Secular or Pagan? / Old Truths, New Perceptions
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Straight to the Cross
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In today's Forthright:
Secular or Pagan? by Emmett Smith
Old Truths, New Perceptions, by Michael E. Brooks
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COLUMN: Understanding the Times
Secular or Pagan?
by Emmett Smith
A British newspaper article dated last June 16
discussed the upsurge in paganism and witchcraft
in the U.K. over the past decade. The article
credited television, the internet,
environmentalism, and feminism as partially
responsible for the increase. It stated that the
number of visitors to Stonehenge had roughly
quadrupled since the mid-nineties. I believe
Britain is at least a generation ahead of the U.S
in achieving a truly secular society. But the U.S.
is certainly headed in that direction.
Multiculturalism insists that all of these
different belief systems are equally valid, so
those who believe that the Bible is absolute truth
and that Jesus is the only way of salvation are
not readily tolerated. We've all heard the
statement that there are no such things as ghosts.
But if you look to Scripture you won't find that
idea at all. Instead, both Old and New Testament
Scripture simply forbid the godly person's
involvement. And that includes learning about
these things.
Christians must resist absorbing popular culture.
In fact, our real challenge is to influence our
culture for the better.
Thus says the LORD: "Learn not the way of the
nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the
heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,
for the customs of the peoples are vanity"
(Jeremiah 10:2,3).
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COLUMN: Field Notes
Old Truths, New Perceptions
by Michael E. Brooks
I arrived back in the United States this week
after three months in South Asia. I have endured
the normal two days of travel, jet lag, culture
shock, and all the by now familiar experiences of
my particular version of "mission work". They have
once again reminded me of a number of old truths
that have often been well expressed by many more
qualified persons than myself, yet remain worthy
of frequent repetition.
"Security cannot be achieved by X-rays or body
searches." I for one am willing for airport
authorities to do whatever is necessary to guard
against terrorism. Yet true security is not a
physical matter. "If God is for us who can be
against us?" (Romans 8:31).
"Cultures differ; people remain the same,
worldwide." It is so easy to mistake surface
differences for real distinctions between people.
So often I hear certain behavior excused because
"I'm Bengali" or "That's the Nepali way," when in
truth, it is just plain sin, common to all people
of all places. Dress, language, customs vary, but
human nature and needs remain the same. "For I am
not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God to salvation for everyone who
believes, for the Jew first and also for the
Greek" (Romans 1:16).
"Nothing worthwhile comes without effort." I feel
ashamed to complain about or even notice the
"hardships" of modern air travel, knowing the
weeks or months of much more difficult travel that
was commonplace just a few decades ago among those
committed to preaching the gospel. Yet the fact
remains that it is an exhausting process to travel
long distances. Yet whatever one does that is
worth doing requires work. "For which of you,
intending to build a tower, does not sit down
first and count the cost, whether he has enough to
finish it" (Luke 14:28).
"Different doesn't equal new." There are those
infatuated with anything new. Others cling to the
traditional. Things new to us may be practiced
frequently by people in other places. Things
traditional to us would be new to others who have
never seen or known them. Difference and newness
are neither good or bad in themselves. Practices
and beliefs must be proven by another standard,
that of truth. "That which has been is what will
be, that which is done is what will be done, and
there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes
1:9).
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