So today was Good Friday, the day many Christians remember Jesus' crucifixion. I found out about an event at a rescue mission located about 45 minutes away and went there to help serve lemonade to the people from the community who came to eat. The day was cool and rainy, but we had a large crowd to feed. I had a wonderful time smiling at others, talking to the adults and making funny faces at the children. I wanted them to see Jesus in me and I hope they did. The mission gave away bags of groceries, nice clothes, Easter baskets and had games and balloons and prizes for the children.
On the way down I was listening to a CD from a message my pastor spoke a few months ago. I remember liking it then so I saved it and today I remembered why. One part he talks about suffering with people. How we enter into their suffering the same way Jesus suffered with us. So this evening I've been suffering for Syria.
They had "Great Friday" there. Each Friday they have had names for their protests -- the day of persistence and .. I'm drawing a blank, but you get the idea. Today being Good Friday for Christians, they decided to show solidarity with the Christians within Syria and gave it the Arabic version which Samer told me translates to Great Friday. So, Great Friday was a horrible day! Almost 90 people killed and I saw some gruesome videos! I "liked" Shaam News Network* on Facebook so my news feed has been full of the reality of the day there! And it's awful!
So I am sharing in their suffering and am heartbroken for the beautiful people throughout that country who are seeing their country fall apart and for those precious souls who lost their lives today. I weep with them.
Edited to add this video. A Syrian friend (not Samer who has been asleep in Germany for hours now) asked me to share it on Facebook just now and I decided to add it here. It will break your heart.
* Click the link, but be prepared for some graphic stuff. Some of my Facebook people seemed to have problems with a couple things I posted from it today. Reality is too difficult for many folks whose vision of reality is Survivor and Hell's Kitchen.
Showing posts with label The Cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Cross. Show all posts
Friday, April 22, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Girl Meets God -- Resurrection and Confession (Forgiveness of Sin)
A bit more from Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
There are other things from this book that took my attention - how she read the book of Ruth as an Orthodox Jew and now as a Christian and how the story of Obed plays into Matthew's telling of Jesus' genealogy in that gospel. I reread that part to grasp it all. Really good. But I won't copy it all. Anyone interested can get the book perhaps.
I like how she said she chose Episcopalianism because she liked the liturgy and Tradition and reading the Scriptures through the eyes of the Church. She said this was familiar to her because Jews read the Torah and Writings and Prophets the same way. Jews reading the Bible without the rabbis were "heretics of the first order." (pg.137)
I wanted to share how one girl in the five-and-six-year-old class she taught described communion. How that it was God that the priest poured into the cup. (pg.185)
But I will instead choose two things, resurrection and confession, and leave it at that.
"Judaism taught me daily to expect God to resurrect the dead. True enough, over the centuries the rabbis have debated the details of Jewish afterlife, but it boils down to what you say every day in prayer. ... [In] the middle of Shemoneh Esrei ... is that God 'heals the sick' and 'releases the prisoner' and is 'faithful to raise the dead.'
Easter, it seems to me, is the most profoundly Jewish of all Christian holidays. For a Jew becoming a Christian, bodily resurrection is no surprise. It is what we had been expecting all along." (pg. 193)
And concerning confession.
"Father Peter will grant me absolution, but confession isn't just about absolution. It's not some kind of antinomian free-for-all, where, since we know Christ has already forgiven us, we can just keep sinning. The change, I think, that conversion gradually effects on your heart is this: you come, over some stretched-out time, to want to do the things that God wants you to do, because you want to be close to Him. So the point is not just to be forgiven, it is to be transformed. The religious languages have better words for this than English -- teshuvah in Hebrew, and metanoia in Greek. A complete turning around.
I doubt I will achieve a complete turn around here on Earth. I will always need this ritual of confession, because I will always keep screwing up. And God will somehow keep forgiving me, and pulling me closer to Him. He will, over time, make me sadder and sadder when I spit in His eye. He will make me love Him better. And that might mean, maybe, that I will sin a little bit less." (pg. 212-213)
I like her thoughts on confession and how she explained that one who is drawing closer to God won't want to sin or "spit in His eye." Would you want to spit in your loving mother or father's eye? I get the impression from some that once we know Jesus, we can go on sinning and just say the magic words and he will take away the consequences of our sinful behaviors so good behavior is optional for Christians. Not so. If you really love Jesus, you won't take God's forgiveness lightly. You will recognize those bad deeds hurt Jesus as much as your cheating on your husband would crush him. And if you love your husband, you won't want to hurt him. You won't want to destroy him this way. So why would you love Jesus and then purposefully hurt him?
Any thoughts or comments or impressions that you want to share? Was it a surprise to you to learn Jews also expect God to be "faithful to raise the dead"? What do you think of Lauren's impression that Easter is "the most profoundly Jewish of all Christian holidays"? Would you have guessed this? What do you think of confession to a priest? Why is this important or not important to you? How is being sorry for your sin different from "a complete turning around" concerning them? Or are they the same?
There are other things from this book that took my attention - how she read the book of Ruth as an Orthodox Jew and now as a Christian and how the story of Obed plays into Matthew's telling of Jesus' genealogy in that gospel. I reread that part to grasp it all. Really good. But I won't copy it all. Anyone interested can get the book perhaps.
I like how she said she chose Episcopalianism because she liked the liturgy and Tradition and reading the Scriptures through the eyes of the Church. She said this was familiar to her because Jews read the Torah and Writings and Prophets the same way. Jews reading the Bible without the rabbis were "heretics of the first order." (pg.137)
I wanted to share how one girl in the five-and-six-year-old class she taught described communion. How that it was God that the priest poured into the cup. (pg.185)
But I will instead choose two things, resurrection and confession, and leave it at that.
"Judaism taught me daily to expect God to resurrect the dead. True enough, over the centuries the rabbis have debated the details of Jewish afterlife, but it boils down to what you say every day in prayer. ... [In] the middle of Shemoneh Esrei ... is that God 'heals the sick' and 'releases the prisoner' and is 'faithful to raise the dead.'
Easter, it seems to me, is the most profoundly Jewish of all Christian holidays. For a Jew becoming a Christian, bodily resurrection is no surprise. It is what we had been expecting all along." (pg. 193)
And concerning confession.
"Father Peter will grant me absolution, but confession isn't just about absolution. It's not some kind of antinomian free-for-all, where, since we know Christ has already forgiven us, we can just keep sinning. The change, I think, that conversion gradually effects on your heart is this: you come, over some stretched-out time, to want to do the things that God wants you to do, because you want to be close to Him. So the point is not just to be forgiven, it is to be transformed. The religious languages have better words for this than English -- teshuvah in Hebrew, and metanoia in Greek. A complete turning around.
I doubt I will achieve a complete turn around here on Earth. I will always need this ritual of confession, because I will always keep screwing up. And God will somehow keep forgiving me, and pulling me closer to Him. He will, over time, make me sadder and sadder when I spit in His eye. He will make me love Him better. And that might mean, maybe, that I will sin a little bit less." (pg. 212-213)
I like her thoughts on confession and how she explained that one who is drawing closer to God won't want to sin or "spit in His eye." Would you want to spit in your loving mother or father's eye? I get the impression from some that once we know Jesus, we can go on sinning and just say the magic words and he will take away the consequences of our sinful behaviors so good behavior is optional for Christians. Not so. If you really love Jesus, you won't take God's forgiveness lightly. You will recognize those bad deeds hurt Jesus as much as your cheating on your husband would crush him. And if you love your husband, you won't want to hurt him. You won't want to destroy him this way. So why would you love Jesus and then purposefully hurt him?
