do we think…

do we really think that the God of the scriptures is happy with us incessantly quoting verbatim passages from the biblical texts like robotic machines set aside for exclusive parrot-fashion like recitational function?

would this not expose God as a dictatorial despot not at all interested in humanity expressing themselves creatively and honestly or with any of the faculties he himself created in us?

what kind of leader would want such response?  surely the pattern in the gospel texts of the life of Jesus the Christ reveals the opposite?

and did not Jesus himself say that the legalistic nature of the preceding Mosaic law was surpassed by the freedom and creativity of  the vibrant indwelling spirit of the living God?

surely the fact that there is no record of Jesus ever sitting the apostles down to take down textual dictations of memes, quotations, systematic methodologies, legislation and liturgical processes is testament to something quite opposite to what we have evolved into in the ‘church’ of today?

should we not be fearing that we have become even more legalistic than the religious leaders of Christ’s day?… having twisted the message of grace and freedom into a deeper bondage to human power and coercion?

future memories

… maybe our memories are all we’ll take with us when we leave… that, and also perhaps possibly only the occasional witness of others with whom we have walked parts of our lives together, and us with them?
… maybe “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself… as each day has enough trouble of its own…” points us to the eternal importance of actively building this record every time we draw breath … making the most and the best of each and every opportunity, seizing the moment, each and every one of them while it is still today… so that we might not be found naked and cowering in some dark corner with only fig leaves as a frail covering, our futile protection…
… and if we have no memories… well, that could be both good or bad… or maybe not…
… and forgetfulness will not be a possibility, neither will remembering…
for we all be in the all together, in all and all in
… and if the light in us is darkness that darkness might be terribly dark…
… but if the light in us is light we might well be seen clearly for who we really are and the light might then cease to be in us for we will be in it…

the weaker brother

There was this weaker brother who came into the group.

He was not as confident as they were in what they believed and confessed that he was battling with some real issues and had some doubts.

Also, by his own confession he was seemingly on a continuous search for meaning and significance.

The group never wanted to cause him to stumble as he was clearly the weaker brother amongst them and they also so wanted to honour the truth revealed in scripture so they sat him down and explained to him who they were, what they as a group stood for generally, what they were all about and what they believed about his issues, doubts and challenges as well.

What was amazing was that this weaker brother embraced where they were coming from very accommodatingly and seemed to be able to make a shift and become more like them whenever he was in the group.

It makes one wonder who really was the weaker brother?

….. and underneath are the everlasting arms

Many times I have sat with people who are bruised with themselves and others. They have anguished over life and all its frailty, their sufferings, the sufferings of others as well as their part in all of this.

Sometimes I have been asked, “What do you think? … You can’t fall out of grace can you? Isn’t grace what catches you when you fall?”

“…. and what about a believer who’s heart is hardened by sins deceitfulness and is maybe filled with anger and walks away from God?”. “Can it be that somewhere, somehow, grace dissipates ?”

This is mostly a very controversial issue and it is sure to raise a storm but I am going to post an answer I gave to these kinds of questions which may or may not help some. You see, I too have wrestled with these self same issues more often than I can recall to count. I am an expert, not in my theology or my success in the matter, I am merely an “existential expert” – one who has walked this road many times – alone, and with others over the decades. … and if you disagree… that too is ok… as long as we all keep learning.

 

….there is strong implication in the biblical text that the ‘faith’ we live by is not really ours but God’s.

Galatians says, “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. …..”
A learned and great theologian as well as a scholar of classical Hebrew and Greek told me once that the original text here is not very accurately interpreted in the bible. It should read, “The life I now live in the body, I live by the faith OF the Son of God.”
It’s God’s faith that sustains us not ours. We just use the little faith we have to respond to his call to ‘come’ towards him – he does the rest and then he sustains the contract by his integrity … the contract is in no way sustained by our ability to understand the smallprint. That would reduce the act of grace immediately to a lower order legislated process of works.

