One of the problems I see happening across the board is that God, Jesus, the Spirit, and the Scriptures are being co-opted by all sides. You read almost any book, study any denomination, listen to any preacher, understand the attitude of any church… and on a broader scale, study the underlying attitude of any country, religion or race and you will see that the habit of co-opting the divine and the scriptures to support their existence, identity, meaning and agenda. We all do it.
We all do what is right in our own eyes. Therefore, our consciences are clear. I believe that, for the most part, no matter what someone does, they do it sincerely. We do not want to be wrong, immoral, unethical or sinful. So we use the divine or the scripture to support our positions and our opinions. We use scripture to justify and excuse ourselves. Even when we know we are thinking or doing something wrong, we justify it for a greater good or end. This is the significant problem that Paul faced in the Roman church who believed, because God obviously still blesses us after we sin, that it must be okay. They ran to the logical conclusion that God’s grace, so abundant where there is sin, must be even more abundant where there is more sin. This is true, but they used this to rewrite their history. We do it all the time. When we see God’s good following our sin, we leap to the conclusion that this somehow not only exonerates our sin but blesses it and justifies it. The Roman heresy is our heresy! “Look! I realize I committed adultery and left my wife for another woman. But now she’s happily remarried and has a new family, and now I’m happily remarried with a new family. So God has blessed it. It’s actually GOOD that this has happened, because we now have two happy families instead of one unhappy one!” Or when a church was started out of our church because of an ugly, divisive and painful split: “Now there are two churches instead of one. It’s is GOOD that this has happened!” I believe that is heresy. It is using the free gift of grace to permit us to sin. This, in my opinion, is dangerously misguided but rampantly common.
What I look for are people who treat the scriptures as fundamentally critical of humanity and its agenda. They see the scripture like a two-edged sword that cuts through to the marrow and undermines all our pretensions, prides, prejudices and plans. Indeed, this is what the cross stands for: the perpetual sabotaging of human endeavor. Does it not? Instead of what we see today: the manipulation of the cross for our own ends and the constant exploitation of scripture to defend our selfish attitudes and ways and make ourselves look good.
This is why I think scripture is best understood by the poor, the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the suffering, the self-acknowledged sinners, and those who have no plans to change the world and are powerless to do so… in a word, the meek.
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David Hayward is an artist trapped in a pastor's body, stripping to the essential.
Good call David. “I didn’t come for the righteous,” he tells us. “I didn’t come for the healthy.” He came for the sick. It’s GOOD to remember we’re sick, even in our theological understandings.
Scripture is “fundamentally critical of humanity and its agenda.” We need to hear this over and over.
not meaning to bash; i’d just like to hear a response:
don’t you think you are overthinking the whole Christ thing? I mean, He came accepting of all of us. You don’t have to be a philosopher to get it. Why spend so much time sorting out all the details? Don’t we as a body have better things to do? Like telling people?
I always sound sarcastic online even when i don’t try to. sorry.
Seriously though, I’m reading Revolution in World Missions. Ususally I would be very interested to read this blog or other things that look into theology, the crappiness of the human heart, etc. But now, I’m just like, why? There are people dying by the millions never hearing Christ preached, and we are talking about WHAT? details? really.
I think if you keep talking to God all the time, you re-orient yourself, you and he together keep you humble, just keep very close.
“What I look for are people who treat the scriptures as fundamentally critical of humanity and its agenda. They see the scripture like a two-edged sword that cuts through to the marrow and undermines all our pretensions, prides, prejudices and plans. Indeed, this is what the cross stands for: the perpetual sabotaging of human endeavor. Does it not? Instead of what we see today: the manipulation of the cross for our own ends and the constant exploitation of scripture to defend our selfish attitudes and ways and make ourselves look good.”
And humanity includes the self. God’s law (I believe) actually does something to the hearer. It convicts and kills. Then the gospel can go to work. This is the shape of the life of the believer. Repentance and forgiveness…over and over and over until the law does it’s final work and takes us into the grave. But we know that is not the final word. Jesus has the final word and it is, “Father forgive them…”
Great post. Thanks.