Any thoughts or comments or impressions that you want to share? Was it a surprise to you to learn Jews also expect God to be "faithful to raise the dead"? What do you think of Lauren's impression that Easter is "the most profoundly Jewish of all Christian holidays"? Would you have guessed this? What do you think of confession to a priest? Why is this important or not important to you? How is being sorry for your sin different from "a complete turning around" concerning them? Or are they the same?
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Orthodox Church -- Incarnation, Jesus Christ the Victor or Victim?
"The Incarnation is an act of God's philanthropia, of His loving-kindness towards humankind."
Orthodox belief is that God becoming human was part of His plan from the beginning and wasn't simply "an answer to the fall."
Yet because of the fall, the Incarnation became an act of love and an act of salvation. "Jesus Christ, by uniting humankind and God in His own person, reopened for us humans the path to union with God. In His own person Christ showed what the true 'likeness of God' is, and through His redeeming and victorious sacrifice He set that likeness once again within our reach. Christ, the Second Adam, came to earth and reversed the effects of the first Adam's disobedience."
You know, I've never thought of God coming to earth as something God had planned all along, but it does make sense if God wanted to fellowship with His creation. Yet doesn't Genesis 3 say God walked in the garden in the cool of the day thus implying that somehow He did fellowship with humankind even from the beginning. Was taking human form to do so necessary prior to the fall? Hmmm, it's an interesting thought!
"'Behind the veil of Christ's flesh, Christians behold the Triune God'" said Bishop Theopan the Recluse. "Perhaps the most striking feature in the Orthodox approach to the Incarnate Christ [is] an overwhelming sense of His divine glory." This divine glory was especially shown during the Transfiguration (remember when Jesus went to the mountain with a couple of disciples and was observed talking to Moses and Elijah? Peter later recalled it as a time he was an eyewitness of Christ's majesty.) and Resurrection (Jesus' triumph over death.)
I totally loved when the author wrote about Orthodox accounts of remembering the Resurrection with "sheer joy." I felt joyful just reading about this!
Re: The Crucifixion: The author says the east has often focused on Christ the Victor - triumphant over evil powers and death - while the west tends to see Him as Christ the Victim - "an act of satisfaction or substitution to propitiate the wrath of an angry Father." (pg. 229)
"The western worshipper, when he meditates upon the Cross, is encouraged all too often to feel an emotional sympathy with the Man of Sorrows, rather than to adore the victorious and triumphant king." (pg. 228)
How do you think of Christ?
Orthodox belief is that God becoming human was part of His plan from the beginning and wasn't simply "an answer to the fall."
Yet because of the fall, the Incarnation became an act of love and an act of salvation. "Jesus Christ, by uniting humankind and God in His own person, reopened for us humans the path to union with God. In His own person Christ showed what the true 'likeness of God' is, and through His redeeming and victorious sacrifice He set that likeness once again within our reach. Christ, the Second Adam, came to earth and reversed the effects of the first Adam's disobedience."
You know, I've never thought of God coming to earth as something God had planned all along, but it does make sense if God wanted to fellowship with His creation. Yet doesn't Genesis 3 say God walked in the garden in the cool of the day thus implying that somehow He did fellowship with humankind even from the beginning. Was taking human form to do so necessary prior to the fall? Hmmm, it's an interesting thought!
"'Behind the veil of Christ's flesh, Christians behold the Triune God'" said Bishop Theopan the Recluse. "Perhaps the most striking feature in the Orthodox approach to the Incarnate Christ [is] an overwhelming sense of His divine glory." This divine glory was especially shown during the Transfiguration (remember when Jesus went to the mountain with a couple of disciples and was observed talking to Moses and Elijah? Peter later recalled it as a time he was an eyewitness of Christ's majesty.) and Resurrection (Jesus' triumph over death.)
I totally loved when the author wrote about Orthodox accounts of remembering the Resurrection with "sheer joy." I felt joyful just reading about this!
Re: The Crucifixion: The author says the east has often focused on Christ the Victor - triumphant over evil powers and death - while the west tends to see Him as Christ the Victim - "an act of satisfaction or substitution to propitiate the wrath of an angry Father." (pg. 229)
"The western worshipper, when he meditates upon the Cross, is encouraged all too often to feel an emotional sympathy with the Man of Sorrows, rather than to adore the victorious and triumphant king." (pg. 228)
How do you think of Christ?
Saturday, November 27, 2010
My View on Christian Rules
"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
Sometimes in the course of "religious" discussions I've come across people who express a sense of amazement at how few rules and regulations there are in New Testament Christianity. I'll say this up front that I am from more of a Protestant background so I can't speak of Tradition that Catholics and perhaps Orthodox Christians adhere to. Maybe the rules are in Tradition. But for me, I tend to let the Bible be my guide. And while there are many wonderful aspects to the Old Testament - like examples of faithful men and women of God and the glorious promises of God in the Prophets and the Psalms written by David and others - I tend to base much of my life on the life of Jesus as described by his followers in the New Testament.
And, no, there are not a lot of rules.
In fact Jesus summed up all the Law and the Prophets with this: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
And when asked who was considered a neighbor, Jesus gave the equivalent of the Israelis and Palestinians today by using a Samaritan man as the hero in a "Jewish story." So, yes, even your enemy is considered your neighbor and Jesus said you need to love him or her like you love yourself.
Still people want guidelines. What do we do in the case of divorce? What do we do in regards to inheritance rights for women? What do we eat? What about this or that or the other situation here?
Most of the people who have expressed surprise - OK all of the ones - have been Muslims who are used to very detailed instructions on things they must do, things they must not do, suggested ways to do things and preferred ways to do things. I know I bring this up on occasion, but it's because I was so shocked when I first began studying more about Islam and saw they even had suggested ways to enter, use and clean yourself after using the bathroom. Apparently the ahadith is chock full of rules and regulations so a Muslim used to such a way of life is appalled at the lack of direction we Christians must face!
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| Christ frees us from the weight of rules. We are free to love God and serve others! |
You know how I think?
God gives us principles for living in this world. Some of us He put in restricted nations like China where in some areas you cannot worship God freely. Some He put in free countries where we can worship or not worship God such as is the case in my own country. For whatever reason, God put us in all kinds of countries with different levels of freedom. Do I think He wanted the believers in God who are scattered all over the globe to come together and make a nation called God's Country or Christendom or Islamostan?
Nope.
I think people have tried such things and failed! Did Christianizing the Roman Empire bring Jesus' qualities of love for enemies and "going the extra mile" and "the greatest among you is the one who serves" to the people en masse?
We wish!
Instead it seems power corrupts. Whether that is "Christian" power or "Islamic" power or atheistic power, we have to guard against corruption.
I believe God wanted us to have His principles for living and then to live those out within the countries in which He placed us. Society changes for the better when God changes hearts and lives not when we are made to wear certain clothes or not do this or that by legislation or police enforcing good morals. And for certain marching into other lands trying to change people's minds by sword or bombs is not the answer!
I still remember when I read Karen Armstrong's book and she said Muhammad cared about his family and friends in Mecca so he tried getting their attention by raiding their caravans. This seems so bizarre! You show you care by stealing from others?
For those from Europe marching into other lands: you try to convert the masses while at the same time you steal their natural resources?
For me, Jesus gave us guidelines on how to live. He lived at a time when Palestine was occupied by Romans yet he never called for an uprising although a number of the Jewish people were ready for that. This is one reason Jesus was rejected as Messiah! The Jews thought their Messiah was going to free Palestine from the occupying Romans.
