The capacity for choice, the ability to create, the drive for purpose, that comes from the heart of a human being is also the source of human evil. We find ourselves in a state where our will does not rule the self, but is rather subject to it; emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations telling us what to choose, as opposed to our capacity for choice and purpose re-aligning our thoughts and emotions around the will.
1) There is an impulse within our culture to "be true to yourself."
a) What this usually means is who you really are is defined by what you feel
b) This implies that your feelings should rule your life
c) This also implies that not letting them do this is harmful, repressive, false, and constrictive
2) The reality is, however, deeper than our culture, and more complicated...
a) Our culture is woefully unreflective, we listen to what screams loudest.
b) Emotion, sensation, scream loudest
c) Human nature is more than what the psychologists say. There are endless debates about what is more important in determining behavior, our essential nature, or the environment that shapes that nature. The will/heart/spirit has no place in the nature-nurture debate. This is an unfortunate blunder.
d) In reality, your emotions are not the core of who you are. The will is the center of a person, not the whole of a person, but definitely the central part that gives shape and direction to the rest of a person.
3) The Will is the core organizing principal of the human being.
a) The will is the seat of drive, yearning, purpose, and choice; it is the place which chooses and says "yes or no" to our physical sensations, emotions, thoughts, and relationships.
b) The will as heart, organizing principal, core, gives shape to our mental, physical, relational, and personal aspects.
c) The will as spirit is non-physical, personal power; this does not mean that it is fuzzy or lacks reality, simply that it is non-physical. It is, however, concrete, we interact with the spiritual realm constantly as is evidenced by phrases like, 'spirited' and 'strong-willed;' or 'hard-hearted' and 'broken-hearted.'
4) The results of, "Being true to yourself..."
a) You are inculcated with the rational framework, the impulse, and the moral ambiguity to simply do whatever you want, with no possible check on evil.
b) Changing your emotional and sensational states, is no longer an option (not even thought of as a possibility, and if it were possible it would be "unhealthy.")
c) We are discouraged from exercising our will to override our emotions and sensations
d) We are essentially discouraged from choosing anything other than what we feel
Your self is being defined as emotions; not will, body, intellect, or social self. The "organizing principle" is emotion, sensation, as opposed to purpose and choice.
The will is the seat of choice, it is the part of the human being which has the power to choose, the mind is the part of us that has emotions, thoughts, etc.; we talk about choice and empowering people, making them free, what we really mean is that people should always do whatever they feel like doing, and by consequence, they should not choose to do anything they don't feel like doing. This emphasis on "being true to yourself" is really exalting the emotions over the will; we are telling people that they should not choose to do something they don't feel like doing!
Choice is a word that is attached to many political issues, but when we begin to think it through in this light, we can see that often the rhetoric of choice, and certainly the cultural impulse behind it, is not really a desire for choice so much as a lack of intentional choice for good, whenever that good conflicts with our own comfort or emotional and physical pleasure.
The impulse we have here discussed ends up, in spite of the language of choice, erasing choice...
3.08.2009
3.07.2009
Khrushchev's Space Theology
In a speech Nikita Khrushchev once remarked that 'Gagarin flew into space, but God wasn't there.' I assume that Mr Khrushchev was speaking glibly, and that he was aware of the fact that if Gagarin had seen God in orbit, Christianity's picture of God would have been proved false!!!
This gets at, however, a popular misconception about our understanding of reality. Often in conversations the following statement is trotted out, "well, of course the ancients believed the Bible to be true, that was before people knew any better, they believed all sorts of superstitions you know..."
(This of course, begs the question, whether or not we have any superstitions of our own, but we'll save the conversation about American idolatry and cultural superstition for another day)
This simply doesn't make any sense.
A simple read through the very Bible that skeptics say can only believed by the gullible and unsophisticated will show precisely the opposite. If the miraculous was so commonly believed by the ancients why were they so incredulous at Jesus own miracles?
A simple reading of scripture will establish that resurrection was known to be impossible in the ancient world; the Christian belief was never that resurrection was a natural phenomenon that would happen to everyone as a matter of course, but rather that human nature was destined for death apart from the working of the Creator God. This is the very implications of the Resurrection! Jesus' victory over death is seen as precisely the first-fruits of the unraveling of the established order of things. God was doing something new in the world that needed to be seen precisely on the order of magnitude as the creation of the cosmos out of nothing. (Read the intro to the Gospel of John alongside the intro to Genesis)
This gets at, however, a popular misconception about our understanding of reality. Often in conversations the following statement is trotted out, "well, of course the ancients believed the Bible to be true, that was before people knew any better, they believed all sorts of superstitions you know..."
(This of course, begs the question, whether or not we have any superstitions of our own, but we'll save the conversation about American idolatry and cultural superstition for another day)
This simply doesn't make any sense.
A simple read through the very Bible that skeptics say can only believed by the gullible and unsophisticated will show precisely the opposite. If the miraculous was so commonly believed by the ancients why were they so incredulous at Jesus own miracles?
A simple reading of scripture will establish that resurrection was known to be impossible in the ancient world; the Christian belief was never that resurrection was a natural phenomenon that would happen to everyone as a matter of course, but rather that human nature was destined for death apart from the working of the Creator God. This is the very implications of the Resurrection! Jesus' victory over death is seen as precisely the first-fruits of the unraveling of the established order of things. God was doing something new in the world that needed to be seen precisely on the order of magnitude as the creation of the cosmos out of nothing. (Read the intro to the Gospel of John alongside the intro to Genesis)
3.06.2009
clarifying the thoughts about heaven...
This is Tamy ...
I guess I would say that God does not care about us going to heaven in the way that most of America believes. I do believe he is very concerned with what happens when we live. I believe that we are living eternally now, that the life we lead and live is a participation either in heaven or hell. As far as the destination of our souls when we die and whether or not it goes up or down I don't really buy into I don't think, because I think that as our physical bodies come to rest our souls have already began an eternal life living in the presence of God or not. What if following Jesus was more about particiapting in a divine reality that exists now that most of us do not see, instead of being about where you go when you die. What would that mean for our sense of "calling to Christ". Some smart person said it once that God's concern is not getting people into heaven but rather HEAVEN into PEOPLE. How many Christians are oozing out heaven everywhere they go??? (Not me but I am trying!!) I know that this blog was a bit of a rant and I am sorry for that. However I am really tired of christianity being a social club for people with the right beliefs who are destined to go to the same place when they die. Christianity is a group of people following Jesus into the same revolutionary life he lead to overthrow injustice, peel off oppression, cast out hopelessness, unify the divided, and to do all this by an unashamed, unconditional love and humility for everything around us. This sounds so very big and lofty I know but why is the call to Christ to be a small call of a good life and being a good person. Is that all that is really possible with Christ??? I don't believe so.
So where does this huge call of Christ start, I think at his cross where we as a church need to come and die and pick up Jesus' life for us. When I said as a Church I meant ME and YOU cause we are the Church!!!! So my prayer is that Christ's bride would get down on her knees and repent for being concerned only for herself and not truly trusting her only love and then get back up loved and restored to walk out her days loving her Bridegroom. I am down on my knees are you???
And I believe that Christ's life for us is filled with connection to him in an intimate way ( so we gotta be spending time with him, praying and LISTENING to him), connection to the rest of the people connected to him (so Community, the church), seeking to grow up in him (discipleship), and a passionate love of the world around us (John 3:16 ...he loved the world enough to die for it, DO WE???)
