Frustrated...

This post is going to sound like an angry tirade. It may well be a tirade, but I'm really not angry. I'm merely frustrated. My frustration is with those people who glibly and piously proclaim, "The Bible Says It, I Believe It, That Settles It." Bumper sticker theology is all this is. And it may indeed sound good, but it isn't true.
Now, let me say right up front that I believe the Bible is indeed and "inspired" collection of writings. I believe it does contain all things necessary to point us toward salvation, and to guide us in the practice of our faith. I believe the authors of the Bible were people who struggled to find words to describe their experience of the Holy. I believe the Bible is a product of a particular culture and time in history. And I believe that we must be willing to take into account this historical setting when we read and study this collection of writings. The Bible is a book which contains timeless truths, but it was the product of a particular time.
My frustration with people who hold to bumper sticker theology is the fact that they don't believe everything they read in spite of what they have to say. For instance, they love to quote 1 Timothy 2:11-12, which states, "Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man; she is to keep silent."
Yet I never hear a sermon on this passage from the same letter, "No longer drink only water, but take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments." 1 Timothy 5:23.
Or, how about this, "Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard the master as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed." 1 Timothy 6:1. Does this mean you endorse the owning of slaves? Are you willing to purchase another human being to tend your yard or garden? Are you willing to approve of the eighty thousand women and girls who end up as sex slaves each year throughout the world? It must be okay as long as the slaves are willing to honor their master, right?
How about 2 Corinthians 3, where Paul announces in no uncertain terms that the law of Moses is null and void in the Christian life. Why then, do you insist on putting the Ten Commandments on the walls of schools or courthouses?
Jesus said that when we pray we were to enter into our closets and pray in private to our Father. So how can you insist that the removal of prayer from school has led to our moral decline? Isn't it possible that you have spent far too much time whining in the public square and not enough time in your prayer closet is the real reason for our moral decline. I think the far better answer is that we have spent much more time believing in Jesus than we have believing Jesus. We spend far more time arguing about proper doctrine instead of following the man.
Do you really want to get into the Old Testament? A brief tour of the laws will indicate there is much there we don't believe. Or if we do we don't practice them. How about the ban on eating pork, shellfish, catfish, and other assorted animals? The Bible says "Don't eat." Do you? How about the wearing of clothes which contain more than one kind of fabric? The Bible says "Don't." Do you?
Please, don't give me that tired argument about the so-called "Perfect" original autograph. The writings we call the Bible are a collection from various sources. The only original sources we could name would be some of the letters. There never was a single perfect source. And even if there were, we don't have it. What we have is the texts at hand. And it contains many things we don't believe nor practice.
All I'm asking you to do is be honest. Admit that there are some time bound ideas in the Bible which are better off treated as a lesson from history which does not apply to us. Jacob with two wives, Rachel and Leah, and two lovers bearing children, is not an acceptable practice today. Do you really believe that the Jesus who went to the cross to die for the sin of the world would order the destruction of every man, woman, and child in a certain village?
I want you to admit that your literalism is selective. You do this and I will stop being frustrated. How about a new bumper sticker which says, "The Bible is inspired and inspiring, enough said."

The "L" Word

The past few years has seen an increase in using the word "Liberal" as a term of derision. Some Christians cringe at the thought of bearing that label. They feel that it has the same stigma as the Scarlet A. Not me. I am unapologetic, and unashamed, and unafraid to proclaim that I am indeed a liberal.
Now, let me tell you what it means to me. It means that instead of reading the Bible looking for propositions to live by, I look for relationships to live for. It means that I take very seriously the creations stories found in Genesis 1 and 2, without trying to force some synergistic harmony upon them. It means that I don't have to blend Matthew, Mark, and Luke to get some high octane truth. I can read each gospel as a separate work of different authors who are attempting to shine a light on a particular aspect of God with us. They don't need to be harmonized, they need to be listened to.
It means I am free to move beyond the legalism demanded in much of the Old Testament and follow Jesus the Christ of God who fulfilled the law for us and offers all human beings grace.
It means I can see the face of God in all people regardless of race, gender, age, or creed. And it means that I can accept the fact that God can call and use whomever he chooses for whatever he chooses. If that means female leaders and pastors for churches, so be it.
It means I don't blame secular humanists for the situations we find our world in. I blame those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but we spend more time arguing about being right rather than doing the right thing.
It means I struggle and strive to live by the one commandment Jesus said was most important, "To love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and my neighbor as myself." It means that I honor your right to disagree with me without calling you evil, or saying that you are lost for all eternity because we don't share the same opinions. You are my neighbor and differing opinions do not define who we are in Christ.
Yes, I am a liberal and I am very much okay with it.

