Truly In the World But Not of It-part-A (2)

By Robert Barr

How to deal with others, our health, and minister to others in a way that is pleasing to the Lord without being corrupted by the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781304014658

Robert Barr

Robert Barr (1849–1912) was a Scottish Canadian author of novels and short stories. Born in Glasgow, Barr moved with his family to Toronto, where he was educated at the Toronto Normal School. After working for the Detroit Free Press, he moved to London and cofounded the Idler with Jerome K. Jerome in 1892. Barr went on to become a popular and prolific author of crime fiction.

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Truly In the World But Not of It-part-A (2)

Truly In the World, But Not of It-Part A-Relationships, Health, and Welfare

Truly In the World, But Not of It-Part A-Relationships, Health, and Welfare

Fourth Edition

Copyright 2010, revised 2011, 2013 by Robert R. Barr

All Rights Reserved

ISBN-978-1-304-01465-8

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In our confusing world, many church members are seeking direction, yet their churches have abandoned Bible-centered preaching and teaching in favor of the many modern popular philosophies prevalent today. This series looks at the culture around us in light of Bible teaching.

Book #1-In the World, But Not of It Examines Bible teaching as it relates to our modern situation, through practical illustrations and Biblical principles.

Book#2- Truly in the World, But Not of It is in 2 parts and examines the various aspects of the world around us in the light of Bible teaching laid out in Book #1

Book #3-"A Servant’s Heart" is in 2 parts-Examines the needs around us and explores ways that we can meet those needs through personal, church-based, and community-based ministries. 

Book #4-"Rebuilding the Kingdom" designed for church leaders, looks at the church, its functions, and how it can organize to carry out its mission more effectively.

Autobiography-An Unlikely Choice (formerly One Such As I) How the Lord pursued me until I found Him and my experiences as I sought to serve Him to this day.

Rev. Barr has spent over 45 years ministering to both church people and the un-reached people who surround the church but whom the church has never reached out to. An ordained pastor and licensed Social Worker, he has served the Lord through the church, as well as through government and faith-based organizations. He has written extensively and conducted seminars for both State-wide and international conferences.

Truly in the World, But not of it was originally published as Christian Statement on Social Concerns in 2 individual booklets with a total of 5 topics. Later, the original topics were updated and supplemented with additional data and published in five separate booklets and a sixth booklet was added. In 2006, all the material was combined into a single book under the title Truly in the World, But Not of It The book was then rearranged and republished as two books in 2010. This is the first of those two books.

Introduction

I-Introduction

Jesus said the first commandment was to love God totally, and the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. Many people feel I should give equal balance to our love for God and our love for man. However, I have felt it was important for me to concentrate on the second commandment for several reasons. First, the Bible states that it is very difficult to learn to relate to God, who you have not seen, if you have never learned to relate to man, who you can see. It does no good to tell people that they should feel free to talk to God like they would anyone else when they have become so isolated that they can’t talk to those around them about the problems they have for fear of being rejected. If those around them reject them because they admit to having problems, they are even more afraid that God will reject them if He finds out that they have problems (as if He doesn’t already know). Second, there is a great deal of literature out on how we should relate to God and a great deal of literature out on how to relate to man from a liberal perspective but there is no longer much literature in circulation on how to relate to man from a Biblical perspective. Third, our public schools and our commercial media, where most people get their understanding of the world around them, are dominated by liberal thinking, which has no respect for truth. Many things being pushed by the media and in our schools and universities have no basis in truth and reject what has been learned about man since the beginning of time in favor of idealistic goals based on erroneous ideas about man. Many of the things learned about how we develop and how we relate to each other have been ignored and even openly attacked because they go against liberal views.

Many Christians do not realize how much they are influenced by the world. One area that particularly troubles me is the area of the relationship between faith and practice because it shows how much the church has been influenced by the world. I often go to professional conferences on Social Work because continuing education credits are required to maintain my Social Work license and because I want to keep up on the areas that I deal with in my work so I can do it in a way that pleases God. One of the hot topics today is how to integrate faith and practice. Liberal thinking says there is no relationship between what you believe and what you do. There is no spirit (the center of your being where what you believe is formed) which directs your life, only mind and body. There are no absolute principles to guide you so your mind evaluates every situation and determines the best course of action (Situation Ethics). Many people in the modern church believe we have a spirit but feel it is somehow separate from what we do.

