A New Year

The more I study the Hebrew Bible, the more I become convinced that understanding ancient Jewish practices can not only help modern Christians understand God’s work in this world in a different way, but will also aid our worship and interaction with God. Celebrating the sacraments aids in engaging our souls with God. I believe that ancient practices – Jewish and Christian – can accomplish the same interaction with the divine. To such ends, throughout the next year or so I will try to highlight various Jewish feasts and festivals (we would call them holidays) in an effort to assist our efforts to connect with God.

Tonight at Sundown begins “Rosh Hashanah” for the Jewish people. This is their new year’s celebration as the words “Rosh Hashanah” literally mean “head of the year.” This holiday marks the beginning of a ten-day period of prayer, self-examination and repentance, which culminate on the fast day of Yom Kippur. While there are elements of joy and celebration, Rosh Hashanah is a deeply religious occasion. The customs and symbols of Rosh Hashanah reflect the holiday's dual emphasis – happiness and humility. The Jewish people observe special customs on Rosh Hashanah. First they sound of the shofar alerting all in the hearing of the trumpet that it is a special occasion. They also eat apples dipped in honey to get a sweet start to the New Year. Also they eat round challah to remind them that the years go round and round. During the 10 Days of Awe, we set goals for the coming year and prepare for the holiest of days, Yom Kippur.

The most symbolic activity, and one which seems more appropriate for a new year than getting drunk and throwing confetti about involves repentance. It is customary to go to a river or sea where there are fish, for as fish are suddenly
caught in a net, so are we caught in the severe net of divine judgment; and gazing at the water, we contemplate our sins.

We then shake out our pockets seeking symbolically to "cast away" our accumulated sins and transgressions so that we may purify our hearts and our souls, as the new year begins (see Micah passage below). As we cast our sins into the water, we look at the water and try to remember the creation of the world by God, our Creator. We think about God and ask forgiveness for the things we have done wrong. The custom of going to a body of water on Rosh Hashanah is a symbolic allusion, for the waters which now seem to be at this place were not here before and will not remain afterward. So, if the sinner says to himself or herself: "I will not repeat my sin; my behavior will change", the sin, like the waters, will move on.

We read together from the Prophet Micah:
Who is like You, Adonai?
You forgive iniquity and pass over transgressions in your people.
You do not retain anger forever, for You delight in kindness.
You will again show us mercy and subdue our iniquities;
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
You will show kindness to Jacob and mercy to Abraham,
as You did promise our ancestors of old.


So we pray to God:
Let us cast away the sin of deception, so that we will mislead no one in word or deed, nor pretend to be what we are not.
Let us cast away the sin of vain ambition, which prompts us to strive for goals which bring neither true fulfillment nor genuine contentment.
Let us cast away the sin of stubbornness, so that we will neither persists in foolish habits nor fail to acknowledge our will to change.
Let us cast away the sin of envy, so that we will neither be consumed by desire for what we lack nor grow unmindful of the blessings which are already ours.
Let us cast away the sin of selfishness, which keeps us from enriching our lives through wider concerns and great sharing and from reaching out in love to other human beings.
Let us cast away the sin of indifference, so that we may be sensitive to the sufferings of others and responsive to the needs of people everywhere.
Let us cast away the sin of pride and arrogance, so that we can worship God and serve God's purpose in humility and truth.

For you are…
Adonai, Adonai,
Compassion and Tenderness,
Patience, Forbearance,
Kindness, Awareness,
Bearing love from age to age,
Lifting guilt and mistakes,
And making us free.
Amen.


Some other things you could do by way of reflection:
List ten good things that happened in the last year.
Explain ten ways you’ve grown (new things you can do).

A Letter to a Searcher who gave up on the Church because of Christians

Here is a letter I wrote to someone who claims they are no longer Christian because of Christians. I post it here in case it helps anyone else going through the same struggle. I assume I will also be critiqued by those who disagree with my approach. That is fine because I hope it will make my approach better.

****

Hi #######.

I originally did not respond when I read your note because I figured others would say the same thing. I see that they have not. Some have been harsh. I am sorry for that.

I also experienced the same thing as you explain in your post. I gave up Christianity because of the people in the church and began a period of searching. The thing I noticed near the end (or should I say near the beginning) of the search was that I was searching for the truth with the rule that the truth could not be Christianity. Once I gave that rule up, I came back to Christianity but not the institutional church. That does not mean I gave up on Christ's Church, and I still find myself currently in an institutional church.

Your experience may differ as you might not have excluded Christianity from your searches. I think the biggest obstacle for most Christians is overcoming what they were shown to be Christianity by their local church. So often it is not about love, but about so many other things. I am sure you know that Scripture teaches that all of the other things are worthless if they do not lead us to love. Christianity is beautiful in that way.

Christianity, pure and in its true form, is amazing. It just baffles me that it is somewhat difficult to find people, especially groups of people, living it out. I am not saying that all of those wallowing in an ineffective Christianity are not saved because part of true Christianity is an understanding of grace and sharing that grace with others. I find myself wallowing in ineffective Christianity far too often. Thankfully there is grace.

