"Last fall I did a whole series on Ephesians. There are places where Paul is making reference to Artemis. Her temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Millions of people are coming to visit her temple and buy statues, believing Artemis is their source of economic wealth.
So how does Paul begin Ephesians? "Praise be to God for every spiritual blessing."
'Wait, wait, wait. No, Artemis. We bless Artemis for everything.'
In Ephesus, Paul's words would be subversive teaching. It's no wonder they had a riot.
But Paul doesn't bash Artemis. When you tell the story well, you don't have to bash. It's clear. In fact, in Acts 19, the city clerk says to the rioting mob,
'Paul has never blasphemed the goddess.' One of the distinctive things about the Jesus revolution is they never blasphemed the gods of the cities, and yet the whole city became Christian. "
-Rob Bell
It struck me that that's completely the opposite of how I and most of the folks I know react today.
If you talk to someone who is passionate about politics - time how much of their conversation is about bashing the other party...and how much is about solutions and hope. It's not even close.
It'd be like the Pirates playing the Reds...see what I did there?
Pointing to solutions - you never hear that in some one's new year's resolution...but that wouldn't be a bad one.
So how does Paul begin Ephesians? "Praise be to God for every spiritual blessing."
'Wait, wait, wait. No, Artemis. We bless Artemis for everything.'
In Ephesus, Paul's words would be subversive teaching. It's no wonder they had a riot.
But Paul doesn't bash Artemis. When you tell the story well, you don't have to bash. It's clear. In fact, in Acts 19, the city clerk says to the rioting mob,
'Paul has never blasphemed the goddess.' One of the distinctive things about the Jesus revolution is they never blasphemed the gods of the cities, and yet the whole city became Christian. "
-Rob Bell
It struck me that that's completely the opposite of how I and most of the folks I know react today.
If you talk to someone who is passionate about politics - time how much of their conversation is about bashing the other party...and how much is about solutions and hope. It's not even close.
It'd be like the Pirates playing the Reds...see what I did there?
Pointing to solutions - you never hear that in some one's new year's resolution...but that wouldn't be a bad one.
Right on!
ReplyDeleteThe Apostle John had plenty of negative things to say about the Pagan gods, Artemis in particular.
ReplyDeleteThere is a time and a place for rebuking culture as well as a time and place for simply advancing one's own view of the truth.
(and a time and place to be altogether silent, for that matter)
So are you saying we need to rebuke this culture instead of, as I read Sean's post, advancing Truth by better explaining viewpoints?
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of people who can talk a Jew into eating a BLT with extra B, not by bashing Judaism, but rather being really good at explaining the truth that a BLT with extra B is fantastic.
Maybe I'm reading Sean, and you, wrong, but could you be a little less vague for the simpleminded like myself?
Bragg,
ReplyDeleteYou bait others well. Some may even say that you have mastered that skill.
I'm saying there are times that we need to do just one, times that we need to do just the other, times that we need to do both, and times that we should say nothing at all.
ReplyDeletePart of the role of the prophets was to communicate truth and call people to righteousness. Part of their role was to rebuke people for their sin and call them to repentance. And, sometimes, they said nothing and just acted to communicate their message. I think that's a decent model for our context.
I have mastered the skill of baiting.
ReplyDeleteBut I was not trying to bait this one. I was genuinely trying to get a better understanding of what I read before going on the defense about my understanding.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more baiting to do elsewhere.
The way I am reading this is that there is way to much bashing going on, not that there shouldn't be any bashing at all. Rob Bell is funny about saying for sure anything is wrong anyways, but that's a blog all by itself. The point here is that sometimes there is a right time to bash things, but as Christians we are just to overzealous about tearing people down who don't think the same way we do.
ReplyDeleteAll through the old testament and new there are cases of people turning from God and worshiping another God of some sort. People worshiping other god's and things other than God is an early and often kind of theme in the Bible. Generally in those situations God raises up a person or group of people in the culture to speak for Him on His behalf denouncing those gods or that belief system in the hope of restoring and redeeming people to the truth. Sometimes they straight up rebuke people, sometimes they point to the truth only; the point is that God loving people stand in opposition to deception.
Rob Bell's arguement can be restated as this " reveal to people worshiping candles the Sun and they will forget about the candel." The bashing method sometimes involves blowing out the candel and forcing people out into the light. Both are effective in their own right. It comes down to a situational debate where things really have to be handeled on a case by case basis I think. Sometimes things need to be bashed, sometimes they don't.
Usually I can make good decisions in situations like this if I consider my motivation for acting in a certain way. If the motivtion is my love for Christ and my love for them, then I generally do alright, but when my motivation is different from that, that's when I get into trouble.