The goal of such courses is to help us integrate our faith into our work which speakers seem to think is very difficult. My greatest difficulty with such courses is how to separate my faith and my practice enough to try integrating them. Such separation of faith and practice is totally at odds with the Bible’s view which sees us as made up of mind, body, and spirit, which reflect the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Father gives the direction, Jesus carries out the will of the Father, and the Holy Spirit assists Jesus in His work. In the same way, our spirit is the center of our being that gives direction to our lives as it follows either God or Satan and our mind, guided by our spirit, works out how to carry out the spirit’s will, and directs our body to carry out the will of our spirit. Our mind can no more operate without direction from the spirit than our body can operate without direction from our mind. My very practice itself is an expression of what my spirit believes in (my faith). I dealt with this in the introduction of Book #1, In the World, But Not of It-God’s Principles for Living. What I believe drives how I approach life, how I approach my job, and how I approach other people. My spirit has been redeemed by God and I help others because God first helped me. Jesus redeemed me from the control of Satan through His death on the Cross and I feel God has led me to help redeem others through Social Work and the ministry. The goal of my work is to serve people, so I go beyond just writing a voucher to try to help them find solutions to their problems. Those that don’t believe in God help others because it benefits them. They may do it because it provides a paycheck or because they don’t want poor people to revolt and take over the country, or they may do it because they feel sorry for those poor people but if you watch carefully, it usually doesn’t take long to figure out which motivates them. Their faith (what they believe in) shows up in how they live their life, do their work, and treat other people. When you do not accept the fact that there are basic beliefs guiding you, you do not examine them to see if they benefit you or harm you, but they still guide you.

I had Polio when I was only 2 years old and had to wear a brace on my left leg and use crutches. As a result, I was often the target of pranks and outright attacks by other kids and had to protect myself. I often sat with my back against a wall watching those around me for signs of a pending attack. I quickly realized that one of the sure signs of someone plotting mischief was when their words didn’t match their actions or their body language and I got pretty good at reading people because I watched people closely when they are talking to see if their body language confirmed or conflicted with what they are saying. We often tell people a great deal by our facial expressions and body movements and most people don’t realize how much they tell other people before they even say anything. In addition, the tone of voice someone uses often gives different shades of meaning to what someone says, which is a part of communication that is lost in communicating by E-mail and texting. Liberals today work hard to appeal to your emotions and get you to overlook the subtle cues that tip you off that they are lying to you and they don’t want you to check the facts behind what they say, knowing that you will quickly recognize the truth behind their lies, but I am more aware of the subtle clues than most people because of my past experience. Most of my life I have been a stranger wherever I have been because I have had to move frequently so it has been important to quickly get to know who I can trust and who I can’t and it has been shocking to me how easily Christians have been taken in by the liberal media.

When I was growing up, we never had any connection with a church and I had never read a Bible. My parents had been active in church but I didn’t know it until I was in college. When I had Polio, it left them with massive debts. Yet, the church did nothing to help them and kept hounding them to contribute money so they left the church and never went back. They never mentioned God and we never went to church. The only contact I had with a church was when one of my great uncles or aunts died and the funeral was held in a church building. When I was about eight, I attended an Easter service in a church and they talked about this guy that had risen from the grave, which seemed strange to me. Usually there is a viewing before the funeral but there was no casket and no trip to the cemetery afterwards. Church people have no idea how what they say sounds like to those who have no understanding of the Bible. The people in that church weren’t very friendly and while it could have been because I was poor, a cripple, or a stranger (or all three), I never went back. When I stumbled on a Christian group in high school, the kids were totally different from everyone else I knew. They said it was because of Jesus but I had no idea who He was and figured he was the head of the group or something. I did not associate being a Christian with going to church until they began encouraging me to find a church to attend. When I found a church, I found the people were just as friendly as those in the school group. As a result, I have learned to distinguish between those in church who know Christ and those who do not. It is sad to say that many of those in the churches I attend do not seem to know Christ and that is especially true among the leaders of the churches. There is a song today that reads you shall know them by their love and that is true. If the leaders don’t know Christ, how can they teach others to know Him and if those who know Christ hide in church; how will the world ever know Him? If we are to truly be in the world working, without being corrupted by the world, we must understand both what God requires and how man has distorted it.

I am often asked how I came to write this series. The fact is that I never set out to write a text for Christians seeking to walk with God. Many people, when they face difficult problems, look for someone who can help them. As a pastor with extensive Bible training and experience working with people in the church and a Social Worker with extensive experience in working with people outside the church, people often ask me how they should relate to others in the church and in the community in a way that pleases God. As I continued to get the same questions over and over again, I felt led to type them up and make copies so that the material would be available to more people. I have also been asked to speak at numerous conferences to help educate people on the practical aspects of ministry.

I was surprised the first time I was asked to present a seminar at an international Social Work conference because I thought that only those with Ph.D.’s and other high academic degrees got invited and I did not expect many to come to my seminar. I was surprised when the classroom was overflowing in spite of the fact that there were several seminars by much more prestigious speakers going on at the same time. I asked those attending why they came and many stated they were tired of prestigious professors feeding them meaningless theories that did not relate to what they were doing. They wanted to hear someone who was involved in work similar to theirs who could tell them what they had found that worked. That had always been my feelings when I went to conferences as well. I didn’t want to hear meaningless theories; I wanted to find what works. There was another seminar after mine by a man who did not have a lot of prestigious degrees either but was also active in ministry. I attended his lecture to see what he had to say and found his seminar overflowing with people as well. I have found the same feeling in many who attend churches today. They tell me they are tired of meaningless theoretical sermons and Sunday School classes that bear no relationship to everyday life. They want something that helps them live a life pleasing to God. I hope that this is what you desire, and hope that this series fulfills that desire in you.

