The Vulgar, Profane and Dishonorable

Though I enthusiastically espouse such epithets, how effective am I at embracing and embodying it?

Embrace Silence

When an Armor becomes a Straightjacket

"The culture is put on as though it were armor against self-doubt, but it becomes a mental straitjacket which cleaves to the flesh and can never be removed except through comprehensive faith in the saving work of Christ."  Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of the Spiritual Life.

This means that we often use our cultural identity as a form of protection or defense mechanism, but it can also limit us and restrict our ability to grow and change.

Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people

"Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did." Tim Keller, The Prodigal God.

Can You Learn, Unlearn and Relearn from the "Inerrant and Infallible" Bible?

Learn, Unlearn, Relearn. The "conservative" Pharisees believed that Moses, their Torah and the Prophets (the Old Testament) were inerrant and infallible (Ps 18:30; 19:7; 119:89; Prov 30:5; Dt 8:3). It thus formed, framed and fixed their thoughts, consciousness and even their unconscious such that it could never change for any reason, not even upon seeing supernatural miracles (Jn 14:11). In order to learn they needed to unlearn and relearn their very own Scriptures. The problem was that they used their faith in their Scriptures to justify being closed, fixed, rigid, inflexible and not being pliable and open. They couldn't accept the welcoming and forgiveness of "horrible sinners" (Lk 15:1-2). They were "old wine skins" (Mt 9:16-17; Mk 2:22; Lk 5:37-38) stubbornly unwilling to be "born again" (Jn 3:3, 5; 1 Pet 1:23). Thus, they could not learn, unlearn or relearn anything from the Bible they claimed to believe in.

Learning Requires Unlearning

This profound quote by Australian missiologist and theologian Alan Hirsh explains why we Christians might get severely stuck--like the Pharisees. But this quote may be quite uncomfortable, unnerving, disconcerting and disagreeable to some (Disciples are learners and learning requires unleaning):

"In the NT the disciples of Jesus are called "learners" (matheiteis). A disciple can therefore never leave learning behind, and consequently can also never leave unlearning behind. No one can learn, who is not prepared to unlearn. (Learning) is gained only by those who break out of boundaries that have been set, who venture out of fixed paths into the unknown, and who do not let their heart and head be stunted by routine. ...only by what we can unlearn do we show whether and to what extent we are capable of learning."

Theme of Salvation: Acts 1-28

"For my eyes have seen your salvation" (Lk 2:30). "...which you have prepared in the sight of all people: a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel" (Lk 2:31-32).

• Salvation is [entirely] what God does for you + [it is expressed by] what you do [i.e. how you live] that reflects your salvation (Phil 2:12-13).
• Salvation is not "going to heaven after you die," but it is your life while you are still alive existentially speaking.
• Salvation in Scripture is communicated not just for the individual but for the entire community/nation (Exo 19:5-6).