I’ve studied your words for some minutes now, David, and while I could probably restate your theme as to give other perception, I really feel you’ve already put it out there about as well as it can be said. If there is a stumbling block in this beyond our ego, surely it is in our application of our ego to the wielding of the Book…
“They ran to the logical conclusion that God’s grace, so abundant where there is sin, must be even more abundant where there is more sin”
If its Logical and this is how your idea of God is supposed to work then the rest is just babble.
I agree with the idea in the post. We need to be close contact with Jesus and in good accountable relationships to avoid this kind of self-justification of our bad behaviour. The fact does remain though, that God does and will work with us when we sin and that is difficult for us as humans as we want it to be more black and white than that when its’ others sin we are looking at, but we want the abundance of grace when its us!
I’m with Rebecca in many ways, because as a character I am an activist and I believe we are supposed to change the world – even whilst also being the meek. I believe Jesus was a changer of the world by his daily life, aswell as his sacrifice – he was lowly and meek, yet all powerful.
I think we each have a calling here, which will be in line with our gifts and skills. Some are activists, others are reflectors and I appreciate that David reflects and calls these issues to our attention.
Yes, yes, yes. And yes!
Great post.
I like to call a spade a shovel. I don’t dress up what I’m doing in fine clothes and call it scriptural. I’m struggling. I do my best. It’s often not good enough. Without God, it is impossible for me to be a Christian.
Sermon I heard this week from Luke – the good Samaritan. Preacher used various illustrations about loving the poor, buying the Big Issue, giving to that beggar who’s always on the corner, etc etc… But it was love from a position of strength, of superiority, dispensing pity and largesse. He forgot to mention that actually, without Jesus, we’re as unlovely as you can get. We have lots of material possessions, lots of worldly achievements that fool us into thinking we’re lovely, lovable, and we can and should bestow our love upon those who need it, as if it’s worth something.
Without Jesus, it’s worth nothing.
And then there’s me. I don’t mind loving my neighbour, but what I find hard is loving the clique-dwellers at church, the ones who don’t love me, or anyone else who doesn’t fit at the ‘cool table’. But if I’m going to be obedient to Jesus, I’ve got to love them as I love myself- yeah, that second commandment he explained to the lawyer. Yeah, that’s me.
I have no choice. I not only have to love my enemy… I have to love those who exclude me at church. There is simply no getting away from it.
And God is always at work… Check out Eugene Peterson’s intro to Luke in The Message. There’s no God Club that excludes anyone. EVERYONE is included, everyone is welcome. Can’t wait to hear the sermon on predestination in 2 weeks..
Sigh
Thanks – your writing and your art inspires me to keep going. And not to dress things up.
Jenny,
Your comment got me thinking about the concept of Love. We are commanded to Love not only our friends but also our enemies. I pulled up Strongs to double which Greek word was used in this context
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G25&t=KJV
Agapo
1) of persons
a) to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
2) of things
a) to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing
1A to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of.
Well I can welcome and entertain my enemies but to be fond of them is another story, it suggests an emotion. I’m not much on emotions and less still able to cause myself to have emotions of fondness towards whom I choose. Hopefully the better educated will wade in on this.
I normally interpret this command to, Love others as ourselves, as a command to hope for them the best and to treat them as I would like to be treated. Not to treat them like I feel like treating them.
“Without God, it is impossible for me to be a Christian.†You said a mouthful there!
NP, I think this is your best blog entry ever!
David, hhhmmm, i am wondering as i have only recently joined into the commentary and not delved into your history, (that is postings) if you are not a man in crisis.
You are jumping from one exposition to another and leaving much fodder in between. Many polliticians as we just experienced seem to do the same without having real answers to help the cause, and the same is going on south of the border. Words are always the cheapest things we can easily throw around… it costs us nothing.
