Finding out how to live in the world without being of it has always been difficult. But we need to continue to think hard about it each generation.
“Beyond the pages of the New Testament even a casual history of the church discloses an incredible diversity of situations in which Christians have found themselves: persecuted and reigning, isolated and dominant, ignorant and well educated, highly distinguishable from the culture and virtually indifferentiable from it, impoverished and wealthy, evangelistically zealous and evangelistically dormant, social reformers and supportive of the social status quo, hungry for heaven and hoping it won’t arrive to soon. All of these polarized possibilities reflect diverse cultural self understanding. Inevitably, in most generations Christians have pondered what their attitudes ought to be.”—D.A. Carson
More posts on this in the days ahead.