Anyway, I wanted to pass along a passage that I found encouraging during that period of time. It was from Isaiah 5. In it God is stating that he has tried everything to make his people, Israel, the people he intended for them to be. But they still were not that people. God then tells others to judge him by who he is and not by those who claim to follow him.

1 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.

2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?

5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.

6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it."

7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Personally, I would like to be a person that God could say, "Look at him and see me." I might not be there yet, but that is what I strive for. Grace covers my failings.

We need to be lifetime seekers of truth, and I admire you for that. I believe firmly in Jesus' teaching that if we seek, we will find. So many people just take what is spoon-fed them. Here's to seeking.

With Blessings,
Regan

Follow-up on the meeting with Ahmadinejad

Gary Bauer attacks the Quakers for dining with Ahmadinejad

The Executive Director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem attacks the people meeting with Ahmadinejad.

What I cannot find is any of the dialogue at the dinner. What was said? That's what I would like to know. But the media is already done with the story. No followup in America.

Bike Gang Masquerades as Christian Ministry

I found this article interesting.

Bike Gang Masquerades as Christian Ministry

I will be interested to see if they actually find any evidence of drug dealing. It sounds to me, and being from my neck of the woods many people are like this, that the guys just liked the bike scene and guns. There is nothing sinful in liking the bike scene and guns. It appears that they weren't non-violent and that is what eventually got them in trouble. But many Christians are not non-violent, so can we hold that against them. They seem like a Christian outreach that got into a fight with the Hell's Angels. If they were trying to take over drug dealing in Hell's Angels territory, they would not have gone to hang out in a Hell's Angels bar. But if they were interested in ministering, that is what they would have done.

I don't have all the evidence, but they seem like a Christian group to me.

Carrying Our Cross In a World of Selfishness

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.'"

Our cross.

Trusting God has been an issue of mine since Lindsay and I lost our twins. I struggled with believing that God has what is best for my life in mind. I have come to the conclusion that he does not, and I am fine with that. When I use the word "best," I am talking about the things of this world that are idolized - health, success, entertainment, popularity, and, possibly, my individual spiritual life. In light of that, he does not have what is best for me individually on his agenda. What is best for me is not what is always best for his Kingdom. His Kingdom is on his mind. If sacrificing me will further his Kingdom, then that is what needs to be done. If I am a faithful servant, then I am fine with that and spiritually I will always be secure.

Does that make God cold and heartless? I would not say that it does although it does teeter on it from our perspective. It rocks our selfish and individualistic view of life and the world around us. We are selfish from birth, nourished from bottles of selfishness as we grow up, and continue to indulge in selfishness as adults. We are so selfish that we fail to notice it. We want what is best for us, and we are focused on going after it. But Christ tells me to take up my cross. No longer am I supposed to look out for what is best for myself. I take up my cross and become a servant to others. Only in killing my interests will I actually find true spirituality. I think we all know the Christian language surrounding this concept but to actually live it makes us freaks in our churches and the communities we live in.

Rich Mullins once wrote,

"It seems that I always am and always have been an outsider. I've never really fit in. I was always too religious for my rowdy friends--they thought I was unbelievably hung up--and too rowdy for my religious friends--they were always praying for me."

I still struggle with why Luke and Logan had to die before breathing their first breath, but I need to be completely fine with God sacrificing soldiers for His Kingdom. God might not have directly caused their death (and he might have), but he could have prevented it. The responsibility is his; that is always the way it is with death. God has the power to heal and prevent death. We can try to comfort ourselves with saying it is better for the person dead to be where they are now, but that really brings no comfort to my selfish self. In that mindset (and my tendency to bring things to logical extremes), then I should kill little children and faithful Christians so that they can also be better off. What I have to reach is the point of being a faithful soldier who is focused on a cause bigger than just myself and content with whatever that brings my way.

My cross.

The Controversy over Churches Meeting with Ahmadinejad

The groups who supported the rights of conscientious objectors in World War II (American Friends Service Committee and the Mennonite Central Committee) along with some new organizations (Quaker United Nations Office, Religions for Peace and the World Council of Churches) invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to share a meal with them tonight after sunset (in respect to Ahmadinejad's participation in the celebration of Ramadan). And they are getting reamed for it.

Here is a completely biased news story on it that provides no comments from the peace groups.

Would Jesus eat a meal with Ahmadinejad?

An Unholy Squeeze

Thank you to all who participated in the conversation about interest. That was helpful for me. I think the principle to not collect interest on brothers (poorer brothers especially) is a sound one.

Part of the reason for that is the squeeze it puts on people for our gain.

This brings me to another portion of the Law of the LORD. Leviticus 19:0-10 "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." (see also Leviticus 23:22)

I was trying to get an idea of what a modern-day application of this would be, since very few people have fields of grain. And even if we did, this would be hard to pull off. I think the principle that transcends culture is that we should not forget the poor in attempts to gain as much profit as possible.

