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Brian on Do you have the right to be you?

Brian — 6/14/2006 1:47:00 PM

Charlie,
I think that the first instance is awkward since it suggests that some ways of thinking are like clothes that you put off and on at will. If you are moving to a church far enough away to have a different sports team, you are moving to a different culture.
You can learn to be a fan of a different team, but learning to think like them? Thinking in noticably different ways is not something that you can really adopt. A pastor does need to try to connect with his congregation. He needs to understand and respect how they think. If, instead, he tries to change their culture, he will frustrate all involved.
Another flaw in this example is the assumption that the church doesn't develop leaders from within. We get our leaders from the seminary, the pastor-factory.

Charlie on Do you have the right to be you?

Charlie — 6/7/2006 10:03:00 PM

Here are some specifics

1. Dr. Wagner in his pastoral care class discussed how a new pastor should act in a new church. The pastor should take on the loves and thought processes of the church. He should become a fan of the local sports team and not a diehard fan of the team of his youth, put his kids in the local school system (even if it isn't the best), dress like the people, and think like the people (especially if they are a rural church and he is from the city).

2. A guy said that he sent an application in for a job. With this application, he sent a picture of himself dressed rather colorfully, not the usual type picture to get a job. He said that he wanted them to know what they were getting. Someone else echoed the thought, saying "You have to be you."

Brian on Do you have the right to be you?

Brian — 6/6/2006 9:44:00 PM

I may be taking this conversation off on a tangent, Charlie, but you seem to be seeking a Biblical corrective to a rampant emphasis on individuality.
I have wondered about the demotion that Jesus receives when someone makes him their personal savior. Or the line, â€œJesus would have died for you even if you were the only person on earth.â€ By casting faith in such individualistic terms, we devalue the community of faith in favor of a one person/one God â€œall about meâ€ relationship.

Sam on Do you have the right to be you?

Sam — 6/6/2006 7:53:00 PM

I think I'm having a response similar to Brian's...maybe you could give some examples of what you mean.

Regarding the incarnation. I might suggest that God spoke to us in God-language. Here i am tapping in to the idea of general revelation. I take general revelation to be much more broad than just the earth, sky and mountains. I think God speaks in all creation, including the design of man. Thus, I see a person able to control the creation at will (via miracles) as the ultimate expression of God-language. Sure Jesus could have spoken modern english to them (and may have spoken KJV if you listen to some crazies), but that would have been not just bad form, but nonsense.

Regarding Paul. One might say that Paul's "to the Jew, a Jew" approach was his personal tack. I am not certain that we can take that statement and make it directive. In the NT examples, he seems to have been unique in this approach (remember the novelty of James' declaration that they lay no further burden on the Gentiles than that they abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication).

Here are my initial thoughts, but I'd be glad to come back to this topic if you want to clarify a bit.

Brian on Do you have the right to be you?

Brian — 6/5/2006 7:47:00 PM

The examples you cite have an evangelistic purpose in them, but your question seems to be a bit more general than that.

I would also suggest that we don't really have much option, but to be ourselves. Is â€œasserting who â€˜weâ€™ areâ€ the same as demanding our own way?