Lord I am sorry for being concerned only for myself and for thinking so often of myself first!!!! I desire to be a woman full of the passion and love of Christ, I desire for heaven to ooze out of me into this world that so badly wants to be loved. May I be a woman quick to love and repent and slow to judge and condemn. May the pride that I often feel myself full of be laid down and instead a love of all things good be picked up. May I no longer make excuses but instead walk into the realm of faith. Can I become the woman that is for my husband, my children and those around me, can I be a dream caster and encourager instead of a dream killer. Jesus I love you, I love your promise of redemption for this world and your faithfullness to walk that out even as we fail in doing so!!!!
I guess I would say that God does not care about us going to heaven in the way that most of America believes. I do believe he is very concerned with what happens when we live. I believe that we are living eternally now, that the life we lead and live is a participation either in heaven or hell. As far as the destination of our souls when we die and whether or not it goes up or down I don't really buy into I don't think, because I think that as our physical bodies come to rest our souls have already began an eternal life living in the presence of God or not. What if following Jesus was more about particiapting in a divine reality that exists now that most of us do not see, instead of being about where you go when you die. What would that mean for our sense of "calling to Christ". Some smart person said it once that God's concern is not getting people into heaven but rather HEAVEN into PEOPLE. How many Christians are oozing out heaven everywhere they go??? (Not me but I am trying!!) I know that this blog was a bit of a rant and I am sorry for that. However I am really tired of christianity being a social club for people with the right beliefs who are destined to go to the same place when they die. Christianity is a group of people following Jesus into the same revolutionary life he lead to overthrow injustice, peel off oppression, cast out hopelessness, unify the divided, and to do all this by an unashamed, unconditional love and humility for everything around us. This sounds so very big and lofty I know but why is the call to Christ to be a small call of a good life and being a good person. Is that all that is really possible with Christ??? I don't believe so.
So where does this huge call of Christ start, I think at his cross where we as a church need to come and die and pick up Jesus' life for us. When I said as a Church I meant ME and YOU cause we are the Church!!!! So my prayer is that Christ's bride would get down on her knees and repent for being concerned only for herself and not truly trusting her only love and then get back up loved and restored to walk out her days loving her Bridegroom. I am down on my knees are you???
And I believe that Christ's life for us is filled with connection to him in an intimate way ( so we gotta be spending time with him, praying and LISTENING to him), connection to the rest of the people connected to him (so Community, the church), seeking to grow up in him (discipleship), and a passionate love of the world around us (John 3:16 ...he loved the world enough to die for it, DO WE???)
Lord I am sorry for being concerned only for myself and for thinking so often of myself first!!!! I desire to be a woman full of the passion and love of Christ, I desire for heaven to ooze out of me into this world that so badly wants to be loved. May I be a woman quick to love and repent and slow to judge and condemn. May the pride that I often feel myself full of be laid down and instead a love of all things good be picked up. May I no longer make excuses but instead walk into the realm of faith. Can I become the woman that is for my husband, my children and those around me, can I be a dream caster and encourager instead of a dream killer. Jesus I love you, I love your promise of redemption for this world and your faithfullness to walk that out even as we fail in doing so!!!!
3.05.2009
Cultural Kickback
I take it as a sign that I am on the right path whenever people call me an 'idealist' and try to get me to 'be realistic.' I get very excited when I experience genuine confrontation.
I have had a couple of interesting responses to our presence in the neighborhood...
Most recently we had a building inspector show up at our home. He looked a little miffed. He had been told we were using our house for church meetings, and he seemed a little perturbed by the obvious fact that our house is still just a place of residence.
Some of our neighbors don't like the fact that we have people over regularly, and I am tempted to believe that the real issue has more to do with the particular type of person that they don't want in the neighborhood.
Oh well...
In some countries women get sexually assaulted and men get beheaded for serving Jesus. I can hardly complain about people harassing me for letting homeless people come to my house...
I have had a couple of interesting responses to our presence in the neighborhood...
Most recently we had a building inspector show up at our home. He looked a little miffed. He had been told we were using our house for church meetings, and he seemed a little perturbed by the obvious fact that our house is still just a place of residence.
Some of our neighbors don't like the fact that we have people over regularly, and I am tempted to believe that the real issue has more to do with the particular type of person that they don't want in the neighborhood.
Oh well...
In some countries women get sexually assaulted and men get beheaded for serving Jesus. I can hardly complain about people harassing me for letting homeless people come to my house...
3.04.2009
Jesus is Cool?
Jesus isn't cool...
And following Him won't make you cool.
If you want to be cool, don't follow Jesus, do something else.
Get tattoos, play musical instruments, or build wells in third world countries, become a community activist, start a successful business, you can even start a successful ministry, or even become a Christian (just make sure you don't go to church, or at least if you do, go to a house church with candles, those are kinda cool)...
...in the right social circles these things may make you 'cool;' but following Jesus never will.
And following Him won't make you cool.
If you want to be cool, don't follow Jesus, do something else.
Get tattoos, play musical instruments, or build wells in third world countries, become a community activist, start a successful business, you can even start a successful ministry, or even become a Christian (just make sure you don't go to church, or at least if you do, go to a house church with candles, those are kinda cool)...
...in the right social circles these things may make you 'cool;' but following Jesus never will.
Leadership
“A leader is not a person who can do the work better than his followers; he is the person who can get this followers to do the work better than he can.”
Fred Smith
Who is qualified to lead?
How should a leader become a leader?
What makes up the quality we call 'leadership?'
Just had a good conversation about this with a good friend...
Fred Smith
Who is qualified to lead?
How should a leader become a leader?
What makes up the quality we call 'leadership?'
Just had a good conversation about this with a good friend...
3.03.2009
Monogamy
So my friends were talking about monogamy at work yesterday and I thought I would blog a little bit on this subject. I listened to what they had to say and all day yesterday my mind pondered thoughts about monogamy and what I agreed with or disagreed with. For the sake of this blog monogamy and polygamy are mostly in reference to marriage but not necesarily.
I feel like monogamy is a noble thing. I feel like anybody can go out and screw around with multiple people. In fact I feel like mostly everyone does. I feel like chosing to be in a monogamous relationship is actually a noble thing. I feel like it all really boils down to rights and entitlement here in our country. I have the right to be comfortable. I have the right to be happy. I have the right to do basically whatever I feel like at any given moment. I have the right to do what feels good and not necesarily whats right. I feel like we here in America aren't willing to deal with our issues or our stuff. You hate your old car, so you get a new one. You hate your old job, so you get a new one. You wife or husband just ain't doing it for you any more so you get a new one. Heaven forbid that you talk things out. Heaven forbid that you are uncomfortable for any length of time. Heaven forbid that I am uncomfortable for any length of time. I am an American too.
I feel like choosing to be with a person exclusivly and also choosing to have other partners or relationships at the same time is selfish. I feel like it is a lack of willingness to commit. Duh that's obvious, I know. But I feel like it is an unsaid truth. I feel like as a society we are very unwilling to commit to most things. You know what commitment involves don't you? It involves getting real. It involves putting down your comfort, your "rights" for a certain lenth of time and really just face the facts about what you are commiting to. Marriage is no longer a commitment. Relationships are no longer commitments. I feel like we were created to be with one person only. If we were created to mate like animals there wouldn't be such emotions attached to having sex. If we were made to just be recycled through many people then it wouldn't hurt when our significant other moved on and we still loved them.
