Praise the Lord and Pass the Gun Scope

I heard an interesting story on NPR the other day about a company that supplies gun scopes to the US military. What’s peculiar about these scopes is that they engrave a Bible verse on the scope, next to the serial number.

Christians in America often mix patriotism and Christianity. This example of Christ Above Culture is particularly troublesome when these scopes are used in the war against Islamic terrorism. It almost implies that the battle is between Muslims and Christians. Although some Muslims have phrased the battle in this way, most American soldiers do are not fighting because they are Christian.

Salvation Mountain! Imagery Rising From The Desert Plateau Photo Gallery by Dan Chusid at pbase.com

A couple weeks ago on PSB I heard about this: “Salvation Mountain! Imagery Rising From The Desert Plateau Photo Gallery by Dan Chusid at pbase.com“.

It is a neat example of Christ Above Culture

Chic-fil-a, Christ and culture

I’ve written about Chic-fil-a in my blog before, regarding its view of Christ and culture. As I sit here today I noticed their music: not just Christian contemporary but also a little country. Interesting. Do they equate country music as part of Christian culture?

Meeting with God in the outdoors

DavidZimm posted a photo:

If I had a dime for every time a hunter told me that their church is communing with nature when they go hunting, I could have personally financed this Bible. As you see in the photo, this is the Mossy Oak bible- marketed towards outdoorsmen. It is an example of Christ Above Culture for its use of popular culture to promote Christ.
blog.zimorama.com/

Blog Action Day: Christ and the Environment

Lately in the Christian world there has been an increasing debate over environmentalism. Some would like to include environmentalism among the other political issues Christians feel are important. Others reject environmentalism as an unnecessary distraction- for various and sundry reasons.

As with most opinions on controversial topics the complexity of reasons can only be surpassed by the diversity of opinions. In order to better understand the reasons behind various Christian perspectives towards the environment I would like to filter the opinions through the eyes of H. Richard Niebuhr.

Niebuhr was an American theologian who is perhaps best known for his typology describing the various ways Christians engage their culture. In his seminal book on this subject, Christ and Culture, Niebuhr divides Christianity into five different perspectives based upon how they might approach their culture.

Back to the topic of the day: how would a proponent of one of Niebuhr’s particular categories approach then environment as an issue?

Thy Kingdom Come

I’ve been preaching a series on the Lord’s Prayer lately (with the help of the Simpsons) and was wondering how people from different perspectives on Christ and Culture would mean “thy kingdom come” when they pray this in the Lord’s Prayer.

Slate.com: Pop Goes Christianity

Slate.com has an excellent article reviewing a new book by Daniel Radosh, Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. This article shows how Christians have embraced culture and began creating their own culture to parallel secular pop culture. It asks some engaging questions about what happens to the Christian message when we do this.

Many of the attempts of Christians to use the culture around them reflects a Christ Above Culture outlook. They are using parts of culture to promote Christ. This motive can easily be lost. One day you are producing rock music to attract people to Christ and the next day those same people- who are now Christians- want to purchase your music and only your music. That’s when we begin to sell out to culture and fall into the Christ of Culture perspective.

The Puritans Transforming Culture: The Mayflower Compact

The other day I caught a new show called, Drive Thru History. I don’t watch the Trinity network much (which is an example of Christ Above Culture by the way), but every once in a while they come up with something worth watching. This show is like something you might find on the History network but from a Christian perspective (another example of Christ Above Culture). Although this Christian influence negates any neutrality (as if the History channel is ever neutral) and this limits the scope of the show (for instance, they skipped the entire Protestant Reformation) I enjoy watching it.
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Anyway… the episode I watched talked about the Pilgrims coming to America. Most people know that these people were Puritans- resisting the corruption, in their minds, of the Church of England. In the context of a discussion of Christ and Culture, the Puritans are often quoted as an example of Christ Transforming Culture. The Mayflower Compact is a great example of this.

Christ, Football, and Culture

My sister-in-law told me that she recently saw an ESPN interview with Tim Tebow, Heisman winning quarterback for the University of Florida, where he spoke about his faith. It is great to see such a great guy become so successful. It is also neat to see him use his fame as a football player to promote Christ- an example of Christ Above Culture.

This reminds me of a time when I met another famous quarterback. Although he is not famous enough for me to actually remember his name, he played for the Bills (I think) as a backup quarterback. Through a series of coincidences he ended up playing a playoff game and helped his team win, despite the predictions to the contrary. With his success, this quarterback used his moment of glory to point to Christ.

Who is on the Lord’s side?

Sometimes when people describe the interaction between Christ and Culture they use phrases like, “culture wars.” This invokes images of Christians valiantly fighting off the influence of the world or reminds people of Fundamentalists who have belligerently forced their beliefs on other people- depending on which side of the war you find yourself on.