A Brief Introduction and Critique of
Contemporary
Joseph Tong, Ph.D.
Published in www.GlobalMissiology.org
��Research Methodology��
INTRODUCTION
Since the 18th
and 19th Century Christianity suffered many heavy blows from all
sides: The Reformation and Counter Reformation movements of post-Renaissance
has brought the Church out of the so called ��Dark Ages�� giving the Church much
thinking spaces. The Age of the Reason that followed continued to challenge the
Church with its enlightenment spirit, bringing the authority of the Church to
the brink of collapse. It also created an almost brand new scenario for human
history; whereby man appeared to be fully emancipated and could act
autonomously. General speaking, man had entered into a period of irreversible
Golden Age when human reason seemed to mature without limitation. Then came the
discovery of the
After
the rise and the decline of colonialism of three centuries (i.e. 18th to 20th Century) human
thought began to challenge the Creator at the beginning of the 21st
Century! Religion and religious practices again enjoyed much focus both in
sociology and politics. In fact, religion had become an inevitable proposition
in any discourse, science and para-science alike. Even at the dawning the
revival of the Evolution theory that was considered long time dead[1],
under the shadow of the wars and terrorism, moral breakdown, and social
disintegration, everyone begins to talk about religion again. Superstition, the
study of mysticism, theosophy, and astrology are rising to its unbelievable
height now. New age movement was reported as being one of the most favorable
religious beliefs side by side with Greek Orthodox in the once atheistic
I.
Theological thought of the Modernism and Liberalism
The theology of Modernism
and Liberalism are twin sisters resulted from the age of reason and humanism.
Founded on the conviction of the supremacy of rationality, they attempt to
replace God with human reason, and further challenges the authority of the
Church and its tradition with rationalism.
Taking
sense and experience as only instrument to human understanding, they try to
negate all self-evident truth of faith with a total commitment to the spirit of
Positivism. Besides denying God and his existence, they rendered high critique
with haughty spirit at all and any tradition and authority, especially that of
the Church and its faith. They lay much confidence on human ability and denied
the possibility of God and miracles. They believe in human autonomy and
determinism, asserting that God and the faith in God is possible only when man
live in the epoch of innocence and ignorant, as man has come of age, man shall
discard these crutches man uses when their thought was feeble and
crippled. Man has come has no need
of these crutches other than preserving them in the museum as a proof of man��s primitive
and ignorant.
Taking
another look, we find that the so-called rationalism has ironically and humbly
turn to the mysticism and so occupied with the wisdom of the East with
infantile spirit. What can we say, if human reason is absolute, it may choose
whatever it likes at will, even superstition! This is the consequence, when
Reason is the Master and homo mensura of Protagoras is its doctrine,
ironic is the result.
In
fact, Liberalism and Modernism are most friendly. They are pleasurable!
Nevertheless, in the final analysis, we find that though they have discarded
the belief in the God of the Bible, they have actually taken Science and Reason
as a God. They take the position that appears to say that as long as there is
no God, all others are acceptable. This is an irresponsible and gross discriminative
act against God and Christianity. Though they still maintain certain forms of
worship services, even maintain the used of ��Church�� and ��Christianity��, and
still engage in mission and sending, nevertheless, at the bottom of their
belief is the doctrine of: the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man.
Appeasement and peaceful coexistence is their basic religious motifs. Religion
for hem is just a fashion of moral life in the society. It is good for man to
have it, but they are surely not absolute.
Consequently,
this group does not believe in revelation, substitutional redemption, and
miracles. They talk about history yet taking history as natural development by
putting absolute trust in human nature. They also believe in the perfect,
infinite and absoluteness of human rationality. In religion and philosophy,
they take the position of syncretism, asserted the Christ is only a symbol, he
also exists outside of Christianity. For them, the Church is a mere social
institution; it should be democratic, even with its beliefs. Let its members
decide what they wish to believe with the spirit of liberalism, each member
decides his own creed. For which they consequently forfeited the doctrine of
infallibility and the inerrancy of the Scripture. Within such an understanding,
they have ascertained the centrality of humanism as foundation of theology. For
them, man is the center of universe, the master and supreme judge of
themselves.
II.