But Jesus came instead with a message of love and turning back to God. It seemed he was more concerned with their spiritual states than the fact they were physically occupied by an infidel nation!
What?!
So no I don't have a list of rules telling me how much I can inherit, how many other wives my husband can take or even my rights in the case of divorce. I live in the United States and my country has a number of rules covering such issues. My spiritual role is to live like Jesus within my own country.
And for you, the same.
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| One who loves doesn't need rules to tell him how to treat others. |
Love God. Love others.
Whether you are in the United States, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, China, Britain or Venezuela.
If we love God and love others - and treat people like we want to be treated ourselves - just how many rules and regulations do we really need?
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Gal 5:22,23)
Thoughts?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Why I struggle with Christianity
Every once in a while I come across someone with the moronic notion that we should just nuke Iraq or Afghanistan to get rid of the terror trouble once and for all. As if such a horrible and extreme action which would kill millions of innocent men, women and children would rid the world of terrorists. (People, look in the mirror!)
What's even more disturbing is how a few (OK, it's just been two people, but two too many in my opinion) will use the example of the Old Testament (OT) and insist "those people" were supposed to have been gotten rid of thousands of years ago anyway.
Huh?
Somehow they have ignorantly and wrongly put all of that area of the world into God's directive to Joshua and the Israelites to take the land of Canaan that He had given them. (Afghanistan and Iraq are parts of ancient Palestine?) So there are a few problems with that OT justification. First, that was thousands of years ago. Second, if God told the Israelites to do this and they failed to cleanse the land of the wicked Canaanites, that doesn't mean we finish that task all these years later. That I recall, God never told the United States to clean up any 'leftovers' that the directly-ruled-by-God Children of Israel failed to do.
Most importantly to me: if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ you have to look to HIM as your example not Joshua or Moses or David. Jesus came along and said you have heard it said "eye for an eye," but he changed things around. We are supposed to go the extra mile, offer our other cheek, forgive and even *gasp* love our enemies! So why in the world do I see people who claim to love Jesus say such evil things about those they perceive as their enemies? Is there any wonder people don't take Christianity seriously when our history is full of fighting, killing and doing damage in the name of the Lord? Is this not taking God's name in vain by using God as your justification for perpetuating evil?
It's such a shame and crime that people look at the history of Christianity and scoff, but I can hardly blame them! It's disheartening to see people who claim to follow Christ commit such heinous crimes against each other! Why are we not known for how loving, caring, serving and honorable we are? Why instead are we known for what we are against, how we hate and fight and kill?
This is why I reject the religion of Christianity and oftentimes want to distance myself from the majority who claim to be Christians. If you are truly a follower of Christ, act like him! Don't act like any ol' person in history who goes after his enemies. Do the weird thing and love and serve others like Christ did! Put your own needs behind you and put another in the place of honor.
Do you think this is why Jesus said many will say until him "Lord, Lord, I did all these things in your name" and he will declare "sorry, I never knew you"? Relationship is key! You can call yourself Christian all day, but if you don't know Jesus, you won't act like him. Instead you will act like your human nature wants you to act and the world will keep on mocking at how there is no difference, Christianity is unrealistic because look at the Christians...do you see them loving their enemies and serving others like the Christ did?
And for those who want to "nuke 'em all" under the justification that they shouldn't be around anyway because God commanded the Israelites to kill ALL inhabitants in the land yet the Israelites failed to complete their mission, don't forget Jesus never reiterated that call. In fact he deliberately went into areas of Palestine and ministered among those people. He didn't tell us to finish off what Joshua and David failed to do.
We are not better than Jesus. If you claim to know Christ, act like it by doing what he did. Start praying for your enemy instead of allowing the anger and hatred to take over.
Don't you want Jesus to one day say that he knew you? Then get to know him and act like he would act. "Nuke 'em all" should never come out of our mouths if we are following Jesus.
"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:19-21)
Thoughts?
What's even more disturbing is how a few (OK, it's just been two people, but two too many in my opinion) will use the example of the Old Testament (OT) and insist "those people" were supposed to have been gotten rid of thousands of years ago anyway.
Huh?
Somehow they have ignorantly and wrongly put all of that area of the world into God's directive to Joshua and the Israelites to take the land of Canaan that He had given them. (Afghanistan and Iraq are parts of ancient Palestine?) So there are a few problems with that OT justification. First, that was thousands of years ago. Second, if God told the Israelites to do this and they failed to cleanse the land of the wicked Canaanites, that doesn't mean we finish that task all these years later. That I recall, God never told the United States to clean up any 'leftovers' that the directly-ruled-by-God Children of Israel failed to do.
Most importantly to me: if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ you have to look to HIM as your example not Joshua or Moses or David. Jesus came along and said you have heard it said "eye for an eye," but he changed things around. We are supposed to go the extra mile, offer our other cheek, forgive and even *gasp* love our enemies! So why in the world do I see people who claim to love Jesus say such evil things about those they perceive as their enemies? Is there any wonder people don't take Christianity seriously when our history is full of fighting, killing and doing damage in the name of the Lord? Is this not taking God's name in vain by using God as your justification for perpetuating evil?
It's such a shame and crime that people look at the history of Christianity and scoff, but I can hardly blame them! It's disheartening to see people who claim to follow Christ commit such heinous crimes against each other! Why are we not known for how loving, caring, serving and honorable we are? Why instead are we known for what we are against, how we hate and fight and kill?
This is why I reject the religion of Christianity and oftentimes want to distance myself from the majority who claim to be Christians. If you are truly a follower of Christ, act like him! Don't act like any ol' person in history who goes after his enemies. Do the weird thing and love and serve others like Christ did! Put your own needs behind you and put another in the place of honor.
 |
| Why are people prone to use 'just war' as their guide and not this? |
Do you think this is why Jesus said many will say until him "Lord, Lord, I did all these things in your name" and he will declare "sorry, I never knew you"? Relationship is key! You can call yourself Christian all day, but if you don't know Jesus, you won't act like him. Instead you will act like your human nature wants you to act and the world will keep on mocking at how there is no difference, Christianity is unrealistic because look at the Christians...do you see them loving their enemies and serving others like the Christ did?
And for those who want to "nuke 'em all" under the justification that they shouldn't be around anyway because God commanded the Israelites to kill ALL inhabitants in the land yet the Israelites failed to complete their mission, don't forget Jesus never reiterated that call. In fact he deliberately went into areas of Palestine and ministered among those people. He didn't tell us to finish off what Joshua and David failed to do.
We are not better than Jesus. If you claim to know Christ, act like it by doing what he did. Start praying for your enemy instead of allowing the anger and hatred to take over.
Don't you want Jesus to one day say that he knew you? Then get to know him and act like he would act. "Nuke 'em all" should never come out of our mouths if we are following Jesus.
"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:19-21)
Thoughts?
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
John's Jesus -- Making Jesus God, Jews as Enemies, 'Rigid' Church People
Bear with me while I finish posting my notes from Desire of the Everlasting Hills by Thomas Cahill. Only one more post after this one.
The author points out that most Jews seemed to be expecting only one Messiah, however the term "Son of God" was often used of both angels and prophets, "indeed of anyone who could be considered God's mouthpiece." "Son of God" and "Savior" also were used within the Roman world for "whichever Caesar happened to be occupying the imperial throne." (pg. 255)
The question then becomes is Jesus the unique "son of God" or as some English versions of the Bible put it "the only begotten son" which I've read in the past was the King James-era method of declaring someone as a unique person not necessary begotten of a person in a human birth way. Oh, I found this which explains it a bit more clearly perhaps.
