EXPERIENCE AND STRATEGIES
Postmodern functionality and the means of interacting within the church are in the process of forceful entry into the position of re-evaluating the methods concerning enacting efficient evangelistic efforts in the cultural mix of the un-redeemed. Effectiveness is best determined now by transitory qualities of transmission that bridges the gaps of credulity and message content in the almost exclusively rationalistic presentational means of expositing the message. Abandonment philosophies that reject the personal equation of Christian moorings personify the moral dilemma of the Enlightenments let down of hope for universal advancement of human qualities is now eloquently being spoken about and witnessed in the postmodern attempts at dialogue. Caught in this nihilistic vortex of social disillusionment of the systemic lack of accreditation of Christian worth, there has now raised, almost Phoenix like in the midst of the mental carnage that has been strewn amok, new vocative expressions of personal encounters of the divine sort, crying out like mystical voices from the wildernesses abyss.
God is being found among the very portals of educational queries that had purported to estrange Him when the mood that had considered rejection to be the vogue form or proper mannerism was the prevailing ideology. A broadening array of new endeavors is forcing the previously dilapidated model of open dialogue, as found in the guise of logical assumptions constrictors, to once again be pursued by those who consider themselves the intellectually elite. Engaging agnostics, skeptics, atheists and extraneous religious voices for comparison and input, Christian communities on campuses across America are creating a neuvoux experience of communicative duration: open-ended dialogue designed to incorporate alternative views with the penultimate objective of demonstrating Christianities superiority.
Rather than falling into a pretentious denial of other necessities existence, this bold new world of apologetics embraces the spirit of Pauline extemporaneous projections as was witnessed at the Mars Hill discursive (Acts 17) by the Apostle Paul: engagement over dismissal. Ironically, Christianity may be in the process of rescue, freed from the Enlightenments reducible trap of irrelevance by an unlikely ally: postmodern’s retreat into the haze of premodern tribal vagaries. When matters of faith and communal impact are considered as non-equals, Christianities ability to liberate humanity from the negative impact of hubris exclusionary confinement is severely restricted. Demonstrations of this magnanimous purveyance are seen in the purview of politics that highlight this reality. The objective contrast of societies based on Christian principles versus other religious extrapolations bears out the superiority of Christianities impact on the anthropological concerns of societal advancement.
Abuses have occurred within the governments that espouse Judeo-Christian principles as foundational considerations, no doubt. The ability to self-correct can become the capitalist systems bane, as they are forced to cede to the will of the very market that empowers them, and few are ever willing to give up self-interest over others needs. However, economic matters force corrective action to be enacted for profits sake, all the while still advancing human rights and freedoms ringing principles come into the equation as secondary considerations. The ironic potentialities cannot be denied as the direct result of these forces of finances creates opportunities for the easement of exploitative practices. The ability to promote justice, equity and the promotion of human dignity thrive in systems of jurisprudence that embrace the doctrine of redemption and deny enslavements abhorrent behavior the right to exist copiously couples well with governments that value the individual and the corporate necessities of equality in matters of finance.
The metanarratives’ of Christianity affectively influencing society positively is a profound argument for the viability of adherence to Christ along sociological configurations. Adaptation and an attitude of general practitioners over specialists in evangelism should be a primary concern of precedence for the church. Connections are achievable through meaningful expressions of lifestyle coupled to the irreducible qualities of truth expressed through living, sentient beings.
CHRISTIANITY and TELLING the TRUTH: POSTMODERN LIES
Gospel truth carries within itself a compulsion for expression that, when true to the truthfulness of its propositions cannot be contained or restricted from the message’s innate ability to be expressed. In a culture that no longer sees value in humanistic advancement, Christianity stands at the crossroads of opportunity for unparalleled greatness in this present context of unsurpassed lack of relevance. The determinative result remains to be seen. As the loss of social bearings become more acute, as business ethics are mired in the trap of amoral practices that allow unbridled personal gain to prevail over corporate responsibility, as political aficionados reinvent themselves, shape-shifting in the morass of moral ambiguity, as religious suppositions are reduced to mere guidelines for humane treatment, the urgency of the Gospels power must become a primary consideration again. It is a message that needs to be unleashed by the church.
Pleasure and entertainment are powerful aphrodisiacs that have lulled the current cultural expression into a position of fantasy, shielding the postmodernist from accurately appraising truths forceful adaptation. Part of the problem lies within the churches ineffectual attempts to insert itself into the conversation of meaning among those who live outside the churches bounds. Augustinian and Calvinistic predeterminative formulations have induced many within the body of Christ to approach social responsibility in a laze faire manner of skeptical gratitude. Unregenerate persons can be viewed as a form to be profited from in a business-like function, although an urgency to redeem is significantly less acute.
The technocratic synthesis of society and science has produced new opportunities for dialogue to be entered into between churchmen and those who live outside of the churches influence. The increasing sterility of a society that finds its greatest ability to connect in the anonymity of the Internet is both troubling and loaded with possibilities for interaction. Meaning is an invaluable commodity that is attainable through relational connections. More than ever, the significant interloper of the Christian community stands on the horizon, waiting to embrace the ‘whosever’s’ of the ‘whatever’ philosophy of postmodernism thought procedure.
Once again, let a new crop of Paul’s approach the postmodern Mars Hills with the unrelenting necessity of conveyance of truths unswerving propositions. There are posits that cannot be reduced or deconstructed. These propositions stand outside of the circumference of negotiations constraints. They are eternal in their magnitude and are synonymous with their very author: the God of Gods. Whether these intransigent postulations are embraced or not does not have a bearing on their truthfulness. May this message of the Lord of the universe as entrusted to the church never fail in reaching the desired end of intent as the un-locker of the human soul’s travail.