Turn or Burn

According to the New Testament, the encounters Jesus had with people were very much grace filled encounters. He did, of course, have some very abrasive words for some religious leaders. He was very much at odds with that part of his faith tradition which was at odds with God. When he made the whip and began to drive out the moneychangers from the temple, it was simply because the house of prayer for all people, wasn't.
The woman at the well, the woman caught in the very act of adultery, and Zacchaeus, come to mind as people we would call notorious sinners. The woman at the well practiced serial marriage, five husbands had gone through her life. She had given up on marriage and was now just living with a man. Jesus offered her living water. The woman caught in the act of adultery was told "Neither do I condemn you." He offered her forgiveness, not condemnation. Zacchaeus was given a place at the table, and he was a hated tax collector.
The list goes on. But these few instances will help frame the question I have been invited to discuss. "Where did we get the idea that violence and coercion, mainly through fear, was the proper way to bring about conversion?"
I would love to blame this entire tragic turn on Constantine, the emperor of Rome who turned the Roman empire into a Christian state. He did so, of course, by means of economic pressure and at the receiving end of a sword. Conquest became synonymous with conversion. It would be easy to point the finger and say, "There is the problem!" But Church leaders had time to go to the New Testament and say, "This isn't right!" They didn't and the crusades were the result.
When US America was founded, the opportunity was there to begin afresh with emphasis on the New Covenant. That didn't happen either. Robert Jewett has written an important book entitled "Mission And Menace." He is tracing four centuries of religious zeal in America. The theology which dominated the Early colonies, and which still dominates today, was the theology of the Puritans. Let me give you a quote from Jewett; "The Puritans derived from the book of Revelation and portions of the Old Testament their dualistic worldview and their belief that violence would inaugurate God's kingdom." Some of the things done in the name of God in this country should bring tears to our eyes.
And we may as well admit that coercion by fear is an act of violence, just as much as physical violence. It is called redemptive violence, but can violence really redeem? Turn or burn may indeed get people to make a profession of fear, but not a real profession of faith.

Fun With Dick And Jane

In elementary school, my first encounter with reading was the adventures of Dick and Jane. No one, as far as I know, has ever mistaken these reading primers as "serious" literature. They were nothing more, nor less, than primers for beginning readers. Anything which had to do with science or math was purely coincidental. Thankfully, these primers helped to teach me to read and inspired a passion for reading which remains with me still.
Somewhere along the way the Bible became confused with a science textbook and we have been in trouble ever since. The Bible is not a science book, it is a faith book. The point of those two creation stories in Genesis one and two is not the" how" of creation. It is the "Who" of creation. Science helps us understand how, theology points us toward the creator.
Those "young" earth anti-evolutionist believers are at odds with science because they are attempting to impose something on the Bible which the writers did not intend. They claim the earth is six or seven thousand years old based on counting generations through the Old and New Testaments. These numbers are not exact because the numbers don't add up in a consistent way. Check out the genealogy sections in the gospels of Matthew and Luke sometime. Not only does a different cast of characters produce the same result, the numbers don't add up either. This is not to say that one is right and the other wrong. These folks were just coming at their story from different directions.
The question I have is this, "Why couldn't God choose to create through evolution?" As a matter of fact a strong case could be made for this by reading Genesis one. The story of creation unfolds day by day with the human race making an appearance on day six. Don't the evolutionists say the human race is last on the chain of life to develop?
I'm not proposing this interpretation for Genesis one. Again, I believe science can answer the how questions while theology deals with the Who. The very existence of life itself points to the Who. Science is now capable of doing some amazing things with life, cloning and transplants come to mind. But science cannot create life from scratch, God can. Science cannot rule out God, and theology cannot prove God. But life points us to the direction of a creator.
The stories of faith found in the scriptures are there to inform, form, and transform our journey of faith. They are there to teach, challenge, lead, sometimes push us, into a life of discipleship.
So, whether the earth is thirty five billion years old or seven thousand years old, God is creator. My faith is not in the details of creation. My faith is in God the creator. The Bible points me in that direction. If life sprang from a primal goo, God made the goo and the primal as well.
Science and theology should be sitting around the same table comparing notes instead of throwing stones at each other. I think both could learn something.

Let's Talk

I want to enter into a conversation with you concerning the Christian faith. I know what many non-Christians have to say about us. I will admit that much of what you say is true. But I also want you to know that it isn't true about all of us. Some of us are willing to read the Bible with it's historical background in mind. Some of us aren't judgmental. Some of us are willing to admit that we put on the mask and play the part, which does in fact make us hypocritical.
I will also tell you that I am a United Methodist Minister who enjoys open, honest conversations about matters of faith and life. Do you want to talk? If you do, post your question or topic, and I will address the topic or question and the conversation will begin.