughters began to insist on choosing their own mates rather than relying on fathers and matchmakers to get them hitched. Love of the incidental sweetheart began to trump their respect for and love of tradition.

 

What tradition-bound people too often forget is that the more a practice is based on simple repetition and longevity, rather than rooted in truth, goodness and beauty, the less likely that that practice will endure through the times and tides of cultural shift. Tevye was finally pushed to the limit when his third daughter insisted on marrying a husband outside of her faith. For him, this was unthinkable and nearly caused him to permanently disown the daughter.

 

The question he--and the audience--was left with in the play was: is this requirement to disown his own flesh and blood a requirement of his faith...or only one of tradition?

 

Traditions can comfort us...they can guide us...they can anchor and often annoy us. But only our beliefs rooted in truth and moral absolutes can bind our consciences to the point of no return.

 

Enjoy your traditions if you can...but find your faith in One far higher, deeper, eternal.

 

Blessings!