For instance, coffee distributors world-wide are buying beans at rates that cannot support farmers even in the poorest parts of the world. Then they mark the price way up to gain profits of $100,000,000's.

But let's not just focus on how these principles apply to business moguls we will never meet. Let's look at how they apply to us. Are we being faithful? We have the opportunity to buy coffee that is fair-trade certified. I recommend Pura Vida.

It will cost us more, but maybe we shouldn't pinch every penny if it is the world's poorest who get squeezed.

Interpretive Lens

I have a paper due this week and so don’t have the necessary time to put into a thoughtful entry. But, I thought I would put some questions out there to hear from you as I am thinking about an entry down the road. The questions have to do with interpretation of God’s Word (and yes, I do believe that it is inspired by God).

How does Scripture function so that there is a normative (agreed upon) understanding, thus allowing Christians to assess the validity of varying interpretations?
i.e. what are you principles of interpretation?
How do you determine what is acceptable and what is unacceptable?
What assumptions to you make about the text without even realizing it?

Look forward to hearing your introspection.

FREE Bible Software

I just received information about a FREE Bible software package that is actually quite robust considering the price. There are certain packages that can be purchased as an upgrade, but the free stuff is certainly a good start. For example, it comes with the KJV and the NIV costs money ($29), but you can download many other versions (including original languages) for free.

If you have been looking for a Bible program but have been unwilling to shell out the money for one of the biggies (Logos, Quickverse, Bible Works, etc.), this seems like a good alternative. The website has additional downloads of Bible versions, commentaries, dictionaries, and pictures, as well as a training page to help you get acclimated.

One word of warning – I haven’t actually used it (as I have Logos Scholar), but it looks pretty good. So again, here is the link:

http://www.e-sword.net/index.html

The Church Made Simple

Church should be simple, not this complex machine of committees and programs that it has become. I am pretty "lazy" when it comes to doing traditional church as I do not go to our church's Sunday evening or Wednesday evening services; I only spend four to five hours there every Sunday morning in a leadership meeting, teaching a Sunday School class, attending the "service," and sharing in a fellowship meal. I have friends who keep busy going to the church every time the doors are open. Church wears them out. Keeping busy going to church takes away time that they could be visiting a neighbor or helping another person by taking up at least one morning and two evenings every week.

There are some in my church, and possibly yours, who think if you are not there when the doors are open, then you are not being faithful to Christ. It is presented as if attendance at another educational function is essential to being faithful disciples. If you catch some of these people who do not miss a service when they are in the right mood, they will actually tell you that. I have been present for some of these unity-building moments.

Church is not something that should keep us busy through education and worship; church is the relationships between people living out the call to be disciples of Christ. Instead of becoming a tool to help us follow Christ in our homes, neighborhoods, and places of employment, church has developed into a mammoth assortment of programs that keep us busy from actually loving those around us that are not part of the church. Church has moved from being the relationship between the people of God to being an institution that must be maintained.

For many who desire church to be different, they change the word "church" to words like "fellowship" or "community" and label their buildings as "Christian Centers" or some other name. If changing our vocabulary helps us to be the church, then our vocabulary should be quick to go. But if we change only the vocabulary and leave the practices in place that have actually took the church on a scenic detour from where we need to be, then we are only playing word games. I can hear the argument that we need to call things by their biblical names. We need to note that "church" is just a translated word from the Greek "ekklesia." If "church" has morphed into meaning something in our culture that is not really what the "ekklesia" of the Bible is, then a vocabulary change would be useful. It does nobody any good to keep calling a biblical idea a word that has lost the biblical meaning.

"Church" has become associated in people's minds with singing, sermons, lessons, Sunday morning, programs, and all other various activities. Maybe a vocabulary change is needed because it should be associated with prayer, apostle's teaching, relationships, eating together, loving, and sharing. The essentials of church have been replaced by ancillaries. We can stop singing, having sermons, meeting on Sunday mornings, and creating programs and still be healthy churches.

Nor is it necessary to be a large group to be the church. "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 19:20). That section of Scripture is in the midst of a section on the power of believers when they gather together. Being a disciple is not to be done alone but along with others on the journey together, but it does not have to be done with fifty, a thousand, or ten thousand people. The problem is that we have so narrowly defined what that communal journey is to look like that we have made it corporate. A corporate journey is one in which the leaders discover the path through prayer and conversation with one another. The leaders follow that up by passing the direction down from the top. A communal vision is one discovered by the people through conversation and prayer with one another and then shared. This is then lived out in fellowship with one another.

One of the major problems of corporate church is that it financially and time-wise costs much more. Is it possible to have all of the assets, which require maintenance, and the regular expenses of an institutional church, not become distracted by them, and remain focused on the mission of Christ in our community and around the world? It might be possible, but the default seems to be distraction. Most churches spend the majority of their money on the maintenance of the institution of church, on their leaders and on the building they meet in. The institution becomes the goal rather than being disciples. It is a very rare church that spends over 50% of their money helping people rather than on the maintaining the institution. I know some will say that the maintenance of the institution is helping others, especially when it comes to paid ministers. I might have to concede that, but the goal needs to be something other than the maintenance of the institution. What I have found is that megachurches and house churches use a smaller percentage of their budget on the maintenance of the church compared to all of the churches in between.