I feel like monogamy is a noble thing. I feel like anybody can go out and screw around with multiple people. In fact I feel like mostly everyone does. I feel like chosing to be in a monogamous relationship is actually a noble thing. I feel like it all really boils down to rights and entitlement here in our country. I have the right to be comfortable. I have the right to be happy. I have the right to do basically whatever I feel like at any given moment. I have the right to do what feels good and not necesarily whats right. I feel like we here in America aren't willing to deal with our issues or our stuff. You hate your old car, so you get a new one. You hate your old job, so you get a new one. You wife or husband just ain't doing it for you any more so you get a new one. Heaven forbid that you talk things out. Heaven forbid that you are uncomfortable for any length of time. Heaven forbid that I am uncomfortable for any length of time. I am an American too.
I feel like choosing to be with a person exclusivly and also choosing to have other partners or relationships at the same time is selfish. I feel like it is a lack of willingness to commit. Duh that's obvious, I know. But I feel like it is an unsaid truth. I feel like as a society we are very unwilling to commit to most things. You know what commitment involves don't you? It involves getting real. It involves putting down your comfort, your "rights" for a certain lenth of time and really just face the facts about what you are commiting to. Marriage is no longer a commitment. Relationships are no longer commitments. I feel like we were created to be with one person only. If we were created to mate like animals there wouldn't be such emotions attached to having sex. If we were made to just be recycled through many people then it wouldn't hurt when our significant other moved on and we still loved them.
Conservative Politics
I hear conservative Christians say:
"social justice isn't the church's business, the gospel is"
and then I hear then turn around and also say:
"social justice isn't the state's business its the churches"
So which is it?
The same people who will say the mission of the Church is to 'get people saved' not 'get people fed,' are the same people who will say 'the Government can't fix the problem (in fact the Govt. IS the problem!), it's the Church's responsibility to care for people.' You can't have it both ways!
I know how I see that question answered in Scripture:
The gospel is not divided into 'social' and 'spiritual' issues, but rather is about the Kingdom of God coming which holds sway over everything, both 'social' and 'spiritual' arenas, and all else besides. The gospel is not unconcerned with what we might call 'politics' but was, and remains, politically subversive because it comes from a deeper source. So yes, the Church is God's plan to bring justice to the world!!!
Here is where the rubber meets the road. As Americans we give more than others (and studies show it is American conservative Christians who give more than any other category), but the reality is, it is not enough! When the money required to provide food, clean water, and basic health to the world is the same amount as the annual expenditure of Americans for ice cream there is a problem; saying 'we give more than others' doesn't change the fact that our neighbors are starving whilst we are sticking our fingers down our collective throats in order to make room for more expensive caviar...
...that we give $20 a month to the Christian Children's Fund is wonderful, but...
Have we really taken ownership of these things?
OR
Have we just given enough to cleanse our conscience?
Sure, we give, but are we actually involved? The money is often about conscience cleansing, and usually will do little, what is needed is personal involvement! Leverage your personal resources to work towards God's agenda for this little blue ball we call home! This is the adventure God is calling us to: He is pouring Grace and Peace over the earth, releasing His favor, and putting things in their proper places, and He is inviting us to find our place within that agenda. Will we join Him or work for some other purpose?
What about systemic injustice? We are blind to it! In our city there are children without the ability to read (or even speak passably!), this will have profound and compounding effects upon their lives, and our society as a whole. God is asking us to get involved! Sharing our lives, not the spare change from our cappuccinos!
On top of this there is a real inability in the American Church to distinguish between theological conservatives and political ones. It is uniquely American phenomenon that theological conservatives are also politically conservative. In the UK those Christians who are theologically conservative tend to be politically liberal...
"social justice isn't the church's business, the gospel is"
and then I hear then turn around and also say:
"social justice isn't the state's business its the churches"
So which is it?
The same people who will say the mission of the Church is to 'get people saved' not 'get people fed,' are the same people who will say 'the Government can't fix the problem (in fact the Govt. IS the problem!), it's the Church's responsibility to care for people.' You can't have it both ways!
I know how I see that question answered in Scripture:
The gospel is not divided into 'social' and 'spiritual' issues, but rather is about the Kingdom of God coming which holds sway over everything, both 'social' and 'spiritual' arenas, and all else besides. The gospel is not unconcerned with what we might call 'politics' but was, and remains, politically subversive because it comes from a deeper source. So yes, the Church is God's plan to bring justice to the world!!!
Here is where the rubber meets the road. As Americans we give more than others (and studies show it is American conservative Christians who give more than any other category), but the reality is, it is not enough! When the money required to provide food, clean water, and basic health to the world is the same amount as the annual expenditure of Americans for ice cream there is a problem; saying 'we give more than others' doesn't change the fact that our neighbors are starving whilst we are sticking our fingers down our collective throats in order to make room for more expensive caviar...
...that we give $20 a month to the Christian Children's Fund is wonderful, but...
Have we really taken ownership of these things?
OR
Have we just given enough to cleanse our conscience?
Sure, we give, but are we actually involved? The money is often about conscience cleansing, and usually will do little, what is needed is personal involvement! Leverage your personal resources to work towards God's agenda for this little blue ball we call home! This is the adventure God is calling us to: He is pouring Grace and Peace over the earth, releasing His favor, and putting things in their proper places, and He is inviting us to find our place within that agenda. Will we join Him or work for some other purpose?
What about systemic injustice? We are blind to it! In our city there are children without the ability to read (or even speak passably!), this will have profound and compounding effects upon their lives, and our society as a whole. God is asking us to get involved! Sharing our lives, not the spare change from our cappuccinos!
On top of this there is a real inability in the American Church to distinguish between theological conservatives and political ones. It is uniquely American phenomenon that theological conservatives are also politically conservative. In the UK those Christians who are theologically conservative tend to be politically liberal...
Ponderings of Hope and Frustration...
This is just a bit of my thoughts the last day or two, so if you are used to reading Steve this maybe a little different!
So we are trying to plant a church in Buffalo New York. What I feel like I am here to do: to love Jesus with all my heart and pray that love will overflow onto those around me, that I would invite people into my life and live beside them until God moves us or offs us (haha!), that I would be a woman of encouragement to those around me that Jesus lived, loved, died and then came back to love some more so that we could experience a life of restoration, healing and redeemption of both our own lives, those around us and all of creation.
What the rest of the christian world hears that I am here to do: open a building where people who believe the exact same things can come and gather once or twice a week to sing songs and talk about the bible.
Ok so that was a bit cynical and I am sorry, but I feel like there is this culture in christianity that even people who have not grown up in it believe it: we are hear to have a nice life and be good people and believe that Jesus died for our sins, so that we could repent and believe and go to heaven. Give me a break!!!!! Does Jesus really care if you go to heaven NO, he cares about how you live not how you die because it is about soooooooo much more that the afterlife. So that being said and with deepest aplogies about the cyncial nature and dark humor, please laugh, I am (kinda of!)
I experienced a life with a community of people that was so amazing and life altering that it could only be God at work in it. Why am I so sure? Because all of those people were just like everyone else in this world except one thing; that they really and truly believed that their Jesus was God over everything from their pride to their finances, from their parenting to their occupation. There were no delusions about having a nice life and attending church twice a week to study the bible and sing songs.
