Can Chrisitans hangout with worldy people without denying or altering thier own faith?
The question I am asking today is simply can Christians be part of a secular group or around secular people all the time and it not alter or change their faith? Through this I will be trying to also answer if it is possible for us as Christians to be able too be in the world and make sure that we do not become part of the world and no longer in the faith like we once was. The last question I will try to answer in this article is that can Christian’s be in the world and people see the difference between them and the regular person and then that influences the person to begin to believe in what they did not before.
A book that I have been reading is Christian Perspectives on Sociology by Stephen A. Grunlan and in this book he has a chapter called Collective Behavior and Social Movements. In this chapter it talks about this subject and speaks on how people can be very easily swayed and convinced of things by the environment that they interact in. It gives a very good example of page 322 about how that we have a multi million-dollar fashion industry and this would not be if people did not want to stay with everyone else in the fashions sense. A example that I can see for myself is that everyone always have the same hair cut or at least they do for a year then someone changes their hair and someone likes it and then before you know it everyone in that area has the exact same hair cut. This is a simple example but one we can all see in the world that we live in.
Another point that is brought up in this book is the point of disassociation which is explained in the book as something that we can choose to either stay within the group and do what they are doing, or we can make our own minds up about what we are going to do in the situation that is being presented. It then goes on to talk about that if we are willing to do something that does not match up with our own personal limits that we have set for ourselves.
I think both of these points hit on big things that I had asked in the opening paragraph. The first point I brought up in the book shows how easily we can be influenced by a group of people or the gathering of people. Another example I can think of is something like a concert we all jump together and sing the lyrics and may do other things that the whole crowd is doing. We can be influenced very easily if we really think about situations like this.
The second point brought up in the book would be the one about how that will we go over our own limits just because we are with a group of people who are doing the activity that we do not personally approve of. For me an example of this would be that if a bunch of people all went to a restaurant and one did not believe that it was okay to drink and everyone else was drinking. Would this person have one or two drinks to fit in socially? I think that this situation would be a very good to see what people do because most would probably end up drinking with the group just so that they did not feel different or awkward around the group they was with that evening.
The next source that I will look at is the Bible because I know as a Christian this is something that we need to look at. In John 17:14–15 it says “14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.” This to me is talking about how we as Christians are supposed to be in the world but not of the world this is the key through all of this it allows us to know that we cannot be in the world and do the same things but we as Christians are supposed to be alight in this dark world.
Another verse I would like to bring into this article would be Romans 12:1–2 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. This verse tells Christians to give ourselves to God because all that he did for us. He died on the cross for the sins of everyone and rose on the third day so that we could have life eternal through him. It then tells us we should not copy the things worldly people do and to allow God to change us into someone more like him so that we can no longer be held in the chains of this world but freed by the love of what he did for us.
These two verses show that we as Christians are supposed to be in the world but not of the world. So what exactly do I mean when I say that? I think that for me it means that we can hangout and be around non-believers we just need to make sure we are not doing things that are against our beliefs and make sure we stay in the Bible and know what we are supposed to do as believers so that we know when things are okay or not okay.
The first question that I asked was that could we as Christian’s hangout with non-believers and it not alter our faith? I think that we can as long as we truly grounded in the Bible and know exactly what it is that we believe. We also need to have someone keep us accountable because if we are only keeping ourselves accountable we are going to have a hard time knowing if we are being altered by the people we are hanging out with or not.
My second question was if we can be in the world without becoming part of the world. I think that as Christians this is our calling because we cannot share our faith if we just stay with other believers and never enter into the world. Do not get me wrong I think it is very important to have a solid group of believers to spend a lot of time with but we cannot forsake the world and not try to reach non-believers as well.
My last question was that can we as Christians be in the world and if we show our love and let God’s light shine through us can we in return help save souls for the kingdom? I know form a personal experience this is true, I had been working with a group of non-believers and one asked what was different about me. I had a peace about me that he could never understand that I had. I simple said it had nothing to do with me, but God himself gives me peace. I took it one step further and said I did not have to worry about the things of this world that weighs a lot of people down. Because this life is a short piece of what God has promised those who believe which is life eternal with him in heaven.
So I think through all of this we as Christians can be in the world just as long as we do not let ourselves become part of the world. We also need to be in the world so that we can let our let shine and allow for people to want what we have through what God gives us when we become a Christian. I think that if we are going to be in the world we also need a accountability partner to keep us in check and make sure we do not get to into the world and loose our own faith.
References
Runlan, Stephen A. Christian Perspectives on Sociology. Eugene Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001. Print.
“BibleGateway.” Romans 12:1–2 NLT — — Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
