or here's an excerpt:
Civic participation is not creating more bowling leagues or boosting membership in traditional community groups such as the Lions Club or the Elks, whose numbers have dwindled for decades. Today's social capitalists are investing their time on their own terms.
"People are not members of the old hierarchy organizations," says Ronald Inglehart, professor at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and president of the World Values Survey, which conducts surveys about social values and beliefs of people in several countries. "They have much looser ties but many more ties. Lots and lots of loose ties."
4 comments:
Ryan-
I came across your blog after linking you from bikehiker- my mentor and cousin. Just a couple of items I thought you should know...
Masonic lodges have been around for centuries. George Washington, was, in fact, a mason. The eyeball-piramid dude on the back of our dollars? Masonic imagery, grandfathered into our money by the founding fathers themselves. I don't know a whole lot about Masons, but that's not for a lack of trying. This so called fraternity, as well as others, swears members to total secrecy, forbidding anything about who they really are to leak out to the general public. I don't know what sort of denomination you ascribe to, if you ascribe to one- John Hay Jr. (bikehiker) and I are Free Methodists, and our denomination does not allow membership in the Brotherhood of Free Masons or any other fraternity for that matter. The idea behind this rule is that the church needs to be this- your comment on the loose tie of a bible study in college, for instance, further illustrates my point that this is exactly what the church is lacking. We should not need to be tied to any other organization for brotherhood. Our allegiance should be to Christ and his Church alone, but sadly, we keep missing the ball on this one.
Interesting posts, however- I look forward to continued reading in the future.
Hey, Liza- Thanks for reading & posting!
That's an interesting take on the Masons/fraternities/etc. I guess it begs the question: would Jesus join a fraternity? Or a civic club? What about a PTA? A neighborhood watch? A singles group? A PAC? A country club? A bar club?
Those are some good questions to ponder.
A pastor I used to work with used to say that Free Masonry was "Luciferian." So I wonder: is that something that Christians should avoid altogether because of its imagery? Or is it part of the culture we should engage and change?
Ryan-
I don't think Jesus would join anything. He didn't have kids, and the scene was a little different, so I'm not sure about a PTA, but that is a little different from a Masonic lodge.
Singles group? Definitely not. First of all, the Son of God was not looking for a spouse, but biblically, we shouldn't be either. Paul says not to seek to change our marital status, whether we are single or not. I think there is a lot of wisdom in this that is completely ignored by the giant baby-machine of the modern megachurch.
Country club? No. no, no no.
Bar club? Though he may have helped fill a few kegs in his time, I doubt it. Though this may come closest.
You don't need to "join up" in secular cliques to find connections with people or try to make the gospel hip or exciting. The authenticity and love of the disciple of Christ should compel those who come in contact with it to make a choice. People should always be making a choice when encountering the true Christian. When truth stares someone in the face, they have to choose to respond to it or walk away. We become all things to all men by showing them the complete, holistic self; not molding ourselves to their images by taking up commitments and memberships in organizations that are loyal only to themselves.
Once again, a thoughtful reply, Liza. I, too, have a hard time seeing Jesus at a country club. But, I'm not as quick to draw lines. Were Jesus in our culture, he might well "join up" with some group. For instance, would he join a church? Certainly so. Then would he join a parachurch group - say, Campus Crusade or Promise Keepers or Jews for Jesus? Maybe. Then, how about a church softball league or a city softball league? Or a local chapter of Audoban or the Sierra Club? From there, it's a short leap to the Christian Coalition or Democratic Party fundraisers or charity golf tournaments. I think, where on that spectrum we draw our "line" that says "Jesus wouldn't do this" depends a lot on our upbringing and other factors.
I would challenge you on one point: "the Son of God was not looking for a spouse, but biblically, we shouldn't be either. Paul says not to seek to change our marital status, whether we are single or not. I think there is a lot of wisdom in this that is completely ignored by the giant baby-machine of the modern megachurch."
I don't agree that Paul counsels people not to change their marital status. The text says (in part): "Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that...But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion."
If Paul was saying, "If you're married, stay married. If you're single, stay single", then I guess it would only be people who become Christians after marriage who could marry? That would certainly limit the growth of the church, not to mention marginalize centuries of Old Testament teachings about training up children in the way they should go and how children and grandchildren are gifts from God. Certainly, not everyone is "the marrying type" - by God's design. But Paul's advice is to refrain from marriage if possible - that is, if you can do so without "burning". Paul is saying stay single if you're given that "gift." Otherwise it's better to marry. (For a library of enjoyable and approachable comments on this idea, see the works of Derek Webb/Caedmon's Call).
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