Their very being existed through and for Jesus and his plan of loving and restoring the world. The goal of their lives was not to become a successfull father, husband, wife, professor, businessman, or even pastor. Their goal in life was to love Jesus with everything they had and allow him to become the success. Being in this community of people was something that I had thought I would never leave and even now since having left miss more than I have words to express sometimes. But I did leave that community ( I was sent out, I didn't bail) and I left it for one reason; I felt like Jesus had more for us somewhere else, he showed Steve and I that around this world there are people who don't even have a slot for what this kind of life with Jesus and community looks like, nor would they even dream of being able to live this way. It was this drive to go get the world saved, it was this pulling at our hearts to go to a new place and live our lives with Jesus the best we understand how and to also live for others as well. A life of service and love...
SO here is the 'but,' it is so hard to carry this picture around in my heart and soul; of a community of people passionately in love with Jesus and learning to love and care for each other and the world around them, when I feel like in America we don't need community. Instead we are quite content to cram the newest best technology into our lives to replace the gaps where relationships used to be. We are happy watching TV instead of playing with our kids or talking to our wives. We are on the internet instead of having real life communication with a person across the table from us.
So we are trying to plant a church in Buffalo New York. What I feel like I am here to do: to love Jesus with all my heart and pray that love will overflow onto those around me, that I would invite people into my life and live beside them until God moves us or offs us (haha!), that I would be a woman of encouragement to those around me that Jesus lived, loved, died and then came back to love some more so that we could experience a life of restoration, healing and redeemption of both our own lives, those around us and all of creation.
What the rest of the christian world hears that I am here to do: open a building where people who believe the exact same things can come and gather once or twice a week to sing songs and talk about the bible.
Ok so that was a bit cynical and I am sorry, but I feel like there is this culture in christianity that even people who have not grown up in it believe it: we are hear to have a nice life and be good people and believe that Jesus died for our sins, so that we could repent and believe and go to heaven. Give me a break!!!!! Does Jesus really care if you go to heaven NO, he cares about how you live not how you die because it is about soooooooo much more that the afterlife. So that being said and with deepest aplogies about the cyncial nature and dark humor, please laugh, I am (kinda of!)
I experienced a life with a community of people that was so amazing and life altering that it could only be God at work in it. Why am I so sure? Because all of those people were just like everyone else in this world except one thing; that they really and truly believed that their Jesus was God over everything from their pride to their finances, from their parenting to their occupation. There were no delusions about having a nice life and attending church twice a week to study the bible and sing songs.
Their very being existed through and for Jesus and his plan of loving and restoring the world. The goal of their lives was not to become a successfull father, husband, wife, professor, businessman, or even pastor. Their goal in life was to love Jesus with everything they had and allow him to become the success. Being in this community of people was something that I had thought I would never leave and even now since having left miss more than I have words to express sometimes. But I did leave that community ( I was sent out, I didn't bail) and I left it for one reason; I felt like Jesus had more for us somewhere else, he showed Steve and I that around this world there are people who don't even have a slot for what this kind of life with Jesus and community looks like, nor would they even dream of being able to live this way. It was this drive to go get the world saved, it was this pulling at our hearts to go to a new place and live our lives with Jesus the best we understand how and to also live for others as well. A life of service and love...
SO here is the 'but,' it is so hard to carry this picture around in my heart and soul; of a community of people passionately in love with Jesus and learning to love and care for each other and the world around them, when I feel like in America we don't need community. Instead we are quite content to cram the newest best technology into our lives to replace the gaps where relationships used to be. We are happy watching TV instead of playing with our kids or talking to our wives. We are on the internet instead of having real life communication with a person across the table from us.
The Anti-Empire
Here is the outline for what we discussed last Sunday night:
INTRO::
Why was Jesus crucified?
Why did the people in power crucify Jesus?
Why was the first community of followers of Jesus persecuted?
How many of you have seen the movie or read the book "The DaVinci Code?"
There is a tremendous popularity to alternative ways of understanding Jesus. The Gnostic writings, the Gospels of Mary, Peter, Thomas, Judas are being read and discussed (they aren't new, they have been around for centuries), and it is becoming popular to assert that they are a more accurate picture of Jesus than the one we have in the Bible.
This is an indicator of people's desire to see things change. People want to believe that there is more to Jesus than what they learned in Sunday School. People want to believe that a true understanding of Jesus would cause a radical upheaval to the status-quo, that following the 'real' Jesus would change everything...
...this is a wonderful thing!!!
The reason all of these new concepts about Jesus (that are really old concepts that were rejected by the people who knew Him) are being explored is because people rarely understand just how radically threatening the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, really are...
Why was Jesus crucified? Why did the establishment take Him out?
!!He was a threat to the status-quo! He threatened to undermine the system that allowed them to exercise control and dominance!
Why was the Church persecuted for the first three centuries of it's existence? They were a threat! They threatened to overturn the way of life of an entire Empire!
=================================
THE SECRET COMMUNITY OF JESUS :: THE ANTI-EMPIRE
The First Church was:
POLITICAL::
By political we are refering to an awareness and interaction with the surrounding power structures not necessarily policy debates, elections, or offices; remember Jesus was crucified with a political title over His head.
"But our citizenship is in heaven"
Philippians 3:20
All within the Roman Empire were required once a year to enter the Temple to Caesar, burn incense in worship to Caesar, and proclaim, “Caesar is Lord.” It was a spiritual/religious act, but it was simultaneously a political/patriotic act.
In contrast to this, the first followers of Jesus said:
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:9
"Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit."
1 Corinthians 12:3
What this ammounts to is that the first disciples of the Way of Jesus were saying, "We don’t belong to Caesar’s Empire, we belong to Jesus’ Empire."
In spite of the pomp and circumstance of Rome, the largest Empire of it's day, with the longest continuous reign in human history, excercizing power from Britain to India, Africa to France, the first Christians were convincingly proclaiming:
"Caesar is a play-king, Jesus is the real deal…"
JESUS THE SOURCE OF LIFE::
The first Christians looked to Jesus as both the perfect revelation of who God is, and also as the source of God's presence within their lives and their community.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4
The first disciples of Jesus believed that God was in the process of putting the world back together through Jesus. They experienced the very Spirit of the Resurrection filling them and empowering them to live a very different quality of life.
These first communities were emphatic about the centrality of Jesus to the spiritual explosion in their midst.
INCLUSIVE::
The Jewish world, and the larger Roman world, were rife with distinctions between different types of people; hierarchies establishing the interactions between these people. Some people were taboo, others were inferior, others were less than animals. In many cases this systemization of people was foundational to the peace and order of the surrounding culture (slavery and women).
In the communities of The Way, however, one of the first leaders of the movement observes:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28
The same individual elsewhere notes:
The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
Ephesians 2:14-18
The first Christian communities were notorious for setting aside the social divisions found within the wider culture. Women and slaves were considered the equals of men and citizens.
GRASS ROOTS::
The first church was decentralized, it was a people movement. The earliest accounts of the community life of the Church record:
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47
There was something happening, and it was organic, people were simply passing to others outside of the 'official' means of communication. Something was happening in houses and public spaces, God was touching people. There was no 'central fund,' no organization, no clergy, no official building, there was just God and people.
No one was in control
SUBVERSIVE::
The first Christians were playfully rebellious in their approach to those in power. Inscriptions have been found proclaiming:
"There is no name under heaven by which men might be saved than that of Caesar."
To which the disciples responded:
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Acts 4:12
Caesar was given Titles like "Son of God," the Christians however, made another use of those titles:
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
1 John 4:15
Even popular 'Christian' words have origins other than we might suppose:
The term for a community who had recognized Caesar's lordship, worshiping him, and accepting his rule, was called an 'ekklesia' which is the Greek word we translate into English as "Church."
