Truth be told I have not finished chapter one yet...I am a meer 3-4 pages away from it. I have found I can't tell you ALL of my thoughts or all of the highlights in this chapter. Its simply too long of a chapter and it would be too long of a post. My hope would be that you have this book or that you will get it because it really says things better than I can and it says much more than I can. I am going to give you just a few points that the first chapter makes. I am not even going to really scratch the surface of the depth of this awesome book. I really would encourage you read this book if you are interested in the stuff that I post about today.
The First thing that really made me think was the fact that in today's culture there is a secular/sacred and also Public/private split split in our minds. Most Christians without even really think about it just live out their christian walks at home and church. They do not live out their christian lives in the workplace and in other areas outside their church and home. Its not they they act wild or wrong but they simply fail to display God to their coworkers around them. I am not saying they should annoy people with gospel tracts and shove Bibles in peoples faces but they should stand for what they believe in when the opportunity arises. Whenever we talk we should be talking with a biblical perspective (or at least trying too as best we can) and be ready with an answer to unbelievers who ask important questions which brings me to my next point...
We must make sure that we are equipped with an understanding of what the Bible says and what we believe. We must have a Biblical toolbox of sorts. You need to figure out at least what the Bible says and what you believe about these three basic principles.
1. CREATION
2. THE FALL
3.REDEMPTION
You need to equip yourselves as a christian to be able to always give an answer. That does NOT mean we will always have a good answer for a difficult theological question right there on the spot but we should be able to at least verbalize the basics of what we believe and why. Also we should always be honest if we do not know and we should say " You know, I don't have an answer for that right now...let me research it and look into it and get back to you" and then you should do that very thing. Research and figure things out.
The last point I want to make is not really all that related to the first two but thus far is the thing that has stuck out most to me while reading this book...
We can and should have a balanced Godly approach to secular media,books,movies, and music. How can we do that though?
#1 We as Christians should have a distinctly biblical perspective (you get this through studying the scripture,memorizing and meditating on it) and when you have a Christian worldview and perspective you already have the tool to analyze and critique the world compared to what God says. We should be applying this biblical perspective while we are watching or reading worldly media.We should be in our minds contrasting what they are saying or doing to what God would have us say or do. Contrasting their ideas and God's ideas and seeing what matches up and what doesn't.
#2 We should have a respect and we should appreciate certain aspects of secular media. We should appreciate all secular media in the fact that God has given us all creativity. We should appreciate the quality of some secular literature while lovingly critiquing it and analyzing it we should do the same with the color and composition of secular art and so on. We should have compassion on the artists and authors who have not come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ our saviour. We should pray for them and reach out to them in love instead of shooting down all their work before even considering that they are lost and do not know any better.
These are just a few of MY thoughts and highlights of the book. Again its not a thorough review of chapter one. Some of these statements are more of my thoughts than what is actually in the book so all of this may have not have actually represented the book fully these are just my overflow of thoughts that came before even finishing the first chapter.
If you have any thoughts on any of the above or if you would like to extend on some of the stuff from the first chapter that I did not get a chance to write about. Please, Leave a comment. I would love to discuss it with you!
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