Jesus said that the world will know his disciples by their love for one another. We somehow have lost the desire to emphasize love. Proper doctrine that does not lead us to be more loving is a waste of a teachable moment. A building that does not cause us to be more loving is a total misuse of God's resources. We have lost site of the goal in the midst of church. Bells, whistles, and all other sorts of distractions are meaningless if they are not tools to equip us to be more loving. We lose focus in maintaining the institution and it becomes a mean in itself rather than the tool it should be. A lot of time with have a lot of time and money invested in tools that have lost their effectiveness.

Let the institution fall. Let the saints rise up and begin to love one another and all who they encounter.

Whose Best Interest?

Exodus 22:25 "If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, 27 because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. (see also Leviticus 25:35-37, Deuteronomy 23:19-20, and Nehemiah 5).

Reading Sam's posts on Hell reminded me of when I read Dante's Inferno as a Sophomore at Great Lakes Christian College. As Sam pointed out, Dante structured Hell with different levels to reflect the severity of a person's sin. The deeper the ring of Hell, the worse a person's sin was.

What was most surprising to me was what sin Dante reserved the lowest ring of Hell. Was it murder? Was it rape? Was it to "cause one of these little ones to sin"? No, it was none of these.

The sin most deserving to the darkest, most torturous eternity, according to Dante, was collecting interest on money loaned. This was bizarre to me. It had not even occurred to me that collecting interest could be a sin at all, much less the worst there ever was. It was too bizarre. I could not even process it.

But between revisiting Dante (thanks, Sam), reading several texts discussing modern day application of Jubilee (thanks, Regan and others), a personal study of Nehemiah (thank you, Lord) the issue of whether or not lending money with interest is a sin is once again at the forefront of my mind. And this time with some very real-life application (that I can't share just yet).

I understand much better the issue at hand. Interest can be a way for the "haves" to take profit off the "have-nots". It's exploitation.

There's no way to draw a profit without taking it from someone who did not have enough of it from the beginning. It rewards the wealthy for having (not a virtue in and of itself) and punishes the poor for not having (not a moral failure in and of itself).

An Examination of Fellowship (Koinonia)

What does the word "fellowship" mean?

The word translated “fellowship” comes from the Greek word “koinonia”. In the New American Standard, we also find “koinonia” translated as “share”, “participation” and “contribution” on different occasions throughout the New Testament.

Some times translations do not adequately get the point across of the word they are translating. Fellowship is not one of those cases; fellowship is a great translation of the Greek word “koinonia”. It is just the combination of two words put together that in their essence really do grasp the original meaning of the word. Unfortunately, the word "fellowship" has become so common that it no longer strikes us at being the combination of two separate words. With fellowship, we have the word “fellow,” and we have the word “ship”. "Fellow" is not used commonly in today's culture unless you are from the Deep South; however, it is used in university settings. A fellow in a university is someone who is considered an equal in a group of peers. When you become a fellow at a university, you become part of a group of equals. A fellow is someone that is an equal. There is no superior in a fellowship.

When you combine fellows and put them on a ship together, you have a group of equals on a ship heading in the same direction together. People on a ship have to work together to get where they are going. This is not your typical ship though. It is not a ship with a hierarchical structure; it is a ship of equals. The key to being a fellowship is that we are going somewhere together and our success on that journey depends on us working together. If the ship sinks, all of the fellows on the ship sink. A fellowship is a group of equals in a situation together.

Koinonia, the word translated fellowship, was used in Greek times as a union between people. It was most often used to describe the relationship of people who were in business with one another, but it was also used to describe the bond between two people in marriage. This means that fellowship with one another is not something to be taken lightly. It is not something that can be lived out with just a simple handshake. It is not something that we can have with one another just because we share doctrinal concepts. It is not attained through just gathering together at a specific buildin. It is something that has to go much deeper than that. Koinonia, as shown in its traditional use describing business partners and marriage partners, shows a bond between people which is focused on the idea that the success of one is linked with the success of the other.

Imagine if you would that Sam, Shannon, and I opened up a business. Let's say in our case it is a restaurant. Shannon would be the cook because of his propensity to not grow facial hair like Sam and me. I would run the floor, and Sam would do the bookwork and ordering. Say we shared ownership in the business, making us financial partners. The financial success of Sam would be dependent upon my success in serving the customers and training others to do a great job serving the customers. My success would be dependent upon Shannon making meals and training others to make those same great meals. We would be in the business together and our success or failure would depend upon each one of us doing our jobs well. That, in a nutshell, is what koinonia or fellowship is – it is a link between people in which they share mutual dreams, actions, and respect. The success of each person is intimately linked with one another.