While the author makes concession in the book's end notes that there is a case for Paul making Jesus God, the author's view is the opposite. He said neither Paul nor Mark, Luke nor Matthew thought of Jesus as God. But the writer of the fourth gospel - credited to John - did. (pg. 257)
Do you agree that John was the only one?
About the Gospel of John the author writes, "the delightful parables of the Synoptics are nowhere to be found, replaced by dignified but boring speeches that sometimes run to several pages" and "overwhelm us with airless solemnity that leaves us begging for the sinewy, down-to-earth Jesus of the Synoptics. John's Jesus is always in control." (pg. 271-272)
Bah! I take it this author likes action better than words! Perhaps he should be in movies instead of writing books! :-)
It is John's Jesus of "the ancient creeds, of tasteless religious art, of German passion plays and Hollywood movies. He is the immobile icon loved by ecclesiasts and theologians. It is if John's symbolic reverence has made an icon too awesome to be touched by the soiled and unconsecrated hands of ordinary humans....The weight of human and fleshly, the sweaty and smudged is finally overcome in John by the weightless illumination of the divine." (pg. 272)
The author states that this process of icon-making is what later lead Mary from being a simple Galilean woman to rising to Mother of God, perpetual virgin status of the Church.
"Many who are comfortable with the Synoptic tradition and even with Paul feel that here at the threshold of John's Gospel they must part company with the New Testament. They may be believers or half-believers, Jews, humanitarians, agnostics -- all of whom may cheer the insights and advances of Paul and the Synoptic evangelists but find themselves abashed and compassless once they come into the field of John's unearthly glow. The author continues that it's not the deification of the God-man that makes them uncomfortable, but "a spirit of touchy exclusivity" that repeatedly surfaces throughout Western history with "devastating results." For in John, the author claims, the Jews are often enemies, often "designated with contempt, the lost people who 'have no king but Caesar.'" This gospel "is still capable of leaving Jewish readers purple with rage and Christians red with embarrassment." (pg. 273-275)
For about two minutes I wondered if something was wrong with me for never being one of those Christians who found John's gospels embarrassing, but as I kept reading I found out why.
Cahill points out that the Johannine church developed separately almost like an island cut off from the mainland (which - the "mainland" - grew slowly into "the Great Church of succeeding centuries.") John's church didn't rely on a central administration of bishops and deacons, but "was wholly dependent on individual, prophetic inspiration - from 'the Spirit' -- and it rejected the notion that anyone but Jesus could be pastor, that is, their shepherd. ... For all its problems, the high Christology of the Johannine community gave its theology a profundity and piercing clarity that other churches lacked; and its Spirit-based social ambience encouraged equal participation by all, especially women, in its common enterprises of charity and prayer." (pg. 276-277)
"Its insistence on there being but one way of thinking makes uneasy anyone who has ever had an unorthodox thought. It comes as no surprise that John is often the favorite evangelist of the uptight and unrelenting; and his rigidity can call to mind contemporary churchpeople of several unfortunate varieties. The difficulties of John's Gospel are extreme enough that to this day Christian churches use its passages sparingly in their lectionaries, whereas the other gospels are proclaimed in full." (pg. 277)
Am I one of those "unfortunate varieties" of church people because I happen to like John? Maybe. I am a bit rigid about certain doctrines! I feel there are some matters too important to be wishy-washy about. While many I know like John's gospel (not sure if he is their favorite evangelist since we all have different tastes), I must tell you that they don't seem to hate Jews or blame them for crucifying Christ. I read a book a couple years ago by a Jewish American guy who appealed to his fellow Jews to understand that - although liberal Jews and conservative Christians may not agree on politics in the United States - we conservative Christians were great friends of the Jews in many matters. He explained that while European Christians of the past were often anti-Jew and blamed Jews for killing Jesus, North Americans were strongly influenced by London-born John Nelson Darby who was very pro-Jewish. Darby made missionary voyages to North America in the 1800s and his beliefs became more popular here. Therefore, instead of us seeing Jews as Christ killers, we see Jews as the ones who brought us Christ and the Bible we hold dear. Our Savior was a Jew! "Our" Paul! "Our" Isaiah! "Our" David!" How can we hate the Jews? In fact I grew up hearing that the Jews didn't kill Jesus. In reality, we all did if we believe he died for our sins for all of us are sinners. I think this is why many of us were puzzled when Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ came out and Jews were fearful that we would blame them for killing Jesus. Huh? That thought never crossed my mind!
So although "my people" may like John, I wanted to clarify that we are among the Jews' best friends. This is actually a point that annoys me quite a bit because my people often equate today's Zionist State of Israel with the Jews and thus conservative Christians are one of the most staunch supporters of Israel today despite the country's many war crimes and mistreatment of people. My Syrian friends know this and is one reason they were quite surprised that Andrew and I were nice people. They figured we all were monsters, apparently.
Lastly, the author admits to some of John's literature as being "the most beautiful of the New Testament."
On this point, I totally agree with Thomas Cahill. What from John's Gospel or letters do you find most beautiful? What do you greatly dislike? Any favorite stories from John?
Any thoughts on any of this? Please share.
The author points out that most Jews seemed to be expecting only one Messiah, however the term "Son of God" was often used of both angels and prophets, "indeed of anyone who could be considered God's mouthpiece." "Son of God" and "Savior" also were used within the Roman world for "whichever Caesar happened to be occupying the imperial throne." (pg. 255)
The question then becomes is Jesus the unique "son of God" or as some English versions of the Bible put it "the only begotten son" which I've read in the past was the King James-era method of declaring someone as a unique person not necessary begotten of a person in a human birth way. Oh, I found this which explains it a bit more clearly perhaps.
The phrase "only begotten" translates the Greek word monogenes. This word is variously translated into English as "only," "one and only," and "only begotten." ...
So what does monogenes mean? According to the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BAGD, 3rd Edition), monogenes has two primary definitions. The first definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship." This is the meaning attached to its use in Hebrews 11:17 when the writer refers to Isaac as Abraham's "only begotten son." Abraham had more than one son, but Isaac was the only son he had by Sarah and the only son of the covenant.
The second definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind." This is the meaning that is implied in John 3:16. In fact, John is the only New Testament writer who uses this word in reference to Jesus (see John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). John was primarily concerned with demonstrating that Jesus was the Son of God (John 20:31), and he uses this word to highlight Jesus as uniquely God's Son—sharing the same divine nature as God—as opposed to believers who are God's sons and daughters through faith. (Source)
While the author makes concession in the book's end notes that there is a case for Paul making Jesus God, the author's view is the opposite. He said neither Paul nor Mark, Luke nor Matthew thought of Jesus as God. But the writer of the fourth gospel - credited to John - did. (pg. 257)
Do you agree that John was the only one?
About the Gospel of John the author writes, "the delightful parables of the Synoptics are nowhere to be found, replaced by dignified but boring speeches that sometimes run to several pages" and "overwhelm us with airless solemnity that leaves us begging for the sinewy, down-to-earth Jesus of the Synoptics. John's Jesus is always in control." (pg. 271-272)
Bah! I take it this author likes action better than words! Perhaps he should be in movies instead of writing books! :-)
It is John's Jesus of "the ancient creeds, of tasteless religious art, of German passion plays and Hollywood movies. He is the immobile icon loved by ecclesiasts and theologians. It is if John's symbolic reverence has made an icon too awesome to be touched by the soiled and unconsecrated hands of ordinary humans....The weight of human and fleshly, the sweaty and smudged is finally overcome in John by the weightless illumination of the divine." (pg. 272)
The author states that this process of icon-making is what later lead Mary from being a simple Galilean woman to rising to Mother of God, perpetual virgin status of the Church.
