Christianity: Post Church Modern ?
Sep 25
Posted: under Ministries, News, Prophecy, Society and Culture, Teaching, Testimony.
Tags: Church, Modernism, PostModernism
Yes, you read that right. POST CHURCH MODERN is the topic - and not POST MODERN CHURCH. But we will have to discuss the latter a bit in order to be clear about the former.
You may be more familiar with the phrase POST MODERN CHURCH. A POST MODERN CHURCH is one that serves a POST MODERN CULTURE. A person who considers themselves as belonging to the POST MODERN culture is seeing themselves as beyond modern (beyond here means AFTER). POST MODERN culture can be seen as a reaction to a modern culture, characterized by an ironic return to traditional materials and forms - as in architecture or literature. It typically calls for a radical re-examination of basic beliefs about who we are and how we got here.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT THAT.
The POST CHURCH MODERN is something else. The Post Church Modern is an individual who is moving values forward after falling OUT of love with the Christian Church as we know it. Notice the POST CHURCH MODERN Christian is not falling out of love with Christ, just with the church.
The POST CHURCH MODERN is NOT returning to traditional forms - not seeking comfort in the familiar, but is seeking intellectual and spiritual adventure and exploration in arenas once barred by judgmental, “traditional” opinions and belief systems.
To Sum: There is a very profound difference between the two. Cynicism and a spirit ready to judge something as inadequate are both needed in order to belong to Post Modern movement. Consider, if there was not something judged to be wrong with MODERN then the person would have no need to move beyond the modern view. Contrast this with the Post Church Modern, who is simply so open, so ready for life and adventure, that he has no need for confining form, and especially no need for one that looks backwards as a solution.
“THAT DID NOT WORK” is what the POST MODERN CHURCH SAYS ABOUT MODERNITY. IT’S TOO SHALLOW. Hmmm…. This very same accusation is fairly made about the POST MODERN CHURCH itself. The believer became tradition bound, afraid, held captive in a new form that was as rigid as the old form. The promise of freedom is offered, but instead the new form traps him into being free only as long as he remains cynical and judgmental toward “MODERN” Believers. This new trap really should come as no surprise. By its nature of being unhappy with all things MODERN, the adherants end up fighting their own condition. Since the Post Modern Church would attract a fairly cynical group of individuals, it can be expected that they will do what judgmental and cynical folk do. Post Modern Churchgoers hang together, wax nostalgic, and become trapped in the worship of the past. To maintain the facade of being special, they pronounce themselves in the right, and all others in the wrong.
Another viewpoint is possible. After all, we worship a Creative God!
THIS COULD BE FUN” is the attitude of the POST CHURCH MODERN. We could discover something useful, something powerful, something elevating, and we may end up cooperating with our own condition in a glorious explosion of what COULD BE!
Is it dangerous? Even blasphemous? Will we lose sight of dry land and sail off to drown in a sea of egocentric me-ism? Doubtful if you know that we continue to believe in and worship God. This position extols the wonder of a Creator God and a Christ who came to model the entire idea.
CHRIST was POST CHURCH MODERN in his day. The church, in his day, was the synagogue. He was “DONE WITH ALL THAT” because of the hypocrisy and intellectualized, self serving pride and rigidity found there.
Now there you have it. The POST CHURCH MODERN IS A BELIEVER WHO IS DONE WITH ALL THAT CHURCH STUFF because of the hypocrisy and intellectualized, self serving pride and rigidity found there.
Now - I said it and you can believe it : )
