Modern ascetism: Looking for merit?

Paster Shawn has an interestingpost on afluent dumpster diving by afluent vegans called "freegans", along with an interesting take by Gene Veith

Notice the new vogue of ascetism among people who are otherwise hedonists. They wouldn't think of mortifying their flesh by refraining from extramarital sex, but they will diet and exercise themselves with a medieval rigor. They often take drugs, but insist on natural foods. They have refined sensibilities, but they eat out of garbage dumps. My theory: they feel guilty and are looking for merit. Bondage to sin leads to bondage to the law. May they find the grace of God in Christ, who will give them a much better banquet.

 

It's an interesting thought. Are these people dieting, exercising and not eating meat as a form of penance? An even more interesting question is, who are they trying to please with their merit? A divine being? Other people? Themselves?

 

Even Christians can fall into the mistake of confusing guilt with contrition. My experience is that guilt can be more inward than outward. When we are feel guilty our focus is on ourselves. When we are contrite our focus is on those we have wronged. Guilt doesn't really accomplish anything. We usually end up punishing ourselves as we attempt to feel less guilty. But it doesn't do much to help those we have wronged. Contrition leads to an attempt to "right the wrong." If you are Protestant you don't believe that there is any merit to this attempt, but it is an outward sign of the genuine-ness of your contrition.

 

Contrition doesn't often lead to undoing the wrong, but at least it can lead to some good coming out of the wrong. (The good isn't always to those who were wronged, but at least someone benefits.) Guilt doesn't usually work that way.

 

In the end, being guilty over doing something is just as selfish as the act that caused the guilt.

 

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Why I'm Not (just) an Evangelical

The Reformation 21 web log had this quote from Malcolm Gladwell in "Time" magazine:

"One of the big trends in American society is the transformation of the evangelical movement and the rise of a more mature, sophisticated, culturally open evangelical church. Ten years from now, I don't think we're going to have the kinds of arguments about religion that we have today. Even the fight over intelligent design, to me, is a harbinger of a trend, which is that the religious world is increasingly willing to put its issues on the table and discuss them in the context of the secular world. Let's argue about evolution vs. creation, using the framework that secular science has given us. . . .

. . . We will not continue to have this kind of divide between Evangelicals and the rest of society. I just went to an interesting evangelical conference, and throughout, rock bands were playing. The rock-'n'-roll culture within the evangelical world is indistinguishable in terms of the sound of the music from the rock culture that came out of a very different, irreligious secular tradition, except that the words are about Jesus--love and all that. They're not resisting outside culture, they're embracing it and kind of making it their own."

If the divide between the Evangelical community and the rest of society disappears, I doubt it will be because the rest of society has come to Christ.

This is why I'm glad I go to a church where our pastor has to give two sermons: "Why I'm an Evangelical" and "Why I'm Reformed". We can't just be Evangelical, we have to be Evangelical somethings. Last Sunday's broadcast of the White Horse Inn was on "The Weirdness of Christianity". Someone made the comment that Christianity is not a lifestyle, it's a belief system that leads to a lifestyle. If we go through life as Evangelical nothings, it's too easy for our mind-set to be pulled back away from Christ and His teaching, no matter how many WWJD jewelry we wear.