"Many who are comfortable with the Synoptic tradition and even with Paul feel that here at the threshold of John's Gospel they must part company with the New Testament. They may be believers or half-believers, Jews, humanitarians, agnostics -- all of whom may cheer the insights and advances of Paul and the Synoptic evangelists but find themselves abashed and compassless once they come into the field of John's unearthly glow. The author continues that it's not the deification of the God-man that makes them uncomfortable, but "a spirit of touchy exclusivity" that repeatedly surfaces throughout Western history with "devastating results." For in John, the author claims, the Jews are often enemies, often "designated with contempt, the lost people who 'have no king but Caesar.'" This gospel "is still capable of leaving Jewish readers purple with rage and Christians red with embarrassment." (pg. 273-275)
For about two minutes I wondered if something was wrong with me for never being one of those Christians who found John's gospels embarrassing, but as I kept reading I found out why.
Cahill points out that the Johannine church developed separately almost like an island cut off from the mainland (which - the "mainland" - grew slowly into "the Great Church of succeeding centuries.") John's church didn't rely on a central administration of bishops and deacons, but "was wholly dependent on individual, prophetic inspiration - from 'the Spirit' -- and it rejected the notion that anyone but Jesus could be pastor, that is, their shepherd. ... For all its problems, the high Christology of the Johannine community gave its theology a profundity and piercing clarity that other churches lacked; and its Spirit-based social ambience encouraged equal participation by all, especially women, in its common enterprises of charity and prayer." (pg. 276-277)
"Its insistence on there being but one way of thinking makes uneasy anyone who has ever had an unorthodox thought. It comes as no surprise that John is often the favorite evangelist of the uptight and unrelenting; and his rigidity can call to mind contemporary churchpeople of several unfortunate varieties. The difficulties of John's Gospel are extreme enough that to this day Christian churches use its passages sparingly in their lectionaries, whereas the other gospels are proclaimed in full." (pg. 277)
Am I one of those "unfortunate varieties" of church people because I happen to like John? Maybe. I am a bit rigid about certain doctrines! I feel there are some matters too important to be wishy-washy about. While many I know like John's gospel (not sure if he is their favorite evangelist since we all have different tastes), I must tell you that they don't seem to hate Jews or blame them for crucifying Christ. I read a book a couple years ago by a Jewish American guy who appealed to his fellow Jews to understand that - although liberal Jews and conservative Christians may not agree on politics in the United States - we conservative Christians were great friends of the Jews in many matters. He explained that while European Christians of the past were often anti-Jew and blamed Jews for killing Jesus, North Americans were strongly influenced by London-born John Nelson Darby who was very pro-Jewish. Darby made missionary voyages to North America in the 1800s and his beliefs became more popular here. Therefore, instead of us seeing Jews as Christ killers, we see Jews as the ones who brought us Christ and the Bible we hold dear. Our Savior was a Jew! "Our" Paul! "Our" Isaiah! "Our" David!" How can we hate the Jews? In fact I grew up hearing that the Jews didn't kill Jesus. In reality, we all did if we believe he died for our sins for all of us are sinners. I think this is why many of us were puzzled when Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ came out and Jews were fearful that we would blame them for killing Jesus. Huh? That thought never crossed my mind!
So although "my people" may like John, I wanted to clarify that we are among the Jews' best friends. This is actually a point that annoys me quite a bit because my people often equate today's Zionist State of Israel with the Jews and thus conservative Christians are one of the most staunch supporters of Israel today despite the country's many war crimes and mistreatment of people. My Syrian friends know this and is one reason they were quite surprised that Andrew and I were nice people. They figured we all were monsters, apparently.
Lastly, the author admits to some of John's literature as being "the most beautiful of the New Testament."
On this point, I totally agree with Thomas Cahill. What from John's Gospel or letters do you find most beautiful? What do you greatly dislike? Any favorite stories from John?
Any thoughts on any of this? Please share.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Religious Rituals, Feasts and Pilgrimages and Becoming Part of the Story
"Only by entering the story ourselves can we truly understand its meaning." (pg. 420)
Remember the story of Moses and the Pharaoh and how it finally took ten plagues - the last one truly awful - for the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt? While discussing how many people try to explain the ten plagues by natural reasons (e.g., it wasn't really blood, but an unusually high flood caused more topical red soil to color the water so it only appeared as blood), Bruce Feiler admits he often read the Bible this way. He wanted natural explanations for things claimed by the Bible writers to have happened supernaturally. He enjoyed the history, the places, the characters, but not the deeper thinking about the characters like what they meant to the story and what they meant to him. As he began reading Exodus while Walking the Bible, Bruce finally realized how futile this deliberate attempt was and how he was missing a "principal storyline of the Bible: the relationship between humans and the divine."
"As it happens, the text itself reveals precisely what causes the ten plagues. God caused them. To miss that point is to miss the essence of the tale, the battle between the god of the Israelites and the gods of the Egyptians, the battle that Eliezer Oren referred to as 'My god is stronger than your god.' Biblical storytellers clearly understood this struggle, because the plagues expressly attack the things that Egyptians held most sacred: the sun, the animals, the river. As the Bible says, summing up the experience, 'The Lord executed judgment on their gods.'" (pg. 183)
The author then goes on to show how this judgment of God upon the Egyptians and the Israelites escape from slavery was "a significant break" in the Bible. "Up to now, the Israelites have been wandering, from Mesopotamia, through Canaan, to Egypt, and absorbing elements from all these places. They are now ready to break away and begin forming their own culture, their own empire. They must now become active participants in their own story: actors, not just reactors."
God declares what the Israelites must do in order to escape the final plague that He was going to mete out on the Egyptians: the killing of the firstborn! Each family had to sacrifice a lamb and put the blood over the doorpost of their house.
When the Angel of Death came through, he would pass over* each home where this blood was present. God instructed the Israelites on what to eat and how to prepare it. He also set up this reenactment for the Jewish people to do each year as a remembrance. Each generation would now remember what God did to save their nation from slavery and make them a people prepared for Himself. This is how the Israelites of old and Jewish people today keep in mind the faithfulness of God in delivering them from their oppressors. (see page 184)
So entering the story - being actors - is helpful in understanding. I suppose this is why Muslims perform hajj and reenact many events that Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael experienced according to the Islamic faith. And by sacrificing the lamb they are remembering God's provision to Abraham so Abraham wouldn't have to sacrifice his son.
* Thus the Passover is remembered each year. Also in the Christian faith, we see this as a type of Christ. Christ is the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John the Baptist's words in John 1:29). Sin brings death, but when we accept Jesus' work for us on the cross and trust him as opposed to our own good works for salvation, we in a spiritual sense apply the blood of Jesus to our lives and when the "angel of death" sees us, he passes over us. No spiritual death for the one wearing the blood of Jesus Christ. (Think spiritually here not literally.)
Thoughts? If you are Muslim, what do you think is the significance of reenacting the events of hajj or Eid Al-adha? If you are Christian, do you celebrate any reenactments? I know some churches have Palm Sunday and do Easter plays and Christmas plays in order to reenact some of the events of Jesus' life. And also there are baptism and the Lord's Supper which we do in remembrance of Jesus. Do you think it's important to become part of the story rather than merely read about them or observe from hundreds of years later?
 | ||
| "Let my people go!" |
Remember the story of Moses and the Pharaoh and how it finally took ten plagues - the last one truly awful - for the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt? While discussing how many people try to explain the ten plagues by natural reasons (e.g., it wasn't really blood, but an unusually high flood caused more topical red soil to color the water so it only appeared as blood), Bruce Feiler admits he often read the Bible this way. He wanted natural explanations for things claimed by the Bible writers to have happened supernaturally. He enjoyed the history, the places, the characters, but not the deeper thinking about the characters like what they meant to the story and what they meant to him. As he began reading Exodus while Walking the Bible, Bruce finally realized how futile this deliberate attempt was and how he was missing a "principal storyline of the Bible: the relationship between humans and the divine."
