I Cry Language Revolution!

I’m reading a book that is rocking my world. It’s called Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy. It is a serious read, not for the faint of heart, but if you interested in being stretched you should check it out. One of the most eye-opening portions thus far has been about Plato and how his philosophical perspective has shaped Christianity.

If you remember from your Philosophy class in college, Plato believed in a duality of good and evil– all things physical being evil and all things spiritual being good. This made for a problematic existence. If all physical things are inherently evil, then evil is impossible to escape. It is in the air we breath, the clothes we wear and the furniture on which we sit. Plato, a secular thinker, obviously didn’t know Jesus, the sinless man.

The issue discussed in Total Truth is how Plato’s philosophy of dualism enters our Christian Worldview. While we would not claim that ALL physical matter is sinful, we do draw lines around SOME physical matter and call it sinful. Tobacco for instance, is almost universally considered evil matter in conservative Christianity. We separate the good things (church, bible study, suits and skirts) from the evil (tobacco, rock music, and tattoos). We draw lines of morality based on traditional connotation rather than biblical principles. We ignore motivations, intrinsic value and intent, and choose instead to  make create a duality of spiritual vs. secular activities.

We quote, “Come out from among them and be ye separate,” and ignore 1 Timothy 4:4. We cite Biblical teaching to be “in and not of” to refer to a specific set of physical vices that we grew up being forbidden to experience, when all along God is trying to get us to bring a Christian worldview with us into the culture in which we find ourselves. We create an alternative cultural atmosphere in which we can live “separate” from the “world”, and yet our understanding of that Biblical principle stems from Platonic philosophy!

God’s Word teaches that Christian philosophy should pervade every aspect of our lives, that no part of this world exists beyond the reach of God’s influence. We amputate portions of our culture because they have been tainted by sin, and wholeheartedly embrace others. This duality creates a dangerously wide cavern between the spiritual and secular parts of the world. We understand what God’s Word teaches about church, but what does it teach about theatre? What Christian principles guide the actions of an engineer or an architect? Many young Christians  find themselves chasing after “spiritual” professions under the false assumption that God’s work only takes place in the spiritual workplace of a pastor or missionary.  I myself became greatly disheartened  that I had to abandon my passion for theatre because God was calling me into the ministry (which in mind couldn’t possibly include a secular activity like acting).

This duality is dangerously pervasive, and while I knew that something was amiss in my own thinking I couldn’t put my finger on it until I read Nancy Pearcy’s masterful explanation of it in Total Truth.

So… how then shall I live? Everwhere, everyday living out Biblical principles in concert with the way that God made me. Confront the culture rather than condemn it. Live a life set-apart, not from traditionally evil objects, but from secular worldviews.