A touch of honesty

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 05 February 2007 07:04:38

There are certain things that one takes for granted within the evangelical sub-culture, particularly during church services. One of these concerns the nature of church; it is a place where certainties are expressed (even if not actually held), the collective silence about "real life" compared to the "biblical ideal" (unless being used to illustrate the fact we are sinners or unfinished works) is an unspoken act of hypocricy that is generally engaged in without question and under no circumstances should people be required to be really honest (unless for the purposes of prayer or testimony).

Therefore, if you find yourself in a service where you are all behaving as adults, talking honestly around complicated issues in a way that relates to contempory 21st century Britain rather than a Victorian ideal and being able to come to differing conclusions without it being a problem the only way to describe it is culture shock. At the moment we are wrestling with the big questions in the evenings at church, looking for biblical understanding and the whole think is a culture shock.