When Caesar would conquer new territories, or accomplish civic victories he would send out proclamations announcing this: "Caesar has brought peace and prosperity to yet more people, he is the bringer of peace and the source of life, etc. etc. etc."
These proclamations were called in Greek "euangelion" which means "good news" and is translated into English as “Gospel.”
The first Christians were saying, in effect, it is NOT good news that Caesar's armies have brought 'peace' through bloodshed; at the point of a Roman spear and by way of the Roman cross, that is not "good news;" the King of the Universe, the Creator of Everything came and brought peace by bringing bloodshed upon Himself, bearing the brunt of the world's brokenness, being nailed to a Roman cross, and so providing freedom and life to us, THAT is "good news!"
THE WAY OF LOVE::
7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
17-18God is love.
20-21If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.
1 John 4:7-21
The first Christian community was offering an alternative Empire within the Empire, and alternative society with the society; ignoring the attempted control of the dominant society, but still serving the needs of the other society.
=================================
There iLee Harvey Oswald renouncing citizenship as an act of antagonism
What if becoming a disciple of Jesus was no less (but rather more) a defection from citizenship in this world, and this nation. This amounts to 'traitors in the midst' to the government in Rome! This is why Rome destroyed so many Christians they were a political threat...
=================================
What do you do with people who have dedicated themselves to the overthrow of the established order? They propose an alternative way of living that is based around loving service instead of power and control. Their lives are so beautiful and attractive that they (by simply being who they are) are inviting people to ignore the status-quo and shift into their paradigm... But they aren't approaching the city with swords or threatening to nail people to crosses, nor are they attacking with diatribes; they don't wish to leave and start an alternate community but proclaim, rather, their intention to subvert this one from the inside, and they are unwilling to compromise, they won't bow to threats of death, nor cave in to promises of reward... such a people must be eradicated, or else they will be the cause of the greatest political/social/economic/spiritual upheaval in world history.
THREATENING :: Economy, Military, Taboos, Religion, Politics, Social
=================================
There is a long period of history between the first centuries after Jesus and today, but interestingly enough, we find ourselves in a similar place. The church for over a thousand years was granted the place of honor in society, the Church was the center of culture and power, influencing political, economic, social, and even military structures. This is no longer the case.
THE CHURCH BELONGS ON THE MARGINS, IN THE GUTTER, ON THE EDGE
We can no longer rely on people coming to the Church, or desiring to participate in the vision Jesus' has of the world. I believe that this is an exciting thing! It means that we are back on familiar ground! The church is where it belongs, in the margins, collecting the people on the outside looking in! I think the Western world is moving to a place where the Church can once again offer a compelling and beautiful vision of an alternative reality. We are going underground, we are a part of a secret movement plotting to overthrow the established order!
=================================
So where do we take this?
19-22That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Ephesians 2:19-22
Jesus is Lord U
Community I
Subversive/Inclusive O
Grass Roots F
Small communities of people, who are willing to accept anybody!!! into their midst, and are genuinely seeking to experience the life of Christ within, in a way that offers the world a radical alternative of love and service instead of dominance and manipulation. Meeting in bars, libraries, homes, parks, restaurants, wherever... but seeking God's Kingdom together, learning what it means to renounce our citizenship in the kingdom of self, and how we can become as a community a dwelling place for God's spirit. Welcoming the marginalized, serving the poor, standing up for the oppressed; because that is who God is!
CITIZENSHIP IN HEAVEN
This will cause us to be subversive, to challenge the way things are. As followers of the Way of Jesus, we should be challenging the 'Caesar' of our day. I know some would be tempted to see a specific person as our contemporary Caesar, but there is something more insidious going on here. We are talking about systemic problems. Economic systems that essentially force poverty on people in other countries, world banking systems, international lending, environmental degradation, materialism that grips our culture, a breakdown of simple human relationships, people treating each other as means to an end in terms of sex or control, systematic racial inequality,
Practical:
Renounce our citizenship, pledge our allegiance to the world's true king and loving servant, Jesus; listen to His vision for the universe, (prayer, re-reading the story of God); truly belonging to one another at a deeper level than simple affection; taking responsibility for the spiritual community (Leadership); creatively subverting the way of the world. (RED) Creative acts of power and beauty, that through love and service, pull down the way of the world and replace them with the way of Jesus.
The intersection of Heaven and Earth, the people in whom God's Spirit lives and makes himself known.
INTRO::
Why was Jesus crucified?
Why did the people in power crucify Jesus?
Why was the first community of followers of Jesus persecuted?
How many of you have seen the movie or read the book "The DaVinci Code?"
There is a tremendous popularity to alternative ways of understanding Jesus. The Gnostic writings, the Gospels of Mary, Peter, Thomas, Judas are being read and discussed (they aren't new, they have been around for centuries), and it is becoming popular to assert that they are a more accurate picture of Jesus than the one we have in the Bible.
This is an indicator of people's desire to see things change. People want to believe that there is more to Jesus than what they learned in Sunday School. People want to believe that a true understanding of Jesus would cause a radical upheaval to the status-quo, that following the 'real' Jesus would change everything...
...this is a wonderful thing!!!
The reason all of these new concepts about Jesus (that are really old concepts that were rejected by the people who knew Him) are being explored is because people rarely understand just how radically threatening the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, really are...
Why was Jesus crucified? Why did the establishment take Him out?
!!He was a threat to the status-quo! He threatened to undermine the system that allowed them to exercise control and dominance!
Why was the Church persecuted for the first three centuries of it's existence? They were a threat! They threatened to overturn the way of life of an entire Empire!
=================================
THE SECRET COMMUNITY OF JESUS :: THE ANTI-EMPIRE
The First Church was:
POLITICAL::
By political we are refering to an awareness and interaction with the surrounding power structures not necessarily policy debates, elections, or offices; remember Jesus was crucified with a political title over His head.
"But our citizenship is in heaven"
Philippians 3:20
All within the Roman Empire were required once a year to enter the Temple to Caesar, burn incense in worship to Caesar, and proclaim, “Caesar is Lord.” It was a spiritual/religious act, but it was simultaneously a political/patriotic act.
In contrast to this, the first followers of Jesus said:
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:9
"Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit."
1 Corinthians 12:3
What this ammounts to is that the first disciples of the Way of Jesus were saying, "We don’t belong to Caesar’s Empire, we belong to Jesus’ Empire."
In spite of the pomp and circumstance of Rome, the largest Empire of it's day, with the longest continuous reign in human history, excercizing power from Britain to India, Africa to France, the first Christians were convincingly proclaiming:
"Caesar is a play-king, Jesus is the real deal…"
JESUS THE SOURCE OF LIFE::
The first Christians looked to Jesus as both the perfect revelation of who God is, and also as the source of God's presence within their lives and their community.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4
The first disciples of Jesus believed that God was in the process of putting the world back together through Jesus. They experienced the very Spirit of the Resurrection filling them and empowering them to live a very different quality of life.
These first communities were emphatic about the centrality of Jesus to the spiritual explosion in their midst.
INCLUSIVE::
The Jewish world, and the larger Roman world, were rife with distinctions between different types of people; hierarchies establishing the interactions between these people. Some people were taboo, others were inferior, others were less than animals. In many cases this systemization of people was foundational to the peace and order of the surrounding culture (slavery and women).