The Post Modernism
Post
Modernism thought begins at nineteen sixties and seventies. It is a consequent
of Modernity as it fails to meet the moral demand and the falling culture. In
the midst of human estrangement and frustration, the Church realizes its
helplessness with its traditional faith and moral value; it comes to the stage
of discarding its tradition and foundation in toto, and adopts extreme
antinomianism and absolute relativism. Finding Christian faith unacceptable to
modern mind, many theologians try to avoid, even negate anything about faith
and absolute to appease others. They believe that even though man may make
mistakes, those mistakes at the most are breaking the law, not sin against God.
Right and Wrong are relative and situational. They also separate themselves
from rationality to meet irrational needs of emotion. Irrationality and
relativism is absolute. For them, there is no eternity other than temporal
present. Their motto is: One present experience is worth more than eternity, an
expression of the basics of extreme existentialism.
In fact,
Post-modernism is a rebellion of human thought against authoritarianism of
rationalism. It lashes out based on the foundation of humanism, creeping into
Christian theology anonymously, and become the backbone of the soul of many
peripheral theology and para-faiths. Being so pantheistic and panentheistic
in nature, they take themselves as God, boasting on their achievement, leaving
the practice of the Word and established their own sects that eventually become
cults. Many contemporary Charismatic movements and Pentecostalism have
unintentionally adopting this kind of philosophy as the bases of their thought
resulted in an unaccountable authoritarianism.
III. The
Neo-orthodoxy
Neo-orthodox theology
began at the beginning of 20th Century and to fades away at 1970s
and 1980s. In fact, Neo-orthodoxy is one of the most theological thoughts that
influenced Christian scholars in the 20th. Century. Started with
Swiss Theologian, Karl Barth��s reaction towards the Liberalism and Modernism of
his time, who found the helplessness of the Church in facing the post World
Ward One��s devastation. Barth, then with his Reformed background deliver a
series of message on the Paul��s Epistle to the Romans discover the absolute gap
between God and man, time and eternity, absulte inability of man and the absoluteness
of God. He suggests that the Church should return to the Bible and the
Sovereignty of God. He emphasizes the inability of man and the definite need of
God��s grace. His contemporary carry on his thought and coined Crisis Theology
that focus on the existential encountering experience with God. Their thought
has once overtook all theological discourse triumphantly and become the
favorite son of the Chruch. Nevertheless, most unfortunate is their incomplete
and indecisive delineation of the Word of God, in which the Neo-orthodox
emphasizes the absolute freedom of God and ends up with denying the
absoluteness of divine revelation in the Bible in becoming a theology that has
no absolute foundation in the Word of God. In affirming the absolute freedom of
God Barth asserts that the Word of God cannot be limited in the revealed words
of the Bible, he then proceeds to affirms that the absolute grace of God is the
based of God��s operation. He and his follower have doubts on the absolute
truthfulness of Biblical records, taking biblical narration as saga to
emphasize on the existential and functional meaning of the Biblical writing
instead of its essence. They affirm that the Bible is not the Word of God, it
only witnesses to the Word of God that becomes the living Word of God in the
Church through pastoral preaching. As such, they deny the infallibility and
inerrancy of the Bible.
Their most problems rest
in the fact that they use the terminology of the traditional reformed and
orthodox theology and its framework then inserted or interpolated the
existential thought to establish their theological understandings. Apparently,
they have switched the pearls with fish eyes. At last, their thought follows
the path of the liberalism they robustly fought against and ends to become one
of the scars of the theological failure of the age. Many Fundamentals and
Evangelicals brand them Liberals.
IV. The Christian
Fundamentalism
This is one of the native bred of the
As a matter of facts, the Fundamentalist is not necessarily
representing all of the Christian conservatives. They committed to strong
beliefs in the inerrancy and creditability of the Bible, the Holy Trinity, the
deity of Christ, the virgin birth and the physical second coming of Christ, and
later added the belief in the Premillennianism and Dispensationism as some
unnegotiable fundamental Christian beliefs. They also put much emphasis on born
again experiences and life witnesses in resisting the tide and spirit of the
age, the traditional moral disciplines and values, holiness, rejecting smoke,
drunkenness, and sexual immorality. During the 1930s to 1950s they has served
well as bulwark for the Church and society and became the backbone of the
Church��s good witnesses. Nevertheless, due to their over-commitment to the
spirit of separatism and their holding to fanatic conservatism, most of the
main line evangelicals chose to depart from them, resulted their becoming
lonely fighter without friends and closed ones.
