Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Christian and Culture

Social critic Jacques Ellul issues a challenge we should heed: “The Christian has a prophetic mission to try to think before events become inevitable.” (Doug Groothius)

I've been pondering this issue some. I believe what Mr. Ellul meant was that we of all people should be thinking ahead about issues so that when we address them we speak prophetically. In some ways we have done this—abortion comes to mind—in other ways we have not. Take television for example, or cyberspace, or our addiction to entertainment. Have we really thought through the long term implications of giving ourselves over, night after night, to sitting in front of a box that projects electronic sounds and image at us? How does this affect the soul? Our interaction with our neighbors? Our own development?

We don't know because we've never given it any thought, and what affects us will affect the culture at large, only more so.

No comments: