Sunday, November 30, 2008

Exile

What if Naturalism (by which I mean Darwinian Naturalism) is the tribe from the East sent to judge God's chosen people for years of unrepentant, oppressive absolutizing and power-mongering? Just as Assyria and Babylon were the inevitable consequences of Israel's disdainful rejection of the Lord, so too we Western Christians find ourselves being captured and led into exile.

Do you not find it to be so? Look about you and see. Religious thought is no longer acceptable in the public sphere. Religious claims to truth are no longer valid; science is Omni-Science. We are in exile. And keenly do we feel it. But more like a child crying 'unfair!' because our toy megaphone has been violently taken from us. Some of us sulk in the corner of the school yard; some of us cry to our Mothers. Most of us, or at least the most publicly visible, get mad, continuing to yell and scream madly, megaphone or no. This indeed sounds pity-able and unjust, until we realize we are the bully on the playground who is being suffered by the other children no longer.

We must recognize the cause for our being overthrown, captured, and discarded. We ought to consider the possiblity that our current exile is in part (the part that matters most) the chastisement of the Divine Hand. Certainly there are some who have done this, who are doing this, for the Lord in his mysterious faithfulness always provides a remnant. Would that you and I would be that remnant. We must repent to the Lord and change how we treat the world, not merely because we are being treated cruelly, but because we are pierced and stricken with the pain and remorse of our own acts of betrayal and hard-heartedness.

8 comments:

cbwh said...

I haven't been up to date with your blog but this entry speaks a ton, I feel it. Hopefully some of us can open up the eyes of those around us. I hope all is well! Charlie

reneamac said...

Thanks, man; much love.

DBankes said...

You think a lot Renea!! :)

I believe you bring up a very valid comparison. The challenge for those of us who see it this way is to "stop the pendulum in the middle". The older I get, the more I come to see that the love-truth balance the NT challenges us with is one of the hardest things to live out. I think the "evangelical" church has reacted to the other extreme, as you deftly point out. So many of the once biblically sound mainline denominations have cut the anchor to solid biblical interpretation, and while we are rightly horrified, we have over-reacted with bible thumping legalism on peripheral issues to salvation.

This is edefinitely a challenge for me, having grown up in one of the most legalistic churches of modern times.

Doug

Katrina said...

We have been talking about the Prophets (all the Minors and now Isaiah) lately on Sunday mornings, and have been discussing the idea of God using "the nations" to judge/discipline His people.

Katrina said...

Sorry, posted before I finished.
This is a good point! I'll have to bring it up some week soon...
love you!

Anonymous said...

Funny, I was JUST thinking about the same thing. I can't remember if I read it somewhere or how I started thinking about it... But I totally believe you're right.

Thanks for always being so thought-provoking!

xoxo

Nichole

John said...

How in the heck do you still find time and energy outside of L'Abri to think and write like this?

I can't do it. I miss you Renea.

Krissi Dallas said...

Hi, Renea! I just started a blog and am trying to find everybody ... now I can keep up with your deep, philosophical and theological musings and you can read my sometimes-shallow, entertaining rants. :)

Love you!!