"As it happens, the text itself reveals precisely what causes the ten plagues. God caused them. To miss that point is to miss the essence of the tale, the battle between the god of the Israelites and the gods of the Egyptians, the battle that Eliezer Oren referred to as 'My god is stronger than your god.' Biblical storytellers clearly understood this struggle, because the plagues expressly attack the things that Egyptians held most sacred: the sun, the animals, the river. As the Bible says, summing up the experience, 'The Lord executed judgment on their gods.'" (pg. 183)
The author then goes on to show how this judgment of God upon the Egyptians and the Israelites escape from slavery was "a significant break" in the Bible. "Up to now, the Israelites have been wandering, from Mesopotamia, through Canaan, to Egypt, and absorbing elements from all these places. They are now ready to break away and begin forming their own culture, their own empire. They must now become active participants in their own story: actors, not just reactors."
God declares what the Israelites must do in order to escape the final plague that He was going to mete out on the Egyptians: the killing of the firstborn! Each family had to sacrifice a lamb and put the blood over the doorpost of their house.
When the Angel of Death came through, he would pass over* each home where this blood was present. God instructed the Israelites on what to eat and how to prepare it. He also set up this reenactment for the Jewish people to do each year as a remembrance. Each generation would now remember what God did to save their nation from slavery and make them a people prepared for Himself. This is how the Israelites of old and Jewish people today keep in mind the faithfulness of God in delivering them from their oppressors. (see page 184)So entering the story - being actors - is helpful in understanding. I suppose this is why Muslims perform hajj and reenact many events that Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael experienced according to the Islamic faith. And by sacrificing the lamb they are remembering God's provision to Abraham so Abraham wouldn't have to sacrifice his son.
* Thus the Passover is remembered each year. Also in the Christian faith, we see this as a type of Christ. Christ is the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John the Baptist's words in John 1:29). Sin brings death, but when we accept Jesus' work for us on the cross and trust him as opposed to our own good works for salvation, we in a spiritual sense apply the blood of Jesus to our lives and when the "angel of death" sees us, he passes over us. No spiritual death for the one wearing the blood of Jesus Christ. (Think spiritually here not literally.)
Thoughts? If you are Muslim, what do you think is the significance of reenacting the events of hajj or Eid Al-adha? If you are Christian, do you celebrate any reenactments? I know some churches have Palm Sunday and do Easter plays and Christmas plays in order to reenact some of the events of Jesus' life. And also there are baptism and the Lord's Supper which we do in remembrance of Jesus. Do you think it's important to become part of the story rather than merely read about them or observe from hundreds of years later?
Saturday, July 10, 2010
"God is a God of life"
These words may challenge those who think of God as uninvolved or not very concerned about His creation or as one who is just sitting back to see how badly we mess up or how good we can make the world on our own. I just thought this was worth sharing. What do you think?
"We cannot comprehend God's presence, not because it is somehow lacking, but because of its surplus. ... We're tangling with the Other nonstop all the time. It's what is all along creating, sustaining, and redeeming us. We don't live or breathe or walk or talk outside of our relationship with God. We are so tangled in it, so thoroughly and completely in it, we can't comprehend it. It comprehends us. This is all outrageous and odd and pretty much the central point of Christianity. We live by the grace of God."
"We seem to have idolatry in our DNA. But maybe at the deepest level we are not idolaters; we are people who need relationship. We are created in and for communion. We need love and relationship to breathe. But somehow, allowing ourselves to enter into communion, or to be who we really are, is more difficult or scary or unsettling than giving our lives to our belief systems, cultural codes, ideologies -- our idols that aren't alive. And our idolatry freezes and fixes and suffocates and knots and nooses and guts and stuffs and kills.
"The Bible witnesses, however, to a God who keeps calling us into life; keeps creating life, life, and more life, bringing life from barren wombs and shoots out of dead stumps; actually resurrecting.
"This may seem like a bit much, but the Bible presses on and on: God is a God of life.
"What could God be thinking, calling us into everlasting life? It might seem more responsible of God to call us to a simple coherent system, to organize a schedule of burnt offerings, to give us a way to redeem ourselves by following orders or rules or whatever, instead of redeeming us in relationship through love. It's frustrating. It's gorgeous.
"The Bible witnesses to the entirely deathless one, to the living Word. It calls us to relationship with the Other." (pg.31-32)
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. " -- Jesus (John 10:10)
Quotes (stuff in green) by Debbie Blue in From Stone to Living Word
"We cannot comprehend God's presence, not because it is somehow lacking, but because of its surplus. ... We're tangling with the Other nonstop all the time. It's what is all along creating, sustaining, and redeeming us. We don't live or breathe or walk or talk outside of our relationship with God. We are so tangled in it, so thoroughly and completely in it, we can't comprehend it. It comprehends us. This is all outrageous and odd and pretty much the central point of Christianity. We live by the grace of God."
"We seem to have idolatry in our DNA. But maybe at the deepest level we are not idolaters; we are people who need relationship. We are created in and for communion. We need love and relationship to breathe. But somehow, allowing ourselves to enter into communion, or to be who we really are, is more difficult or scary or unsettling than giving our lives to our belief systems, cultural codes, ideologies -- our idols that aren't alive. And our idolatry freezes and fixes and suffocates and knots and nooses and guts and stuffs and kills.
"The Bible witnesses, however, to a God who keeps calling us into life; keeps creating life, life, and more life, bringing life from barren wombs and shoots out of dead stumps; actually resurrecting.
"This may seem like a bit much, but the Bible presses on and on: God is a God of life.
"What could God be thinking, calling us into everlasting life? It might seem more responsible of God to call us to a simple coherent system, to organize a schedule of burnt offerings, to give us a way to redeem ourselves by following orders or rules or whatever, instead of redeeming us in relationship through love. It's frustrating. It's gorgeous."The Bible witnesses to the entirely deathless one, to the living Word. It calls us to relationship with the Other." (pg.31-32)
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. " -- Jesus (John 10:10)
Quotes (stuff in green) by Debbie Blue in From Stone to Living Word
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Christian Q&A Session
As you all know I've been reading a translation of the Quran that I borrowed from the library. If you didn't know, wellllll check the previous two thousand posts and you'll see. (Ah, I'm using a bit of that Middle Eastern exaggeration now, I see!) I've greatly enjoyed reading, posting my thoughts and interacting with several lovely ladies who have been so kind in helping me better understand things. I've heard various points of view and gotten some answers and clarifications. Thank you all so much! I hope you will continue to read and comment as time allows. I value your opinions.
In the comments section of one of the posts, a couple Muslim women asked me to answer some questions from my faith as they had some things they were curious about and wanted to finally get some answers. I answered one question which lead to a great follow-up reply and more questions. So, I thought instead of trying to answer them all there on a post about the Quran, I'd begin a new post where people can ask questions and we can all interact. I welcome all of you to question and try to answer the questions posed. I don't claim to be some authority on Christianity so I covet (in the not-breaking-the-ten-
Instead of going back and answering those questions one by one, I'm going to tweak and copy a couple of comments I made on someone else's blog two months ago to jump start things. I believe part of the answer is within these comments. Thus you can read what I said and ask follow-up questions or simply ask again what you want to know if this isn't helpful in the least!