V.
The Neo-Evangelicals
When the fundamentalists became fanatic and extreme, some of
the evangelicals, though still identify themselves with basic beliefs of the
Fundamental, disagree with the extreme negative and the fighting attitude of
the Fundamentalists in order to avoid unnecessary back fire from the general
public. They begin to disassociate with the fundamentalists and name themselves
the Neo-Evangelical. They adopt a broad spirit to allow the academic pursuit
with amiable spirit toward natural science, humanities, and its quests. They
also attempt to work hand in hands with the modern discoveries, changes, and
expansions of scientific knowledge to adapt to the modern world.
The Neo-Evangelicals affirm the basics of the Gospel yet
insisted that the nature of the Gospel is universal. They begin to do dialogue
with sciences, especially archeology with the purposed to seek harmony in order
to assert the right to lead, to influence, and to change the society, the
politics, and academic world.
Practically, they do regain many lost territories and
platforms. They are much respected throughout years of efforts. They bear much
fruits in evangelical works and have much influence in the community, and have
becoming good witnesses for contemporary Churches.
Unfortunately, as many of the Neo-Evangelical are students of
the Neo-orthodoxy, due to the fact
that they do not make clear distinction between accommodation and compromise in
Gospel strategy, in the midst of their adaptation, they have sacrificed some of
the un-negotiable principles. The most unfortunate, among others, is there
ignorance and forfeiture of the principle of the absoluteness of the Biblical revelation
and the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible. This the most dissatisfaction
and objection the Fundamental has on them.
In fact, the Neo-Evangelical
forgets that Christian beliefs are not accountable to human rationality. If the
Neo-Evangelical insists on the absoluteness of divine revelation in the Bible
and the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible as not accountable to human
rationality, they will still lose no respect of the unbelievers, instead, they
will gain more respect in claiming their religious rights. Apperantly, Faith
and Truth are solely accountable to God. If we lose such an affirmation of our
faith, then we shall become man pleasers.
Let us be reminded of what Paul has said: ��for if I yet pleased men, I should
not be the servant of Christ.�� (Gal.1: 10) This is
exactly where the Neo-Evangelicals fall.
VI.
The Pentecostal and
Charismatic Theology
The
Pentecostal movement begins at the turn of the 20th.Century is also
a native bred theology of
i.
They have firm believe in spiritual experiences, especially
personal experiences.
ii.
They seek to perform unlimited spiritual power, extreme phenomenon
of functionalism and efficiency with special emphasis in wonders and miracles.
iii.
They express much joyful spirit in the midst of their worship,
emphasizing lay involvement church offices and activities, especially in praise
and worship.
All of the
above is due to the fact that they have special understanding on the
personality of the Holy Spirit and its proclamation. Based on their special
emphasis on the Holy Spirit, they committed to total and global evangelism, for
which they have brought revival and renewal all over the world. On the other
hand, because they are more focus on individuals, whenever they plant church,
the church eventually becomes the property of its founder, resulted in a
fragmented organization, having the denomination as fellowship of believers
without real unity.
General
speaking, Pentecostalism is one of the mainline Evangelicals, they share
similar basic beliefs, differs only in whether they emphasizes personal emotion
and experiences. The basics of Pentecostal faith are that of the Arminian and
Wesleyan persuasion that put their focus on the second spiritual experiences
and the experience of being filled by the Holy Spirit. Besides, they bears more
inclusive spirit in allowing wonders and miracles, speaking in tongues,
prophecies, and prayer message in their services. They believe in the
continuation and succession of the apostolic gifts and affirm the authority is
inherent in the one who was filled by the Spirit. The message of these people
has apostolic authority; some of them even equate them with the authority of
the Scripture, evident by the miracles and wonder as the present of the Holy
Spirit and its work, an evident of Power Preaching and Power Evangelism.
The worst problem they are facing is
that though they believe in a God that performs the wonder and miracles,
nevertheless, whenever wonders and miracles do not happen, they would then
blame others as having no faith, or not enough faith. Besides, many of their
glossolalia and prophecies are bogus and not true.
The Pentecostal movement went through three waves.
