Rebellion

Today my mind is going crazy. This might be due to the fact that I drank two cups of coffee and took a  b-complex vitamin all before 7 am. My mind is energized and is spastically delving into the many topics that are consuming my mind. I want to share just one for right now.Unlike my other thoughts of the day this is just a little one. He entered my mind randomly, quickly processed, and now is ready to be tucked back into the recesses of my mind. This thought is the different faces of rebellion. More so how rebellion is inescapable for our lives.

My thought process went something like this: We (Christians) view the secular world as people who are "living in rebellion." But rebellion has infiltrated itself in more than just the secular world or culture. It is given that due to the fall of creation, culture is now in rebellion. Because culture is in rebellion the "church world" is in rebellion against culture. We have created our own separate culture filled with veggie tales, christian private schools, christian apparel, christian music, christian politics, christian books, christian movies, christian jewelry, christian anything to set us apart (to rebel) against secular culture.

In the five seconds that I spent processing this an issue instantly came to mind. If we are training our children to rebel from everything the world offers what is that instilling in them. Hate towards the lost? Mindless acceptance of anything "christian"? Is it instilling a rebellious spirit that will rebel from Christianity? I don't really know all the paths it could lead, but I do see some danger.

Growing up I was taught that Christian things are good, secular things are bad. I am grateful for this on some level because it did protect me for a time. But I was strong willed enough as a child that as I reached adolescence my critical thinking skills overtook any instant acceptance I had towards rules, ideas, or philosophies on how we should be living the Christian life. I had to work and am still working at not rebelling from culture or "christian" things and integrating them both. There is goodness in secular culture, there can be a balance. We can flee from evil while still influencing culture and being apart of society, even secular society.

Its time to stop rebelling and start integrating.