Dean Inserra

There is not a mission since we have a Church.

Because of the the mission..we have a Church.

Does that make sense? Chew on it.

Ravi Zacharias:

I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts.

He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.”

I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?”

He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.”

I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?”

He said, “That is correct.”

I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?”

All of a sudden there was silence.

You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry. ~via Justin Taylor

Authenticity is a funny thing. God desires it, but He doesn’t need it. He already knows us from the inside out. We can’t keep secrets from God. Authenticity is more about how we act with each other. It’s important to be “real” with each other but if we’re not careful, our authenticity can turn into a badge that we wear. God hates masks…but he also hates badges. -Brad Ruggles

Our generation, don’t fall into the trap of acting like God is somehow impressed with how “authentic” we look on the outside.

At the Well we have been talking about the life/ministry/teaching of Christ as the Gospels tell the story. There seems to be a major disconnect between the Jesus of the Gospels, and the religion we call Christianity.

One of those areas of disconnect we see today is that of separation or disassociation from those who were of the religious establishment in the New Testament would have called sinners or unclean. The life of Christ was very engaged and involved with those despised by the religious elite and they literally could never comprehend the methods of Jesus.

In the early days of American Christianity, the young nation was very theistic. Several of the schools known today as the “Ivy League” were established to train Pastors, and including God in the “public” things of life, work, and culture was the norm.

Of course there were many other factors, but the Scopes Monkey Trials of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, is an obvious place to trace the separate sub-culture that exists in the Christian Community today. At the trial, the “Butler Act” was challenged.  The “Act,” made it unlawful “to teach any theory that denies the Bible’s creation story pertaining to God making humans. The trial brought the creation/evolution debate in the national spotlight and the Butler Act was later repealed in the Tennessee Supreme Court.

There is much more to my VERY short description of the events, but the aftermath of the trial had far reaching influence.

“Fundamentalists” withdrew even more away from the culture at large and many things associated with the Christian sub-culture today were established.

The aftermath also caused those who believe in creation to be viewed as unintelligent.

Part of living an everlasting truth in an ever-changing culture, is articulating one’s worldview in the mainstream of culture and following Christ’s example by engaging with those who disagree. Withdrawing is choosing to follow a path where Jesus did not walk.

How did we get from the Jesus of the Gospels, to what we call Christianity in 2010?

How did we get to Christian cruises, radio, and basketball leagues?

I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure all of that out.

A lot of things point back to the Scopes Monkey Trials.

I am going to be spending a few days trying to trace the sub-culture back as far as I can. I hope we can learn and evaluate where we are, and as Jesus followers…where we are going.