Beginning with the first wave that emphasized confession of sin and repentance,
seeking the gift of the Sprit, speaking in tongues, healing and the life power
of revival that entailed in separation from mainline denomination, it went
though the second wave of the 1950s that happened in many mainline
denominations, even he Catholics, by emphasizing showers of spiritual blessing,
repentance, revival, glossolalia, and singpiration movements; at last it come
to the third wave, the Charismatic movement of the 1980s and 1990s that focus
on the phenomenal wonders, miracles and power evangelism. Since the operation of the Pentecostals
and the Charismatics has most focuses on phenomena, at times, they have to
helplessly engage in imaginary or bogus miracles to prove God��s mighty present
to the point of being so anthropocentric and auto-soteric in its preaching and
practices.
Thereafter, they begin to engage in much praise and
worship to replace the important of traditional preaching, besides, their
worship are more interested in personal testimony as evidence of God��s present
in their lives. All of these make their faith tilling to utilitarianism and
instrumentalism in its souls, and ends with the so-called Prosperity Theology
and Success Theology. As their emphases are on the phenomena and emotional
aspect of life, making them to become an indiscriminative institution taking
anyone who wishes to joint regardless of motives. As such, they render saving
grace cheap and Christianity faith superficial that entails very high Church
membership mortality rate.
Nevertheless, after 1980s many of Pentecostals begins
to return to the mainline denominations, they begins to establish theological
seminaries beside Bible Colleges and engage in advanced theological studies,
providing its members and leadership systematic theological training and higher
education. They also engage in heavy dialog and communication with mainline
evangelical institutions. One of the most prominent sign of the
Aside from their emphasis
in external signs and emotional operation, the Pentecostal and Charismatic
movement should be considered as the main force in contemporary Church. At the
end of the 20th Century, they began to put much effort in their
organizational system, academic studies, and social concerns, besides work hand
in hand with the mainline evangelicals. The Evangelical also learns from the
Pentecostal the long lost emotional aspect and godly passion of their faith and
Gospel zeal in Christian spirit. Lately, many evangelical denominations are
attracted and engaged in the praise and worship ala Pentecostal and the
Charismatics. Nevertheless, due to the Pentecostal and Charismatic lack of
respect on the weightiness and universality of church offices besides their
disregard on the authority of the tradition, many conservative evangelical
still remain holding grudge against them, and very cautious in doing dialog
with them, lest approaching them.
VII.
The Superficial and
Shallow Evangelical
Most Evangelicals believe
and emphasize God��s calling sinner through the preaching of the Gospel.
Consequently, they all have altar calling after preaching or worship service,
inviting sinner to come to a decision for returning to God and giving sinner an
opportunity to accept Christ as their personal savior.
The Pentecostal, The
Wesleyans, the Holiness, and the Baptists, they all have this tradition of
altar call at almost each Service. This is considered as following the practice
of the apostles recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Unfortunately, through
out the development of the Church we have seen much change in this tradition,
calling are routine and obligatory, many decision are induced and become
momentary emotional reaction without real intent of conversion to follow
Christ. Apparently, the Church becomes only concern with the calling and
counting of the converts without discipleship training, rendering the new
believers astray without the benefit of knowing the full impact of the gospel.
Many Church even fully engaged in the using of the ��Four Spiritual Law�� of the
Campus Crusade to entice people to make decision and claimed them to be newborn
Christians for numerical counting. Eventually, they have rendered themselves
superficial and shallow Christians.
Theologically speaking,
we believe that everything is of God, through God, and for God. Undoubtedly,
decision for Gospel and Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit, all we have done
is only responding to the work of the Holy Spirit, endlessly, selflessly,
without claiming any merit. Therefore, we are not proselyting other than
presenting Christ and his Gospel. If that is called superficial and shallow, it
would still be acceptable theologically, because the God, who has begun the
good work shall bring it to the completion in the day of the Lord. For this
reason, we diligently sow the seeds of the Gospel, and doing the watering unto
the time of harvest. The Lord has promised those who sow shall rejoice together
with those harvest. We shall collaborate and appreciate one another��s work. In
fact, the superficial or shallowness of the gospel is not on its form and ways
of gospel presentation, but in the content and the intent of the Gospel itself.