Koinonia is a family relationship of sorts. Not an unhealthy family like many that we see around us, but a healthy family. The Bible describes our relationship with other believers as a family in various places. In 1 Peter 2:17, Peter describes us as the “family of believers”. In Galatians 6:10, Paul describes us as the “family of faith”.

The Steiners are an amazing family in our church. You might know a family like them. What is experienced in their family is a great example of what it is to be a family. People look at the Steiners and want to be a Steiner. They see the fun the family has together at family gatherings and want to join in. That is fellowship. The main difference between the fellowship which the Steiner family shares to the fellowship we are supposed to have is that the Steiner fellowship is based upon a shared bloodline and is exclusive to people who are either born into or married into the family. (And I am not saying there is something wrong with a healthy biological family like that – Their fellowship is one that I wish to emulate with my family.) But our fellowship among us as brothers and sisters in Christ should be just as great or even greater than any biological fellowship. But is it? Are we the type of people who share our lives together in a way that others long to be part of our community? Do we know each other intimately like a family? The main difference between the fellowship Christians should experience and the fellowship of the Steiner family is that our fellowship is not exclusive to bloodlines; it is inclusive to anyone who is seeking God or has decided to be washed in the blood of Jesus.

Our fellowship should be much greater than the fellowship experienced by a biological family. It should be a fellowship that other churches would long to emulate and people would want to join in on, but that is not our goal. Our goal is to just be faithful and be the group of people God intends for us to be. Being Christians is not just adhering to a set of doctrinal statements, but it is living our lives together in such a way that we exhibit the lives that Christ intended for us to live. This life lived would give credence to the authority of Scripture and the doctrines we share. Let us strive to be the people Christ intended for us to be.

Hell - Part 3

In parts one and two I laid out the various words and images employed by the writers of the New Testament. From this diversity I think we can deduce that the doctrine of hell was still in flux and being developed. Despite this varied presentation by the New Testament writers, most Christians seem to gravitate to the idea of an eternal punishment, usually of the fire variety. Perhaps the influence of Dante’s Inferno has had more effect on our understanding than the Bible has. Or perhaps preachers like Jonathan Edwards, with his images of a God dangling us like a spider over a fire as found in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” has been taken at face value as the Biblical doctrine of punishment. Either way, I believe that many Christians are ill informed when it comes to hell. Before I get accused of succumbing to modern cultural pressures or political correctness, the following conclusions are, in my opinion, biblically based and theologically sound (but of course we all think that).

Personally, I don’t believe in hell, at least not how the concept is formulated by most people with whom I speak. Don’t get me wrong – God is holy and God is just; but God is not cruel. The offense of sin must be punished. But isn’t that what Jesus took upon himself? And now, after people reject God I believe they get what they request – they do not participate in the divine presence that we call heaven. The punishment received by those who have not been redeemed lies in the absence of God rather than some torturous existence. There is not further torture. Otherwise I believe God turns into vicious, malevolent dictator. God becomes the abusive father who tortures his own child and justifies it by saying that he was teaching the child discipline and not to screw up anymore. Again, there is appropriate punishment for rejecting God, but torture does not fall into this category.

In addition, it seems that the New Testament writers were doing more than just describing the nature of hell. Perhaps there is more to hell than just locating it as a place of eternal fire or eternal punishment or eternal darkness or eternal nothingness. I don’t see them using scare tactics or selling “fire insurance.” Usually they only employed the concept of hell when there was a moral failing on the part of the culture that caused extreme suffering to the faithful followers. Especially as we look at Revelation (and other apocalyptic literature), the writer uses this hellish imagery to not to describe what hell is, but to offer encouragement to the faithful through the promise of vindication. John tells his readers to keep the faith and let God handle those who persecute and mistreat them. Regardless of the difficulty of their situation, faithful followers can be reassured that God is in control of both the righteous and the wicked.

So what is left? Well, annihilationism (or some form of it) has its appeal especially in light of the passages that place certain people in darkness or outside of God’s presence. This doctrine also allows for divine judgment while maintaining God’s love. As F. F. Bruce writes, "annihilation is certainly an acceptable interpretation of the relevant New Testament passages ... For myself, I remain agnostic. Eternal conscious torment is incompatible with the revealed character of God.” (Letter from F. F. Bruce to John Stott in 1989, as quoted in John Stott: A Global Ministry, 354). But, this doctrine, like others, has few references from which to make a strong case.

So, whether it is annihilationism or eternal darkness or something else, I do not think it is a torturous existence. But one thing I do know, the nature of “hell” involves the lack of God’s presence and is to be avoided at all costs. Should we scare people into believing? I don’t think so. Because the good news is that we can attain a better existence – not that we can avoid a worse one.

COMFORT!

I went to bed pleased, but I woke up this morning feeling sad. These two days in mid-September have done that to me for the last several years. September 10th is my birthday, and my wife always makes sure that it is a special event. September 11th is... well, you know.

I'm sad not just for the thousands of families who will be mourning their loved ones today, I'm sad for the state of the world that seeks solutions in violence. I'm sad for the cycle of hurt leading to hatred leading to hurt leading to hatred. I'm sad for the foolishness of fighting hatred with missiles. And I'm sad for the church's misplaced fervor for (or against) presidential candidates.