Jesus was careful with his words and who he directed them toward. (Most strongly to the teachers)
The meek or those of submissive heart and attitude do have power, because they stand in the presence of God, and he uses these ones of no account to change the world. History stands as an example of Gods intervention using the foolish to confound the wise.
i am pleased to count myself among the foolish, to believe in the power of salvation through the cross and the justification of sin by Christs shed blood. For without this action on Gods behalf, to love me as i am, i am doomed with the rest of the unbelieving world. i do not take his love for me lightly.
So what!, about those who corrupt the truth and use it for their own gain, they’re going to get their reward.
They have always been right from the beginning, has it not been said, “nothing changes under the sun.”
Can we not move on to weightier matters of holding ourselves accountable before God for our own individual actions and what we are doing with Christ, and what concerns him in these days we perceive to be closing in on his return.
i can tell you what is on Gods heart; that the body of Christ is weak, hurting, broken, divided, and out of touch because we are not on our faces pleading for his help.
The human body, anotomy, needs the spine to be in good order for it to function properly, all the nerves, blood vessels, arteries to have the blood flowing through it and oxygen for the brain. If the spinal cord is compressed, nerve damage occurs and something suffers, lets say a leg… sciatica… now you cannot stand, now lets say the neck is severly injured, paralasis, unable to move, how about blood flow disrupted to the brain… comatose…
The body of Christ is in crisis, there is injury so it cannot stand, there is also other more severe injury in other places to the point of comatose.
We take for granted our position in Christ… if we were to stand before Jesus (like Donald Trump on the apprentice) what would we have to say for ourselves, to keep us in the race, to prove we have something to give, to initiate his keeping us on his team. Lets talk reality on our side of the fence.
Thank God he decided to choose me… i don’t know that i would have.
Lawrence
“Jesus was careful with his words and who he directed them toward”
Remember, David aint Jesus. His words do something extraordinary, they make us think. Maybe if more “Churchies” did more of that then the ekklesia(people) would be more loving and connected.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 (English Standard Version)
But test everything; hold fast what is good.
“Indeed, this is what the cross stands for: the perpetual sabotaging of human endeavor. Does it not? Instead of what we see today: the manipulation of the cross for our own ends and the constant exploitation of scripture to defend our selfish attitudes and ways and make ourselves look good.†(NP)
I agree. The cross is not about us – well maybe it is in some way (we are asked to do the same thing) – but it’s about sacrifice. I think a lot of us use these scriptures to support our world-views in some way, shape, and form – now that’s always bad – but I think it is when we use scripture to justify our own bad behaviour. I honestly find some Christians to be of the least humble people I have ever met – some are so proud they cannot say ‘sorry’ or refuse to for reasons of ‘being right’. They refuse to show weakness.
“This is why I think scripture is best understood by the poor, the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the suffering, the self-acknowledged sinners, and those who have no plans to change the world and are powerless to do so… in a word, the meek.†(NP)
Great point! I think this is where scripture finds itself most meaningful – to be honest – in the people that are ‘meek’. I think the more power we wield the less influence these scriptures will have – we co-opt the process (good wording also NP).
I think faith effects people in different ways – and in the meek we see the sincerity of the process. I can admit, for myself, I try to let faith into all aspects of my life – but I hope to not use it as a ‘power tool’.
“now that’s always bad” (SVS)
Supposed to read ‘NOT that’s that always bad’
Bill
I’m not sure I understand what you’re driving at in your response to my post. If you’re saying I’ve got to hope for good things for my enemies (however we characterise them), to act lovingly towards them, but not feel it, then I’m not sure I agree. As someone once said to me, what if Jesus said, “yeah, that Jenny, I love her, but I don’t LIKE her”, how would I feel?
I realised after I wrote it that my “without God..” comment sounded silly. Obviously what I meant was that I cannot be a Christian in my own strength. It’s too hard, and asks too much of me – I need His help to do what he asks. And isn’t that just one of the wonderful things about Christianity? Jesus came to earth to show us the way (like the ol’ song says), but He hasn’t left us alone without help.