The Gospel of John says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH; NO ONE WILL SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (CAPS mine)
For me that sort of sums it up more succinctly – it’s God’s strength and not ours that is the operative dynamic in this.
This is grace as I believe the bible tries to portray it. Mostly the church has not seen this clearly at all and instead has had to develop a legislated code of conduct in order to prop up their sense of religious pride and sustainable collateral power to ratify their existence. A tragic state of affairs if you ask me.
My view is that we can fall out of our perceived notion of grace which is usually linked to socio-religious doctrinal formatting endorsed by cultural and social pressure…. even the concept of ‘sin’ is socially negotiated to a large extent.

However, the radical argument could be that those who have been ‘impregnated’ by God’s ‘seed’ cannot produce thorns or briers. Genesis, Jesus & then Paul all go on about the concept of a seed producing after its own kind… etc. Paul even charges us to “examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith” – note: we are to examine “ourselves” – others, leaders, the church, whoever, are not the jury, WE are, for ourselves, ….  as the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are sons of God. All the institutionalized control does is to reduce the righteous holiness of the Living God to a commodity, a measurable, negotiable, trade-able, malleable currency much like a bathplug or a toothbrush.
Our passion can grow cold
Our love can grow cold
Our focus can wane
Our attention can be diverted
… but even these are mostly socially determined values.
Look at most if not all of the greats in the bible… most were psycho-social basket cases. Defective in and at various aspects (sometimes key aspects) of their character… Moses was a murderer, Abraham and Jacob misrepresented the truth. David was an adulterer as well as a murderer, Samson, Gideon, Paul, Thomas, etc. etc. yet God had other ideas and used these frail, often faithless, cowardly, even sinful individuals significantly. It is clear to me that God’s view or ethics, morality, sin, righteousness, virtue, social appropriateness, etc is far removed from ours…. Read Ezekiel 43: 6-12 for a snapshot from God’s perspective on our values vs His. (but wear a crash helmet when you do – it can get quite bumpy)

Look at the life of John the Baptist (read Matt 11 where John is disillusioned, doubting, confused, humbled, devastated, crushed, imprisoned and in this extremely low point of despair he sends his followers to ask Jesus if he is the one or if they must look elsewhere (the very Messiah he personally heralded as the ONE, the anointed Christ of God) – a very clear picture of failure, unbelief, loss of faith, disillusionment, etc, etc. – a very, very broken man!
Jesus responds to them and in an indirect, careful way rebukes John by reminding him of his destiny and then turns to the masses who most probably heard this potentially damning exchange….. and said to them,
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

John was a great man. He was an offender of the religious elite. He tended to offend almost everyone he spoke to. Yet he eventually became one who himself became offended by the circumstances that overtook him. In simple terms the circumstances never turned out the way he had thought they would. He was beaten and possibly even hopeless. Perhaps he had doubted profoundly whilst chained to the cold walls in the cell that was eventually to be his execution chamber. Perhaps he had said things to God, about God, about himself, his calling, about everything, that he had now deeply regretted, but could not recall?

… but just read again the accolade that Jesus gave him. Soak up the honour if only just for a moment. Absorb the aroma of pride in the mouth of the one whose words really count. Try to get into the mind of Jesus as he dealt with this wonderful forerunner of his. What might have been Jesus’ feelings? Were his words perhaps clumsily spoken as he choked back the tears? Did his heart swell with admiration at the picture of a broken, defeated, beaten man, now desperate and lost, who had nevertheless done a worthy task well? Perhaps to the watching eyes of the multitude John was a failure who started strong but did not end the same. A loud mouth which was now shut up and stilled? But was this what Jesus thought?

So go in peace.
Don’t let their poison drip into your ears.
Ask the Lord himself to speak to you – he will, trust me on this. Don’t go ‘via’ – go direct. I have cried out many a time in deep, anguished despair and doubt and I have yet to be disappointed. It might not necessarily at first be the words you would want to hear, but afterwards they will be the words you are glad you did.

The answer may not come in articulate words (it very seldom does so for me – I have yet to recall hearing an audible voice of God), but it will come. Prepare yourself to be free to hear in strange ways, think of the process of osmosis, plants do great with this and we are a planting of the Lord, are we not?

