Os Guinness, in his book, Prophetic Untimeliness, discusses our greatest need today. "In other words, what followers of Jesus need is the freedom from the forces of the modern world that prevent independent thinking and living with integrity. Our deepest necessity is to be shaped by our faith rather than by the pushes and pulls of the world."He then discusses the three cultural forces, or sirens as he calls them, from which we Christians in the modern world must be freed; the first two are relevant to us. "The first siren...is conformity, the power of the pull of others. Always a danger in human thinking, the lure of conformity to others' ideas and practices is greatly increased in the age of democracy." In light of this, our children must be educated to think critically and independently.
His second siren is "popularity, the power of the pull of approval." Guinness references John Lukacs and his thoughts on popularity. According to Lukacs there is a danger here of the "rule of the minority in the name of the majority." As the minority takes center stage and becomes vocal, they can rule the more powerful majority through thoughts and ideas.
As we educate our children in a Christian environment, we must educate them to think critically and in higher categories. They must learn to defend their faith in a loving articulate manner and stand strong in the face of opposition. For too long, we have succumbed to the lure of conformity in the name of tolerance and to the lure of popularity in the name of evangelism. If we learn only one thing from these passages then let it be that we do not have to be in majority to make a difference. We live and teach through our Lord, with the power of the Holy Spirit and inside the Truth. An education rooted in these absolutes, when done correctly, ought to be a blazing inferno in a broken world of darkness. Christian education must be synonymous with thinking that is Christian, critical, and correct.
2 comments:
Mr. Bouvier,
I read this blog around the time of my situation with a certain person. At first I was somewhat shocked that this was written around the same time, because it dealt with what the other person was going through in a way. It helped me to see what they were going through and what was pushing them to act the way they were. Seeing where they were coming from helped me figure out what I was going to say to them. I know you said this to me one of the days I talked to you, but I did not realize until I read this after I talked to you. I just want to thank you for everything you have done for me these past few months, and I just want to say that you are amazing for what you do.
And you are very kind. It is my blessing to be part of all of you. Thank you for all that you do!
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