Here goes!
The discussion on that blog lead to someone reminding us of how bloody the Abrahamic religions were with circumcision, the offering of sacrifices according to Jewish Law, the significance of the blood of Jesus for Christians, and the slaughtering of lambs for one of the Muslim Eids. It was within this context that I replied with this first comment.
I know what you mean about how bloody the Abrahamic religions are. I’ve sometimes wondered about it as well since it creeps me out looking at it from a 21st-century point of view. I wonder how God could be sooooo bloody!
But then I wonder if perhaps it should show us just how awful our sins are in God’s eyes especially when we consider the sin offerings the children of Israel had to offer.
If you take the story of Adam and Eve according to the Biblical version, when they sinned God took the skin of an animal to cover them. An innocent animal lost its life (unless God somehow provided skin to make a garment without the animal being slaughtered..which He could). And each time the Israelites put their hands on the heads of animals in a “transfer” of their sins to the animal who then was sacrificed, it should have been a sobering reminder to them that sin is not cheap. It’s not something God shrugs and dismisses.
Leviticus 17:11 — “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
I’ve never been able to explain God and why He requires what He does, but then I guess it’s not my place to be His apologist. I’m sure when He looks at me, He wonders why I do what I do and accept what I accept soooooo…
I just chalk it up to His ways being different and higher than mine (Isa. 55:6-8) and leave it at that if I can.
Picture something with me for a minute. Suppose you were a mechanic busy working under the hood of a car. You can imagine how greasy your fingers would be after a few hours on the job. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the side-view mirror and notice a smudge of pizza from lunch that somehow dropped on your chin. Without thinking you take a swipe at this tomato-y red stain and instead of wiping yourself clean, you leave a black grease spot on your face. The crux of the matter is: you cannot clean yourself when your hands are dirty! No matter how hard you try to get that smear of pizza sauce off your face, you will still be dirty as long as your hands are black with grease.
Now, apply this spiritually. In God's eyes we are all sinners. One sin made us imperfect and I am willing to bet my life (if I were a betting woman, that is) that all of you reading this now have done at least one thing wrong. Some of you maybe even two or three. For me, it's up near, ooooohhhhh, a billion sixty four, I'm sure. So. We are all sinners. We all have dirty hands like the mechanic. We can work hard at cleaning the spots off us, but in reality, we are only smearing the dirt. It's hopeless for us to clean ourselves! Ahhhhh, what do we do? We ask God for help. We call for the Savior which God claims to be! Both the Bible and Quran say this, in fact!
Joseph in Sura 12:
101. O my Lord, you have given me dominion and taught me the interpretation of dreams; O Creator of the heavens and the earth, You alone are my saviour in this world and the world to come; let me die submitting to You, and place me among the upright."
And I did a post about God as our Savior from the OT earlier this year. In that post, I mentioned this lovely Psalm (40) from David. I think it explains how our "cleaning" is from the Lord, not our own efforts.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
Notice how much of that is "He" doing the work and not "I." "He" even put a new song of praise in David's mouth! Why are you taking credit for what GOD has done?
Back to the blog where I left another comment. A bit later in the discussion we were talking about repentance. I thought this comment might be helpful to the one who asked about forgiveness of sin.
First we must understand repentance which isn’t merely a “Oops, they caught me…I’m sorry, God.” Repentance isn’t just turning from your sins either. John Edwards could stop sleeping with his mistress and go back home to Elizabeth without being truly repentant. (I’m just using him for an example since he is in the news a lot these days and lives in my state. Substitute Tiger Woods, Mark Sanford or Cheater of Your Own Choice if you’d rather.)
Biblical repentance is changing your mind about your sin to the extent that your actions change. (We believe it’s a work of GOD in our hearts.) Like when Jesus visited Zacchaeus and salvation was brought to Z’s house. Z then repented and said he’d give half of his goods to feed the poor and restore fourfold what he’d taken from others. He wasn’t merely “sorry” for cheating his people in tax collecting, his change of heart changed his actions.
Notice the message of John the Baptist, Jesus and the disciples to repent. My point of bringing up repentance is to show that we cannot flippantly say, “Oh, I believe Jesus cleanses our sins so I can sleep around, get drunk, cheat others, lie, steal and live like the devil and still be OK.”
That’s a mistaken notion that Jesus’ blood is like an insurance policy — it gets me out of hell while I live like hell every day. Not so.
So if Hitler had a change of heart that resulted in a change of action and he asked God to forgive his sins, yes, I believe he would be forgiven. The same with Osama bin Laden which, by the way, an older friend of mine told me last weekend she was praying for his salvation. And the same for any other mass murderer. Yes, what they did is wrong and they will have to live with the guilt of what they did, but can OBL go back and apologize to those he killed? Can Hitler? Can George Bush?
Could King David go back and apologize to Uriah after Uriah was killed? No. Do I think God forgave David after he repented? Sure do.
This may differ from other Christians, but it is my understanding of repentance and forgiveness of sins. If you disagree or want to add or change something I said, please speak up!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Law of Sacrifice & Sacrificial Love
The law of sacrifice runs through life, from the lowest to the very highest. In any realm of life those who save others cannot always save themselves from trouble, sorrow, yes, sometimes even death.
The seed gives itself and dies in order to produce a harvest.
The mother bird throws herself into the jaws of the serpent in order to save her young.
The human mother goes down into the valley of death to bring a child into the world.
The young patriot, with all his life before him, takes his one life into his hands and marches out against the bayonets of the enemy, in order to save home and country . . .
Now if this is a universal law -- and it seems to be -- then when we come to God, the highest Being, we would expect to find in Him the greatest and noblest expression of sacrificial love in the whole universe. Otherwise the creature would be greater than the Creator. A worm would be greater, a bird, an animal; they give themselves, but not God. It is unthinkable that God would write a law of saving by sacrifice throughout the universe and be empty of it himself . . .
-- John Seamands quote on pg. 72 in Daughters of Islam by Miriam Adeney
The seed gives itself and dies in order to produce a harvest.
The mother bird throws herself into the jaws of the serpent in order to save her young.
The human mother goes down into the valley of death to bring a child into the world.
The young patriot, with all his life before him, takes his one life into his hands and marches out against the bayonets of the enemy, in order to save home and country . . .
Now if this is a universal law -- and it seems to be -- then when we come to God, the highest Being, we would expect to find in Him the greatest and noblest expression of sacrificial love in the whole universe. Otherwise the creature would be greater than the Creator. A worm would be greater, a bird, an animal; they give themselves, but not God. It is unthinkable that God would write a law of saving by sacrifice throughout the universe and be empty of it himself . . .
But the cross shows that there is such a God.
-- John Seamands quote on pg. 72 in Daughters of Islam by Miriam Adeney
Friday, December 18, 2009
Jesus in Islam
My Syrian friend who is working in London sent me this interesting article earlier today. It discusses Jesus in Islam and Christianity mostly majoring on the similarities. The author mentions some interesting aspects including Sufism. Check it out. Here are just three blurbs from it to whet your appetite for more (hopefully!)
I thought the first part about Muslims defending traditional Christian beliefs against liberal interpreters was a bit amusing. Feel free to share your thoughts if you have any.