Listen to the words of friends, perhaps more so those of enemies, for they often speak more truthfully to us than our friends. But whatever you do, don’t stop listening nor asking questions.

Go in peace.

Plutonic Platonianism

Plato argued that concepts such as justice, beauty, good, virtue, etc. are similar to mathematical proofs and can be argued and understood by using elementary deductive logic. His view was that they existed as truth forms, independent and external to the tangible, material world we find ourselves in.

Is this possible? Can we separate our understanding of phenomena from the natural world around us as we perceive it? To do so would we not need to line up to a sort of dualism that distinguishes the ‘natural’ from the ‘spiritual’ worlds?

These days my thinking is more in alignment with a view that the ‘supernatural’ is in reality only the ‘natural’ world not fully understood. Or in the case of religious institutions and orders, the natural world mostly misunderstood.

Perhaps the belief in an independent supernatural world or realm that exists mysteriously inside and around but not clearly and articulately tangible to the natural realm is merely a construct of convenience necessitated to offset the futility and frustration we are shrouded with in this world we live in? we who hold this as a dominant view tend to scoff at scientific approaches to the same issues.

On the other hand, a focus on the pursuit of reason and an empirical, scientific world view could equally be a construct of convenience that faithfully labours on, driven by a basic need for control and autonomy in the very same world of futility and frustration. This is often accompanied by severe effort to quell the emotive, intuitive side that raises its inconvenient presence so frequently.

Both sides claim to be free thinking but we all speak from behind the packed lids of cardboard boxes. When the rain falls on all of us we tend get inexplicably soggy and discomforted. As good as rain is the reality is that the sun also shines and if we both venture out we might escape the musty smell we both have redefined as incense to the gods of our own construction.

the element of uncertainty – the neurological goldmine [a.k.a. - is God a gambler?]

In the study of virtual gaming fascinating data is being revealed about the way our brains function and the way we function with our brains. The programming of on-line virtual gaming has provided us with immense and amazing data on all the actions and activities of every player throughout the world. One of the most fascinating sets of data to my mind is that of what seems to motivate us to persist in an activity that clearly has no real reward at all other than what is perceived by the player. What has come out is that known, achievable reward excites people but an uncertain reward really gets us going, it literally lights the brain up. Knowing we can achieve a reward is indeed stimulating but not really knowing if we will ever actually get the ultimate reward or not is totally compelling to us. It seems to be that this ability we have to access imaginative states beyond our present reality and to set projected goals to achieve the apparently unachievable serves to lock us in to the hunt and will even cause us to invest heavily in the quest.
Could this be why God plays ‘hide-&-seek’ with us and remains seemingly at an arms length? Is this why God has positioned himself so near yet so far out of reach? Could this be why the universe is so vast and yet so compelling at the same time. In ancient scripts, mythology and vocal traditions the stories abound, filled with metaphor and suggested allusion. Frustrating yet compelling, just out of reach but so near at hand. Maybe God really does so love the world that he sets before us such a tapestry of unbelievable probability and improbability, that those with a zest for life will respond to the intense provocation and even get themselves to willingly gamble all on the hope of a possible dream with no present proof of any tangible outcome this side of the grave?
To have played and lost is apparently far better than to have never played at all

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tom_chatfield_7_ways_games_reward_the_brain.html

and of the art of persuasion?

