Miracles.
God incarnate.
Angels and demons.
Visions and prophecies.
Creation ex nihilo.
The Holy Spirit indwelling the people of God.
The Bible is full of stories and ideas that are offensive to modern, naturalistic sensibilities. This should come as no surprise, of course, as the Bible is the story of God's creation and redemption of mankind. It is a supernatural book. Acceptance of the Bible, and of the religion it sets forth, requires a belief in the supernatural.
For most people this is a given. It should be a given. Why, then, does modern Christianity try so hard to avoid sounding superstitious? Why do we attempt to make our religion, and our Scriptures, palatable to the world by toning down the supernatural nature of our beliefs? Why do we de-emphasize the miraculous nature of our faith and downplay the spiritual realities that transcend our five senses?
Modern Christians often look back with scorn upon the sacramentalism of past generations, scoffing at the idea that physical signs could confer spiritual graces. We think that the Early Church and Medieval Church were so superstitious. The irony, of course, is that the faith of our spiritual ancestors was far more physical than our own. Their worship defined their lives and engaged their entire beings--mind, soul, and body--while ours is often wholly rational or mere lip service. In a culture, and a Church, that has so deeply imbibed a secular/religious dualism, our religion often loses this holistic character. In our modern attempt to escape the superstition of the sacraments, we have lost the connection between the physical and spiritual, the natural and the supernatural, the immanent and the transcendent.
Maybe we need a little superstition. Maybe we need a little mystery. Maybe we need to stop worrying about how we are viewed by a world that refuses to believe in anything beyond this present life. We claim to have the answers to the origin of the Universe, right? We claim to know the meaning of life, right? We claim to have the secret to eternal life, right? Then why are we so afraid that people will view us as silly, backwards, or superstitious?
There is more than this life, but there is not less than this life. You cannot truly live this life, or the next, without embracing both the natural and the supernatural. There is a part of every man that longs for more--more than this body, this world, this life. Christianity, true Christianity, has always maintained the balance between the body and the soul. The Church is where these distinct-yet-united aspects of humanity intersect. The modern Church would do well to seek this balance once again, embracing the supernatural without fear of being labelled superstitious.
God incarnate.
Angels and demons.
Visions and prophecies.
Creation ex nihilo.
The Holy Spirit indwelling the people of God.
The Bible is full of stories and ideas that are offensive to modern, naturalistic sensibilities. This should come as no surprise, of course, as the Bible is the story of God's creation and redemption of mankind. It is a supernatural book. Acceptance of the Bible, and of the religion it sets forth, requires a belief in the supernatural.
For most people this is a given. It should be a given. Why, then, does modern Christianity try so hard to avoid sounding superstitious? Why do we attempt to make our religion, and our Scriptures, palatable to the world by toning down the supernatural nature of our beliefs? Why do we de-emphasize the miraculous nature of our faith and downplay the spiritual realities that transcend our five senses?
Modern Christians often look back with scorn upon the sacramentalism of past generations, scoffing at the idea that physical signs could confer spiritual graces. We think that the Early Church and Medieval Church were so superstitious. The irony, of course, is that the faith of our spiritual ancestors was far more physical than our own. Their worship defined their lives and engaged their entire beings--mind, soul, and body--while ours is often wholly rational or mere lip service. In a culture, and a Church, that has so deeply imbibed a secular/religious dualism, our religion often loses this holistic character. In our modern attempt to escape the superstition of the sacraments, we have lost the connection between the physical and spiritual, the natural and the supernatural, the immanent and the transcendent.
Maybe we need a little superstition. Maybe we need a little mystery. Maybe we need to stop worrying about how we are viewed by a world that refuses to believe in anything beyond this present life. We claim to have the answers to the origin of the Universe, right? We claim to know the meaning of life, right? We claim to have the secret to eternal life, right? Then why are we so afraid that people will view us as silly, backwards, or superstitious?
There is more than this life, but there is not less than this life. You cannot truly live this life, or the next, without embracing both the natural and the supernatural. There is a part of every man that longs for more--more than this body, this world, this life. Christianity, true Christianity, has always maintained the balance between the body and the soul. The Church is where these distinct-yet-united aspects of humanity intersect. The modern Church would do well to seek this balance once again, embracing the supernatural without fear of being labelled superstitious.
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