In the modern West human rights are often viewed as a means of achieving self-fulfilment and self-realisation. Along with this goes the idea that any social commitment is voluntary, the individual having the right or freedom to choose which of any such commitments he or she makes.
Paul warns Christians not to be conformed to this world but instead to be transformed by the renewal of their minds. In Hebrews 10:24-25 we are exhorted:
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Unfortunately, the contemporary ‘worldly’ conception of human rights and freedoms has so infected the minds of many Christians that they view church attendance as duty-free, assuming that going to church is merely a matter of the exercise of one’s personal freedom. Along with this, Christians are in danger of determining their level of involvement in church and other Christian organisations on the basis of what will best fulfil their own personal goals. Again this is at odds with Romans 12:1-2 which sets the transformed life in the context of a response to God’s mercies which leads to the sacrificial offering up of one’s entire physical existence with the goal of experiencing God’s good, acceptable and perfect will.
Reference: Charles Cosgrove, “Paul and American Individualism” in Cross-Cultural Paul.
Posted July 9, 2009
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