A New Kind of Reformation
I happened on this website - The Church You Know (http://www.thechurchyouknow.com/index.html) a take off on the NBC commercials The More You Know.
I really agree with what these guys are saying (for the most part) and what they're doing. They claim to really love the church - but want to point out some of the stupid, unbelievable, or just plain hypocritical things we do in a somewhat clever way. I might use the worship one in church sometime (if I can get a good copy of it - dunno if they sell them).
Reforming the church can only come from within. These guys are doing what Luther did at Wittenburg. It's a call to reform. I get so tired of people who bail on a church because it doesn't meet their expectations - but they're not willing to put the effort and energy into making transformation happen.
I look at the task that Jesus (who, by the way is GOD) faced in transforming the Jewish religion. Acts 1:15 says that shortly after Jesus' ascension the number of believers was about 120. I can't find an estimate on the population of Israel at the time but I've seen estimates of 120,000 in Jerusalem at the time and an estimate of the WORLD population at about 300 million. 120 believers is 1/10th of 1% of the population of Jerusalem. Not a huge success, I'd say.
Paul had it easy. He just talked people into joining a new religion - he didn't have to deal with the Christmas pageants have always been this way and we have to have this color choir robes... He was introducing people to a whole new thing.
Jesus was a reformer - a revolutionary. His message was that of transforming - of making a change, not only in the Jews of the day, but in all who heard "let he who has ears, listen!". And the real transformation has to come from within. Within each one of us, right? I mean, I can't change you. Even though this blog thing is really powerful for influencing the culture and the world (heh), I can still only change me... Heck, I can't even force my daughters to change their behavior. THEY have to make the decision (usually, at 3 & 5, based on expected consequences...).
Oh well - this took me four hours to do - should give you some idea about what my day is normally like - so if it seems disjointed and doesn't make any sense, sorry. I'll try to do better next time...
I really agree with what these guys are saying (for the most part) and what they're doing. They claim to really love the church - but want to point out some of the stupid, unbelievable, or just plain hypocritical things we do in a somewhat clever way. I might use the worship one in church sometime (if I can get a good copy of it - dunno if they sell them).
Reforming the church can only come from within. These guys are doing what Luther did at Wittenburg. It's a call to reform. I get so tired of people who bail on a church because it doesn't meet their expectations - but they're not willing to put the effort and energy into making transformation happen.
I look at the task that Jesus (who, by the way is GOD) faced in transforming the Jewish religion. Acts 1:15 says that shortly after Jesus' ascension the number of believers was about 120. I can't find an estimate on the population of Israel at the time but I've seen estimates of 120,000 in Jerusalem at the time and an estimate of the WORLD population at about 300 million. 120 believers is 1/10th of 1% of the population of Jerusalem. Not a huge success, I'd say.
Paul had it easy. He just talked people into joining a new religion - he didn't have to deal with the Christmas pageants have always been this way and we have to have this color choir robes... He was introducing people to a whole new thing.
Jesus was a reformer - a revolutionary. His message was that of transforming - of making a change, not only in the Jews of the day, but in all who heard "let he who has ears, listen!". And the real transformation has to come from within. Within each one of us, right? I mean, I can't change you. Even though this blog thing is really powerful for influencing the culture and the world (heh), I can still only change me... Heck, I can't even force my daughters to change their behavior. THEY have to make the decision (usually, at 3 & 5, based on expected consequences...).
Oh well - this took me four hours to do - should give you some idea about what my day is normally like - so if it seems disjointed and doesn't make any sense, sorry. I'll try to do better next time...
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