Ethical Standards // holding believers to them

In working through a commentary on 1st Peter and once again having my preconceptions of a book of the Bible transformed, I ran across this idea this morning that the authored presented and found it highly intriguing. Scot McKnight suggested that due to heavy influence of legalism in the last century (and I would add my generation and subsequent generations revolt against legalism in the form of an abuse of grace) it is difficult to offer ethical standards to believers anymore and ask them to rise to that without fear of someone crying out legalist. Or as he says, someone is going to say that you are meddling with their lives.

This is spawned off of Peter’s exhortation to live a holy life. But, how is it that you get someone to live a holy life if you cannot set a foundation for them or offer some very practical standards by which to live. It is impossible. Furthermore, it creates an infelicitous situation for those seeking to live “called out” when they are unable to challenge other believers in the same standards to which we have most certainly been called to.

All this to pose a question. McKnight says that, “Grass roots movements need to grow in the church, carrying with them the seeds of holy living. Sunday school teachers [...] need to ask their classes what it means to live a holy life [...] We need to ask Christians to evaluate the media, especially television, in light of the Christian demand for holiness.”

I’m at a tension with this. I want to know what’s going on with popular culture and what is shaping people and making them think the way they think, but I would gladly give up our cable service in a heart beat (though it would be hard to part with Crimson Tide football, Braves, and NASCAR). I’m willing to evaluate TV in light of Christian standards. To be honest with you, it only took me about a half a millisecond to come to the conclusion, “Yep, not consistent. Most of the things on there are antithetical to what I read in Scripture.” But, how do I reconcile that with, I want to know the world in which I live and how they are responding to everything that is shaping this planet. And how the culture of today is affecting the way they think. You can argue with me all day, but one of the primary places to discover this is through media, namely the productions we see on TV.

Who wants to chime in?