Keywords: Church, Dualism, Dichotomy, Greek, Kingdom, Secular, Sacred.
Rationale
Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-16 the following:
“13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house. 16 Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven”.
We understand as Christians we have to become a blessing to others and we are put in the world to subdue and have dominion (Genesis 1:128). When we read the Bible we know that God created us to do something noble in order to glorify Him in all aspects of our life. We know it is our duty to manage the world according to God’s way. As the time went by and the church has been influenced, we see today’s church role has been perceived differently. Church is seen as a sacred place where the attendees considered live in two different worlds. There is a strict line that separate between secular and sacred worlds. This division, moreover, creates the mindset of hierarchy that put sacred world more important than secular since it is related with life after death experience which is considered more important than our present mortal life.
According to David A. Noebel, who stated that many people believe that Christians are considered overstepping their boundaries when talk about “worldly” disciplines as politics, economics, biology, and law,[1] we are, then, trapped and limited in sacred area without having opportunity to do other things in the world. To this fact, this essay wants to explore more about this condition especially that happen in Indonesian Christians who live in country considered as the largest Islam population in the world. Is it true that as Christians, we should only focus on spiritual matter? and How Christianity is perceived that makes Indonesian Christians reluctant and hinder them to express themselves in other area rather than sacred/spiritual life is one of the focus that will be discussed on this essay. How about when Jesus said: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. (Matthew 6:10). Whose Kingdom should reign on earth? The answers of those questions should prevail at the end.
At the end of the essay, it is hoped that we as Christians in Indonesia would understand the essence to be God’s servants in the world and to stand firm with Biblical Christians worldview among other existence worldviews in the world today.
The Cause and Definition of Dualism
According to the article extracted from Dr. Ladd’s book, The Pattern of New Testament Truth that explains about “The Greek Versus the Hebrew View of Man”, that the Greek view of man and the world is different in kind from the biblical view.[2] The Greek dualism explained that we live in two different realms which are spiritual and material.[3] Life is viewed as two separately realms as heavenly vs earthly, spiritual vs worldly, spirit vs body, sacred vs secular, facts considered as science vs values considered as religion. If we jump to the present reality, what we see today in the real world, especially with Christianity, is mostly influenced by the dualism of spiritual and material matters.
Thus, it is believed that we live in these two different worlds which mean we have to act or respond differently when we face one of the world. As Christians, we believe we should live according the Bible and focus on the eternal life and life what we live today is just temporary and therefore should not be our focus.
This paradigm makes Christians think and live their life with understanding that the physical world is ruled by non-Christians with their ungodly values that is why we should separate ourself from the world and focus on spiritual matters. Thus, even though we still live according to the Bible values in terms of honesty and integrity at work, but we still believe that the job we do is a worldly matters. Like what Nancy Pearcy is quoted: “But the work itself is typically defined in secular terms as bringing home a paycheck, climbing the career ladder, building a professional reputation”.[4] She continued: “ As a consequence, Christians often live in two separate worlds, commuting between the private world of family and church (where we can express our faith freely) and the public world (where religious expression is firmly suppressed)”. Dr. Furgason explained that the Greek mindset is the idea that only some part of life belong to God.
Limited Impact
It is clear now the reason why some Christians believe no matter what we do even it is insignificant to the world but if we focus on spiritual matters, God is pleased. No wonder it is difficult to find solid Christians in other area of life like politicians, philosophers, scientists and other areas considered as ‘secular’. The church has ‘left’ the world by not becoming part of it. Christianity becomes isolated and life among its believers without impacting the world with God’s values. Many believers live segregated from the world believing that God’s kingdom is in heaven not in this ‘sinful’ world. They live the Christians values and yet believe that the most important aspect of life is on how they act on Sunday when they go to church, nothing else matters. Thus, they would feel guilty and not become good Christians when they do their job well but if they do not do any ministry at church. Their life would not be balance they thought. That is why the focus of the church sometime is always inward rather than outward looking.
The church has lost its impact to the world and become a social club rather the forefront of God’s kingdom on earth. We become too busy with our inward programs not realizing how many people we should reach for Christ live surround us. This condition definitely hinders us to subdue and have dominion on earth. It crippled the church.
Christianity in Indonesia
After Soekarno’s time, Indonesia was under Soeharto’s regime who wanted to make sure he would gain the absolute power to reign the country. He controlled every important aspect including military, governments, politics and economics. He created his own kingdom and chosen his own crony to ensure the ‘stability’ of his own power. He created this belief that the politics is dirty so therefore we should not get involved. He had managed to make people believes in his ideas of a nation. He made a strict line that religion should not enter other area of ‘secular’ world. Including Christianity was tamed under his authoritarian leadership style. He did not stop people to go to church or spreading the gospel but he made us clear what areas not to be entered or we are in trouble. It was so strong that created this mindset that the church should not talk about politics or give ideas on how this nation should be managed.
That is why until now, it is difficult for us to find Christians serve as politicians or in other important areas like military and government positions. In the last ten years, fortunately, the situation started to change. After Soeharto’s regime, the church started to realize their purpose why we are here on earth in the first place. Still, there is an emerging and fast-growing worldview that starts to influence the nation to be aware of which is Islam.
The church has to go back to the calling to be the light of the world. We have to go back to what God has intended us to do, is to subdue and have dominion over the earth.
Conclusion
We have to breakdown the thinking of two different worlds, secular and spiritual. The dichotomy has to be unified under God’s authority as the Creator of all including human mankind, nature and history. David Noebel mentioned in his book, there are at least ten disciplines that reflect various aspects of God and His creative or redemptive order.[5]
The church has to reclaim what is supposed to be God’s and live their faith boldly doing His mandate on earth. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Further Reading
Noebel, David A., The Battle For Truth, Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 2001.
_____________. Understanding The Times, Manitou Springs, Colorado: Summit Press, a division of Summit Minitries, 1991.
[1] David A. Noebel, The Battle For Truth (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 2001), 11.
[3] Darrel Furgason’s lecture and notes
[5] Noebel, David A., The Battle For Truth (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 2001), 11.
