Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Meditation in a Toolshed
"Meditation in a Tool shed" was a very interesting read. This essay talked about analysis either "at" or "along." Thinking "at" is more of an external or scientific analysis, while "along" is more of an emotional thought process. This led me to think of how this could be construed for a Christian life. As Christians, we have a highly emotional bond with God, high enough that our bond would generally be considered along. However, a very integral aspect of Christianity is evangelism, and looking along may not be the smartest strategy for converting nonbelievers. Let's consider Lewis' savages for example. We people of the Western world look at their rituals for crops, rain, and babies as unscientific and ridiculous. Yet, in perspective, how different are the rituals of the savages to those of Christians? To an outsider, they are a complex, rigid scene of oddities. However, these outsiders have not yet gotten the emotional connection to look along with these beliefs. So in order for a Christian conversion, we must use an "at" process to spread our convictions. However, there are limitations in using such a lens, and those being converted must slowly be adapted to have an emotional, or "along" view of Christianity. In other words, we must use both at and along thinking to have the highest probability of conversion.
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I agree that to be an evangelist it is necessary to use both the at and along viewpoints. Before someone can truly provide the wonderful joys of Christianity one must understand that person and their beliefs. A nonbeliever can look at Christianity but to change that to a long is what evangelism is all about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nate here and I like how he used the example of the savage and how we look at the savage's rituals and beliefs and then how the savage looks at our rituals and beliefs. I also agree with Nate that we need both perspectives if we are to convert someone to Christianity. We first must use the "at" process to understand where they are coming from, then slowly we can begin to integrate the "along" process.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with both the above comments and just want to reiterate even more what was already said in that if we limit ourselves to looking and practicing only one of the "along" or "at" we will not only be unsuccessful in our evangelism but we will turn people away from the truth of the gospel.
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