For a matter of records,
superficial and shallow Evangelicals takes two forms: 1) The mistake of
anthropocentricism of the Arminians, and 2) The fallacy of the hyper Calvinism.
The former takes human involvement and human works as absolute necessity and
focus on the urgency of immediate decision-making; whereas the latter
emphasizes the divine sovereignty and neglect the persuasive power of the
Gospel and the positive aspect of immediate decision-making in the presentation
of the Gospel, both have gone extreme making them remaining in a primitive
stage of being superficial and shallow.
VIII.
Positive Assertive
Evangelicals and the Extreme Responsive Evangelicals
This group is
the result of Evangelical response to the contemporary sociological challenge
of the age. Its basic tenets can be seen bellow:
i.
They emphasize the power of gospel in every area and levels of
life. They strongly believe that Christians have to permeate their influence in
every area of human lives to serve as change agent.
ii.
They firmly believe in the Bible, especially the moral principle
expressed therein, not only for Christians, but also for non-Christians. They
also assert the need of Christian involvement in politics and political actions
as to advance biblical moral principles in law and national legal system with
strong intent to exercise Christian legal rights to influence government.
iii.
They believe in an Eschatology that God will at last hand over the
governing authority into the hand of his people, the Christians. Some of them
adopts a theology of post-millennianism, trusting that before the second coming
of Christ, the Church will be endowed with all political power as to
Christianize the whole world.
iv.
They try to perform biblical teaching in mandating Christians to
involve in politics or to provide necessary political support. Trusting that
all low must base on the Las of God. Besides uprooting cults and heretics, they
try hard to gain the lost territory to affirm the Lordship of Christ all over
the world.
v.
They are over confident on the power of the Gospel in assuming
that everyone shall hear the gospel and shall return to Christ, for which
Christian are obligated to force the government militantly to establish a
better society and environment for human lives.
Apparently,
this group of the evangelicals has replaced proper function of rationality with
religious fanatics and passion. They can hardly find recognition, nor are they
respected in the midst of contemporary well-developed civilization and
pluralistic culture. Theoretically speaking, based on the principle of equality
and emancipation, if we adopt their position, then we also need to allow other
religion to have same illogical, unreasonable and fanatic commitment to their
faith and practice. In so doing, we have degraded Christianity and the
salvation of Christ to become a form of mere religion and instrument of
culture. Christianity is salvation, and salvation finds no enemy.
Undoubtedly,
They have neglected the general revelation and the common grace God. They do
not have the spirit of tolerance, besides having no humility and meekness. If
God allows the sun to shine upon the good and the bad, and sends showers to all
being, who are we to disregard the justice of God. What Christ has said to John
and James shall always resound in our ears with the saying: ��you know not what
manner of spirit your are of.�� (Luke 9:55). All these shall be a warning to us.
We should never replace God��s mine with our own mind. Further, we should not consider
ourselves as God��s sole representative or angle of vengeance as most of the
self-justified extreme Muslim terrorists.
IX.
Conclusion
Above is but
a simple delineation of some of the contemporary Christian thoughts. In fact, in
the course of explanation we found that the contemporary thought differs not
much from the thoughts of previous ages, they all cannot avoid being adhering
to the extremes of the theological pendulum, either being Theocentric or
Anthropocentric in their theological thought orientation. They either try to
make the Gospel and the work of salvation purely human, or purely divine. The
former being committed to theocentricity to the extend as to disregard human
responsibility and demanded absolute surrender of human will, whereas the
latter being over committed anthropocentricity and asserts human centrality in
all God��s work and purposes, asserting that without man. God can do nothing and
actually do nothing; God is almighty, nevertheless, he cannot infringe on human
will.
In fact, so
far as biblical truth is concerned, we affirmed that everything is of God,
through God, and to God. That��s
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! ��How
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!�� (Romans 11��33)
Yet at his appointed time, God has sent his Son to come and born of a women
even born under the law. (Gal 4:4) Christ incarnated, dwelt among us, that we
may see his light and believe in Him. All this affirmed man��s position in God��s
eternal plan and its operation. The participation of human intellect, emotion,
and will in God��s plan and salvation are not only permitted but also mandated
by God. As we are saved by grace through faith, we shall maintain proper
balance, to carefully commit ourselves in the course of our salvation in order
that we may complete the work of salvation and walk in accordance of the grace
we have received. There we shall discover the wonders and power of God, that we
shall be made complete and fulfill others.
