Not Very Bad And Not Very Good

December 10, 2007 10:05 am

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Theologian D. A. Carson comments on the sorry tale of Solomon’s son Rehoboam in For the Love of God:

“There is a kind of evil that is not very bad and not very good, not too terribly rebellious yet not hungry for righteousness, a stance that drifts toward idolatry and hastily retreats at the threat of judgment.  What it lacks is David’s heart, the heart of a man who, despite failures, sets himself to pursue God with passion and delight.  The final verdict on Rehoboam’s reign explains the problem: ‘He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD’ (1 Chr. 12:14).”  D.A. Cason, For the Love of God, Vol. 1, 12/11.

How does this quotation help us think about Push Back and our media choices?

One Response to “Not Very Bad And Not Very Good”

Sara wrote a comment on December 10, 2007

“What it lacks is David’s heart, the heart of a man who, despite failures, sets himself to pursue God with passion and delight.” The part that stood out to me here was pursuing God with passion and delight. I think that when we’re trying to make a decision on whether we should listen to this music/watch this movie, we should ask ourselves if that music/movie is helping us pursue God with passion and delight. Because no media is going to be in the middle of pushing us towards God and pushing us away from God. It’s either going to glorify Him or it’s going to glorify man.
Also…I think this quote outlines many modern Christians today (though we could definitely question whether they are acually Christians) who like to be in the world and a little bit of the world. (if that makes sence at all…) What they’re missing is that we should be striving to live in absolute holiness to glorify God. We can too often be content with rebelling from the world in some areas of our life…and in others not even attempting to push back. It’s easy to see a type of music or movie as “well…it’s not very bad, and everyone else is doing it. I don’t want people to think I’m weird, so I’ll just go ahead and do it. After all, it’s not very bad.” And when that happens we’re not pushing back…

Anyways there are my two cents for today…and I totally gotta get back to school… :D

Care to comment?