I'm still trying to wrap up Ed Anton's Repentance. It continues to bring more things to light that are helping me find my way. In a chapter titled "The Church Reorients us", he asks if the early church, being counter-cultural, were, in fact, non conformists.
Was that the secret of their strength?We need the church, each other, because the tide of the world rushes past us, trying to sweep us away to where it's going. It doesn't let up, but our determination wanes at times. We falter and begin to get pushed along. Alone, we cannot stand, but together we cannot fail.
No.
They were conformists. But they conformed to a different community. Through repentance, converts to Christianity chose to conform to a different norm, a different nous, a different worldview, a different society. They conformed to Jesus and his Kingdom. They conformed to a culture of selfless love, sexual purity, marital fidelity, stunning generosity, purposeful living, revolutionary zeal, secure humility, undeserved persecution and joy beyond understanding. God's perfect plan for repentance provides the support and camaraderie of the church because it's daunting to be different. The world hates holiness. Moreover, the world hates holy saints.
