Tag: monasteries

Mystery of our humanity

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

Mystery of our humanity

[Bible references: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25; Isaiah 59:1-21; Matthew 5:32; 19:4-6; John 8:31-47; Romans 5:12-21; 6:1-23; 7:1-25; 8:18-25; 12:3-8; I Corinthians 2:14; 7:1-40; 12:1-31; Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:11-16; 5:21-33; Hebrews 3:12-14; 3:4]

What is the role of spiritual gifts?

God gives spiritual gifts that to different individuals for the building of the body of Christ. These gifts include exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, prophecy, service, teaching, administration, apostle, discernment, faith, healings, helps, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, teaching, tongues, tongues interpretation, wisdom, apostle, evangelism, pastor, prophecy, teaching, celibacy, hospitality, martyrdom, missionary, voluntary poverty. Different congregations stress different sets of gifts and some congregations will claim that some of the gifts have ceased.

What are the roles of families, marriage, and singleness?

There is a sense in which the church family transcends the biological family. The church family consists of every baptized adult, single or married and all adults can be considered as a parent to all those who are baptized after their own baptism. In a healthy congregation, the single and married adults socialize and serve together.[1]

There has been some contention regarding the roles of male and female. In some congregations, male and female are considered to be equal in all ways, but in others, they consider men and women to have equal value but complementary roles in marriage and within the congregation, where women are not allowed to have authority over men.[2]

Some congregations exalt the value of marriage and the value of procreation. Certainly, marriage reflects the Trinity, but the exaltation of marriage is sometimes done to the denigration of singleness, where the unmarried are not considered to be as mature or fulfilled as the married. In the other direction, singleness is sometimes held in high view, as the unmarried are seen as available to serve the church more whole-heartedly without the distractions that come with marriage. This view is particularly seen in the Roman Catholic denomination where convents and monasteries are available for the unmarried to serve the church and where unmarried men are available to serve as priests and bishops.

What is the role of sexuality?

Most of the church has regarded heterosexual sex within the bond of marriage and celibacy outside of marriage to be the norm, but an increasing number of congregations have become affirming of same-sex marriage. Added to that, post-modern thinking has led to the degradation of gender identification according to biological characteristics while promoting gender identification according to cultural or personal feelings. This transition has led to a rejection of the traditional male/female identification in favor of an unending array gender identities and to an increasing acceptance of transsexuality even within parts of the church.

Some congregations have fallen into the habit of choosing to simply reject people who don’t conform to the overall culture of the congregation, with this rejection being amplified by those people who don’t conform to the congregation’s sexual or gender norms. This is contrasted to other congregations that while not affirming non-heterosexual sexuality or the non-binary gender identification, desire to show acceptance to people who experience same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria without outrightly affirming same-sex marriage or gender transitioning.

How is our sexuality not just a physical issue but also a spiritual one?

There is a profound difference between human sexuality and the sexuality of other creatures. Because humans are made in the image of God, the union of husband and wife reflects the union of Christ and the church. The physical and emotional intimacy and intensity reflects of the intimacy and intensity between Christ and the church. The love and sacrifice of Christ for the church should be reflected in the love and sacrifice of the husband for his wife. The sexual union is not just a physical union, but it is a spiritual one.

[1] Hackman, Gordon. “Hauerwas on Marriage, Singleness, and the Church as First Family”North of the Tracks 3 Mar 2007 gordonhackman.blogspot.com/2007/03/hauerwas-on-marriage-singleness-and.html ; Griffith, Ryan. “Single in a Church of Families” Desiring God 16 July 2021 www.desiringgod.org/articles/single-in-a-church-of-families; Ware, Graham. “Marriage, Singleness, “Family Values,” and the Church” Pass the Salt Shaker 19 Mar 2015 www.desiringgod.org/articles/single-in-a-church-of-families; Treweek, Dani. “Singleness Lessons I Learned from the Early Church” Christianity Today 2 December 2021 www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/december-web-only/celibacy-singleness-early-church-lessons.html

[2] Roat, Alyssa. “What are Complementarianism and Egalitarianism? What’s the Difference?” Christianity.com www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-are-complementarianism-and-egalitarianism-what-s-the-difference.html

Observe

Read I Corinthians 12:1-31. How does the distribution of spiritual gifts relate to the church as a body?

The contributions of the church

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

The contributions of the church

[Bible references: Matthew 5:13-16; Hebrews 10:19-39; James 2; 3:13–18; 1 Peter 2:11-25]

The church is the Body of Christ consisting of all, now and in the past, who have acknowledged their sins and have accepted the forgiveness that God offers through Jesus Christ. Awkwardly, we now have an assortment of organizations that label themselves this church or that church, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant Church, etc. But these are only different organizations in which we can find members of the Body of Christ. For that reason, this book will use the term “church,” with a lower case “c” to refer to the entire church and use the term “Church” with an upper case “C” when referring to individual local bodies of the church.

