Emerging Africa

Hey guys,

I sometimes wonder if we shouldn't take a closer look to which sides our personal philosophy and theology scale tips?

I find sometimes that I tend to give the philosophical terms by which I classify and interpret my world a much higher value or priority than I do to my theological understanding of my world. Or in other words I sometimes lean towards [in my case, what's your's?] accepting a more post-modern philosophy as my base worldview and then try to understand my theology through this worldview. I'm finding though that we are called to have a base biblical worldview and from this then interpret external worldviews/philosophies. This doesn't mean that nothing can be accepted from other worldviews/philosophies, actually, I think if we look close enough there would be a lot of truth to be learned from some of the principles of say, post modernism, but I suspect that these truths would then easily fit into a healthy biblical worldview [seeing as all truth is from God]. The point is though, that we should first establish our base worldview and then interpret using that as our measure. Now this most probably seems very evident at first but I really want to throw some practical observations in to show that we sometimes miss the mark in this. I will also use stories from my own life as an example, maybe some of you can share your experience or even your thoughts on what I offer from mine.

I'll start with two experiences concerning some of Post modernism's principles/concepts:

1. I'm a post modern Christian.

Ha ha, this used to be one of my pride and joy. A title to my Freedom Charter. I was riding the wave of post modernism and it offered me everything from safety and identity to freedom and grace. It seemed that the grace encapsulated within pluralism was exactly what my little world needed but it wasn't long before that grace completely destroyed any clear understanding of mission or purpose I ever had. You see as soon as I accepted Post modernism I sort of accepted it's principles on a very foundational level and this almost destroyed my faith. You see I accepted pluralism instead of grace. Fine line, but it happened.

During this process I took up trying to learn and understand the core of post modernism rather than just the implications this core has on the secondary beliefs I accepted so easily and here a huge dilemma surfaced. I'm sure I don't have a complete handle on post modernism but let me throw some key concepts out at you. Let's take this one for starters: There is no single, all inclusive meta narrative. How about this one, there is no substantial self, human beings make themselves who they are by the languages they construct about themselves. Also, ethics, like knowledge, is a linguistic construct making social good whatever society takes it to be.

Guys, it seems like these three directly contradict God's story (single, all inclusive meta narrative), man as God's image, fallen but being conformed to the image of His Son (no substantial self) and the 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes [not forgeting all the other instuction on ethics found in scripture] (ethics as linguistic construct.

Now, the question I have is this: Can I call myself a postmodern Christian when post modernity at it's core rejects many fundamental Christian concepts?

Or should I call myself a Christian, striving to be humble, and open to learn from other philosophies/worldviews truths which I have missed in my theological rearing after I have found then inline with scripture [and because of this accepting them as from God]?

What beliefs have you accepted from post modernism that are contradictory to scripture?

Is it acceptable

2. Reconstruction

Yes. Deconstruction. The weapon of the post modernist. I'm not going to spend a lot of time here though, just enough to repent. This is a weapon that I really got good at using. Initially it offered me a lot of security. I could just about dismantle any offer of truth that anybody chucked at me. And this sort of created a space where I could be safe and secure in knowing that I'm okay being confused, it gave me an excuse to procrastinate. And it also made me feel smart. I found some sort of sick pride in the fact that I could cause others to doubt the truths they held so deeply and I had absolutely no discernment in identifying when I should deconstruct and when not. I would really confuse or cause doubt in every one around with no real motivation to bring truth afterwards. I would just confuse then and leave them.

And I have to tell you that if you accept post modernism as a base philosophy/worldview this deconstructive madness just sort of permeates your whole being and causes skepticism and suspicion wherever you go.

You see God really had to challenge me on my motives for deconstructing. Why was I doing it? Sometimes it was necessary and it would be followed by life giving truth but mostly it sprouted out of skepticism and then caused confusion and distrust.

What are your motives for deconstructing?

Does your deconstruction flow out of distrust or trust?

Do you have trust issues?

Do you trust God?

Ha ha, after all this I really saw that I actually have a deep seated trust issue. I didn't trust God, not completely. Anyways, God challenged me on two things then: 1. Start trusting Him and 2. When deconstructing, reconstruct giving hope.

Always reconstruct, using hope as your measure.

Remember scripture says loves believe all and confusion is not from God. If you are causing confusion, you are not in God's will. ;-)

Be blessed!