I have written this series to help those who hunger for a faith that satisfies and want to transform the world around them. Book #1 was for the average Christian who has little understanding of the Bible and God’s ways. It was a summary of what the Bible tells us about living a life pleasing to God and laid out the Biblical principles for living. Since God created us, He knows how we function and scientific research has verified that much of what the Bible says is true. If you have not read Book #1, I feel it is important for you to do so in order for you to understand the underlying Biblical principles and learn to apply them as you seek to relate to the world around you. Since the media and secular halls of learning have sought to distort and corrupt our understanding of the world, what follows in this book (Book#2) is a serious attempt to expound what has been learned about how we relate to each other and what I have learned in working with people during my ministry, in order to help you apply the Biblical principles to how you relate to others. Book #2 is actually in two parts because the topic is so large. In this book (part A), I will go into issues relating to our personal relationships, to health and to ministering to the needy among us, which are to some extent under our control. The second book (part B) will go into our dealings with the organizational components of our government, economic, and educational systems, which exert considerable control over us and dominate our lives. Book #3 is in 2 parts and will go into the needs of those around us, and how we can minister to those in need through personal, church-based and community based ministries. I have written a fourth book for church leaders which look at the church, its functions, and how it can carry out its mission more effectively.

I have tried to avoid a static reciting of principles and have sought to make a serious attempt to put what I have learned into practical advice that will help those who read it to draw closer to God and order their lives in a way that is pleasing to God.  As I teach, God is teaching me new things, which I have incorporated into constant revisions. I have deliberately set it up in an orderly sequence to assist the reader as they grow in knowledge and understanding

II Our Changing World

A-Slow Change

Most people up until the 20th Century had experienced slow change and most people drew most of their views from their parents. Our country was built on the idea that we are free to develop to our greatest potential. While our values came from our parents, we were free to chart our own future. The government was strictly limited to maintaining order and protecting our country from foreign invasion. However, the 20th Century has been a time of unprecedented change that has left each generation feeling that their parents did not understand the world around them. That change has profoundly affected those who experienced it. .

B-The Great Depression

Those growing up in the early 20th century between 1901 and the Depression (about 1924) grew up fairly normally but were suddenly thrust into the Great Depression. All that they had worked for vanished before their eyes. As a result, many felt that only the government had the resources to solve the economic mess and supported government intervention in the economy. Since their fathers served in the War to End All Wars (WWI) and they later served in WWII to put down Hitler, they also had a great love for War heroes. With WWII requiring huge amounts of raw materials, many readily accepted rationing by the government. Those born between the Depression and the end of WWII (about 1945) heard about the Great Depression and were very indecisive and reluctant to take risks for fear of another economic collapse and because of the tension of the Cold War. Growing up in a time of industrial technology, many began to value conformity over independence and experienced great affluence, which they spent on material things such as houses, cars, etc to make life more enjoyable. They rejected materialism because they saw how transient it was. They saw little reason in saving since one never knew when disaster might wipe out their savings or their lives.

C-The Baby Boomers

Those born between WWII and about 1960 grew up in great affluence and permissiveness after the war. They are often called the Baby Boomers because of the great surge of baby’s born after the men returned from war. Many grew up with both parents working and they had little contact with their parents. Consequently, they rejected materialism because they felt it had deprived them of their parents. Materialism was no longer unimportant, it was evil. Up until the mid-1900’s, our universities were hotbeds of discussion where ideas were freely tossed out, examined, and accepted if proven, or discarded if discredited. Our universities produced many people with radical ideas who were listened to but if they did not provide good documentation and strong arguments to support their ideas, they were subsequently rejected and ignored. Many of our present day ideas grew out of that radical environment, however unlike before when students were trying out new ideas, the students of the 1960’s were rebelling against the materialism of the post-war era. They rejected all revealed truth and the concept of objective truth itself, as well as the recently developed materialism. They were too young to understand that the problem lay with the materialism growing out of the post-WWII recovery and not civilization as it had developed over thousands of years. They rejected the idea of absolute truth and believed that truth is whatever you want it to be. Of course if you reject what is true, you must choose between the lies that remain and so it doesn’t really matter what lie you accept. Since no lie will be true, one lie is as good as another. Yet, liberal thinking often embraces contradictions because they never bother to think their philosophy out fully. While they say it doesn’t matter what you believe, they still insist on the right to be heard. They also put great importance in saving cats, dogs, and even whales but see nothing wrong with killing unborn babies.

While that should have opened discussion for all kinds of strange and unproven theories, it was a one-way street for them. They wanted you to listen to them and accept their ideas but they did not want to listen to your ideas, let alone accept them. In addition, they did not want to listen to facts. Their ideas were based on emotional arguments with little or no basis in fact. It is hard to counter such arguments because they reject any facts