{"id":210,"date":"2008-11-29T19:54:25","date_gmt":"2008-11-30T00:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.wordpress.com\/?p=210"},"modified":"2008-11-29T19:54:25","modified_gmt":"2008-11-30T00:54:25","slug":"the-danger-in-living-the-cultural-mandate-1-john-215-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/the-danger-in-living-the-cultural-mandate-1-john-215-17\/","title":{"rendered":"The Danger in Living the Cultural Mandate – 1 John 2:15-17"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love culture.\u00a0 I enjoy being a part of the world in the sense that I enjoy things like technology, cafe culture, the arts, sports, city life, etc.\u00a0 To some extent, I believe that we’re wired that way.\u00a0 The Cultural Mandate found in Genesis 1:28 states the following:<\/p>\n

And God blessed them. And God said to them, <\/a>‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We have within us a God-given desire to create, to be fruitful in what we are involved in and to subdue the world, overcoming problems in a creative fashion and to make life more enjoyable through God-given talent.\u00a0 That is not a bad thing.\u00a0 Yet John rightly warns us not to love the world or the things in the world.\u00a0 OK, what gives, is it wrong or right to love the world?<\/p>\n

I think the answer to this question lies in the next verse: “For all this is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions<\/em>–is not from the Father but is from the world.” [italics mine.]\u00a0 In other words, I think we must be careful not to fall into the trap of crossing the line of loving all that God has created and allowed us to take part in, including the world in which we live that He can bring redemption to through us, into being influenced by it, adopting it’s goals, values, and ways.<\/p>\n

I believe we are called to impact the world for Christ by all means at our disposal, but there is a very real danger of the world impacting us, seducing us and drawing us away from the God we claim allegiance to.<\/p>\n

John is clear that the world is passing away.\u00a0 Then he says that whoever does the will of God abides forever.\u00a0 I do not believe in separating myself from the world, swearing off those things that are neutral in and of themselves like technology, the arts, etc., but I had better be careful to make sure I know whether or not I control them or they control me.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love culture.\u00a0 I enjoy being a part of the world in the sense that I enjoy things like technology, cafe culture, the arts, sports, city life, etc.\u00a0 To some extent, I believe that we’re wired that way.\u00a0 The Cultural Mandate found in Genesis 1:28 states the following: And God blessed them. And God said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4,8,20],"tags":[683,684,128,693,496],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-3o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":189,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/psi-renewal-to-transformation\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":0},"title":"PSI – Renewal to Transformation","date":"November 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Over this past week I've been meditating on and dealing a lot with the implications of Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":256,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/when-love-isnt-love-1-john-47-12\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":1},"title":"When Love Isn’t Love – 1 John 4:7-12","date":"December 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"You know what I get tired of?\u00a0 Religious people who go to church and do all the stuff they're supposed to, but give them half a chance and they rail on somebody.\u00a0 I get tired of people who talk about the love of God, but never seem to show it;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PSI (Personal Spiritual Insight)"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":198,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/psi-words-in-the-end-are-still-just-words-1-john-15-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":2},"title":"PSI – Words, in the End, Are Still Just Words – 1 John 1:5-10","date":"November 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It is a popular notion, as Americans, to call ourselves Christians.\u00a0 Ask just about anybody, regardless of lifestyle, beliefs or politics, and they will tell you they are Christian.\u00a0 This just points to the fact that the word, \"Christian,\" has become meaningless.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, many would hold\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":191,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/psi-living-the-challenge-1-2-3-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":3},"title":"PSI – Living the Challenge: 1, 2, 3 John","date":"November 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I issued a challenge at The Gathering to begin to get into Scripture.\u00a0 (Audio can be accessed through our website, the Sermon Audio page of this blog, or iTunes, if interested).\u00a0 Looking at the Model Prayer in Matthew 6, we have spent the last three weeks on verse 11:\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Devotions\/Biblical Insights"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":212,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/nuances-1-john-2-18-21\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":4},"title":"Nuances – 1 John 2: 18-21","date":"December 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Interested in a spiritual experience?\u00a0 Take your pick.\u00a0 There is a flavor for every taste.\u00a0 Like all the assurance with half the guilt?\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 Enjoy a good mountain-top experience with no extra commitment?\u00a0 That's out there, too.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, one of the most popular nuances in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/can-i-get-a-witness-1-john-413-17\/","url_meta":{"origin":210,"position":5},"title":"Can I Get A Witness? – 1 John 4:13-17","date":"December 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I had the opportunity to talk with a young lady after worship yesterday who is dealing with a lot of spiritual issues.\u00a0 In tears, she said to me that she felt lost.\u00a0 I asked in what sense she meant that and she told me that it seemed she was adrift\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PSI (Personal Spiritual Insight)"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}