We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
In my view lots of Christians embrace the status quo. Why do you think that they accept the status quo; about God, themselves, others, and the world?
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14 comments:
From personal experience, I would say that the status quo's authority as a source of knowledge, in some Christian circles, can be so that it becomes difficult for someone to even consider the possibility of the existence of other sources of knowledge, not to mention exploring them.
Filipe,
Thanks. That's a very keen observation about the status quo as a source of knowledge that becomes authoritative and then functions so as to block any consideration of the possibility of other sources. A recycling of the same can't be the way forward.
I think in some instances Christians may embrace the status quo because it is easier to do so. Perhaps it is the path of least resistance and a well-traveled road.
When you think about all areas of a Christian's life, it seems that relationship to God would be the center point that should go well beyond status quo. Maybe in this life some other things will stay as they are or not seem to change, but seeking God would direct one's focus.
This is not to say that God is completely separate from other things in our lives, or that the spiritual is all that matters. Rather, God will show us how to
operate in the material world, and which areas to
bring his kingdom to NOW.
I suppose it depends on what we mean by "status quo". In a modernistic attempt to be unique, creative, or to "get things right", I believe lots of Christians don't really analyze the status quo and end up going in circles.
An example of what I mean would be the pendulum swing that has gone on historically with the Church embracing, and then rejecting, certain liturgical and theological traditions without carefully sifting through what is biblical vs. what's a cultural power tool.
In some cases, I think Christians have fled from what they intrepret as the "staus quo" and had ended up in the same position they were in before; that is, repeating the same mistakes they were trying to avoid by not choosing a careful path of (dare I say it) affirmation and critique.
So, in my view, it seems that the status quo involves pretty chaotic methods of "making it up as we go along guided by our feelings and impulses" without seriously analyzing the sources of those impulses or feelings.
--Valerie
I agree with Filipe.
I believe many Christians seek and need a single authoritative source to keep what they view as clarity. You know, it's either black or white and that's all there is to it. No thinking involved.
Angela,
Thanks. Good points. Easier to travel the well worn paths than to follow a diverse map into new territory. Seems as if the tendency is to be so saturated by the present that many in Christian circles have no vision for the future and how it disrupts the status quo.
Valerie,
Thanks. Helpful thoughts. Indeed, the cycle of the same seems to plague many Christians. Perhaps there is an idolatry going on here that takes primacy over God, Christ, and Spirit. What do you think? When feelings and impulses control our present, without any careful evaluation of sources, Christ appears to become secondary.
Anon.
Thanks. Interesting observation about the black and white perspective. Maybe you would agree that Christians need to be those who are a variety of colors!
There are times, also, where to intentionally choose a path other than the status quo can lead to peer rejection.
P.S. I'm glad to have found this site. Thank you.
Carter,
Thanks. That is a very perceptive comment. Perhaps peer rejection has to be the path that is taken.
My take is, they embrace it because it is their history. This might be a follow-up of Angelas "well-traveled road". But I think it is not only habituation, but also protection from hurt. If one has to leave such a way, he has to admit, that it was not the right way. What will others think, if I have to admit it???
Lukas,
Thanks. That's a good account of why this so often happens. Might we say that the fear of losing face becomes a lure for staying with the status quo.
It surely is not the only reason. But I think it does influence our reception of the biblical "reference(?)". Our bible-study-glasses are not rose-colored, but status-quo-colored or let's say life-colored.
I would rather see it as some subconscious process that protects us than something we try to find our feet on as another view pulls the rug out from under our own view.
Lukas,
Yes, I suppose our reception is always tainted, yet nevertheless not determined. God can and does open possibilities for transformation and change, although this may seem threatening to the status quo.
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