Hi jasonwiedel

Thank you for your comment at Provoketive Magazine (http://provoketive.com). We’re creating a space of rich conversation about life, faith, justice and culture without judgment. Our desire is to provoke the reader’s imagination through conversation and open up spaces of dialogue, learning, and hope.  We want to invite you to come back soon and continue to participate in the conversation. 

Thank you,
Jonathan Brink
Provoketive Magazine

You posted the following comment:
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Jerry, I think I agree with what you say. I'd like to clarify the topic of "worldliness." The church has varied broadly in what it deems worldly. Some segments of the church have impressed on their followers that any enjoyment creation is a distraction from the heavenly mind that a Christian should have. Other segments of the church live lives which indistinguishable from those who are not followers of Christ. I believe both approaches are wrong.

Sin has to do with action, not physical creation. I believe that God has intended every part of physical creation to be enjoyed by humanity. We do indeed distort this enjoyment with our selfishness, greed, and violence. The worldliness identified in Scripture is following the ways of society that have systematized this selfishness, greed, and violence. Rejecting worldliness is not a rejection of any of the good things that God created. This is, in a sense, a rejection of God.

Religion has also often taught us that God only works in the area of our human weakness, and any natural strength should be pushed away. The work of Christ in  us restores us to the person that God created us to be. It does not strip away all that we are and recreate us from scratch. Therefore, we must embrace the things in us that are good and true, while rejecting the sin that would distort what God has made good.

I'm sure that we could roll around these ideas all day long, but I don't want to take up too much of the readers time.