The church consists of all those members of the Body of Christ, past or present, who may be found in any local congregation or denomination or sadly, sometimes not connected to any group of fellow believers. It is the members of this church that, driven by beliefs, have throughout history made many contributions to society in all sorts of various ways. A few examples:

Science and Education

  • Whitehead and Oppenheimer insisted that modern science could not have been born except in a Christian environment.[1] Many pioneering scientists were not only theists, but Christians: Newton, Pasteur, Kepler, Paschal, Fleming, Edwards.
  • One hundred of the first 110 universities in America were founded for the express purpose of propagating the Christian religion.[2]
  • Scientific knowledge was preserved and developed in monasteries and in the universities founded by the church during the Middle Ages.[3]
  • The Christian Missionary Society taught 200,000 to read in East Africa in one generation: Secured the abolition of widow-burning and child sacrifice, founded the educational systems in China, Japan, and Korea.[4]

Health Care

  • In AD 252, the Christians of Corinth saved the city from the plague by responding to the needs of those who were simply dragged into the street.[5]
  • Monasteries served as hospitals (treating even diseases like leprosy), places of refuge. Monasteries also developed agricultural skills and knowledge.[6]
  • During the Middle Ages, the Benedictines alone were responsible for more than two thousand hospitals in Western Europe. The first free infirmary was at Monte Cassino. The first public hospital in Western Europe. When the city of Edessa was ravaged by plague, established hospitals were open to all who were afflicted.[7]

Social Justice

  • Wilberforce, along with Buxton, Macaulay, and Clark, were all evangelicals who were converted under Wesley’s ministry, and were the top leaders in ending slavery. Anthony Ashley Cooper (Earl of Shaftesbury, self-described “Evangelical of the Evangelicals”) pioneered child-labor laws, prohibited women working in the mines, established mental health sanitarium, built parks and libraries.[8]
  • “It was extremely common in the Greco-Roman world to throw out new female infants to die from exposure, because of the low status of women in society. The church forbade its members to do so,”[9]
  • Pagan widows lost all control of their husband’s estate when they remarried, but the church allowed widows to maintain their husband’s estate,[10]
  • In the ancient world, infanticide was not only legal, but it was also applauded. It was the early Christian church that ultimately brought an end to infanticide.[11]
  • A fifth century monk, Telemachus is credited as being the pivotal force ending the gladiator spectacles,[12]
  • The respect for those who are poor and lowly, a concept embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is based on the premise that all human lives have worth and that all lives count equally derives from Matthew 20:16 “So the last will be first, and the first last.”
  • Christians regularly and consistently cared for the poor, both Christian and non-Christian,[13]

Governance and Economics

  • The origin of the separation of church and state and the concept of limited government because the state must respect the conscience of each person comes from Matthew 22:21 – “to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”
  • Theologians in the Middle Ages were the first to develop the basic rules of economics, and the monasteries spread throughout Europe were flourishing centers of business activity,[14]

The Arts

  • Shakespeare’s writings were heavily influenced by Biblical themes[15]
  • Beethoven wrote music to inspire faith[16]
  • Leonardo da Vinci created many Biblically themed works of art[17]
  • The emperor, Constantine, built monumental churches in Rome, Byzantine, and Palestine[18]

[1] Varugheses, T.V. “The Scientific Age” The Daily Hatch thedailyhatch.org/2013/10/31/was-modern-science-born-out-of-the-christian-worldview

[2] William, James. “The Social and Historical Impact of Christianity” Probe probe.org/the-social-and-historical-impact-of-christianity

[3] Flynn, John. “Christianity’s Contribution” Catholic Online 28 Nov 2007 www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=5250

[4] William, James. “The Social and Historical Impact of Christianity” probe.org/the-social-and-historical-impact-of-christianity

[5] William, James. “The Social and Historical Impact of Christianity” probe.org/the-social-and-historical-impact-of-christianity

[6] Newman, Simon. “Monasteries in the Middle Ages” The Finer Times 29 May 2012 www.thefinertimes.com/monasteries-in-the-middle-ages

[7] Hart, David Bentley. “The Ethic of Caring for the Sick” Stand to Reason www.str.org/blog/the-ethic-of-caring-for-the-sick#.XiBmNiNOnIU

[8] Turnbull, Richard. “Shaftsbury: The Great Reformer” Knowing & Doing Fall 2015 www.cslewisinstitute.org/Fall_2015_Shaftesbury_The_Great_Reformer_page1

[9] Faith Facts “The Impact of Christianity” Faith Facts www.faithfacts.org/christ-and-the-culture/the-impact-of-christianity

[10] Keller, Tim. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism Penguin Books 2009

[11] Silver, Sandra Sweeny. “Infanticide in the Ancient World” Early Church History earlychurchhistory.org/medicine/infanticide-in-the-ancient-world

[12] Preston, S.G. “Telemachus: The Monk Who Ended the Coliseum Games” Prayer Foundation prayerfoundation.org/favoritemonks/favorite_monks_telemachus_coliseum.htm

[13] O’Brien, Brandon J. “The Social, Economic, and Political Commitments of the Early Church” Christianity Today   www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/spiritualformation/faithaction.html

[14] Flynn, John. “Christianity’s Contribution” www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=5250

[15] Bishop, Tom. “Shakespeare and the Bible” Academia.edu www.academia.edu/12388291/Shakespeare_and_the_Bible

[16] Mauro, JP. “The little discussed faith of Beethoven” Aleteia 12/22/19 aleteia.org/2019/12/22/the-little-discussed-faith-of-beethoven

[17] Demar, Gary. “The Impact of Christianity on the World” The American Vision 15 Dec 2009 americanvision.org/1403/impact-of-christianity-on-world

[18] Faith From Evidence “Christianity and Architecture” Faith from evidence www.faithfromevidence.org/christianity-and-architecture.html

Observe

Read Matthew 5:13-16; Hebrews 10:19-39; James 2; 3:13–18; 1 Peter 2:11-25.  How is the church encouraged to do good deeds?