Christendom

From The Globe and Mail:

Prime Minister Jean ChrÈtien risks burning in hell if he makes same-sex marriage legal in Canada, a Roman Catholic bishop from Alberta warned yesterday. "He doesn't understand what it means to be a good Catholic," Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary said in an interview. "He's putting at risk his eternal salvation. I pray for the Prime Minister because I think his eternal salvation is in jeopardy. He is making a morally grave error and he's not being accountable to God." ...A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said yesterday that Mr. ChrÈtien's primary responsibility is to serve the Canadian public ó not his church.

Christendom is dead, and the church is the last to know it. We still expect that when the church speaks, political leaders and the public will sit up and take notice. We quote God's Word as authoritative, and are surprised when people look at us with bemused expressions. The Bible may be clear, but that carries about as much weight with them as Uncle Harry's ramblings at the last family reunion. Christendom is dead, but Christianity isn't. We have to get used to not being in power, of moving back to the margins of society as - well, as the church did in the first century. This isn't all bad, but it will be bad as long as we think we can still speak and society will listen. We're not in control anymore. I'm not sure it was always a good thing when we were.

Comments

[anne thomas]

Dear Sir; I found this website while trying to find some place to register a strong complaint against the government's recent decicision re: same sex marriages. Now I see that few really care; & my fundamentalist Biblical view is regarded as archaic, intolerant & downright un-cool. Tough. I also have been praying for Canada, it's government & people, praying that we be a sheep nation......not the goat nation that we appear to be at the moment. May God have mercy! The time of Jesus return is so near; things are speeding up to a frenetic pitch. Are we Christians the only only ones who feel it? Sorry. I get carried away & Biblical prophesy is a favorite subject of mine. Thank you for the teaching on the Name of God. There were a couple of 'ouch's' in there, which needed praying over. Keep on keeping on in the Name of Jesus.. anne.

[George]

What a time to point people to God's truth with boldness. To show them how there is so much evidence to bring people to the conclusion that the Bible is God's word and His revelation to us. To show people how as society moves farther and farther away from God, as we in the West are doing, how things get more messed up. Isn't that just so clear to you Darryl as a man of God, as a preacher of the Word. I read your posts and I just get a sense that you feel we are wasting are time trying to inject God's Truth into our secular society. I don't understand that. I have recommitted myself to Christ a couple of years ago, after He opened my eyes to my own big time selfishness and I gotta tell you that is my passion. I am so grateful for His grace and I desire to live a righteous life for Him and to be used by Him as an effective witness to bring others into a relationship with Him. It is so amazing to be used by God for His Kingdom purposes. It is so amazing to witness other people be transformed by the Gospel message and see the change in their lives. Nothing in this world satisfies more than that. Nothing brings more joy then to witness a transformed life. God wants to use us Darryl. The need is so great. Just look at the youth and the message that they are getting from the World. We are losing an entire generation of kids to this world. We need to get passionate about God's Truth to show the world that it is THE ONLY WAY. Lets not just sit back and say "Oh well what can we do" The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. We need revival in the Christian community. We need more workers. We need to show our confidence in Christ. We need boldness, the boldness of a Paul. Don't you think?

[kevin]

I like that. Christendom is dead. Christ is alive. Maybe we'll get to a point where we stop expecting the government to legislate our ideas of morality and instead work to share Christ with our neighbors.

[Richard]

"We're not in control anymore. I'm not sure it was always a good thing when we were." Because lots of the time we wanted to have the power and control... rather than letting the Spirit have it. Excellent post, Darryl. I don't think that we should ever have a problem with sharing our joys and concerns as citizens who are also Christian. I do think we need to realize that there are many of our fellow citizens for whom the words we consider to be sacred have no meaning. At some point, we're going to have to stop expecting that the world is going to change because we point out something from the Bible. We need to live our lives in the ways that we are called to live them. We need to exemplefy what it means to be followers of God through Jesus the Christ. We need to be ready to share that story (as best as we understand it) with those who are ready to listen. I'm blathering. Thanks for putting up with this.