20 March 2024
I believe the authors stumble on the third section of this chapter. Indeed, I believe they have mishandled a rich opportunity on the whole chapter. What they do manage to say is that your church is your true spiritual family, and that we should learn to think more collectively about this. But they spill a lot of words without addressing some critical issues.
Yes, westerners tend to think of the church as just a club they join. That's because churches are run like clubs, not like families. All the rhetoric about brothers and sisters is just noise. When churches start acting like a spiritual collective, then this discussion will fit the biblical model. R/OB won't go there. They call for the results of going there, but stand outside the place where those results live.
They mention how our missionary message to collectivist societies is missing the target because of our individualist culture. But they have no real solution. They will not embrace the biblical model of collectivism. Thus, we are not speaking to the hearts of the people there on the field.
It goes like this: The Elect are your real family in Heaven. It's not necessary to abandon your earthly family, but only to recognize that you take on a far higher identity if the Lord calls your name. We are adding a higher dimension to their human existence. When you yank decision theology out of the picture, things make a lot better sense. Then you aren't shaming your family and abandoning them to Hell. You submit to Christ because He calls to you in your spirit, and you become a far better member of your family collective because you seek to glorify Christ in how you continue loving and caring.
R/OB are still selling individual salvation, so they themselves do not really get the message of collectivism from the Bible.
The authors note that our English language is missing a distinction between "you-singular" and "you-plural" that almost every other language has. Thus, English translations of the Bible don't distinguish for us. It's a big source of misunderstanding. I am not aware of any English translation that tries to resolve this issue. For example, in 1 Corinthians 6:19, every "you" is plural. We have a long way to go.
The final questions of this chapter still reflect the authors' limited grasp of the subject. They mention how few of us would be able to embrace the real meaning of Paul's comments in 1 Corinthians 12 about all of us being different parts of the same body. It's true that we should not find ourselves saying, when things at a church get really complicated, "I don't need you!" The problem is that this seeks to bind folks to the same individualistic formal communities that would never qualify as "family" under biblical terms.
However, they recount an interesting story of how a young fellow in Indonesia stowed away on a boat headed to Jakarta. Half-way there he was discovered and put ashore in a place where no one knew him. But then, he recalled that someone at home mentioned a distant relative who lived not far from where he was put ashore. After asking around, he found their house. He introduced himself according to their typical clan connections -- son of so-n-so who is brother to so-n-so, etc. The man asked a few questions and then welcomed the boy into the household.
I seriously doubt any of us could do that here in America. And if we could, we wouldn't want to, because we couldn't stand to be stuck in close quarters with our individualistic refusal to fit in. I'm thinking this would require a very radical shift in Christian teaching in America. What do you believe are the chances of that?
Comments
Jay DiNitto
"The authors note that our English language is missing a distinction between 'you-singular' and 'you-plural' that almost every other language has.'
It's interesting, though, how we fill in this gap, regionally, with "ya'll" or "yinz" (in Pittsburgh) or "yous guys." Those are considered slang or even humorous words, which I'm sure says something about how we collectively (haha) view the collective "you."
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