One of the phrases we often seem to use in our speech with each other is "of the world." It's a phrase from the Bible (John 17:13-19, for example). I will offer that the phrase has two main possible meanings in the way we use it.
The first meaning is "inherently sinful." Maliciousness, for example, is "of the world," because it contradicts the nature and example of Christ. However, the phrase can, technically, mean something that didn't come directly from God, but isn't necessarily inherently sinful either, like a potato peeler, or, perhaps less inarguably, bagpipes.
What I'm suggesting is that sometimes, we can tend to take rhetorical advantage of these two possible meanings of the phrase to make something seem sinful, when it actually isn't.
For example, consider the following (fictional) position:
"In Genesis 3:21, we plainly read that wearing animal skins is of God. But then what did the world do? It corrupted God's good gift with all manner of shapes and fabrics, creating a clothing of the world. How will the world ever see the church as anything different if we continue to look just like the world looks, and dress just like the word dresses, and sin just like the world sins?"
Kind of silly, yeah. Technically, my cotton pants are "of the world," but only in the sense that God didn't personally hand them to me, not in the same sense that maliciousness is "of the world."
I'm sure you've heard Christians accuse all sorts of things of being "of the world." One group I once ran with referred to dancing in all forms as "of the world," so any kind of dancing was strictly forbidden among them. You might have even felt an eye or two on you if your hand went up a little during a worship service. One group I knew called drums "of the world," but other instruments were okay, so no drums in church. Another group labelled all musical instruments as "of the world," so they sang their hymns a capella only, to use the "one instrument that God did give us," their voices. One guy I knew firmly believed than any music written in 2/4 or 4/4 timing was "of the world." In some cases, looking in from the outside, it's very obvious when the term "of the world" is being used as manipulation, making use of rhetoric to make something perfectly harmless seem like sin, and to create rules (with consequences) about those things for entire groups.
So just so we're clear, in case there's any misunderstanding, I'm not advocating "license to sin" here, I'm just saying, to burden people with rules that God doesn't hold us to is not okay. Of course, some things are absolutely "of the world" in that they are inherently sinful, and we should be willing to name those things for what they are. But what we should also be doing is examining the way we're using language to make sure our positions are not merely the product of rhetorical manipulation, but that they come from the things we know to be true.
I am curious if other people here have noticed other phrases that are common in "Christian" speech that are often used out of context from how they appear in scripture, and have a similar manipulative effect?
The first meaning is "inherently sinful." Maliciousness, for example, is "of the world," because it contradicts the nature and example of Christ. However, the phrase can, technically, mean something that didn't come directly from God, but isn't necessarily inherently sinful either, like a potato peeler, or, perhaps less inarguably, bagpipes.
What I'm suggesting is that sometimes, we can tend to take rhetorical advantage of these two possible meanings of the phrase to make something seem sinful, when it actually isn't.
For example, consider the following (fictional) position:
"In Genesis 3:21, we plainly read that wearing animal skins is of God. But then what did the world do? It corrupted God's good gift with all manner of shapes and fabrics, creating a clothing of the world. How will the world ever see the church as anything different if we continue to look just like the world looks, and dress just like the word dresses, and sin just like the world sins?"
Kind of silly, yeah. Technically, my cotton pants are "of the world," but only in the sense that God didn't personally hand them to me, not in the same sense that maliciousness is "of the world."
I'm sure you've heard Christians accuse all sorts of things of being "of the world." One group I once ran with referred to dancing in all forms as "of the world," so any kind of dancing was strictly forbidden among them. You might have even felt an eye or two on you if your hand went up a little during a worship service. One group I knew called drums "of the world," but other instruments were okay, so no drums in church. Another group labelled all musical instruments as "of the world," so they sang their hymns a capella only, to use the "one instrument that God did give us," their voices. One guy I knew firmly believed than any music written in 2/4 or 4/4 timing was "of the world." In some cases, looking in from the outside, it's very obvious when the term "of the world" is being used as manipulation, making use of rhetoric to make something perfectly harmless seem like sin, and to create rules (with consequences) about those things for entire groups.
So just so we're clear, in case there's any misunderstanding, I'm not advocating "license to sin" here, I'm just saying, to burden people with rules that God doesn't hold us to is not okay. Of course, some things are absolutely "of the world" in that they are inherently sinful, and we should be willing to name those things for what they are. But what we should also be doing is examining the way we're using language to make sure our positions are not merely the product of rhetorical manipulation, but that they come from the things we know to be true.
I am curious if other people here have noticed other phrases that are common in "Christian" speech that are often used out of context from how they appear in scripture, and have a similar manipulative effect?
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