Dualism or Holism- God's involvement in the world

For a long time, Christians have lived by a kind of dualism in their thinking about God's involvement in the world.

Dualism is an idea that we have inherited from Greek philosophy, although it is present in many religious systems. Dualism is basically the notion that God is good and the world is evil; the mind/spirit is good but flesh is evil. In other words it divides the universe into spirit (good) and matter (evil).

This is an anti-biblical idea, but we seem to have been sucked right into it. At the beginning God declared the creation to be very good. Right through the Bible, the physical world is a good place, although it is tainted or corrupted by the effects of sin. Paul, in Romans 8:18-21 speaks of the redemption of creation. In other words, he says, Jesus' death on the cross does not just bring a spiritual salvation for believers in the next life- it is actually paving the way for the eventual liberation of the whole universe from its bondage to decay. So John 3:16 is literally true- "God so loved the world..."

This diagram shows dualism affects how we think about the way God interacts with the world.

In this way of thinking, God has no contact with the world. Joe Christian comes into church on Sunday morning, and it is there that, once the music starts, he approaches the presence of God. Refuelled again to face a hostile world he returns home and leaves the world of God. The church, in its overlap with the world, sends out professionals into the world with the aim of dragging people into the church, or into events run by the church with the hope that there they will meet God.

This model divides our lives into "secular" and "sacred" areas. Some places, times, events are sacred, but the rest is divorced from the reality of God's presence.

But with God, all places are "sacred." There is no place where we can flee from His presence. For Christians, all places, all times, all events are sacred, because God is always with us.

This diagram shows a more helpful way of picturing things:


By moving the "God" circle, we are empowered to see that God is actively involved in the world He created. We know this is true, but often ignore it. My personal testimony is that I was saved through seeing a vision of Jesus while in bed. I had no interest in church at that time. People are having "supernatural" experiences all the time and they seek explanations for this from mediums, clairvoyants etc, when they actually need to turn to the God who is calling them.

Where the church overlaps with God, but not the world, you tend to get airy-fairy preaching and worship... it's all theory unpractised in real life. Where the church overlaps with the world not God, you get programmed activity, technical excellence untouched by the Holy Spirit- it's about following techniques such as 40 Days of Purpose, seeker-sensitive services etc.

But where the world, God and the church meet, you get transformation and power. It doesn't have to be active evangelism with the 4 spiritual laws. But we do need to be "out there" meeting the world on its turf, and helping people to see where God is at work in their lives. Jesus said "I only do what I see the Father doing." It's time for the church to let go of its programmes, buildings and endless activity and to find out what the Father is doing.

The church of the 21st Century has to restructure rapidly to meet the challenges of post-modern culture. To do that we need to start by integrating our faith into all that we do.