In the days when the British Empire was being established missionaries went into the colonies taking what was regarded as a vital part of English culture: Christianity. The fact that Christianity originated in the Middle East seems to elude most of the English.
We absorbed it hundreds of years previously and then reinvented it as a British product. The more ancient aspects of Hebrew culture as displayed in the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, and the mixed backdrop of Greek, Roman and Israeli cultures found in the second part, the New Testament, became Anglicised. The Bible is, in places, a book of extremes; at times using extreme language it tells of extreme passions, extreme violence, extreme immorality - and much of these excesses are enacted by the people of God.
Without giving explanations that require PhDs in ancient languages and theology we can safely assume that much of the Bible's vitality was lost during translation. The rest of it was watered down by the religious establishment (probably in ignorance) as they adapted the Bible, in preaching and teaching, to fit our restrained, moderate culture. In short, they sought not to offend English sensibilities.
One classic example is that of King David (he of Goliath fame) who, at a certain celebration in praise of God, so the King James Version tells us, danced with all his might ... in a linen ephod. Sounds very poetic, doesn’t it? A modern colloquial rendition of this display of enthusiasm might be: he was really giving it some ... in his underpants.
In another part of the Bible, the book of a Hebrew prophet called Isaiah, we can read a description of the [supposed] condition of humankind. We are said to have gone away from God and that our attempts to be virtuous and moral are such that they are unacceptable to God. The King James Version again: all our righteousness is as filthy rags. Many evangelical scholars point out that the “filthy rags” in the original Hebrew text actually refers to used sanitary towels. They are not suggesting for a minute that the wording be changed but simply want to underline the fact that much of the power was, and still is, lost in what has been a dumbing down of these writings.
As quoted in every traditional church marriage service, Jesus Christ was said to have attended a wedding at a place called Cana in Galilee, Israel, where he turned water into wine. What had not been made so public and yet is apparent from the account in St. Johns Gospel, is that he supplied an estimated 150 gallons of high-quality wine at a time in the party when a lot of wine had already been drunk! Gerald Coates, the founder of Pioneer, the second largest UK new church groupings, says of this: two thousand years ago, Jesus turned water into wine and ever since then the church has been trying to change it back!
Whether it was intentional or not - suppressing the vitality of the bible has had the effect of suppressing a vital Christianity. But for the past 20 years a major reversal of this trend has been underway and is gaining momentum. Leaders of the new evangelical free churches have stumbled on patterns of behaviour which they regard more fitting for Christians. Having to operate outside the safe frameworks of the established denominations and, at the same time, wanting to be true to scripture, meant that they had to go back and take another look at the Bible. Seeing that the approach of both liberal and conservative Christian groups was failing to stop Church decline in Europe they searched for models of church planting, church growth and conduct. A deeper knowledge of the relevant cultures had become available. This, combined with more accurate translations of the Bible revealed, not only blueprints for church life, but also examples of an upbeat and radical lifestyle. In the A new churches this is now lived out on a day-to-day basis and reflected in small get-togethers on weekdays and in a large meeting of all the Christians in a given locality at the weekend, usually on a Sunday. Therefore, contrary to what most cultural and religious commentators are saying, this exuberance is not a new phenomenon imported from North America, or Africa or Latin Americaˇ or anywhere else, but a return to and application of some basic principles outlined in a book that is thousands of years old.
In older established denominations this used to be called “going to church” but the evangelicals distance themselves from this term saying that it suggests bodily presence at a particular building. They say that it is the people who are the church which renders the description “going to church” nonsensical. It is at these large gatherings that the most visible expressions of exuberance can be seen in meetings that have been dubbed “happy clappy”. Despite this dismissive term, superficiality is not tolerated and there are often long periods of reverential contemplation.
CULTURE SHOCK! The King of the nation publicly dancing in his underpants, talk of used sanitary towels and THE Christian leader supplying vast amounts of wine to an already half-drunk wedding party! As fresh revelation spreads about the true natureˇ of our once-cherished beliefs it is small wonder that Prince Charles wants to be defender of faith and not The Faith.
If Prince Charles does not want to be defender of this, so the evangelicals say, it will be his loss.