Carl Trueman states, “Some weeks ago, I penned a piece on Ref21, arguing that the trendy Christian infatuation with cultural interaction was problematic at a number of levels. Well, a review of the film, Milk over at the Gospel and Culture project is good evidence of a number of my points.”
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The whole thing is extremely difficult to work through. But whether I’ll see “Milk” is no problem at all. The very thought gives me the willies.
It’s a dilemma.
1. If you don’t engage the culture, you’re basically saying to the rest of the world that it can go to hell. Maybe literally. Clearly not what a loving God wants you to do.
2. If you do engage the culture, the culture engages you. Who wins is up for grabs.
What is the solution? Charedim (ultra-Orthodox Jews, although many of them dislike that label) often choose #1. In their defense, they don’t believe in eternal damnation except for people who work really hard at being evil.
But you’re Christians. You believe that God Himself told you to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. You need to engage the culture.
Homosexuality is a part of the culture. You can no more ignore it than Elijah could ignore the local Ba’al temple. You need to engage it, maybe create stories about the way that homosexuals should handle their tendencies.
Something like this, except Christian (I’m not sure if that aspect is shown by Amazon – but it’s in the book).
Different Christians are different, having come to Christianity out of different circumstances and life histories. Some parts of the culture are so awful that no one should partake, but other parts are not. In the latter case you need to evaluate how it will effect you (you, proper, not some generic Christian) verses how many non-Christians you are interacting with that it might help you talk to. You need to consider your weaknesses and strengths, and the circumstances you find yourself in.
A lot of Christians, particularly our young people, don’t seem to be very good at this. There is a generic desire to not look judgemental, which interferes with discernment.
Thanks, Nigel. Well said.