In response to
contemporary challenge in the Church as well in the world of religious
thoughts, being a contemporary Christian, the writer believe we need to equip
ourselves with quality of thought stated bellow:
1. Simplicity
of faith:
As we
ascertain that our faith is of God, through God, and for/to God, we need to rid
ourselves of a thought pattern that committed to instrumentalism of the
self-centeredness. We shall affirm that that God does not instrumentalize man
nor let him be instrumentalized.
Though
instrumental faith works and is effective at times as affirmed by the Positive
Assertive Evangelicals, nevertheless, al of that is only due to the greatness
of his grace and mercy. Therefore
we need to leave our beginner stage in making salvation mere religion, and
advance to a complete knowledge of the truth and salvation.
2. A creative thought
Creativity is
one of the natures of God. It is also one of the characteristics of being human
in bearing God��s image. As children of God we are renewed in being the image
bearers of God, we are empowered to participate in God creation through the
knowledge of God��s word and revelation. These shall include aesthetic and
artistic operation, enabling us to proclaim the beauty and the goodness of God
and to shine as lights of the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.
(Phil.2:13)
3.
A gentle, obedient, and kind mind
Christians
have no enemy, yet afraid of no one. Our kingdom is not of this world,
therefore we are not to depend on guns, artilleries, or political powers to do
the will of God and his works. Though we have the right to participate and the
ability to perform our political and civil duties, nevertheless, as Christ
being the Prince of peace, where all powers have been given unto him, we may live
peacefully and complete his will on earth to that end that the earth shall be
filled with the glory of the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea!
(Hab. 2:15)
4.
The affirmation of history and tradition
The
Tradition has
lost its respect since the Reformation, the age of Reason, and followed by the
Enlightenment. It even was treated like trash in wasteland, in the thought of
modernism and post modernism. Nevertheless, for the Church, generation after
generation, the renewal and reformation movement in the Church that rid the
Church off choking dead tradition; has in fact rebuilding the strong heritage.
Taking the example of the Pentecostal renewal movement, spouting out from the
lifeless conservatism due to their dissatisfaction of the Church tradition to
start the movement with glossolalia, wonders, and prophecies renewal, pressing
strong challenge on mainline denominations, nevertheless, in the course of
their development, they still reestablish the old tradition in their new
fashion. This is followed by the second and the third waves movement, even the
forth wave which is evolving at the present.
In fact,
inherent in every renewal movement, especially in Christian renewal movement,
there is a hidden heritage that converge all energy of renewal. If renewal is
only due to dissatisfaction, then we shall soon discover short breath of the
movement due to human limitation. Unless we discover and appreciate and
understand the hidden call of the word of God for us return to the Truth, all
movement shall be short lived. Therefore, as we think reflectively on the word
of the truth in the course of historical development, we shall find the saying
of George Santana so true: One who forget history is condemned top repeat the
same history.�� Learning nothing from the history shall inevitably yield
repeated unnecessary error.
For this
reason, what we need to do now is to return to the mainline thought as we
process with our renewals. Giving due respect to the tradition and heritage
which have been establish for us in the course of Church history, to build upon
the foundation which has been laid for us (Hebrews 6:1). There we shall find we
were saved from falling into the gorge as we adhere the warning.
In conclusion, in the
study of the psychology of religion it is easy to discover that one who has
correct and proper belief in the sovereignty of God will have correct
understanding of God��s creation and its operation. In other words, one who has
stronger belief in divine sovereignty will have more courage and understanding
to turn to God and affirm that God wants us to participate in his work of
creation and renewal.[2]
This surely includes the civilization and cultural development and renewals in
the context of the common grace of God together with the special grace in the
context of Gospel mission and great commission to bring the gospel unto the end
of the world to bring men to Christ.
These are the two great
commissions of the Church in this world: to be the light of the world and the
salt of the world, that we should share the goodness of the Gospel to everyone.
So we may proclaim the God who called us out of the darkness to enter into the
wonderful goodness of God and to lead others to the salvation.
Paul��s exhortation to us
shall always be clear and resounding, on which he says, ��I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God. (Romans 12; 1-2)
December 2006,