I Wanna Talk About Me

I didn’t create this site as a discussion forum. I created some evangelistic material for a church website back in 2005. I passed the domain on to someone else a few years ago, so I thought that it might be nice to create a personal site, tweak some of the old material and add some new material.

There’s an abundance of Christian resources on the web that’s much better than anything that I can create. But one thing I can include is a personal element. I like to listen to Christian testimonies myself. And if someone preaches in church who isn’t particularly gifted, I can still enjoy them if they express their individuality. I wouldn’t want a bad preacher trying to imitate some great preacher such as Martyn Lloyd Jones. But if they include personal anecdotes and how they apply certain passages to themselves, I enjoy that. So that’s what I try to do.

I’m not sure if many people explore the main pages on my site – those that I put a lot of effort into creating. But I discovered the Daily Prompt last year, some weeks after I created the site. And here, I generally discuss music and Christianity and show my silly side😀. I wouldn’t like the world to consist of stereotypes.

Back in 1980, when I committed my life to Christ after being a largely nominal Christian for most of my life, I started attending evangelical churches. When I was a Roman Catholic, most people, apart from old ladies, were reluctant to discuss religion. When they did, it was a little like discussing UFOs or astrology. You didn’t get the sense that they believed it. And those that were religious had more interest in Roman Catholic traditions, such as apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary that had no basis in Scripture.

So, when I became an evangelical Christian, I was pleased to be in churches where people enjoyed talking about their faith. But in such environments, sometimes people tend to talk about little else. I soon wanted more balance. I’m always happy if I read a Christian blog where some gifted preacher talks about his personal tastes in secular music. Some of the more fundamentalist churches tend to resist any kind of “worldly culture”. I once heard someone say that they wouldn’t do anything if they couldn’t imagine Jesus doing it. So, because they couldn’t imagine Jesus going to a football match, they wouldn’t go 😀.

Back when I was a Roman Catholic, you’d hear of orders of monks or nuns who cut themselves off from culture. Sometimes it can be a little tempting to do something like that. You imagine yourself becoming superspiritual, and maybe it can be an escape. I remember that sort of thing being discussed in the Sound of Music.

But when you look at the life of Jesus, he didn’t start a sect that cut themselves off from the world. He mixed and mingled, something that the Scribes and Pharisees criticized him for.

It’s true that worldly culture can be a bad influence. Back in my teen years, if I heard of some punk rock star getting into a fight on stage, I’d be impressed. And I’d see pop groups like the Bay City Rollers as effeminate. The funny thing is, I watched a documentary about the Bay City Rollers some years ago, and they were tough guys from Glasgow. And they once had a big fight on stage 😀. I never really wanted to be violent, and I’m sure that many girls who like slutty female stars don’t want to be slutty themselves. Maybe we see pop stars or movie stars in the way that we see characters in a movie. Anyway, where you go or what you listen to is a matter of individual conscience. There are aspects of worldly culture that even atheists would be shocked by, so I’m sure that most Christians do abstain from certain things that might not be sinful in themselves but that might seemed to endorse sin.

But if a Christian dislikes worldly culture, I have no problem with that. I just don’t like people making arbitrary rules and looking down their noses on those who don’t keep them. I’m sure that I’ve done that myself in my time.

So, what does the New Testament mean when it speaks of worldliness? I think it means a world that puts God out of the picture and disregards and even despises his commands. And in that sense, no Christian would want to be worldly. Here are a few old and new hymns that encourage us to abandon worldiness:

Romans 12:1-2
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.