But there is hope. Walter Bruggeman describes Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE (which Isaiah prophesies in chapter 39) as Isarael's 9/11. It was that jarring, that shocking, that deflating. It was here that Lamentations was born. All was bleak.

But then when you turn the page from Isaiah 39 to Isaiah 40 something tremendous happens.

"Comfort, oh comfort my people,"
says your God.

"Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem,
but also make it very clear
That she has served her sentence,
that her sin is taken care of—forgiven!
She's been punished enough and more than enough,
and now it's over and done with."

Thunder in the desert!
"Prepare for God's arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
a highway fit for our God.
Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said."

A voice says, "Shout!"
I said, "What shall I shout?"

"These people are nothing but grass,
their love fragile as wildflowers.
The grass withers, the wildflowers fade,
if God so much as puffs on them.
Aren't these people just so much grass?
True, the grass withers and the wildflowers fade,
but our God's Word stands firm and forever."

Climb a high mountain, Zion.
You're the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
You're the preacher of good news.
Speak loud and clear. Don't be timid!

Tell the cities of Judah,
"Look! Your God!"
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,
ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
and reward those who have loved him.

Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.

The comfort is in his coming. The solution is the concert of his power and tenderness. Hope resides in followers leveling the path.

Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.

Shout, "COMFORT!"

Hope for the future?

I came across this video and was hoping it would stimulate some conversation. You are welcome to comment as you feel led.

What are your thoughts about McLaren reaching out to the Muslims?

Do you agree with McLaren's 3 major crises?
1) How we are treating the planet
2) Poverty - the gap between the rich and the poor
3) Our need for peace

What do you think of his solution - the have nots refusing to give up and the haves learning to care?


Again, go to http://www.hopeinfo.co.uk/ to see the video.

Hell - Part 2

Part 1 defined the words used to locate hell. In Part 2 I wanted to mention a couple of other images that are associated with the place of hell or at least in contrast to heaven.

The first image evolves around fire. The author of Revelation uses the phrase “lake of fire” (3 times with the addition of the words “and sulfur”) to refer to a place of eternal punishment and destruction. Revelation 21:8 reads,

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (NRSV)

Of course the very image of a “lake” (body of water) of fire (the opposite of water) seems contradictory and so is difficult to translate. Whether this image is a great expanse of fire or even something like the magma from volcanoes, it is associated with the “second death” and carries a measure of punishment in the afterlife. In addition, we occasionally find other references to fire such as Matthew 25:41:

“Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (NRSV)

Luke 16:19-31 offers an interesting account that many see as a direct view into hell. The story of the “Rich man and Lazarus” narrates a scene with the location of “Hades” but contains imagery not found in the other references to Hades (see Part 1). The rich man described his tormenting and agony in the flames and asked “Father Abraham” to allow Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool his tongue. Though this scene seems to depict what hell is like, I don’t believe it portrays an accurate picture based on 2 reasons. First, many scholars (including myself) see this as a parable, similar to other figures of speech that Jesus used. If this is the case, it leads to the second reason – describing the nature of hell was not Jesus’ intention. He was trying to teach his hearers about living responsibly in the here and now. Just as the mustard seed is not really the smallest seed, so hell is not necessarily a place of fiery torment.

The next two images – outside and darkness – are hard to separate as they convey similar concepts. Some authors use an idiom that is literally rendered, “the outer darkness.” Other authors might just say “outside” but follow it up with “into darkness”. Either way, they seem to be describing a place which is both dark and removed (presumably from the abode of the righteous). The following contain a few examples:

“When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 8:10-12

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 22:13

“And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30

“Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood.” Revelation 22:15

The authors of 2 Peter and Jude, probably drawing from the same source, describe a scene of utter, black, deep and complete darkness:

“These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved.” 2 Peter 2:17

“These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” Jude 12-13

The final image, and the most intriguing in my estimation, comes from 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9:

“[God] will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.”

The punishment consists of everlasting destruction and ejection from the presence of God. This passage gets referred to by annihilationists, whose hold the view that the souls of the “unsaved” are destroyed rather than tormented forever in hell. Matthew 10:28 also feeds into this line of thought:

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The punishment does not lie in the torture but in the destruction of the person and his/her inability to participate in an eternal relationship with God. As Aleks said in the comments from Part 1, “The most frightening part about eternal damnation is not the horny Beelzebub, or pit with the eternal fire, or even the eternal torture. It is the complete and utter absence of God.” We can’t even comprehend what the absence of the presence of God looks like. God’s presence inundates this world. We can’t escape it. God is in the air we breath, the food we eat, and our very life source (soul if you will). For that presence to be removed, perhaps we would cease to exist.

To sum up, the Bible employs different words for the actual location of hell (Gehenna, Hades, Tartaros, the Abyss) and different images (fire, darkness, outside, shut out from the presence of God). This variety seems to indicate a lack of uniformity in the understanding of hell by the Biblical writers. Despite the diversity, each writer sought to convey a terrible existence (or perhaps lack of) in which no one would want to participate. In the final installment I will examine the implications that go along with one's doctrine of hell.

