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In thinking be men

What should be our reaction as Christians when something new hits the evangelical shopping Mall? I suspect the way I’ve framed the question indicates my response: we should be cautious and critical (in the scholarly sense).

This article is a plea for proper reflection by evangelicals before embracing the innovative, whatever the innovative may be. Now I have to confess caution even initial suspicion is my instinctive response to most new ideas. I am the product of a Strict Brethren background, raised in the West of Scotland – not a recipe for the avant garde. For punters from the West of Scotland cynicism is just another word for realism.

Certainly, outside the directly Christian scene some cynicism of ‘progress’ seems justified. Over twenty-five years in Public Sector teaching punctuated by almost incessant change has done nothing to endear me to the novel. Education, in the view of most teachers I know, has blundered from one ill-conceived initiative to the next, virtually destroying genuine learning in the process. Most changes seem to arise from some ‘new-kid-on-the-block’ intent on becoming a rising educational star. Okay, maybe you’re right; I am a bit too negative.

However, I want to argue that caution when confronted with the new is not just a West of Scotland hard-boiled cynicism but is in fact biblical wisdom.

Now let me immediately say this does not mean all change is retrograde or wrong. Sometimes, maybe even often, change is necessary. We are creatures of habit and get ourselves happily ensconced in a rut; for most of us change is threatening, enervating and unwelcome. Yet change may be vital. The NT brought great change to Israel. It was change that she did not accept largely because she was caught in a religious rut.

Jesus, introduced the long anticipated Kingdom, but in a quite unexpected way. It involved radical change most rejected. They were comfortable with the old ways and resisted change. However, Jesus says to them, ‘You cannot put new wine in old wineskins’. The new potent wine of the kingdom would burst the old skins of Judaism. The gospel meant change, radical change, of both structures and hearts. It involved change that even those who gladly embraced it found hard. The story of the early church is in part a story of how difficult it was for orthodox Jews to embrace the international nature of the church and the radical discontinuity from Judaistic rites that this involved.

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About John

Hi there - I am a member of Greenview and have been for over 20 years. For a number of these years I functioned as an elder, however, indifferent health forced me to take more of a back seat. I see this as an opportunity to do a little writing, often focussing on issues that are a matter of evangelical debate today. Naturally the views expressed are my own and may not reflect the views of the elders or church at large, though differences are likely to be in the detail and not the substance.

These articles and sermons were written partly to clarify my own thoughts and partly with the intention of provoking thought in others who may read them. If you read one I hope you find it stimulating. Please feel free to give me feedback or discuss my articles in the forums.

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