In the communities of The Way, however, one of the first leaders of the movement observes:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28
The same individual elsewhere notes:
The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
Ephesians 2:14-18
The first Christian communities were notorious for setting aside the social divisions found within the wider culture. Women and slaves were considered the equals of men and citizens.
GRASS ROOTS::
The first church was decentralized, it was a people movement. The earliest accounts of the community life of the Church record:
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47
There was something happening, and it was organic, people were simply passing to others outside of the 'official' means of communication. Something was happening in houses and public spaces, God was touching people. There was no 'central fund,' no organization, no clergy, no official building, there was just God and people.
No one was in control
SUBVERSIVE::
The first Christians were playfully rebellious in their approach to those in power. Inscriptions have been found proclaiming:
"There is no name under heaven by which men might be saved than that of Caesar."
To which the disciples responded:
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Acts 4:12
Caesar was given Titles like "Son of God," the Christians however, made another use of those titles:
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
1 John 4:15
Even popular 'Christian' words have origins other than we might suppose:
The term for a community who had recognized Caesar's lordship, worshiping him, and accepting his rule, was called an 'ekklesia' which is the Greek word we translate into English as "Church."
When Caesar would conquer new territories, or accomplish civic victories he would send out proclamations announcing this: "Caesar has brought peace and prosperity to yet more people, he is the bringer of peace and the source of life, etc. etc. etc."
These proclamations were called in Greek "euangelion" which means "good news" and is translated into English as “Gospel.”
The first Christians were saying, in effect, it is NOT good news that Caesar's armies have brought 'peace' through bloodshed; at the point of a Roman spear and by way of the Roman cross, that is not "good news;" the King of the Universe, the Creator of Everything came and brought peace by bringing bloodshed upon Himself, bearing the brunt of the world's brokenness, being nailed to a Roman cross, and so providing freedom and life to us, THAT is "good news!"
THE WAY OF LOVE::
7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
17-18God is love.
20-21If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.
1 John 4:7-21
The first Christian community was offering an alternative Empire within the Empire, and alternative society with the society; ignoring the attempted control of the dominant society, but still serving the needs of the other society.
=================================
There iLee Harvey Oswald renouncing citizenship as an act of antagonism
What if becoming a disciple of Jesus was no less (but rather more) a defection from citizenship in this world, and this nation. This amounts to 'traitors in the midst' to the government in Rome! This is why Rome destroyed so many Christians they were a political threat...
=================================
What do you do with people who have dedicated themselves to the overthrow of the established order? They propose an alternative way of living that is based around loving service instead of power and control. Their lives are so beautiful and attractive that they (by simply being who they are) are inviting people to ignore the status-quo and shift into their paradigm... But they aren't approaching the city with swords or threatening to nail people to crosses, nor are they attacking with diatribes; they don't wish to leave and start an alternate community but proclaim, rather, their intention to subvert this one from the inside, and they are unwilling to compromise, they won't bow to threats of death, nor cave in to promises of reward... such a people must be eradicated, or else they will be the cause of the greatest political/social/economic/spiritual upheaval in world history.
THREATENING :: Economy, Military, Taboos, Religion, Politics, Social
=================================
There is a long period of history between the first centuries after Jesus and today, but interestingly enough, we find ourselves in a similar place. The church for over a thousand years was granted the place of honor in society, the Church was the center of culture and power, influencing political, economic, social, and even military structures. This is no longer the case.
THE CHURCH BELONGS ON THE MARGINS, IN THE GUTTER, ON THE EDGE
We can no longer rely on people coming to the Church, or desiring to participate in the vision Jesus' has of the world. I believe that this is an exciting thing! It means that we are back on familiar ground! The church is where it belongs, in the margins, collecting the people on the outside looking in! I think the Western world is moving to a place where the Church can once again offer a compelling and beautiful vision of an alternative reality. We are going underground, we are a part of a secret movement plotting to overthrow the established order!
=================================
So where do we take this?
19-22That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Ephesians 2:19-22
Jesus is Lord U
Community I
Subversive/Inclusive O
Grass Roots F
Small communities of people, who are willing to accept anybody!!! into their midst, and are genuinely seeking to experience the life of Christ within, in a way that offers the world a radical alternative of love and service instead of dominance and manipulation. Meeting in bars, libraries, homes, parks, restaurants, wherever... but seeking God's Kingdom together, learning what it means to renounce our citizenship in the kingdom of self, and how we can become as a community a dwelling place for God's spirit. Welcoming the marginalized, serving the poor, standing up for the oppressed; because that is who God is!
CITIZENSHIP IN HEAVEN
This will cause us to be subversive, to challenge the way things are. As followers of the Way of Jesus, we should be challenging the 'Caesar' of our day. I know some would be tempted to see a specific person as our contemporary Caesar, but there is something more insidious going on here. We are talking about systemic problems. Economic systems that essentially force poverty on people in other countries, world banking systems, international lending, environmental degradation, materialism that grips our culture, a breakdown of simple human relationships, people treating each other as means to an end in terms of sex or control, systematic racial inequality,
Practical:
Renounce our citizenship, pledge our allegiance to the world's true king and loving servant, Jesus; listen to His vision for the universe, (prayer, re-reading the story of God); truly belonging to one another at a deeper level than simple affection; taking responsibility for the spiritual community (Leadership); creatively subverting the way of the world. (RED) Creative acts of power and beauty, that through love and service, pull down the way of the world and replace them with the way of Jesus.
The intersection of Heaven and Earth, the people in whom God's Spirit lives and makes himself known.
2.28.2009
Stem Cells are Indeed an Ethical Dilemma!
"It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda — and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology."
This is pure political spin, or else flat out ignorance.
All decisions are ethical!
And we must hold an account for the decisions we make, including decisions about what types of scientific research we pursue. I assume that no one is advocating the use of (for example) comatose patients, or the terminally ill for research, why? Because we understand that scientific knowledge is not an end in itself! There are limits to the value of knowledge, and one of those limits are the ethical lines surrounding the acquisition of that knowledge!
"Science thrives when there is an open and collaborative exchange, not when there are artificial barriers, silos, constructed by the government."
I'll be honest, I have no idea where I stand on human-embryonic stem cell research, but am I the only one who sees these words dripping easily from the lips of Nazi doctors who experimented on Jews, Gypsies and others?
I can understand the position of those who are for the research, but for them to go so far as to imply that people who are against it are against scientific inquiry is silly; to ignore (or even mock) the ethical ambiguity surrounding the issue is a sign of true folly.
This is pure political spin, or else flat out ignorance.
All decisions are ethical!
And we must hold an account for the decisions we make, including decisions about what types of scientific research we pursue. I assume that no one is advocating the use of (for example) comatose patients, or the terminally ill for research, why? Because we understand that scientific knowledge is not an end in itself! There are limits to the value of knowledge, and one of those limits are the ethical lines surrounding the acquisition of that knowledge!
"Science thrives when there is an open and collaborative exchange, not when there are artificial barriers, silos, constructed by the government."
I'll be honest, I have no idea where I stand on human-embryonic stem cell research, but am I the only one who sees these words dripping easily from the lips of Nazi doctors who experimented on Jews, Gypsies and others?
I can understand the position of those who are for the research, but for them to go so far as to imply that people who are against it are against scientific inquiry is silly; to ignore (or even mock) the ethical ambiguity surrounding the issue is a sign of true folly.
