Give Me That Old Time Religion, Is Good Enough for Me?
Just as plants need sun, water, and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and connection to something larger. That something larger might take various forms, but a sense of connection to God is it’s most visceral incarnation. And that kind of connectivity is hard to replicate. [1]
Times are changing. People are no longer subscribe to religion because it is the religion of their parents. People are following their own spiritual instincts, “looking for a more direct experience of the sacred, for greater immediacy, spontaneity, and spiritual depth”, in the words of an astute observer of the American scene. [2]
More people are educated in the 21st century, then the former centuries and the world is experiencing a time in which intellectual and science reigns of religious belief. One cannot believe in God and science or intellect simultaneously, for to believe in God on must be Intellectually Delusional.
The notion that one cannot be both intellectual and spiritual is absurdity since Christians invented the university and the foundation of most universities, including Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Georgetown, just to highlight a few. Sciences even find their roots in Christianity, yet science is seen as antithetical to Christianity. [3]
Yet, the problem today is not that one can not be intellectual and spiritually, it’s the desire to become more intellectual in order to replace spirituality. It’s as if spirituality, the stories of the Bible, personal spiritual experiences and God himself are trying to be explained away. But the more the science try to debunk God the more evidence reveals that there is something higher than ourselves that created the universe.
“To some extent, of course, we Christians have dug our own grave. The entrenchment of the culture has led many believers to lose touch with their heritage, while Christians and atheists alike assume that secular means normative.”[4]
Changing the narrative is fundamental in the Christians’ capacity to meet their opposition face to face and brace themselves adequately to address the hard questions in our society.
Several years ago, the Hard Questions craze had people running through the front doors of many churches in South Florida. The realization of facing the world concept of life, relationships, sexuality and God, were mainly the focal points. As the years went by, opportunities to ask the hard questions or even to be equip to answer the hard questions faded into the background and the world started answering the questions meant for the church.
However books such as Confronting Christianity 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion by Rebecca McLaughlin gives many believers of Christ ample foundation truths to answer an array of hard questions; it also gives skeptics new insight to the world of Christianity.
There are plenty of areas in this book to glean clarity and knowledge to adequately speak intellectually and confidently Christianity and it’s truths. However for this particular blog, the focus is on the question of justice and the Christians response to justice as highlighted under the first chapter of this book, Aren’t We Better Off Without Religion?
Our society is full with eras of injustices including the present, and unfortunately Christianity has been stained with either being tied to these injustices or avoiding participation against injustices. Thus, as the Church remains divided between the Great Commission and the Great Commandments, injustices are taking place, and there are limited voices of reason and reconciliation on the battleground.
Consequently, the question of justice should not be up for debate. As McLaughlin explain in The subsection on Forgiveness is Foundational that forgiveness ethic is coupled with the command not to take revenge. But this is not ultimately an abandonment of justice. Rather, it is an acknowledgement that final justice lies in the hands of God. Christians are commanded to protect the weak and vulnerable, but not seek their own revenge of vindication[5].
In other words, Christians are not to seek revenge we they have been wronged, they are still called to stand up and seek others, for this is a attribute of true religion. The true religion, that old-time religion in which my parents found their foundational truths of love, charity, and justice for all. The religion in which the widow, the orphans and the oppressed are cared for and the gospel and the Christian stance are uncompromised by the influences of the world. For James 1:27 says, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained [e]by the world.
Therefore, give me that old-time religion because it is good enough for me.
[1] Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), Loc. 659.
[2] Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2018), 506.
[3] Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), Loc. 429.
About the Author
Shermika Harvey
2 responses to “Give Me That Old Time Religion, Is Good Enough for Me?”
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Give me that old-time religion because is good for me. I love this with the prevailing challenges facing religion and mostly Christianity. As we try to live in the postmodernity period with a generation that has a distorted history of Christianity, it’s becoming hard to convince children raised in Christian homes to be Christians. In fact, it is easy to convert those who are not Christians from their parents than those whose parents are christian. Here in Africa, we are facing a challenge with Pastor’s children who end up rebellious to Christianity than those kids of ordinary members of the church.
Thanks for sharing this Shermika.
Hi Mimi. I loved your quote that “the notion that one cannot be both intellectual and spiritual is absurdity since Christians invented the university and the foundation of most universities.” I agree that it is a complicated issue. I have kids in the medical field who are leaning towards the belief that either science is right or Christianity is right. Yet, both can be right if you look at it all thru the right ‘Light.’
You then explored that ‘the problem today is not that one cannot be intellectual and spiritual, it’s the desire to become more intellectual in order to replace spirituality. I soooo agree with you on this point. Why can’t intellectual beliefs and spiritual beliefs work hand in hand? It has created confusion for so many that the choice is presented as one vs the other.
I also agree with your belief that Christianity has been stained with being tied to injustices or avoiding participation against injustices. I have found this true in my work in human trafficking. Churches don’t want to embrace the human trafficking fight, partially because of the sexual abuse stigma. Yet, didn’t Jesus reach out to the lost (including the prostitutes)? I just don’t understand….