tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615496199721498323.post6621482447107322635..comments2024-03-22T08:29:51.173-05:00Comments on UM & Global: New Mission Area: The New TemperanceDavid W. Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17024204453848260271noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615496199721498323.post-7048776904117024502018-12-04T16:04:07.846-06:002018-12-04T16:04:07.846-06:00I like your analysis. I think the problem is espec...I like your analysis. I think the problem is especially acute because we have an economic system that depends upon people being unable to control indulgence. I think that linkage illustrates just how fundamentally at odds with American society (culturally and economically) the story of Christ can be.David W. Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17024204453848260271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615496199721498323.post-73452537144236146962018-12-01T10:53:42.367-06:002018-12-01T10:53:42.367-06:00Our focus is too narrow if it is just alcohol or a...Our focus is too narrow if it is just alcohol or abstinence. The opioid crisis and rising levels of suicide suggest something more fundamental is at work in US culture. I would suggest that our culture has no way of assigning meaning to controlling indulgence or experiencing suffering. The fundamental promise of contemporary US culture is that unending comfort and pleasure as the primary purpose of human living. God in American Christianity is a lifestyle concierge whose task is to give us what we want. The missiological challenge is inviting people through Christ and his Body into a story in which self-control and suffering have meaning, a story fundamentally at odds with our culture and its civil religion.Robert Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12733025264316575349noreply@blogger.com