secular

We are not to love the world, we are to be separate from the world but we cannot be completely out of it either or we would never fulfill the Great Commission. Many of our thoughts and actions are secular, that does not make them necessarily wrong. Christian freedom is such that through the grace given us by the blood of Jesus on the cross we are able to do things that we want, including secular activities. I cannot emphasize puritan ignorance enough, it may seem that I invented the phrase but I did not. The legalists will tell you that all sorts of things are sinful, dancing, card playing, going to movies, Sabbath breaking, bowling, shooting pool, having fun, whatever, and will condemn those that do these things but they are the ones that are sinning through their self-righteous judgments and alienating the world from God.

Secular is temporal rather than spiritual, not bound by religious thought. Secular is the world in the worldly sense of everything outside the church. Paul Tillich explains the New Jerusalem as the spiritual world to come without a temple because "God will be all in all." There will be no secular realm and therefore no spiritual realm either. Tillich goes on to say that "Religion opens up the depth of man's spiritual life which is usually covered by the dust of our daily life and the noise of our secular work. It gives us the experience of the Holy, of something which is untouchable, awe-inspiring, an ultimate meaning, the source of unlimited courage. This is the glory of what we call religion. But besides its glory lies its shame. It makes itself the ultimate and despises the secular realm. It makes its myths and doctrines, its rites and laws into ultimates and persecutes those who do not subject themselves to it. It forgets that its own essence is a result of man's tragic estrangement from his true being. It forgets its own emergency character."

"For the religious and the secular realm are in the same predicament. Neither of them should be in separation from the other and both should realize that their very existence as separated is an emergency, that both of them are rooted in religion in the larger sense of the word, in the experience of ultimate concern. To the degree in which this is realized the conflicts between the religious and the secular are overcome, and religion has rediscovered its true place in man's spiritual life, namely, in its depth, out of which it gives substance, ultimate meaning, judgment, and creative courage to all functions of the human spirit."

Sin is sin and we are not to sin. Secular activities may be sinful, they may not be. We are to separate from the evil, not the secular, in fact we should embrace the secular in order to win the world for Jesus. We are to be a light to the world, not a blazing torch with the intent of burning everything secular and harming everyone in it by walking in pride, judgmental condemnation and self-rightousness. Let your conscience be your guide, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to discern what is sinful. Walk in the spirit and you will not succumb to the sins of the flesh.
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