Look! Another Puzzle Box Top

Tammy will love this post....

Tonight my wife was cutting my hair. When we do that, we always put something on to listen to. Tonight it was cd 1 from "So Let Your Light", A Defense of Chrisitan Culture, from the Highland Study Center. It's put together by RC Sproul Jr. I think I am hearing this one for the fith/sixth time, we got it last month.

When we first received this set my wife started to listen to it first. On the phone she told me "you need to listen to these cds, this is what you've been talking about!"

From the back of the cd set "... should we be about the the business of bringing all things under subjection to Christ? should we labor that His will would be done on earth, as it is in heaven?..."

As a evagelical, I think the description of trying to put a puzzle together without the puzzle box top describes my experience pretty well. It's like we can put a few pieces together here and over there is another dozen pieces together, actually all over the table you can see some together. But you cannot see any theme that can tie it all together. It's disjointed. I couldn't see the box top clearly, even though I kept reading the Bible, I was a prisoner of the strong man of my cultural upbringing, like Joseph Neesima was. (you will have to wait for the link to Joseph, as I am still putting that email together for some friends, but it will make it to the blog soon)

Instead of working to conform my immediate culture (that which I could control) to the norms of the gospel I just syncretised it all together along with everybody I have gone to church with. Everyone did it, it was normal. It was in my 40's that I was starting to see that, this just cannot be right, so much of what was normal church life. But I had no clue of what needed to be changed.... I had no way to see puzzle box lid clearly.

The early Church was not immune to this either. All the early Christians knew about life was from within the context of the Roman Empire. It's all anyone knew for hundreds of years. Centralized power in a central figure ,the emperor, was all they had as a reference point by way of structured community. If you have read Church history you can see that the early Church by the yr 200 was on well, well, on it's way to accepting the idea the there should be a central ruling figure and by the yr 400 or so the head of the Church even used the name of the Roman Emperors, Pontifex Maximus.

World views are huge. When Jesus spoke of not pouring new wine into old wineskins, because they will burst, I think that has a world view component to it.

This cd set was excellent,one of the best if not the best for trying to show that redeeming creation is as much a part of the redemption work of Christ as was the saving of souls. Lots of fuel to help give understanding for our Christian walk. I keep saying that I feel God is making me more 3 dimensional. I'm tired of being a shadow of what God intended me to be, I want to be a real human for the glory of God.

So if you too would like something to help you see the box top more clearly, I cannot recomend this highly enough.

Ken Myers, Edward Veith, L Windham, and RC Sproul Jr.

8 cds I think it's $35

Col 1:15-20...all things, all things, all things....
Eph 1:10... all things, all things...
Eph 1:21 ...above all principalities..
Eph 1:22 ...he put all things under his feet....
Eph 4:15...speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him...Christ..
Col 1:18...that in all things he may have preeminence...

find it here