2.24.2009
2.18.2009
Post-Christian Culture
We live in a Jesus haunted culture that is Biblically illiterate, and so unfortunately at this point in time, almost anything can pass for knowledge of the historical Jesus from notions that he was a a Cynic sage to ideas that he was a Gnostic guru to fantasies that he didn't exist, to Dan Browne's Jesus of hysterical (rather than historical) fiction.
2.03.2009
Today's My Birthday!
Today I am seven. I gave my life to Jesus 7 years ago, and I have to say that I need him more now than I ever have!
1.29.2009
Holiness and Pleasure Pt II
We ended the last post with a couple of questions:
So then, is holiness compatible with an outright pursuit of pleasure?
Perhaps our lack of discipline is an unwitting fortune and we should stop feeling so guilty about our indulgences?
==============================
Should, then, holiness be compatible with a life spent pursuing pleasure?
To answer that question we have to do a little history...
In the beginning God made all that exists and declared that it was a thing of beauty and pleasure:
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Genesis 1:31
God made a Garden and called it Eden, it was a place of pleasurable surroundings:
And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
Genesis 2:9
God placed Adam in the garden to enjoy its fruits and to protect and nourish this place of beauty:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15
God made a wife for Adam; the couple were then told to enjoy the world God had made, to come together and create children, and to join in the reign of God over this good earth. There was no alienation, no fear, no curse, no sin:
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:25
==========================
The story doesn't end there, however. Adam and Eve rebel against God's sovereignty, they chose to ignore His good decrees and listened instead to the voice of the destroyer. The promise was made, "I can give you pleasure that God cannot." And our first parents listened to the deceiver. They pursued pleasure (which they already had in abundance) and gave up peace (which they could never regain). They gave up everything and got nothing in return.
The results of this rebellious choice was the curse we still see in effect today...
The man and the woman were set at odds against each other, humans alienated from other humans; there was alienation between humanity and the world itself, no longer a luscious garden, but an inhospitable place of toil and danger; humans were even alienated within themselves, ashamed of their own appearance and identity. But curse upon curses, human arrogance had driven a wedge between humanity and the Good Creator who loved them...
Our price in the devil's bargain was our freedom. His payment to us was the fleeting pleasure of ill-gotten gain, swiftly replaced by the realization of the ensuing consequences.
A wonderful analogy (for those of you who have seen the movie Aladdin) is the villain Jaffar, who is offered the complete and unlimited power of the godlike genie, and upon receiving this power is then made aware of the condition of that power: he is enslaved, bound to the lamp and the desires of whomever holds it.
==============================
Any discussion of pleasure and holiness must begin with this history in mind; we are enslaved. God created us for freedom, and we chose bondage. It is often thought that freedom is the ability to do whatever one wishes, yet we would hardly call it 'freedom' to put sugar in our gas tank; or to use a guitar as a doorstop, or to use our uncovered hand to pull food from the oven. Rather, freedom is what we have when we operate our vehicle with proper care and concern for the operating instructions; freedom is what the master musician has after decades of diligently honing her skills; freedom is what we have when we use our bodies in ways consistent with God's purposes...
Abuse your 'freedom' and you lose it, pay attention to God's intent and gain untold freedom. It is with this reality in mind that we approach holiness and pleasure; we do not really know what pleasure is! And so we must unlearn our habits, we must discipline ourselves towards holiness, if we are to begin to taste of true pleasure...
So then, is holiness compatible with an outright pursuit of pleasure?
Perhaps our lack of discipline is an unwitting fortune and we should stop feeling so guilty about our indulgences?
==============================
Should, then, holiness be compatible with a life spent pursuing pleasure?
To answer that question we have to do a little history...
In the beginning God made all that exists and declared that it was a thing of beauty and pleasure:
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Genesis 1:31
God made a Garden and called it Eden, it was a place of pleasurable surroundings:
And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
Genesis 2:9
God placed Adam in the garden to enjoy its fruits and to protect and nourish this place of beauty:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15
God made a wife for Adam; the couple were then told to enjoy the world God had made, to come together and create children, and to join in the reign of God over this good earth. There was no alienation, no fear, no curse, no sin:
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:25
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The story doesn't end there, however. Adam and Eve rebel against God's sovereignty, they chose to ignore His good decrees and listened instead to the voice of the destroyer. The promise was made, "I can give you pleasure that God cannot." And our first parents listened to the deceiver. They pursued pleasure (which they already had in abundance) and gave up peace (which they could never regain). They gave up everything and got nothing in return.
The results of this rebellious choice was the curse we still see in effect today...
The man and the woman were set at odds against each other, humans alienated from other humans; there was alienation between humanity and the world itself, no longer a luscious garden, but an inhospitable place of toil and danger; humans were even alienated within themselves, ashamed of their own appearance and identity. But curse upon curses, human arrogance had driven a wedge between humanity and the Good Creator who loved them...
Our price in the devil's bargain was our freedom. His payment to us was the fleeting pleasure of ill-gotten gain, swiftly replaced by the realization of the ensuing consequences.
A wonderful analogy (for those of you who have seen the movie Aladdin) is the villain Jaffar, who is offered the complete and unlimited power of the godlike genie, and upon receiving this power is then made aware of the condition of that power: he is enslaved, bound to the lamp and the desires of whomever holds it.
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Any discussion of pleasure and holiness must begin with this history in mind; we are enslaved. God created us for freedom, and we chose bondage. It is often thought that freedom is the ability to do whatever one wishes, yet we would hardly call it 'freedom' to put sugar in our gas tank; or to use a guitar as a doorstop, or to use our uncovered hand to pull food from the oven. Rather, freedom is what we have when we operate our vehicle with proper care and concern for the operating instructions; freedom is what the master musician has after decades of diligently honing her skills; freedom is what we have when we use our bodies in ways consistent with God's purposes...
Abuse your 'freedom' and you lose it, pay attention to God's intent and gain untold freedom. It is with this reality in mind that we approach holiness and pleasure; we do not really know what pleasure is! And so we must unlearn our habits, we must discipline ourselves towards holiness, if we are to begin to taste of true pleasure...
1.19.2009
1.17.2009
Holiness and Pleasure
Just what is the nature of the relationship between holiness and pleasure?
In generations past, Christians would have easily and confidently answered 'holiness eschews pleasure in this world, in order to have it in the next.' That same underlying attitude informs much of our contemporary answer to that question, at least at the popular level. We simply lack discipline.
We believe holiness is the denial of pleasure, yet we are too weak to avoid pleasure, so instead we simply feel guilty...
...how sad!
==============================
But holiness is not the avoidance of pleasure, rather, holiness is the state of belonging to God. Holy objects are objects that are 'set apart' for a specific use, the Tabernacle and the Temple were places set apart for worship and sacrifice. Holy people are similarly set apart, having a deep connection to the Creator that marks them out from those who do not.
We often define holiness as the avoidance of certain 'things' (and we have ongoing debates about what those 'things' are), yet we should rather define holiness as the pursuit of certain things, or even the pursuit of the One Thing...
==============================
So then, is holiness compatible with an outright pursuit of pleasure?
Perhaps our lack of discipline is an unwitting fortune and we should stop feeling so guilty about our indulgences?
...?
In generations past, Christians would have easily and confidently answered 'holiness eschews pleasure in this world, in order to have it in the next.' That same underlying attitude informs much of our contemporary answer to that question, at least at the popular level. We simply lack discipline.
We believe holiness is the denial of pleasure, yet we are too weak to avoid pleasure, so instead we simply feel guilty...
