This is my first review of Rare Jewel Magazine (provided free by publisher) for Mind and Media. As an exclusive reviewer for Mind and Media I have had a great opportunity to read some excellent books and now I get to read a newer magazine that has one of the primary goals of restoring our culture. The current edition (September/October 2005) deals with wondering if the next Great Awakening can happen now. As someone with kids I am concerned about our culture in so many different ways; from the junk on TV 7/24, the beating that marriage has and is taking, a lack of compassion for the poor, video game dominance, substituting "quality time" for real time with children and on and on. I want to see real change for the good of our country and my family and our world.
RJM (Rare Jewel Magazine) takes this issue on, front and center. First and foremost, this magazine is well written and is a great read. There are some things I have issues with such as use of the term "Christian Patriot" and I think some articles aren't truly dealing with reality in terms of how things should change. My favorite articles deal with history (The New York Noon Hour - David Manuel is the best of the best) and ones that put the emphasis of how Christ can be the change agent, not us. There's even a great article about caring for the homeless (Everyone is Welcome - Jeremy Reynolds) which, regretfully, is not something you see in a conservative magazine (yes, even ones that are based on Christianity) very often. The articles that make me look in the mirror and examine my life first are the most useful. As Christians focus on changing our own lives and living out Christ I do believe God will use us. As long as Christians are focused on silly prophecy speculations and other trends that don't affect any change in our hearts instead of learning how to "live in Christ and live out Christ" we will be ineffective. Fortunately, RJM is written by serious folks, some whom I disagree with, who are focused on a worthy cause.
One of my biggest issues that I just don't buy into is the assumption by many of the authors is that our founders were so biblically based. Were they influenced, sure but not enough. How many of the founders were really Christians? How many were just Christian in name only? I cannot ignore the treatment in our society, with the blessings of the leadership of our country, of Africans. It took Christians and others, who were under the radar, to help change our society, not our leadership. Too many of them were slave owners themselves. We hurt our arguments when we don't take this issue seriously enough as it dealt with some of our founders. We can howl all we want about our Judeo-Christian heritage but those times have changed. We are in post-modern times and we need to focus on the "now" and where we are going. We need to understand our history but that's not going to let us make the changes we need to make.
We are slowly losing many of our arguments because we say, "the Bible says so" and that doesn't flush with enough folks. Most of the people I work with really don't care what the Bible has to say so we need to work on our convincing skills and figuring out what is worth discussing. They are looking for people who are honest and don't act like they know it all. When our arguments are weak we need to admit it. Our pride cannot get in the way. Christ wants us to focus on Him and draw people to Him. There are some issues I just avoid because I don't think it helps the cause of Christ. The articles that help me focus on Christ and point to Him as the Way are the true highlights of RJM. If we are to have another Great Awakening it won't be via legislation or voting but Christ first, then the hearts will follow.
RJM is a great tool that will help you grow and make you think about the roles a Christian has in America. The bottom line is that RJM is encouraging us to do something!
Posted by Tim at September 23, 2005 10:54 PMGood article, although I would like to bring to your attention the thousands of years of slavery throughout Scripture. Remember that believers were slaves and believers had slaves. It had been a cultural norm, which is why the founding fathers at that time had their slaves and such. While I completely disagree with slavery and racism, it was way more common then uncommon to "own" someone, no matter what the spiritual or political background was of the individual person or family who had a slave back during that era.
Posted by: Ben at November 22, 2005 03:44 PM
