<\/p>
Cultures have traditionally been rivers (Z. Bauman). The current carries everyone along in the same direction, whether or not they like where they\u2019re going. When someone asks, \u201cWhy are we going this way?\u201d it\u2019s a sufficient answer to say, \u201cWe always have.\u201d The only way to go a different direction is to jump out of the boat and find your own river. <\/p>\n
If traditional cultures are rivers, modern culture is a sea. We can choose any destination or path we like, drift aimlessly without a direction, or change destination every time the winds shift. Etymologically, the word \u201cheresy\u201d means \u201cchoice,\u201d and as many sociologists have pointed out, in the modern world we are all \u201cheretics.\u201d <\/p>\n
Our choices have grown exponentially in the past century. Even in our little town, we can choose to eat Chinese, Mexican, French, American, Italian, and probably a half dozen other cuisines. A hundred and fifty years ago, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to make it ourselves, or you were at the mercy of the local music club or symphony hall. With our iPods or CD collection or computer, we can choose from thousands of pieces of recorded music in hundreds of different styles. <\/p>\n
We can choose to spend next week in Maui, or to talk this afternoon to a college friend in Kuala Lumpur. These choices were not available in previous generations, and with those opportunities to choose come the burdens of choice. <\/p>\n
How should Christians respond to this unprecedented expansion of choice? It is not wise to be nostalgic for the simpler days of the past. Solomon says, \u201cDo not say, \u2018Why is it that the former days were better than these?\u2019 For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this\u201d (Ecclesiastes 7:10). <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s also not wise for us to think that we know how to handle the world we\u2019ve made. We don\u2019t; and a first step to handling it wisely is to recognize that we\u2019re na\u00efve children surrounded by thousands of new toys. We shouldn\u2019t be nostalgic or defensive, but we should be suspicious, because the world around us is dazzling and seductive. And John says, \u201cDo not love the world.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cultures have traditionally been rivers (Z. Bauman). The current carries everyone along in the same direction, whether or not they like where they\u2019re going. When someone asks, \u201cWhy are we going this way?\u201d it\u2019s a sufficient answer to say, \u201cWe always have.\u201d The only way to go a different direction is to jump out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-1-john"],"yoast_head":"\n