Old is Gold, How About When it Comes To Faith, Doctrine and Church?
When I was going to the St. Cyril's College, Adoor, back home I had a spiritual crisis. I remember on those days girls wearing Chudidaar (Indian common dress) were considered as a non-spiritual dress. By wearing Chudidaar those days was a trendy thing and following Bollywood actress. Even-though later in these days it is considered as one of the best dress for and by the Indian girls, accepted by everyone. Today we talk against wearing Jeans or leggings. Old is Gold and spiritual and current is evil and non-spiritual.
We all know the value of old antique things such as historic house, old car and old bike etc. I have a friend who lives in a historic house in Springfield, Ohio. I happen to see the wooden house which has more value than the present market value because of its historic connections. When it comes to the bike or motor cycles in the Indian market there are basically these two models stands out to me. The Royal Enfield and Yamaha 350. The Royal Enfield is a gift from the colonialism. This was originally a British Company, a four stroke single cylinder and this company came to Indian market along with the Colonization. In 1971 this British company came to an end and today they are an Indian company based in old Madras, India. In 1994 Royal Enfield came with 500 CC Bike.
The second major trend among the youths in India is having an Yamaha RX 350. It makes a lot of noise even though it is a 2 stroke bike, it also had the 30.5 horse power. It is also considered as the first raising bike made in India. This company also came to an end with their production in 1990. The good one today's cost almost the same value of a new bike in the market or more (i.e. more or close to $ 2000). The old has value even though it has many variables connected with it. 
When it comes to the church of Jesus Christ what do you think the old is gold? or old is evil? When we talk about the formation of the doctrines or theology I have a different opinion. We need to be contextually relevant. The current struggles faced by the church is not the same especially in the post Christian world. I like most the traditional church building especially they the building in the Gothic architecture. The style that existed in the medieval period which originally evolved from the romanequire architecture and succeeded by renaissance period.
When it comes to LGEBT Community. Racial Discrimination,, Gender Discrimination and many other current issues what is the relevance of old is gold philosophy? In a recent survey between the age of 16 to 29 years of non-Christian's believe when they are asked about the church they said; the church is 91% anti-homosexual, 87% judgmental, 85% hypocritical, 78% old-fashioned, 75% too involved in politics, 70% out of touch with reality, 70% insensitive to others. Whether we agree or not this is the perception of others about us. The future is coming faster than ever and the society, culture, church and economy is changing. We have the struggle to prove the value of the local church as a social institution.
I truly believe church is the only scope and hope for this world, not the government, not the politics or any social institutions including NGOs. The church of Jesus Christ needs to expand the capacity to love at a lightning speed of the technology. We need to reclaim the broken institution of marriage, when 44% of the 18-29 year old Americans believe marriage is becoming obsolete. How do the church become a multi-cultural center because in 2005, the U.S. population was 296 million, by 2050, that number will be 438 million—and that fully 82 percent of that growth will be due to immigrants and their descendants. How do we deal with the issue of the the rise of the “nones.” 1/3 of American adults under 30 state they have no religious affiliation. 88% of the religiously unaffiliated say they're not looking for a religion that is right for them.
I truly believe church is the only scope and hope for this world, not the government, not the politics or any social institutions including NGOs. The church of Jesus Christ needs to expand the capacity to love at a lightning speed of the technology. We need to reclaim the broken institution of marriage, when 44% of the 18-29 year old Americans believe marriage is becoming obsolete. How do the church become a multi-cultural center because in 2005, the U.S. population was 296 million, by 2050, that number will be 438 million—and that fully 82 percent of that growth will be due to immigrants and their descendants. How do we deal with the issue of the the rise of the “nones.” 1/3 of American adults under 30 state they have no religious affiliation. 88% of the religiously unaffiliated say they're not looking for a religion that is right for them.
From Shane Claiborne, author of Irresistible Revolution and founding member of the Simple Way in Philadelphia, said: We live in a nation where gun violence kills 10,000 people a year, where the death penalty kills dozens a year to try and show that killing is wrong, where military spending is over 20,000 a second, where we have the capacity of 100,000 Hiroshimas in our arsenal. It is time for a movement of Christians to interrupt the patterns of violence with the love we see on the cross. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not yet see” (Hebrews 11:1). Not only old is gold but current is also gold and exciting.
Blessings (c) Binu Peniel 2016.
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