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Of tribes and tounges

Note: This is a personal opinion only.
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In the past many churches joined together and formed the nicene creed and since then Christianity showed some form of uniqueness and common understanding of what a Christian believe.  In short , a monotheistic religion that belives in a triune God , and Christ as the meditator between men and God because of the redemption of sins through the cross and the regeneration of life by the help of the Holy Spirit. But like all big families when they have sons that carry on the family name there are then multiple families.  Look at the instance the tribes of Jacob, 12 in all, are they all not Abraham ' s children?  Yes, yet amongst them they had so much difference.  Look at the tribe of Benjamin, they  are said to like a ravenous wolf [ Genesis 49:27 ] , quite seen in the life of King Saul, Queen Esther, Paul the apostle or the tribe of Judah,  where men like David and Solomon are. Now , in all this manner it does not make anyone weaker than other but shows the nature of a household. 

Let's think it this way, you and your best friend's house,  both of you live next door however behind closed doors no matter how mum like is your friend's mum , you find the patterns of operation in their house quite odd at times. This is what tribes come from - individual households.

In today's Christian context there are many ways the world tribe is used. The first one is for tribal people living in forested regions. But this is not commonly used and the real existence of tribal culture is at decline.  The prominent use is by the Joshua Project and people who read about it. In that context , they divide the world to people groups and this people group is referred as tribe and tounges - making meaning to the great commission "to every tribe and tounge".

The third use was made more prominent in messages posted in the recent years especially with the rise of digital media and websites like tribe.net and so on. With the rise of new calvinists, this word has been used even more. There are several papers on the rise of new calvinism and many of them say that there are been a longing in younger belivers to be part of a community and uphold a Christian tradition.  Now , I do realise the trouble with fundamentalists and traditionalists who refuse to grow out of their circles and for some reason the new calvinists have seem to have made the problem less by being traditional.  With people like Tim Keller,  John Piper and Lecrea , calling themselves a tribe ,makes the younger belivers want to be part of this inherited doctrine and add it to their faith. So, in many context you would hear people saying that they are from the "reformed tribe" and they are of the creedobaptist / pedobaptist circles as in difference to the word denomination because they want to make sure that they in many sense connect to the messianic Jews and the Lutherans as cousins but not brothers but still one in Christ. The fun would be when websites and colleges later ask you for tribe than denominations.  in my sence it brings more clarity to the doctrinal stand and your opinion on other families.  After all we all know that even if our friend's mum makes the best cake , your mum makes the best food. What is your tribe ? 



See also. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_(internet)


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