Implicit/Explicit Christianity
January 13, 2007 at 2:52 am (Life, my existence, Social, Theology)
Back in undergrad.. actually, the first week we heard Alistair Begg speak on God’s Providence. And for the first time I heard someone talk about how God had a plan for my life. I was dumbstruck, and quite paranoid upon learning of this! It really threw me for a loop. Over the rest of undergrad, I heard more & struggled to understand & learn His mighty pre-ordained will– everything from “God uses ppl, prayer, bible & circumstance to speak to you” to “What if I miss the opportunity & don’t meet the chic I’m to marry?! Is their one or multiple girls out there?” etc, etc..
Then I graduated & needed a job, and somehow I never had time for these questions anymore. “Just get a job that pays” was all that mattered. Of course God never left the scene, I still went to church and tried to keep the Bible reading and prayer alive daily. Somewhere you fall in line with how everyone else is living. The options, the values, the ability to choose my preference… what I want. And what I want is so easy to get.
We take the good God brings, and use it for our own good. “God wants me to be a successful businessman..” “God wants me to live a good moral life..” “God wants my life to be full” These are christian ideas, but honestly, Where’s God in ‘em?
God has set the ‘house rules’ in his word, but there’s more to living in a home than keeping the rules!
All that is implicit Christianity. Godliness without God. But instead, what if we explicitly asked God if he wants us to do such-n-such a thing.. And actually listen to him and step down even when we want to do it anyways. Forbid we actually live by the mind of the Genius One who sees beginning from end instead of whatever tiny plan my mind can come up with..
Jim said,
January 13, 2007 at 4:52 pm
It’s a good point you make, and honestly it’s a practice that all of us should make a daily, hourly, minutely habit. But we don’t. I know I’m not very good at it. Part of it’s culture desensitization, part of it’s simply human nature, but mostly, I think, it boils down to just plain, pure laziness. It takes too much ‘effort’ to consult God about every little thing, and so we don’t do it. Plus, He might overrule our desires, and most of us don’t want to deal with that.
ThePhantom said,
January 14, 2007 at 1:47 pm
to add to that there is an element to getting to know God, that is the sanctfying work of the Holy Spirit. Stated better, God is working and changing our inner being to become more like him, and to desire the things that he desires.
If we as Christians focus on following God, and learning and knowing him better in all things, then the desires of our hearts will be aimed his way. We still should and need to consult him for all things, but if we are seeking to know him better all the time, this will be a natual byproduct.
Thus some of the smaller decisions in life, as Jim has said, “about every little thing,” really come down to our relationship with God. For God is daily changing and pruning us to be inline with his desires. Jim is right most of us don’t want to deal with that, but to be a Christian is to submit to God’s changing work in our lifes. To refuse that is ultimatly to not be a follower of Christ, which is what it is all about.
KL said,
January 14, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Interesting points considering the way in which the world of psychology defines religion, as being either intrinsic or extrinsic…
Gordon Allport (1967) studied religion by looking at religiosity, which refers to how an individual expresses her religion. An individual’s religiosity can possess both intrinsic and extrinsic qualities. Those religious beliefs that carry over into other facets of her life are said to be intrinsically religious while extrinsic religiosity refers to the part of religion that is self-serving and social in nature. An intrinsically religious individual is more likely to live her religion and is not likely to compromise her faith, even in matters where religious motives and economic or social motives are at odds with one another. An extrinsically religious individual, however, would be more likely to adopt only those parts of a religion which fit in with other areas of her life such as social and economic areas (Paloutzian, 1996).
fadingdust said,
January 14, 2007 at 7:00 pm
“God is working and changing our inner being to become more like him, and to desire the things that he desires.” Sure.. I’ll buy that. but that is NEVER EVER an excuse (though we use it as such!) to not ask God about something & think we can/have read his mind. I could back up your point with the whole “believers have the mind of christ” verse/idea, and while that is true, and we need not live our lives in fear of making the wrong decision, at the same time we have this other truth that we are not perfected/in glory yet.. we still tend very much towards our selfish decisions which like to blind us very much from God’s life.
As to the other comment, it’s nice that there’s some other descriptions of this, and interesting that, merging the languages, my ‘ideal’ would be explicit and intrinsic. I’m curious though, that psychology would deal with religion as identity.. that some are ‘prone’ to religion more than others. Which is just plain whack. All ppl need their spiritual side(which colours the rest of their life) ‘fixed’– some just admit it.
As well, “extrinsic religiosity refers to the part of religion that is self-serving and social in nature” is a great line to throw at ppl who choose church based on personal preference alone… which is another topic I’m ready to go off on!
Jim said,
January 14, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Psychology and science both assert that religion is merely a crutch for those folks not confident or secure enough or evolved enough to realize that they make their own destiny. All crock, of course – as you say, all people need their spiritual side because that’s how we’re built. It’s the part of us that makes us distinctly human. It’s also the thing that makes the vast majority of the people on the planet look for some set of religious beliefs that focus on God or a set of gods. The spiritual side of a human knows that they are in need of something to fill that gap. We Christians have Jehovah God, the only personal God anywhere in any belief system in the world. It’s the thing that makes us unique and the very thing that should drive us to seek God’s will in every little thing we do. We just take this uniqueness of our faith for granted, just assuming that God will always be there like some protective Father who will step in if we take a mis-step and fall in a hole. Except that God sometimes lets us fall in the holes of our own making, just so we’ll learn to rely more fully on Him the next time.
I think I just had an ‘ah-ha!’ moment there, Mark. Reminds me of a few of our discussions from Cedarville. I need a whiteboard…
ThePhantom said,
January 15, 2007 at 10:36 am
I remember ya’ll with the whiteboard discussions well. I agree with fadingdust in his assertion that “but that is NEVER EVER an excuse (though we use it as such!) to not ask God about something & think we can/have read his mind.” This is an ongoing process of asking seeking and finding God. Jim is also absolutly correct in saying that God sometimes lets us fall in holes in order to trust him better.
The weird thing about God is that he plans our mistakes, and also holds us responsible for them. In our neat and ordered western mindset this doesn’t work, but for everyone else not western it works just fine. God is infinite and we are finite, its not something meant to be completly understood.
Thus relying on God for guidance (praying and asking him), and him changing our will to be more like his both work. As time goes on our prayers and desires become like Christ, but this is never divorced from daily seeking his wisdom for our decisions. Fadingdust i must agree.
Jim said,
January 15, 2007 at 11:29 am
Phantom, we need to get you your own WordPress blog.
fadingdust said,
January 15, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I kinda like having 7 comments from 3 ppl! It makes me look popular/cool!