Keith Plummer has an interesting perspective. He says that the success Christian Stuff Industry is predicated upon a false doctrine of creation which holds that the world does not belong to the Lord:
I think there's another reason behind the impulse to stamp a Scripture verse on every imaginable object. In large part we have an anemic doctrine of creation. Our conviction that God is the maker of heaven and earth should be evidenced in more ways than ongoing debates with evolutionists. Certainly, there's a need for such apologetic activity but the doctrine of creation, like all biblical doctrines, is not given primarily for the purpose of our defending it but for our living it. How do we live the doctrine of creation? By affirming along with God that his creation, though cursed on account of humanity's rebellion, is still good and is given to us to richly enjoy with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4; 6:17). As Michael Wittmer says in his book, Heaven is a Place on Earth:
Because we know that this creation is the good gift of God, we are not only permitted but encouraged to enjoy it as is. Unlike those who think that worldly objects are somehow enhanced by stamping Scripture verses on them, Christians who understand the goodness of this world celebrate the freedom to enjoy God's creation as is. We no longer need to sanitize secular items with our sanctified slogans to make them suitable for Christian consumption....In fact, our feeble attempts at baptizing creation tend to cheapen both it and the gospel (p. 66-67).
If believers really grasped this, many Christian businesses would go belly up and perhaps Christian "bookstores" would become bookstores again.
Although I won't defend the Christian Stuff Industry, I'm not sure that this is a valid argument against it. Does not the world, post-Fall, belong to Satan? What do you think?
Hat tip: David Wayne
Friday, August 18, 2006
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11 comments:
The world? If you mean the earth, God's good creation, I'd say no way does it belong to Satan.
If you want to make the argument that the devil has freedom to roam the earth, okay, but it ain't his world. It is now and always has been and will be our Creator's world.
I suppose. After all, Satan couldn't go after Job without God's permission.
So when Satan offered the world to Christ, was he speaking presumptuously?
John, within that passage I thin we are told that Satan has teh authorty over the "kingdoms" of this world. HOwever, God's creation is still all God's creation and redeemable (yes, even the Kingdoms).
So I agree with Keith. I too would argue that much that passes as Truthful or Christian is false because it is garbage and lacks Truth in that sense..
I look at the end of Job, when God finally speaks to him (starting ch. 38), and goes off on creation. You get this idea that God enjoys what He has made.
I think the whole idea that post-fall has tainted everything and therefore the whole world is bad is just faulty. I don't look at the stars, the mountains, or someone sacrificing for someone else (such as those who gave their lives on 9/11) and say, "Well, that's just evil." You can't say that. So there are still things about this world that are good (a lot more than we want to admit), and while Satan is free to roam the earth, God has not given everything over to Satan. I preached a message on this earlier this summer, and an inaccurate view of creation has a huge influence on how we view heaven, and this world.
And I love Wittmer's book by the way. Incredible read. It has greatly influenced my perspective on creation.
Seems like I read somewhere, "The whole earth is full of God's glory." :-)
There may be a reason God didn't carve "Jesus Saves" into the bark of a redwood.
Perhaps in the Fall, it was only humanity which became depraved, but nothing else.
I think that some individuals may have different definitions fo "the World". I think that when most christians speak of "The World" they are not speaking of creation but people. If I remember correctly, it is herecy to believe that creation itself is evil. (not the gnostics)
On a side note, John, did you ever get the Asbury blog roll started? I begin this fall and would like to be added.
sorry...should be note not "not".
Here's a very good article by Aaron Blumer on the range of meaning of the New Testament words translated as "world."
Adam, you're right. It is not biblical to ascribe moral evil to the impersonal and material aspects of creation. This was, in fact, the error of the Gnostics.
"We no longer need to sanitize secular items with our sanctified slogans to make them suitable for Christian consumption."
Whatever you think, that sentence sure supplies some seriously similar silibants. I mean, nice alliteration!
I agree with most of what has already been said here about the goodness of creation, and I think there is ample evidence in Scripture.
In Luke 19:40, during Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus says that if his disciples were silent, the stones would shout out. Romans 1:20 says that creation reveals God's nature and power. Colossians 1:16, speaking of Christ, says creation was "through him and for him". That last verse shows the irony of Satan's offering Jesus the world.
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