A friend recently sent me the following quotation from Christian writer and speaker Charles Swindoll:
"We are living in what many have described as the Post Christian Era. That does not mean that there are no longer many Christians around. There may, in fact, be more true believers today than ever before. "Post Christian" simply means that the Christian Faith no longer plays a role in shaping public opinion and policy. Christian assumptions and commitments, once widely held, no longer have the presence and impact they once had".
My friend then added this comment of his own:
Translated, this would mean that "Post Christadelphian" describes those who no longer find that the traditional Christadelphian worldview satisfactorily plays a role in shaping their opinions and "policies." Christadelphian assumptions and commitments, once widely held, no longer have the presence and impact they once had. This does not mean that a "Post Christadelphian" is no longer a "Christadelphian." In reality, many Christadelphians today are readily admitting that they no longer feel that the traditional way of living a "Christadelphian" life, within a traditional Christadelphian "framework" equips them with the necessary "tools" to co-exist in a "Post Christian" society.
I thought this was a valuable insight.
3 comments:
Hi Steve,
This is an interesting thread as it touches on more than a little of the real issues that were key in my dissatisfaction with the CD movement.
Unfortunately many CDs sit in silence rather than stand up and be counted, the result of this is that those who seek to control do so. Without effective opposition they are able to rule over other brothers and sisters and keep a lid on the vast majority of CDs who are either blind to it or who are scared to speak up.
Change does not happen on its own, it has to be kick started and fed.
There are many who cannot change but there are many who would change. My decision was to taker the freedom provided by others and start a new life in Christ. I now have none of the conflicts that dogged my life for the previous thirty years...."I have freedom at last".
I am now a past-Christadelphian but a current-Christian, ther is much constructive work for me to do and I find that I do not have doctrinal conflicts where I worship. This might be hard for Christadelphians to understand or even accept, but it is true.
Doctrines divide, Legalism is an illness that is terminal.
There is much work to do before the Lord returns.
Under Grace
Gerry
Hi Gerry
Having read your reply to Steve... all I can say is... AMEN
Let the Sonshine in
Cliff
Hi Steve
Having spoken on this subject to many people, I find we are certainly not alone in this thinking. So few are prepared to say anything different to the status quo for fear of being 'put out' . There are now, thankfully, meetings popping up in Australia (this has been going on overseas for some years - we are just late catching up with the times) where freedom of speech is encouraged. Strangely enough it is these meetings that are prospering, whilst the legalistic style strictly controlled meetings are slowly dying - as a cancer.
The young people have good grasp of freedom of speech and thought.
The fear this brings is that they will change their doctrines. This is far from the truth as we can't change the Bible message, but we can change and grow with our understanding of God's principles and precepts. If people’s concept of unity is that all must think/believe/act/dress to the same standards, they will ultimately be disappointed, as these are unrealistic expectations. True unity begins with our relationship with God and then others, not others first and then God. True Unity is in what and who we worship, not in outward concepts.
We are all works in progress and at various different stages of the journey. A question one must ask oneself is ‘do I go to ‘church’ or ‘the meeting’ as a place to go or a place to grow? Am I finding new ways to worship, new ways to think, new vistas being opened up?’
Sadly, those meetings that think of change as heresy are blinded by their own ignorance.
Yet they judge those who have had their understanding enlightened and are growing spiritually, far more than those who don’t want to move from their comfort zone (usually for FEAR of what others might think of them). Until we get over the fear of what others might think, we will stunt the growth of ourselves and those with whom we have to do.
There are Christadelphians who have no idea of the great growth that is happening right under their noses, but they cannot tolerate it because it is not how in their world, they think things should be, so those that are thinking for themselves and growing, are condemned by those stuck in their own paradigms. This is causing great rifts between meetings because of the lack of tolerance, trust and respect for the growth of others.
We have been threatened with ‘dissassociation’ (sanitized form of the unscriptural/catholic teaching of disfellowship or ex communication) unless certain brethren (not sisters, by the way) ‘need to know our thoughts’. About what? - you may ask.
Pardon me, but what ‘right’ have they to ‘need to know our thoughts’. I believe in having boundaries, and for someone with whom I am not familiar to ‘need know my thoughts’ is a gross violation of privacy. To the extent that it is offensive to even ask. Let alone downright bad manners. There seems to be a lot of ‘downright bad manners’ here in SEQ where we are constantly getting pressure put on us to ‘make known our thoughts’.
People who are secure in themselves have no need to go around wanting to ‘need to know the thoughts’ of others whom they are threatening at the same time. It’s feels like having a gun held to your head and told, you tell us what you believe else we’ll blow your head off. I think they called that the ‘inquisition’?
Love in Him
Abigail
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