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When it comes to the church today there is too much sameness. Sameness is a real problem. But what does that mean? What is too much sameness? First, we need to clarify that sameness is not the same as conformity. Conformity isn’t a problem; the problem resides in the pattern after which the church is being conformed. Is the church today being conformed to Christ or to the pattern of this world?

The Bible commands us to not conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). But sadly, the church too often looks pretty much the same as the world.

Dr. Robert Gagnon, professor of New Testament, and former professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, has been incredibly helpful in identifying the sin of sameness in his writing on Christian sexual ethics, homosexuality, and the Bible. Gagnon writes,

The foundation of all sexual ethics according to Jesus is “male and female [God] made them” (Gen 1:27) and “For this reason a man … will become joined to his woman, and they [later: the two] shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). According to Jesus, the male-female prerequisite for marriage (and thus for all sexual relations) is the foundation upon which all other sexual-ethical standards are predicated, including the prohibitions of incest and homosexuality. (Incest and homosexuality are a violation of the [biblical] rejection of excessive familial and structural sameness.)

Why is incest wrong? Why is homosexuality wrong? Too much sameness. They are not God’s pattern for the world. But the world has rejected God’s pattern, and so we end up with the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

It’s one thing for the world to reject God’s pattern, but its even worse when the church does. The church today is suffering from too much sameness, produced by following a worldly design. But we must remember Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 6, that if we look too much like the rest of the world, we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Conformity to the pattern of this world is a serious problem in the church today and so in this episode of The Parrhesian Podcast, Kyle, Peter, and Nate discuss the problem of excessive sameness in the church and how the church might break free from this destructive pattern.

https://theparrhesians.com/