Brian Carter Releases A Pauper's Prayer

The first from our generation at GLCC to release something for sale, Brian Carter released his album, A Pauper's Prayer, for digital download last week.

It was good, but I am sure I am bias.

A Fair Christian

Knowing that I am close to being in the top 10% of the richest people in the world, even on my measly income, I need to take seriously the passages in Scripture that address the rich. If you're a fellow American, you probably make more money than me right now, so you are even richer. We like to imagine that the rich people are Bill Gates and the Clintons or McCains, but in the larger scope of the world, we are the rich. I can go down the street right now and buy fruits from all over the world. My family owns two cars while many throughout the world own none. Everyone reading this has internet accesss, if not high-speed internet in the convenience of their own home. We have a television with a digital converter box. I could say that I am poor because I do not have a new high-definition television like the one sitting in front of me as I type this at my brother's house, but I would be lying. I am economically poor for the time being according to our government's definition of who is and is not poor, but I am still an economically rich man through a lens that looks at all nationalities.

This has led me to contemplate how I use my money as a rich person, which is what I am as a poor American. Do I use my money indiscrimately and give money to regimes and corporate interests who use corporate slave labor or do I wisely use my money to help economically liberate people around the world? Am I loving with my consuming?

Do not take this as a buy American rant. That is not what this is. It is more of a buy fair rant. Fair trade means that the people who manufacture or produce the product that is branded "fair" were given a livable wage for their work. This is not wealth redistribution or an attack on capitalism as it is not government-enforced. It is actually using capitalism to bring about fairness. The companies that buy their products will pay above market value in order for the producers of the product to receive a livable wage. As consumers in a capitalistic society, we can consume in such a way that we add to oppression in poorer nations or we can help them to prosper. Our collective dollars have a powerful voice because they are a medium through which we have an international voice.

And our spiritual obligation to use our money to liberate rather than oppress is something we can not easily brush aside.

James 5:1-6

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

We have a responsibility to not fatten ourselves and entertain ourselves while repressing others.

We need to connect with the idea that we are God's ambassadors here on earth. A United States ambassador is a representative of our nation in the nation where they reside. They conduct the day-to-day business of the United States with the government there. We, as Christians, conduct the day-to-day operations of God here on earth. Our churches should be like embassies where the people of God gather together and experience life like it is at home. As an ambassador of Christ, we must speak out against slave labor and oppression, but can we do that if we are just consuming products that enable the oppressors?

The concept behind the year of Jubilee helps me to grasp this. The year of Jubilee (in Leviticus 25:1-17), the practice instituted by God in which all the land would be given back to their original owners every fifty years, emphasizes that our material possessions are not our own; they are God's. The principle laid out in verse 17 still applies today: "Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God."

As Christians, we are not to take advantage of other people. We are to be instruments executing God's will here and now. Part of that responsibility deals with us consuming responsibly. Using the excuse of ignorance on how our products travelled the road from production to our home no longer flies. We are responsible if another human was oppressed to produce a product we consume. We have brothers and sisters all along the path of production who need our help in making sure they have a livable wage. Let us not shirk our responsibility to God, which we can honor by loving our fellow man.

Am I Post-Modern?

When I was in college I got swept up into the idea that understanding and perhaps even becoming post-modern was going to be key to evangelistic and pastoral success among people born after Beatlemania.

It was a fun study, as I could identify with much of what it was about. It loved pop culture and so did I. And much of the criticism at that time was by people who had not even attempted to understand what it really was or where it was coming from. Therefor the criticisms were easily dismissed.

It had become, for a short time, like a shiny new Messiah that I could ride to ministry success and personal relevance. (That should be viewed more as a criticism of my own character and maturity than of post-modernity or its proponents.) When God called me to an older church, most of that stuff became blatantly irrelevant.

Eight years since the post-modern crowd has apparently morphed in "emerging" and "emergent" movements. While I have read books by Rob Bell and Shane Claibourne, and the occasional blog post by Dan Kimball; I have ignored most things Gen X due to the fact that it has so little to do with what I am doing in my ministry.

Recently I have been reading Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat. It is a commentary on Colossians, however it is very unique in that it written for a post-modern audience. Large sections of this commentary deal with post-modernism.

Perhaps it is because it is written to such an audience that the authors address post-modernism with great sympathy in both style and substance. When they finally address how and where post-modernism fails, and they do, the Gen-X-er's may actually listen.

The book has made me begin to wonder how much of my thinking is formed by modernism (where logic is a false god) and post-modernism (where truth is unknowable). While both have some limited value, neither paradigm is Christian, neither submit to God's Word, neither promote Christ-centered living.

I realized through their definitions of post-modern thinking, that at least my politics are shaped by post-modernism. They termed what I have a "hermeneutic of distrust", I think it was. I don't trust Republicans. I don't trust Democrats. And I don't trust any Media outlet. It seems to me that there is too much genius, money and power working to protect Democrats and Republicans for us to ever really know what's going on. We either get one party's spin-machine or the other's.

