Comments on: The Sacred Secular Divide http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/08/26/the-sacred-secular-divide/ for friends of University Bible Fellowship Wed, 21 Oct 2015 04:34:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.1 By: BrianK http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/08/26/the-sacred-secular-divide/#comment-14941 Thu, 28 Aug 2014 14:55:00 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=8279#comment-14941 This divide is, in my observation, at the heart of the divisions in Christendom. We cannot agree on what or who is sacred. The reality is that all human life is sacred, and all the creation is sacred.

Some argue that if everything is sacred, then nothing is sacred. But I find those arguments weak, unconvincing and contradictory to the sacred texts such as the bible.

I love the way Danaher speaks of such things:

“Unfortunately, many cling to the sacredness of their own concepts rather than the sacredness of the biblical text, and such people see no need for the Spirit to renew their conceptual understanding. For them, the text does little more than confirm their prejudicial perspective. Fortunately, such a belief is no longer as easily maintained as in the past. Today, even if we believe that we are equipped with some innate hardware that allows us to form predetermined concepts, that same hardware also appears to allow us the liberty to modify or alter our concepts. In other words, even if our “wiring” is God-given, our thought process is free to form unique concepts.” –Eyes That See, Ears That Hear: Perceiving Jesus in a Postmodern Context (James P Danaher), Loc. 194-96

And here:

“One of the primary reasons for the premodern, flexible interpretation of truth is that for many centuries Christians argued that Scripture—the root of all truth—did not have a single, univocal meaning. They interpreted the quest for truth as a process of unfolding the infinite, sometimes hidden, meaning of sacred Scripture. Saint Augustine (354–430 CE), for example, would have thought that mathematics and the science of modernity, with their certain and precise meanings, were poor models for understanding the truth of Scripture. Speaking of the creation account in the Book of Genesis, Augustine says: Although I hear people say “Moses meant this” or “Moses meant that,” I think it more truly religious to say “Why should he not have had both meanings in mind, if both are true? And if others see in the same words a third, or a fourth, or any number of true meanings, why should we not believe that Moses saw them all? There is only one God, who caused Moses to write the Holy Scripture in the way best suited to the minds of great numbers of men who would all see truths in them, though not the same truths in each case.” –Eyes That See, Ears That Hear: Perceiving Jesus in a Postmodern Context (James P Danaher), Loc. 451-54

The post-modern or post-post-modern mindset is an epic correction to the past 500 years or so, returning us to the ancient tenants with an increased understanding.

]]> By: forestsfailyou http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/08/26/the-sacred-secular-divide/#comment-14931 Wed, 27 Aug 2014 00:36:43 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=8279#comment-14931 It’s a pretty regular thing here. It is quite frustrating to hear it and impossible to argue against. A scenario a missionary told me, as well as a student from Korea told me, and I suspect is common- is that someone books a plane ticket far in advance for some event (seeing family, vacation, funeral, wedding, etc) and then for whatever reason there is a bible conference or major UBF event. The person is told that they must change the flight schedule (at their own expense!). If asked why he or she should do that an answer like “It is for your spiritual growth.” or “It is more pleasing to God.” is provided.

Another point I want to mention is frequently the secular/sacred argument leads to people not reading anything but Christian books. Just check out this quote from a recent Christian book

“We need to set our affections on some good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.”

Nope just kidding, that is written by Epicurus, whose followers Paul reasons with, and who is responsible for the Problem of Evil argument. God’s wisdom isn’t limited to Christians, his salvation is, but not his wisdom.

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