Discussions of a Trite Phrase

While I reject many of the petty bickerings and minute differentiations that generally accompany the statement that “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion”, I agree with the statement in the pure form of its meaning. A religion is a system of practices and dogma whereby one comes to meet the conditions of the divine. Christianity differs in that Christians do not, as the central method of their relationship with the divine, follow a religious system or declare belief in dogma.

Christianity not about pleasing the Divine by actions or beliefs, but rather about becoming like the Divine. It is not about doing, but being, being like Christ. Some may protest casting away salvific actions or beliefs, but I counter by saying that if we become like Jesus Christ (the fullness of the Divine Father) we will do all that is and only what is consistent to the nature of God. We will be like Jesus. This is the essence of Christianity.

Understanding this may revolutionize the way many view Christianity, Mennonitism, salvation, and church. Think how it would alter things if everyone understood that doing the right things does not make you right and if parents and teachers and preachers were not satisfied with a church or youth group full of people doing the right things, but would rather be concerned about the church and youth group being like Christ. Might I add that we must not associate being like Christ simply with doing right things.

You may say I have split hairs. You may say that the difference I have pointed out between Christianity as a religion and a relationship are very minor like so many others. I apologize if I have been a hypocrite, only let my words be heard and the truth that they contain be understood.

Bringing Justice: an excuse for self-preservation

There are many Christians who believe that one can be just and loving in carrying out violence against another human being. They believe it is possible to love someone and kill them yet kill them for a just cause. They believe that there are things so unjust, that the righteous are fully correct in carrying out punishment.

While I can theoretically imagine how this is possible, I have at least one major problem with it. I firmly believe that Christians are to be like Jesus. Christians are to go about life on earth in full adherence to the teachings, principles, and purposes of Jesus life. (This is more fully laid out in my Mennofesto.)

My major problem with Christians who want to kill, albeit for a cause they feel is just, is that this requires an attitude antithetical to that of Christ. Christ clearly demonstrated and taught self denial. Over and over He taught that we should submit to the abuse of others (not return evil for evil, turn the other cheek, not sue). We should not protect our own interests (lend if someone asks, go the extra mile, spread the Gospel). His death was an act of complete abandonment of Himself. He abandoned self preservation and gave complete commitment to the plan of God.

Try as I might, I still find that those Christians who want to kill and use other weapons of this world to bring justice are doing it to a greater or lesser degree for their own preservation or the preservation of their true god, their nation. (And beyond this, Jesus does not call the Church to bring justice through violence, but to bring reconciliation through repentance.) Jesus calls us to surrender ourselves and our bodies completely to Him and Him alone. We are to fully deny the impulse to preserve our bodies, comfortable lives, hobbies, or nation and instead work to build the Kingdom of God. We must sacrifice ourselves for the Kingdom of God and the world. We must love God with all of ourselves and our neighbors with the love that God gives back. We must abandon ourselves to God.

God Approves of Matter

I recently noticed another evidence that God does not despise matter. For several thousand years His presence on earth was centered in a fancy box first housed in a tent and then a grand building. After Christ, God finds His primary dwelling on earth in our physical and nonphysical beings. God does not despise all matter, He lived and lives in it. As He lives in us He is working to make us the glorious gods that He originally made us to be: body and spirit existing independently and creatively in our love for Him.

What God Wants

One of the most overlooked concepts among American Christians today is an understanding of what God wants with man. We have built up a long list of presuppositions about what God wants: good action, faithful church attendance, evangelism, heartfelt worship services, a clean lifestyle, good business practices, and solid families.

While most of these things are very good, they miss what God really wants from us and in many cases we have raised these as the goal instead of that which truly pleases God. We feel like we have pleased God if we raise a good family or regularly attend church or hand out tracts or feel emotionally blessed after a worship service. We tend to think that if our life is full of these things we are giving God what He wants. Some even believe that if we could cause all or most of America to do this then America would please God.

Sometimes the false god-pleaser’s we believe in are not even Scriptural. We become so committed to our way of pleasing God that we can only accept as a brother or sister those who are doing the same thing. We reject associating with fellow believers because they allow a different kind of women’s head covering or mode of baptism or dress different. This reveals a lack of understanding of what God wants from man.

As I continue to read Scripture, one theme comes up throughout its sixty-six books. God wants the heart of man to be turned toward Him. The sin of Adam and Eve was that they had turned their hearts toward their own desires. The sin of the children of Israel was that they continued to turn their hearts from God. Over and over God’s laments, expressed through the prophets and judges, begin by mourning the fact that the people had turned their hearts away from God to their own desires. In many cases it is only after stating this that the passage goes on to say how the people are sinning now that their hearts have turned away.