But that's post-modernism. That cynicism may not be particularly God-honoring. So what do I do now?

Hell - Part 1

If you were to go up to random people and ask them what hell was like, you would get varied answers, but probably most of the responses would revolve around images of eternal fire and punishment. Or, many people might cite an appropriate punishment based on the sins committed in this world. This understanding of hell comes from Dante’s book, The Inferno, in which Dante laid out the 7 levels of hell that correspond to how bad someone was while living on earth. Indeed our culture’s view of hell has been shaped by such books and proliferated by popular media. Over and over again I see depictions of hell with this red Satan figure with a pitchfork laughing menacingly as people are burned with fire. I remember a Seinfeld episode in which Elaine describes hell as being very hot and having people with “raggedy clothing.”

Though such scenes make for a good story and may even scare some people straight, they are not biblical. Thus, my goal is to convey the Biblical images associated with hell in an effort to restore a better understanding of how the Biblical writers understood it. In next week’s post I will discuss other images of hell, and the third post will tackle the nature and existence of hell.

Old Testament
To begin with, there is not an actual word “hell” in the Hebrew language. This word is a modern appropriation. The Jews of the Old Testament believed that people went to “Sheol” when they died. Sheol should not be equated with heaven; nor is it hell. Sheol was simply the grave – a place of nothingness.

You can search the Old Testament and you will not find a clear distinction between a “heaven” and a “hell” until Daniel 12:3. The rest of the Old Testament is devoid of any discussion regarding the afterlife. The Daniel passage reads:
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (NRSV)

Many scholars (including myself) date Daniel very late making it heavily influenced by apocalypticism. The concept of separate places of reward (heaven) and punishment (hell) came about in the Intertestamental period (about 400 BCE to 50 CE) with the rise of apocalyptic thought which focuses on dualistic thoughts such as good and evil, right and wrong, light and dark. These images are utilized to tell the story of end of this evil age, culminating in a final restoration and new age. As you read the rest of the Old Testament, these sorts of ideas are not overly prevalent and at best implicit. So the Old Testament contains very little helpful references toward our effort of discerning a full doctrine of hell.

New Testament
These apocalyptic ideas of the Intertestamental Period meshed with the Greek understanding of the afterlife and influenced the development of the doctrine of hell which we find in the New Testament. Again, there is no word for “hell” though many words are translated as such in your Bibles. There are 2 main words that are associated with hell.

The first word comes from Greek mythology. The term “Hades” was the place or abode of the dead, including both the righteous and the unrighteous. Basically, Hades may be best rendered as “where the dead are” or “where the dead remain.” In most contexts Hades is equivalent to the Hebrew term Sheol. The following references make this usage quite clear and when it is not transliterated into English translators often use the equivalent of “grave” to render Hades.

“And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths (Hades). If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.” Matthew 11:23

“Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave (Hades), nor did his body see decay.” Acts 2:31

“I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” Revelation 1:18

“The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.” Revelation 20:13

The second word is “Gehenna”. This Greek term is a transliteration of a Hebrew phrase meaning “Valley of Hinnom,” referring to a ravine running along the south side of Jerusalem. Leading up to the time of the New Testament this was a place where the rubbish from the city was constantly being burned. It reminds me of the burning tire pile from “The Simpsons.” It was a disgusting, unclean place full of burning trash. It was not a place you would choose to dwell. It is not surprising then, according to late Jewish popular belief, the last judgment was to take place in this valley. Eventually the writers and translators transferred the figurative extension of meaning from “Valley of Hinnom” to “hell” and included imagery of fire. A few examples of this usage are:

“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell (gehenna).” Matthew 5:22

“If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell (gehenna).” Matthew 5:29

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell (gehenna)?” Matthew 23:33

“But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell (gehenna). Yes, I tell you, fear him.” Luke 12:5

“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell (gehenna).” James 3:6

A third word, used only once in 2 Peter 2:4, is the verb form of tartaros. It reads as follows:

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell (tartarow), putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;” 2 Peter 2:4

This word also came from the Greek and was a place of torture or torment. In many cases it is confusing to add still another term for a designation of hell by transliterating the word, so most translators have preferred to render this word as either ‘to cast into hell’ or ‘to keep in hell.’

Finally a word that is transliterated “the Abyss” comes into the hell lexicon, especially in Revelation. This word that literally means “a very deep hole” and again seems to line up with the Jewish concept of “Sheol” though perhaps with a more sinister connotation. The Abyss is the location of the dead and a place where the Devil is kept (Re 20.3), the abode of the beast as the antichrist (Re 11.7), and of Abaddon, as the angel of the underworld (Re 9.11). Romans 10:7 says, “Who can go down to the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”

These four words constitute the main words that are translated as the proper place of “hell,” though many other images of an afterlife of punishment are utilized in the New Testament. These will be covered in the next installment.