Hey J
You may appreciate this piece written by a close friend of mine back in the 90’s. It’s cynical and sarcastic but sadly, accurate.
Conformity
by Vaughan Famularo
It’s a sad indictment in the modern day Australian Church, that we Christians are content to see people conform to our ways and habits in their lives, rather than see their lives be transformed by the Spirit of God.
What’s sadder is that in many cases, church going Christians don’t even know the difference.
One of the Church’s biggest barriers with the greater community is that it has nurtured a culture that’s been held as holy or godly, which is in fact pure human piousness steeped in pride. There’s been major pressure on people to conform, to perform and then ultimately, deform.
So instead of coming to Christ and finding your identity and purpose in life, many people slowly lose their identity and purpose and arrive at three possible destinations and decisions.
Allow me to illustrate.
The first destination is to Conform, which ultimately leads to the ‘Deformed’ state.
A state, which allows the person to turn into the ‘being’ that the 'authority of the church' demands.
Someone who’s not encouraged to think, speak out, or act unless there’s clearance from the Church Leaders and the 'supposed authority' they’ve decreed over you.
If the decision is to accept this numbed existence, you’re to turn off every sense in your make up and swallow everything that’s taught to you as ‘Gospel’ without question or complaint.
You’ve now entered the state of the ‘Deformed’.
A passive existence of ‘acquired uselessness.’
However sad this may sound, the deformed are the backbone of the church and indeed enjoy the smoothest ride the church has on offer.
The second destination is to become the ‘Enlightened’.
If this destination is chosen, the first thing to do is to join the team of the ‘Enlightened’. This team usually demands that the person enter a College specifically designed to equip the ‘Enlightened’ to understand how to facilitate the unenlightened.
These unenlightened are the, Deformed!
The major difference between the Enlightened and the Deformed is that the Enlightened make a conscious choice early in the process to Perform, rather than Conform or Deform.
To perform, they must be energetic and loyal to the most enlightened, ‘the Pastor’.
The most required talent needed though is that they must be agreeable at all times.
At no time have they ever questioned anything!
Although they’ve yet to have grasped the ‘gift of sincerity’ which is practiced without any real authenticity, they’ve summed up the present situation with an earthy sort of wisdom.
It’s essential however, that this ‘earthy sort of wisdom’ be practiced without any real truth.
Real truth has been replaced by ‘precision’ which is a method of making all decisions based on the 'Vision of the Pastor' which is called, the 'Vision of the People'.
The ‘gift of sincerity’ will be imparted to them at College eventually.
The Enlightened also learn that the greatest enemy to the church and her very existence are the people who’ve reached the only destination left.
This destination is reserved for the ‘Rebellious’.
The Rebellious have suffered much before reaching their destination. They were once proud Deformers.
They sat with many other Deformers who’d proven more successful in the role they’d found themselves.
You see, the Rebellious had no self control because they continually fell into a practice which is called, ‘thought!’
Thought is a dangerous practice!
They were warned about thought by the Enlightened, but they failed to heed the call and conquer it.
‘Thought’ made them question what the Enlightened taught.
‘Thought’ made the Rebellious doubt the enlightened state of their 'Perpetual Enlightenment'.
How dare the Rebellious even entertain the thought!
While the Enlightened practiced precision, the Rebellious demanded truth.
The Enlightened are the only one’s who know that truth is a dangerous thing that should never be practiced. (They were taught that in the Enlightened College where they were trained to facilitate the Deformed)
The Rebellious have never been to this College so they don’t even know what they’re dealing with.
Truth has a strange power attached to it. Because, when you use truth it has the potential to be even more powerful than the Enlightened and dare I say it, “The Pastor!”
No! no one should use Truth as it can’t be trusted. Precision is safer, and can be practiced under a controlled environment which is the church.
The Rebellious are not really welcomed in church unless they conform.
The lonely place the Rebellious find themselves is really their own fault. They refuse to conform to the authority of the Enlightened and they no longer fit where they once belonged, outside the church in the greater community.
It’s quite sad really as they seem ‘transformed somehow’ as the practices that once excited them no longer seem to fulfil them.
There seems to be an ever increasing void inside them since they lost their self control and began practicing….. thought!
Rom 12:2
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
2 Cor 3:18
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.