Colored Eyeglasses

Speaking of how our underlying worldview, paradigm, or thinking pattern serve as a basis for evaluating things around us, John Wimber notes that it often happens at the subconscious level that we don’t even recognize our hypocrisy:

“For example, in the United States we find a worldview in which personal influence and material affluence are very important to life. This results in equating success with noticeable influence and material affluence. These worldview values also affect American Christians. They might reject conspicuous material consumption and status-seeking lifestyles, but frequently their way of judging ‘successful’ churches nevertheless reflects the general society’s worldview: large congregations with big budgets are successful. When the Vineyard Christian Fellowship was a small, struggling–and controversial–church, I was shunned by many former colleagues and friends. Then we began to draw large numbers of people. Suddenly, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship became a legitimate institution, acceptable in their eyes even though our so-called controversial teachings and practices had not changed. We had met their criteria for success: a large and growing membership and budget.”

John Wimber and Kevin Springer, Power Evangelism, (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2009), 126.

Are we aware of the lens in front of our eyes, coloring how we see things? Do we practice what we condemn?

Related posts:

1. 天國願打願挨乎!?