But the real significance of Mary is that Islam considers her a virgin and endorses the Christian concept of the Virgin Birth. "She was the chosen woman, chosen to give birth to Jesus, without a husband," says Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, an imam in Leicester and assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). This is the orthodox Islamic position and, paradoxically, as Seyyed Hossein Nasr notes in The Heart of Islam, "respect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that today, in interreligious dialogues with Christians . . . Muslims are often left defending traditional . . . Christian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christ before modernist interpreters would reduce them to metaphors."
...
However, for Muslims, the Virgin Birth is not evidence of Jesus's divinity, only of his unique importance as a prophet and a messiah. The Trinity is rejected by Islam, as is Jesus's Crucifixion and Resurrection. The common theological ground seems to narrow at this point - as Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the Christian think tank Ekklesia, argues, the belief in the Resurrection is the "deal-breaker". He adds: "There is a fundamental tension at the heart of interfaith dialogue that neither side wants to face up to, and that is that the orthodox Christian view of Jesus is blasphemous to Muslims and the orthodox Muslim view of Jesus is blasphemous to Christians." He has a point. The Quran singles out Christianity for formulating the concept of the Trinity.
...
[As] A N Wilson wrote in the Daily Express a decade ago: "Islam is a moral and intellectual acknowledgement of the lordship of God without the encumbrance of Christian mythological baggage . . . That is why Christianity will decline in the next millennium, and the religious hunger of the human heart will be answered by the Crescent, not the Cross."
I thought the first part about Muslims defending traditional Christian beliefs against liberal interpreters was a bit amusing. Feel free to share your thoughts if you have any.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Disciplining and Pruning
I just finished Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkinson. In it, he discusses truths from John 15 where Jesus tells His disciples how to bear much fruit by abiding in Him. The author used Jesus' example of the vineyard and explained how the Vinedresser takes unproductive vines and works with them so they produce much fruit. Although this book was short, it was rather painful at times as the author discussed disciplining and pruning. But the end result was sweet -- abiding in Him and being God's friend! Below I will list several quotes that stood out to me.
"If your life consistently bears no fruit, God will intervene to discipline you." (pg. 35)
"[R]emember that His discipline is always just one aspect of His relationship with you. When your mother reprimanded you, she didn't stop caring for you, talking to you, or wanting your love in return. Satan would love to convince you that because your Father is dealing firmly with you, you're a worthless, unlikable loser. The opposite is true. Only if you've never received discipline should you doubt His favor. The Bible says, 'If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons' (Hebrews 12:8)." (pg. 40)
"Disciplining is God's proactive answer to moving you out of barrenness and toward fruitfulness." (pg. 44)
Repentance "is a lifestyle, an ongoing commitment to keep putting aside our rebellion and receive God's forgiveness." (pg. 53)
"If your life bears some fruit, God will intervene to prune you." (pg. 58)
Oftentimes a plant will experience rapid growth, but it doesn't always produce the desired fruit. It's as if the plant's energy goes towards greenery and vines where fruit (grapes) is desired. "For the Christian, rampant growth represents all those preoccupations and priorities in our lives that, while not wrong, are keeping us from more significant ministry for God." (pg. 60)
"If disciplining is about sin, pruning is about self. In pruning, God asks you to let go of things that keep you from His kingdom purposes and your ultimate good." (pg. 62) --- Are there things God wants you to give up? People He wants you to surrender to Him? Relationships or ministries He wants you to end? The author says the hardest thing God asked of him was for Bruce to give God ownership of his wife and children.
"If your life consistently bears no fruit, God will intervene to discipline you." (pg. 35)
"[R]emember that His discipline is always just one aspect of His relationship with you. When your mother reprimanded you, she didn't stop caring for you, talking to you, or wanting your love in return. Satan would love to convince you that because your Father is dealing firmly with you, you're a worthless, unlikable loser. The opposite is true. Only if you've never received discipline should you doubt His favor. The Bible says, 'If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons' (Hebrews 12:8)." (pg. 40)
"Disciplining is God's proactive answer to moving you out of barrenness and toward fruitfulness." (pg. 44)
Repentance "is a lifestyle, an ongoing commitment to keep putting aside our rebellion and receive God's forgiveness." (pg. 53)
"If your life bears some fruit, God will intervene to prune you." (pg. 58)
Oftentimes a plant will experience rapid growth, but it doesn't always produce the desired fruit. It's as if the plant's energy goes towards greenery and vines where fruit (grapes) is desired. "For the Christian, rampant growth represents all those preoccupations and priorities in our lives that, while not wrong, are keeping us from more significant ministry for God." (pg. 60)
"If disciplining is about sin, pruning is about self. In pruning, God asks you to let go of things that keep you from His kingdom purposes and your ultimate good." (pg. 62) --- Are there things God wants you to give up? People He wants you to surrender to Him? Relationships or ministries He wants you to end? The author says the hardest thing God asked of him was for Bruce to give God ownership of his wife and children.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
2 more books -- Being Arab & Bible Commentary
Being Arab was written by the late Samir Kassir, a Lebanese journalist who was killed by a car bomb in 2005. This short book (92 pages) was translated from French and it deals with "the current political and intellectual stagnation of the Arab world." As the cover sums it up: "Being Arab is a clarion call, urging Arabs to embrace their own history, to reject Western double standards and Islamism alike, and to take the future of the region into their own hands." It was interesting reading the thoughts of a leftist, secular Arab as he spoke of his world. I found this in my local public library.
The Bible Exposition Commentary, Volume I is a commentary by Dr. Warren Wiersbe on Matthew through Galatians. I started this 728-paged volume on November 20, 2007 and finally finished July 26, 2008 (TODAY!!!). I did not read diligently during all those months or I would have finished much quicker. There were so many wonderful explanations and reminders of truths. I made note of some of my favorites on a sheet of paper I kept nearby. Just today I finished reading of the power of the cross. In the time of Jesus' death, the cross was not a beautiful piece of jewelry that people wore around their necks or on lapel pins. Rather it represented the most shameful death and was not talked about in polite company. The Judaizers tried to keep things legalistic according to Moses' law (salvation by works) in order to avoid the shame of the cross. However, it is through the work Christ did on the cross that we have liberty from the law and our sins and self! No wonder today Christians call it a wonderful cross! By Christ's work there, we are saved and have peace with God! Another great teaching from today was instead of asking "who is my neighbor?" ask "to whom can I be a neighbor?" For Christians ... "As we abound in love for one another, we overflow in love for all men (I Thes. 3:12). This is how it was meant to be" (page 734).
I Corinthians 1:18-31
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."[a]
The Bible Exposition Commentary, Volume I is a commentary by Dr. Warren Wiersbe on Matthew through Galatians. I started this 728-paged volume on November 20, 2007 and finally finished July 26, 2008 (TODAY!!!). I did not read diligently during all those months or I would have finished much quicker. There were so many wonderful explanations and reminders of truths. I made note of some of my favorites on a sheet of paper I kept nearby. Just today I finished reading of the power of the cross. In the time of Jesus' death, the cross was not a beautiful piece of jewelry that people wore around their necks or on lapel pins. Rather it represented the most shameful death and was not talked about in polite company. The Judaizers tried to keep things legalistic according to Moses' law (salvation by works) in order to avoid the shame of the cross. However, it is through the work Christ did on the cross that we have liberty from the law and our sins and self! No wonder today Christians call it a wonderful cross! By Christ's work there, we are saved and have peace with God! Another great teaching from today was instead of asking "who is my neighbor?" ask "to whom can I be a neighbor?" For Christians ... "As we abound in love for one another, we overflow in love for all men (I Thes. 3:12). This is how it was meant to be" (page 734).
I Corinthians 1:18-31
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."[a]
20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."[b]
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