What would be the motive for persuasion? Can one really change the minds of others? If I look at myself I must admit that it is extremely difficult for me to change my mind. Even if I do acknowledge that someone has a good point I still approach it with great caution and even defensiveness (and I am one who loves new ideas and fresh perspectives). Even so, I wholeheartedly align to new ideas and the challenge towards growth that these new ideas offer yet my inner core values seem to be often at war with my cognitive choices. This is not entirely a bad thing as we do need to be discerning and not simply accept everything that comes our way. However, what does this say about our ability to be persuaded? What does it say about our ability to persuade others and induce them to make a change or shift in their own lives? Can we do this? Do we have the right to do this?
Some very fascinating angles from biblical texts add more of a twist to all of this. A psalm written in the turbulence of inner suffering and need, even despair and depression says, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls.” Water often speaks of teaching in biblical symbolism. For me this suggests that even in the roar of much cascading teaching and persuasion it seems that it is the depth in and of the turbulence at the bottom of the waterfall wherein the call is found and settled, not in the rush of many droplets, but in the core body at the base of the waterfall. The issues of life seem to be deep and not cerebrally superficial. They seem to be core values that are deeply inlaid inside of us. Ancient paths laid long ago. Head knowledge is not of no value, to the contrary, but core knowledge still seems to hold all the aces.
Another vexing passage speaks out that no one can come to Christ unless the father who sent him draws him. A quote from the prophets adds to this by saying, “They will all be taught by God.” Jesus continues to say that only those who hear from God the father can or will come to him (Christ). To my mind this injects a challenge to the persuasiveness of man that we so passionately engage in. Surely being taught by God is a very different thing to being taught by man? I mean, although many claim that God ‘speaks’ to them, under greater scrutiny it is almost always revealed that it is not in words but in many other ‘circumstantial’ or ‘intuitive’, even sensual ways. Clearly God hardly ever uses words yet our persuasive ways are virtually exclusively verbal, logical arguments.
Even if we could persuade another does this mean that they are able to change and be accepted by God? According to the texts above we have to ask if persuasion is synonymous with deep calling to deep. What if the person we persuade is not called of God? How will we or they know? What if they or we believe that they are called, does this make them called? Is it not God alone who decides this?
In all our efforts to persuade others by proclamation are we not possibly treading on the path of ground we know not of? Are we not trespassing on land that might not at all be ours to walk on? Are we possibly redefining ‘faith’ by our own presumption?

Yes, we do have a role to play, but God has too.

Why is it so difficult to not believe?

Why is it so difficult to not believe? I mean, we seem to live in a world with so much data flying around all the time. Technology abounds and ‘scientific’ information advances and bounds into our lives like Tigger boinging into a Winnie the Pooh episode. Yet with all this going on we still don’t seem to have even the basic questions answered. We seem to have multitudes everywhere all declaring that they have the answers, but there are so many answers out there and so many of them seem to directly contradict each other.
Some faiths regard anyone outside of their own religious views as “unbelievers”. I wonder what they mean by this? I think that all of us believe. It’s all we have. It’s all we can do. Even atheists believe. Scientists too. In the world we live in it seems that to believe is the only thing we have available to us. We really have no provable idea where we came from, even less of an idea of where we’re going to and in between all this is no-man’s land where heated, twisted shrapnel flies in all directions. The military have even coined a new concept called “friendly fire” (can you believe that?).

“believe”
v. believed, believing, believes
v.tr.
1. To accept as true or real: Do you believe the news stories?
2. To credit with veracity: I believe you.
3. To expect or suppose; think: I believe they will arrive shortly.
v.intr.
1. To have firm faith, especially religious faith.
2. To have faith, confidence, or trust: I believe in your ability to solve the problem.
3. To have confidence in the truth or value of something: We believe in free speech.
4. To have an opinion; think: They have already left, I believe.
(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/believe)

If we believe in something we are investing energy in what is not actually empirically provable or conclusively factual for us. We’d like to believe it. We even believe that we believe it. Some say that they know that they believe. I understand what they may be trying to say, but it is a strange form of reasoning to me. If what we believed in were provable we would not have to believe in it any more. For example, we don’t have to believe in gravity anymore because there is substantial probability that it exists. (please, don’t try prove this at home!!)
Why don’t we just be honest and face up to reality? It might not be comfortable but it must beat the heck out of being convinced by what is essentially an illusion. The next step is then to believe that what we believe in is reality. Maybe I’m alone in this? What do you believe?

I think that as desperate as it may sound, to start by acknowledging that it is difficult not to believe might actually be the beginning of a very exciting, faith filled, fruitful journey.