Individuality is something we prize here in America. Each man is his own, and each woman her own. It is engrained in our education, our television, and our literature. On the other hand, in Eastern society, collectivism is the way to go. It is in their education system, their literature, and so on and so forth. Each type of society says that they are the best, but which one is Christian? In Lewis’s essay entitled “Membership,” he seeks to answer this.
Let us address membership within the church first. Lewis states that “In our own age the idea that religion belongs to our private life – that is, in fact, an occupation for the individual’s hour of leisure.” (p.332) This means that the world looks upon religion as something you can do in your private life, but not in the open. The only problem is that, while the public says you can do want you want behind closed door, they make sure that you do not have the privacy in which you can do your worship. Closed door policy is looked upon with disdain by the public, and little hands of technology seek to find their way into our private life. Even if this was not a problem, we run into the problem that Christianity is not a private practice. We are called to live our lives out as Christians. One problem Christians face today is the one of denying service to a person who is using that service in celebration of a sin. Homosexuality is such a issue today. We then run into the problem of Christians being seen as bigots and told to keep our practices behind closed doors, where those same people pry open with any chance they get. Christian practices are not singular; they require a group. The body of Christ needs it’s parts, so how much harder does it become to keep a practice behind closed doors, when it is not meant to be kept behind closed doors, with a group? Christianity is like water, it will seep out of the cracks of the doors and into the public eye no matter what we do.
I digress; the name of this essay is membership. Lewis states that membership is an important part of being Christian, but we miss define membership in the church. Membership is not a card you hold and scan in at the door of your local synagogue, nor a title for you to hold in the public spectacle. Membership in the church is not that you are an individual, but rather that you are part of the structure of a family. A true family is unified. If you take away one member of the family, you injure the entire structure. The body of Christ is not a Hydra; it takes time to heal that structure.
So what about conformity and individuality? Well, we are told that individuality is quite unchristian like. Why would we worry about ourselves when a greater whole is at stake. In conformity, there is equality, which Lewis says that “Equality is…in the same position as clothes. It is a result of the Fall and the remedy for it.” (p.337) In the end though, Christianity has no preference. It does not concern itself with the individual or the community. The individual, the community, the self, all these cannot attain eternal life, for what is born through redemption is not any of these, but a new creature in which becomes part of the body of Christ.
I did not like this essay when I read it, but when I wrote about it, I saw it in a different light. Granted, I feel that this essay could be split up into several parts, and that Lewis goes off on what feels like a rabbit trail, but the end helped sum everything up. What are we? Individuals? For those who are of America, we believe we are individuals. If we were parts of a clock, each part would boast its importance and how the rest of the clock would not work without that part. This does not seem to be Christian though. Individuality tends to breed selfishness and self-centeredness. Those of an individualistic nature tend to put themselves and their needs before that of a group. Collectivist? While the Nazi party was guilty of genocide, their principle of equality through socialistic practices were, according to Lewis, as close to what we would get if we were still in the garden. No one man is better than anyone else. The problem with this type of thinking is that, even though it is as close to what we can get to our original status before the curse, it does not work. There is always someone higher on the ladder, and the sinful nature of people keeps this from becoming a reality. In the end, I tend to agree that it does not matter if we are individualistic or collectivistic because they do not matter in the means to attain eternal life. We are a people united as a family when we are Christians, but we hold both aspects of our individuality and or collectivism.
Let us address membership within the church first. Lewis states that “In our own age the idea that religion belongs to our private life – that is, in fact, an occupation for the individual’s hour of leisure.” (p.332) This means that the world looks upon religion as something you can do in your private life, but not in the open. The only problem is that, while the public says you can do want you want behind closed door, they make sure that you do not have the privacy in which you can do your worship. Closed door policy is looked upon with disdain by the public, and little hands of technology seek to find their way into our private life. Even if this was not a problem, we run into the problem that Christianity is not a private practice. We are called to live our lives out as Christians. One problem Christians face today is the one of denying service to a person who is using that service in celebration of a sin. Homosexuality is such a issue today. We then run into the problem of Christians being seen as bigots and told to keep our practices behind closed doors, where those same people pry open with any chance they get. Christian practices are not singular; they require a group. The body of Christ needs it’s parts, so how much harder does it become to keep a practice behind closed doors, when it is not meant to be kept behind closed doors, with a group? Christianity is like water, it will seep out of the cracks of the doors and into the public eye no matter what we do.
I digress; the name of this essay is membership. Lewis states that membership is an important part of being Christian, but we miss define membership in the church. Membership is not a card you hold and scan in at the door of your local synagogue, nor a title for you to hold in the public spectacle. Membership in the church is not that you are an individual, but rather that you are part of the structure of a family. A true family is unified. If you take away one member of the family, you injure the entire structure. The body of Christ is not a Hydra; it takes time to heal that structure.
So what about conformity and individuality? Well, we are told that individuality is quite unchristian like. Why would we worry about ourselves when a greater whole is at stake. In conformity, there is equality, which Lewis says that “Equality is…in the same position as clothes. It is a result of the Fall and the remedy for it.” (p.337) In the end though, Christianity has no preference. It does not concern itself with the individual or the community. The individual, the community, the self, all these cannot attain eternal life, for what is born through redemption is not any of these, but a new creature in which becomes part of the body of Christ.
I did not like this essay when I read it, but when I wrote about it, I saw it in a different light. Granted, I feel that this essay could be split up into several parts, and that Lewis goes off on what feels like a rabbit trail, but the end helped sum everything up. What are we? Individuals? For those who are of America, we believe we are individuals. If we were parts of a clock, each part would boast its importance and how the rest of the clock would not work without that part. This does not seem to be Christian though. Individuality tends to breed selfishness and self-centeredness. Those of an individualistic nature tend to put themselves and their needs before that of a group. Collectivist? While the Nazi party was guilty of genocide, their principle of equality through socialistic practices were, according to Lewis, as close to what we would get if we were still in the garden. No one man is better than anyone else. The problem with this type of thinking is that, even though it is as close to what we can get to our original status before the curse, it does not work. There is always someone higher on the ladder, and the sinful nature of people keeps this from becoming a reality. In the end, I tend to agree that it does not matter if we are individualistic or collectivistic because they do not matter in the means to attain eternal life. We are a people united as a family when we are Christians, but we hold both aspects of our individuality and or collectivism.
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