...how sad!
==============================
But holiness is not the avoidance of pleasure, rather, holiness is the state of belonging to God. Holy objects are objects that are 'set apart' for a specific use, the Tabernacle and the Temple were places set apart for worship and sacrifice. Holy people are similarly set apart, having a deep connection to the Creator that marks them out from those who do not.
We often define holiness as the avoidance of certain 'things' (and we have ongoing debates about what those 'things' are), yet we should rather define holiness as the pursuit of certain things, or even the pursuit of the One Thing...
==============================
So then, is holiness compatible with an outright pursuit of pleasure?
Perhaps our lack of discipline is an unwitting fortune and we should stop feeling so guilty about our indulgences?
...?
1.09.2009
Christian Hedonism
Click on the title link to read a wiki article on the term which was originally coined by pastor John Piper.
This is a continuation of commentary on Parker's poem 'Partial Comfort.'
===============================
We give those devils too much credit when we let hell claim pleasure as its own invention and possession!
It is not the demons who thought up the idea of physical pleasure, nor did they craft the synapses in such a way as to make sexual touch pleasing, or fine food a fulfilling experience. God gave us the capacity to enjoy the physical, emotional, and spiritual union of sex; He granted us the ability to make fine wines; He created bodies capable of dance and song, minds capable of poetry and story.
It is not a defect in sex that causes God to condemn promiscuity, nor is it a defect in grapes that causes God to warn against drunkenness! Ask the addict, ask the porn star, they will tell you how long ago the pleasure left these activities. It is not the sober man who yearns for a life consumed with battered ex-wives, neglected children, and countless rehab and court fines; nor is it the happily married woman who longs for a life of objectification and mistrust, not to mention acyclovir and hemorrhoidectomies...
I have used my own body for pleasure in inappropriate ways, and the longer I did, the more power those activities had over my will, and the less pleasure those activities gave me.
Do you begin to now see why our Teacher calls the devil a liar, a destroyer, and a thief?
Whatever pleasures you can image, they sprang forth from the mind of God! It is evil that twists those pleasures to other ends, or grabs those pleasures at the expense of other greater pleasures, or pursues them in inappropriate times or ways; it is evil that ultimately robs those pleasurable activities of their very pleasure, leaving us instead with an addictive compulsion to an activity that we cannot do without, and yet provides us with little or no pleasure, and much pain and destruction.
Do you see now what sheer nonsense such sentiments as Parker's are? Do you see the ridiculous nature of the claim that God wants to punish us for our pleasure, while the devil wants to give us more of it? Does it not now become clear that it is God who desires us to enjoy 'pleasures forevermore!?'
More to come...
This is a continuation of commentary on Parker's poem 'Partial Comfort.'
===============================
We give those devils too much credit when we let hell claim pleasure as its own invention and possession!
It is not the demons who thought up the idea of physical pleasure, nor did they craft the synapses in such a way as to make sexual touch pleasing, or fine food a fulfilling experience. God gave us the capacity to enjoy the physical, emotional, and spiritual union of sex; He granted us the ability to make fine wines; He created bodies capable of dance and song, minds capable of poetry and story.
It is not a defect in sex that causes God to condemn promiscuity, nor is it a defect in grapes that causes God to warn against drunkenness! Ask the addict, ask the porn star, they will tell you how long ago the pleasure left these activities. It is not the sober man who yearns for a life consumed with battered ex-wives, neglected children, and countless rehab and court fines; nor is it the happily married woman who longs for a life of objectification and mistrust, not to mention acyclovir and hemorrhoidectomies...
I have used my own body for pleasure in inappropriate ways, and the longer I did, the more power those activities had over my will, and the less pleasure those activities gave me.
Do you begin to now see why our Teacher calls the devil a liar, a destroyer, and a thief?
Whatever pleasures you can image, they sprang forth from the mind of God! It is evil that twists those pleasures to other ends, or grabs those pleasures at the expense of other greater pleasures, or pursues them in inappropriate times or ways; it is evil that ultimately robs those pleasurable activities of their very pleasure, leaving us instead with an addictive compulsion to an activity that we cannot do without, and yet provides us with little or no pleasure, and much pain and destruction.
Do you see now what sheer nonsense such sentiments as Parker's are? Do you see the ridiculous nature of the claim that God wants to punish us for our pleasure, while the devil wants to give us more of it? Does it not now become clear that it is God who desires us to enjoy 'pleasures forevermore!?'
More to come...
1.03.2009
Dorothy Parker
Whose love is given over-well
Shall look on Helen's face in hell
Whilst they whose love is thin and wise
May view John Knox in paradise
===========================
This poem is certainly in agreement with popular sentiment.
Those who love too much, whose lives are consumed with love, will see true beauty (albeit in hell); however, those who are more concerned with righteousness, and a wisdom that leads them to eschew such an all-consuming passion, will be rewarded with harps and clouds (albeit they miss out on pleasure in the process).
This poem then, does a wonderful job of summarizing, succinctly and accurately (not to mention poetically) many popular thoughts surrounding ideas of holiness and depravity, beauty and truth, divine punishment and reward, wisdom and pleasure, love, and perhaps others:
Love is here defined in terms of physical/sexual desire and pleasure (hence the allusion to Helen).
Wisdom is here defined in terms of a deliberate denial of that sort of love.
Righteousness is defined in terms of avoiding certain pleasurable activities out of compliance to divine fiat.
Depravity is defined in terms of pursuing pleasure.
Truth is set in opposition to beauty; what is wise and true is not compatible with what is enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing.
God punishes those who enjoy themselves, and rewards those who live ascetic lives.
================================
So what do you think:
Do people who 'love' flamboyantly and deeply end up in hell? Is hell the place where real pleasure is, and the end result of a life of pleasure?
More to come...
Shall look on Helen's face in hell
Whilst they whose love is thin and wise
May view John Knox in paradise
===========================
This poem is certainly in agreement with popular sentiment.
Those who love too much, whose lives are consumed with love, will see true beauty (albeit in hell); however, those who are more concerned with righteousness, and a wisdom that leads them to eschew such an all-consuming passion, will be rewarded with harps and clouds (albeit they miss out on pleasure in the process).
This poem then, does a wonderful job of summarizing, succinctly and accurately (not to mention poetically) many popular thoughts surrounding ideas of holiness and depravity, beauty and truth, divine punishment and reward, wisdom and pleasure, love, and perhaps others:
Love is here defined in terms of physical/sexual desire and pleasure (hence the allusion to Helen).
Wisdom is here defined in terms of a deliberate denial of that sort of love.
Righteousness is defined in terms of avoiding certain pleasurable activities out of compliance to divine fiat.
Depravity is defined in terms of pursuing pleasure.
Truth is set in opposition to beauty; what is wise and true is not compatible with what is enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing.
God punishes those who enjoy themselves, and rewards those who live ascetic lives.
================================
So what do you think:
Do people who 'love' flamboyantly and deeply end up in hell? Is hell the place where real pleasure is, and the end result of a life of pleasure?
More to come...
1.01.2009
Partial Comfort
Whose love is given over-well
Shall look on Helen's face in hell,
Whilst they whose love is thin and wise,
May view John Knox in paradise.
Dorothy Parker
==========================
What do you think?
Shall look on Helen's face in hell,
Whilst they whose love is thin and wise,
May view John Knox in paradise.
Dorothy Parker
==========================
What do you think?
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