[CS-FSLUG] OT: Potter, Halloween and Philipians 4:8

[Eduardo Sanchez]

On Monday 06 March 2006 00.34, doc wrote:
> > No; but it serves as an argument against an irrational withdrawal
> > from rationality to spurious authority. Christianity has thrived in
> > the most corrupt of societies with people who lived within the
> > society and culture. This is my culture. My task is not to withdraw
> > from it, but to be a witness to the Lord's Good News in the midst
> > of the public square.
>
> Who said anything about withdrawing from society?

No one. I said something about withdrawing from rationality, not from 
society. 
>
> I merely indirectly cited the Biblical authority
> to "be in the world but not of it" and to be
> "salt and light" transforming the world and to
> not to be transformed by it.
>
> If we immerse ourselves in the things of the world
> "good men are corrupted by bad company".
>
> Jesus didn't have to be a drunk to impact drunks, He
> didn't have to engage prostitutes in their business
> to address prostitutes, He didn't have to be a dishonest
> tax collector to transform Zaccheus, He didn't have to
> sit and view morally corrupt plays in a Roman theater
> to address the difference in morality between a pagan
> Roman and a follower of the God.
>
> There is no reason, other than feeding the flesh, to
> indulge in most of what self-identified Christians
> choose (absent any duress) to indulge that is worldly
> and non-edifying.
>
> doc

And this is my turn to beg the question. Who said anything about 
"indulging"? I did say something on the effect of fabricating stepping 
stones, calling sin to something that is not, 

And obviously here we have a major difference. You and I understand very 
differently the task of "being in the world but not being of the 
world". I can read Potter books while remaining holy and not worldly, 
as much as the Apostle Paul could read a whole bunch of Stoic Greek 
poets and remaining the holiest of people.

And I can not suffer people putting false burdens on the backs of our 
little brethren. The calling to holiness is challenging enough, and 
does not need third parties to populate it with fabricated dangers.

Doc, look around you. Can you really say of something material, besides 
perhaps a copy of the Word of God, that this is something 100% holy? We 
live in a fallen world, yearning and awaiting for its redemption. Evil 
is everywhere and yet we Christians are to live in this medium, not as 
citizens but as pilgrims and foreigners. But we are to live here, not 
in a golden Elysium where everything is wholly good.

Do you think I should abstain from meats sacrificed to idols?

I appreciate your concern for holiness and your integrity in your 
attempts to live by it; but please, don't make the mistake to think 
that this is an universal rule. The Holy Spirit in you might be 
offended when reading Potter books, but again, Him in me might not.

(And as a side note, I'll let you know that I cannot whithstand watching 
The Simpsons for supernatural reasons. Mere seconds of it gave me the 
very distinct impression that it was something dark and evil in it and 
I should definitely abstain from watching it. Do you agree? But again, 
I will not tell my brother that he should not watch it. I'll let the 
Holy Spirit in him and he himself decide. And I know several brethren 
who watch The Simpsons; and I know a preacher who made a good sermon 
based on an episode.)

Blessings,


Eduardo
-- 
Prof. Eduardo Sanchez
Asuncion, Paraguay, South America
http://shadow.sombragris.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
 After a momentary silence spake
 Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make;
   "They sneer at me for leaning all awry:
 What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"

	-- The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
	   

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