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Across the Great Divide: Secular vs. Sacred

© Blake Atwood

I remember beginning to read a book on my handheld computer, something about the ancient English church, or at least the fellows responsible for the prehistory behind Christianity in that part of the world. The semi-ancient text described the ways Christians would empty out pagan temples and convert them to churches. I never finished reading the book. I soon realized how much I really do love the feel of paper between my fingers and in front of my eyes.

Yet that image has always stayed with me as an apt description of what Christians do to secular society. Look at most Christian music. The Gingerbread man couldn't be more cookie-cutter (a blatant exaggeration, but you get my point).

For most of my life I grew up with the notion that the world was divided between good and evil, God and Satan, sacred and secular. This is what happens in a conservative, small-town upbringing.

Then I went to college. There I learned that, gasp, some people aren't Christians, and, gasp, people drink till they're drunk, and, gasp, people have sex, OUT OF WEDLOCK. I learned that the world was not as black and white as I thought. It was very, very, very colorful. This is what happens in a small, liberal arts college.

So I stand at a very interesting crossroads.

And I like it, though it makes me so confused sometimes. Yet this confusion drives me closer to God.

Relevant Magazine, the online and soon-to-be-print magazine that I'm so infatuated with at the moment, is also a book publisher. Two of their books speak directly to the question of what is sacred and what is secular.

Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 and Restless Pilgrim: The Spiritual Journey of Bob Dylan are both titles that grapple with that invisible line between secular and sacred. Are these behemoths of music Christian? Does it matter to us? Does it matter to them? What are we to make of their words, their lives, and their actions?

[Note: I have yet to read either of these two, but plan to get them soon. Links to more info and how to buy the books can be found at Relevant Books].

Look at Paul in Romans 14:14 - "As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean." Could "food" be replaced with "music" or "culture?" Questions like these only raise more questions.