Re: my objections to the many fads and trends in spiritual
growth and church growth. They are
marketed, and explained, in the same way that diets are. There is a continuing stream of things that
just look like they should work, darn it. This food should burn calories. It only stands to reason that this
timing of eating should be better. There’s an experimental tidbit that suggests
women who ate/didn’t eat these animals/vegetables/minerals lost an average of 7
lbs, so doing that twice as hard for twice as long should result in losing 28
lbs. Shouldn’t it? There is a range of scientific evidence
behind each of these diets, from credible to ludicrous. Which, come to think of it, is one step ahead
of many spiritual plans. Those sometimes
have an n=1. One church, one
pastor. Sure, that should generalise to
a billion people.
Can we try these on mice or something first?
I think I’ve made this analogy before.
4 comments:
Where's the Like button on this thing?
I posted this link in comments on Chicago Boyz a little while ago: you may recognize the author. Kenneth Roberts on diets
If you had the stomach for it you could do the same thing at any "christian bookstore".
There is a continuum along which people tend to experience food. We tend to fall, I think, somewhere between the polarities of perceiving food as useful and perceiving food as beautiful. It is my observation that people who lean more toward viewing food as merely useful worry a great deal more about food. Various quantities of types of food must be controlled, optimized, avoided or eschewed completely or we risk "food failure."
Yet those who view food as mostly through the lens of beauty seem less concerned. They just want to enjoy it.
I think the same sort of dichotomy runs through most of our lives including church. Are we "getting the most out of church?" Are we "doing it right." Or do we view it as a time to enter into the presence of God and revel in the beauty of his love and holiness.
I'm sure I reveal my own bias in this comment. ;-)
And an excellent bias it is, too.
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