Of course there will be diversity in the new earth, but I haven’t said anything about diversity. What I’m trying to be clear about (and perhaps I’m failing) is segregation, not diversity. There’s nothing wrong with differences and I suppose that in some cases (where there is a language barrier) segregation may be necessary. However, the American south does not suffer from a language barrier between blacks and whites.

Second, if the primary, secondary or tertiary question that we ask ourselves about worship is, “Do I like it?” or “Is it to my taste or preference?” then we are simply asking the wrong questions about worship. Sometimes I wonder if, during our worship according to our cultural preferences, God isn’t somewhere saying, “I thought they came to worship me.”

I’ve had people in our church tell me that they didn’t like a particular song or kind of music and my response is usually to tell them, “We’re not singing to you.” If it honors God and my only real issue is that it isn’t my “style” then there is a problem and it is with me.

I think we are so absorbed by our consumer culture that we don’t realize how deeply it affects this very issue.

As you wish…

Check out my blog.
:-)

Sola Gratia!

i wish that some of you at sbctoday would put a picture of pat sajak beside a picture of wes kenney, and let every one decide if wes could pass as pat sajak.

david :)

it is not sinful for a culture (which runs many times around racial lines) to worship together in harmony with their cultural heritage…come on now! I don’t like Black Gospel and neither do I like Southern Gospel! I have a different culture…to force everyone to deal with just one is not necessary at all.

it would be wrong to discourage inter-racial congregation and it would be wrong to force cultures together artificially as well…because it is not humanly possible to divorce worship from culture because all worship involves WORDS and expressions and sounds…

I don’t time now at all…but could if I did…explain how there will be racial and cultural diversity on the new earth as well. Randy Alcorn wrote a fantastic book called Heaven that really brings this out.

i said that i wished that blacks and whites would go to the same church…down here….right now. but, they dont. some of it is probably racists thinking. other parts of the reason is probably cultural. if its racists thinking, then it is wrong…sinful. if its just cultural…then it’s not sinful. it’s just the different way we do things, and what we prefer. i really dont see that as being wrong, but i wish that we could see beyond minor cultural differences and stay together. this could also be applied to the young and old thing as well.

but paul, homosexuality is just plain sinful. so, the methodists and any one else can say that it’s just the way it is, and they’d be wrong…dead wrong. it’s not cultural…its sinful.

the color of ones skin is another matter altogether, of course.

but, this post is not about the color of ones skin. it’s about the sbc sliding down the slippery slope of liberalism like the methodists did. and, anyone can slide down that slope whether they’re lily white or black as midnite. and, i was responding to the ones who were getting after scott and dr. caner for something that they didnt say. again, i refer to comment #55.

david

You also wrote: “some things are just cultural. other things are just wrong. still others are sinful.” You are exactly correct. What I’m saying is that racial segregation – even if it is voluntary – is not just cultural. It is wrong and it is sinful. I believe the Bible is clear on that.

I have read #55 several times now and I am not disagreeing with what you say there. But when it comes to ethnic divisions I do not believe that the Bible allows us to simply say “that’s the way it is for now. It will be better once we get to heaven.” What’s to keep your Methodist friends from saying that homosexuality is not God’s will, but that’s the way it is down here so we should just go along to get along knowing that God will fix it all in heaven? If the preferences that play a part in this world down here are unbiblical then don’t we have an obligation to say so and to work to remedy that rather than just accept it as the way it is?

If we were talking about musical styles or suits and ties (as you mention in #55) that would be one thing, but racial divisions are a completely different thing. We’re not talking about notes on a page or the color of the choir robes. We’re talking about reconciliation with other human beings, brothers and sisters in Christ whom we largely remain estranged from based on what? Preferences? Well, then those are preferences that the Bible speaks to and against and so should we.

I believe that whites and blacks and Hispanics and Asians all have work to do in this area. It isn’t just a matter of the white southern church, though it is very pronounced in the white southern church.

Surely you do see that racial segregation – even if it is voluntary – is one a completely different plane than matters of dress and style. God initiated reconciliation with us. He could have just left us alone to see how things played out, but he didn’t. He initiated reconciliation at the very expense of his own humiliation in the coming of Christ and his ignoble death on a Roman cross. Do we not also have a positive obligation to initiate reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in Christ who we’ve lived largely estranged from for the majority of our country’s history? I believe we do.

also, some things are just cultural. other things are just wrong. still others are sinful. the clear teachings of the bible and Godly wisdom should dictate which is which.

david

again, i have to wonder if you even read my comment on #55. it seems that you havent, or else i’m not being very clear…although fox and scott seem to think i have been.

it would be wonderful if all the churches were filled with black and white, red and yellow, old and young, rich and poor, etc. but, alas, they’re not. in heaven, we will be together forever. halelujah! yet, we live down here, dont we, paul? we have to live in an imperfect world. where preferences do play a part.

read #55 again.

david