Your Christian Heritage
The Water We Swim In
If you live in the West, whether you were raised in a pew, haven't opened a Bible in years, or find yourself skeptical of organized religion, there is a story beneath your story. Whether you identify as an atheist, a seeker, or simply "spiritual," the values you hold most dear did not emerge from a vacuum. They have roots, and those roots are deeply Christian.
In his book The Air We Breathe, Glen Scrivener offers a capturing illustration: "Goldfish don’t see water. Goldfish see what is in the water, they see what’s refracted through the water, but... goldfish don’t see the water itself. And yet there it is. It’s their environment. Universal but invisible."
For those of us in the modern world, Christianity is that water. It is the air we breathe and the soil in which our morality grows.
The Values We Take for Granted
If you are reading this, I suspect you value things like equality, scientific inquiry, human progress, compassion, and individual freedom. We often treat these ideas as "common sense" and obvious truths that any rational person would eventually land on.
Yet, history tells a different story. These concepts are not the default setting of humanity; in fact, for most of human history and in many parts of the world today, they are considered quite radical. They didn't appear by accident; they were forged in the fire of a specific worldview.
A Journey of Discovery
The purpose of this series, "Your Christian Heritage," is to pull back the curtain on our most cherished ideals. We want to explore where these values actually come from and why the teachings of Jesus provide the only sturdy foundation to keep them from crumbling.
Over the coming weeks, we will "set the table" by looking at the world as it existed before Jesus—a world that was often much harsher and more indifferent than the one we enjoy today. Then, we will take an honest look at six distinct values:
An Invitation to See Clearly
If you aren't a follower of Jesus, this isn't necessarily an invitation to believe something entirely "new." Rather, it is an invitation to explore the origins of what you already believe and to see a deeper, more robust version of your own convictions. My goal is not merely to contradict your perspective, but to provide a context that makes sense of it and perhaps to invite you to begin a journey to rediscover the roots of your beliefs – the person of Jesus Christ.
And if you are already a Christian, I hope this series equips you to understand our culture more deeply and gives you a warmer, more confident way to engage with your neighbors.
Pull up a chair and let's look at the water together.
I will try to publish a new post each Thursday.
__________
This series will draw primarily on the following books. I highly recommend them:
The Air We Breathe, Glen Scrivener
Dominion, Tom Holland
How Christianity Changed the World, Alvin Schmidt
If you live in the West, whether you were raised in a pew, haven't opened a Bible in years, or find yourself skeptical of organized religion, there is a story beneath your story. Whether you identify as an atheist, a seeker, or simply "spiritual," the values you hold most dear did not emerge from a vacuum. They have roots, and those roots are deeply Christian.
In his book The Air We Breathe, Glen Scrivener offers a capturing illustration: "Goldfish don’t see water. Goldfish see what is in the water, they see what’s refracted through the water, but... goldfish don’t see the water itself. And yet there it is. It’s their environment. Universal but invisible."
For those of us in the modern world, Christianity is that water. It is the air we breathe and the soil in which our morality grows.
The Values We Take for Granted
If you are reading this, I suspect you value things like equality, scientific inquiry, human progress, compassion, and individual freedom. We often treat these ideas as "common sense" and obvious truths that any rational person would eventually land on.
Yet, history tells a different story. These concepts are not the default setting of humanity; in fact, for most of human history and in many parts of the world today, they are considered quite radical. They didn't appear by accident; they were forged in the fire of a specific worldview.
A Journey of Discovery
The purpose of this series, "Your Christian Heritage," is to pull back the curtain on our most cherished ideals. We want to explore where these values actually come from and why the teachings of Jesus provide the only sturdy foundation to keep them from crumbling.
Over the coming weeks, we will "set the table" by looking at the world as it existed before Jesus—a world that was often much harsher and more indifferent than the one we enjoy today. Then, we will take an honest look at six distinct values:
- Equality & Compassion
- Consent & Freedom
- Science & Progress
An Invitation to See Clearly
If you aren't a follower of Jesus, this isn't necessarily an invitation to believe something entirely "new." Rather, it is an invitation to explore the origins of what you already believe and to see a deeper, more robust version of your own convictions. My goal is not merely to contradict your perspective, but to provide a context that makes sense of it and perhaps to invite you to begin a journey to rediscover the roots of your beliefs – the person of Jesus Christ.
And if you are already a Christian, I hope this series equips you to understand our culture more deeply and gives you a warmer, more confident way to engage with your neighbors.
Pull up a chair and let's look at the water together.
I will try to publish a new post each Thursday.
__________
This series will draw primarily on the following books. I highly recommend them:
The Air We Breathe, Glen Scrivener
Dominion, Tom Holland
How Christianity Changed the World, Alvin Schmidt
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3 Comments
This is very exciting to me. Being a long time Christian, but new to organized religion, I am really looking forward to learning everything you have to share. Thank you for doing this!
Thank you so much for creating this blog. Looking forward to reading it and sharing it with others. Especially, to a few friends who are really seeking to learn about Jesus.
Thank you for such a great post. The “water” analogy really struck me, especially when you look honestly at the world Jesus stepped into. First-century Rome wasn’t compassionate or equal, it was brutally hierarchical. The weak were expendable, the widows, the sick and the poor were largely invisible, unwanted infants were routinely “disposed” of, and women had little legal or social standing.
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nNone of our modern assumptions about protecting the vulnerable were “normal.” Then Christianity shows up and, through the teachings of Jesus, insists that the least matter most, care for widows and orphans, protect children, honor women, and treat every person as bearing the image of God.
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nThat wasn’t a small tweak to the culture; it was a moral reversal. The compassion we now take for granted didn’t evolve naturally, it was introduced, defended, and preserved by that worldview. Your post is a great reminder that we didn’t invent this water… we inherited it.
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nMark Wiggins