Psalms 51:16-17 (You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.) and I Samuel 15:22 (And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.) along with many other passage in Scripture point to the fact that what God wants is a person who is fully surrendered to Him. It is not about actions or looks or words, it is about have one’s heart turned toward God. Jesus pronouncement of the Greatest Commandment references this as well. All God really wants from us is complete, uninterrupted love for Him and brokenness before Him. After we have died to ourselves and become alive to Christ, as Paul puts it, we will then begin to do certain things that flow out of our desire to be like Christ. We will not do things to please Him or to earn our way or because they are so important, but we will do them because doing them is what Christ did. We worry not about being right or doing right, but about loving and copying Jesus Christ.

How does this play out in life. If we understand this, we will stop having so many Americans who claim that they are fine because they believe in God or because they go to church. It will be more universally understood that being a Christian is about first and formost, being dead to self. It will allow us to have a place of common ground with those who believe or act differently than us. They are committed to being alive to Christ, just like us. Suddenly those little matters of dress and baptism and worship style are less important because what really matters is pointing one’s heart in God’s direction, not wearing the same kind of suit.

Fear of Association

On several occasions recently I experienced a desperate urge to distance myself from the designation of Christian. This does not mean that I have been ashamed of Christ. Rather, I have been ashamed of those who claim to follow Him.

You may say that I am over reacting, but I was thoroughly repulsed by two church signs I saw recently. The first said, “Heaven is cool.” Beyond being a really bad pun (assuming hell is hot), this sign depicts a very limited and trivial understanding of God’s desire for man and the gravity and awesomeness of the Gospel message. Non-Christians reading this sign, I feel, get a very stuffy and trite view of Christianity.

The second sign said something to the effect of, “Do not let your eyes tell your heart what to believe.” Say what you like about the intent of the message, this is heretical and very poor epistemology. Our human nature (made in the image of God) has a tendency to believe what it sees. Scripture says that creation declares the existence and glory of God. Why should our eyes not inform our heart of what it believes. Perhaps the sign should say, “Do not let your heart tell your eyes what they are seeing.”

We must not allow a disconnect between our ways of determining truth and we must not act in blind faith. We are called to believe based on something. Blind faith is reckless, dishonest, and impotent to convince others of the truth. We are designed to and able to see and hear and feel and smell and taste and intuit and reason about God’s truth and then accept the message of God’s communications to us.

I recently read a brief but brutally honest account of church history in Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory Boyd. (This is a book I highly recommend.) This account focused on the denial of the way of the suffering Christ and the use of the sword by “Christians” for most of Church history. The almost endless saga of war, torture, rape, forced conversions, persecutions, recreational killing, and inhuman slaughter all in the name of Christ and Christendom made me literally sick on my stomach. To be identified with such a legacy of blatant denial of the teachings of Christ was almost more than I could bear. I did find myself able to proudly identify myself with one of the few groups who denied this legacy. The Anabaptists were listed as one of the groups who did not practice these things.

Profound Statement from a Computer

“Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.” – stated after simulating hundreds of war games in the movie WarGames (1983), written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes

A Remarkable Surprise

http://www.homecomers.org/weblog/index.php/islam-and-christianity/

A Friend’s Wonderful Summary

A friend sent me a paper he read as a commencement address at a local Mennonite high school. He told me that it was very satisfying because it was the big picture view of all the things he has been referencing and trying to say to the graduates for the last four years. It is a masterful piece and it is available for reading here or for download as a pdf here.

London’s 2012 Olympic Logo

Imagine the planning that went into this logo. This will be used to represent probably the most international event on the planet. It will show up all over the world and especially in Britain for the next five years. The artist needed to create something that would appeal to most, be easily recognizable, and match the newest graphic designs in 2012. So, will this logo be a prophecy of where the graphic arts will go, or will it be a definer of where they will go?

Evangelicals Try to “Keep America Christian” When it Never Was

By Justin Webb

The current US presidential debates are almost certain to see the candidates asked to comment on spiritual issues, but some Americans are worried about the trend towards religiosity in public life.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will be challenged on their beliefs

At my twins’ annual school camp in West Virginia, you are meant to leave your troubles behind.

It is an idyllic couple of days – a communing with nature which my wife gallantly insists is simply too enjoyable for her to take part in – it has to be a dad’s experience.

Actually it is not that uncomfortable. The tents are sensible structures with plenty of room to stand up. There are rudimentary bunk beds you can bang your head on in the early morning.

The setting is a reminder too of the size of the United States – only two hours from the nation’s capital, these are woods and fields as empty and isolated as any in the Scottish Highlands.