CFF Objection #5 Continued...

I think I'll spend a little more time hashing this one out since it has been such a big issue for me - not to mention that, despite what the length of my previous post may have suggested, I didn't really cover that much material last time.

Q2: "There are moral-living Muslims, Jews, Christians, Mormons, and Hindus. Isn't how a person lives and treats his neighbor more important than what he believes theologically?"

A2: "this question makes the assumption that morality is what life is all about...Jesus didn't come into this world to make bad people good; he came so that those who are dead to God can come alive to God."

"Though it's hard to comprehend, the worst thing is to say to God that you don't need him." "The pattern in Exodus is threefold...redemption, righteousness, worship." "If I try to work myself toward goodness, I am essentially saying I don't need to be redeemed by God. I am my own redeemer. Any person, good or bad in our eyes, who says that is in violation of a fundamental principle of God's revelation, which is that redemption is the first step."

R2: There were kind of two parts to the response on that question so I guess I'll take them one at a time.  The first part gave a perspective that I don't think I have ever considered before; but it also kind of brought up even more questions for me.  Theologically speaking, then, what is our purpose in life - and for that matter, the purpose of our creation?  To seek God?  That seems like it would suggest a pretty self-centered reason for the creation of humans (on God's part).  Maybe it's just because I'm coming from a "new-Christian" point-of-view; but it almost seems to me that morality, good stewardship of the Earth, etc. would be more "noble" reasons for our creation.  But, I suppose, what would all of that matter to God in the end? Hmmm...the gears are turning on this one.

This response offered me perhaps my first true glimpse into the rationale for the system of heaven and hell.  Never before had I considered the whole process in that light - that the greatest sin is to reject God.  More to come on heaven and hell with Objection #6

Q3: "People say Gandhi lived a more virtuous life than most Christians; why should he be sent to hell just because he wasn't a follower of Jesus?"

A3: "God himself does not send anybody to heaven or to hell; the person chooses to respond to the grace of God or to reject the grace of God." 

"Scripture tells us nobody is really good until he or she is first redeemed."

From Abraham's story in the Bible we are given the response, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

"This means we can be absolutely confident that whatever God does in the case of Gandhi, or any other person, he will do what is right."

R3: This is definitely one of the questions that hung me up for years; and I'm still not totally satisfied with the response given by the book - he almost suggests that maybe God would bend the rules for certain people?  However; by applying my new understanding of what Hell really is, it is easier to accept the process.  The three-step process mentioned above clearly lays out God's "order of operations" - from this point of view, it doesn't matter how much good you do if at the foundation you are still committing the greatest sin possible (rejecting God).  

The whole system is a testament to free will - hell is more of a natural consequence to a choice that we make rather than a punishment.  (again, this is kind of skipping ahead to O#6, but having read it already it helps to understand this section a little better)  Hell is not a place of eternal flame and torture - those are both just statements of imagery.  What hell actually is is the absence of God.  In all reality then, there are many people who are already living in hell here on Earth.  What makes hell different in the afterlife is that they will no longer be ignorant of that absence - at that point they will be fully aware of the choice that they have made and its consequence.  It's the knowledge and understanding that you made the choice to be absent from God, when he gave you the choice, that will be the torture.

Some of the pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fit together...this book is definitely making me consider a lot of my questions from a new perspective.

Accepting Christians

So, my future sister-in-law is hosting a biblestudy with all of her recently married friends to study how we can be better women and wives. Great idea. I want to be supportive.

I went to biblestudy today and found myself a minority in that -- most people there had the theology that I think bothers you. This in your face, one way to see the bible, we say the right answers and do the right things kind of feel. I recognize intellectually that this is fine and that God uses that to bless lots of people. But I also feel out of my element a little bit.

It reminded me of your post about christians having the "right" answer and etc. So, even though I thought I was doing really well at this acceptance thing, I found myself being a bit smug at biblestudy. I continued to ask myself -- how can I authentically participate while at the same time not hosting judgement?

I thought of what God's been doing and how I need to let love melt my heart a bit. Anyways, thought I should let you know -- finding places where I still need work :)

Radical Love

So our biblestudy last week was about Matthew 5-6 -- Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We talked about what does it mean to turn the other cheek. What would Jesus ask us to do today?

We thought, maybe -- write a letter of recommendation for someone who gets you fired.

We also talked about times when the loving action is to stand up and not allow someone to continue to take advantage of you.

What does it mean to be radically loving? How can we love radically in our lives?
And...
who are our enemies? how do we define them?

Maybe I will try to post updates from our weekly biblestudy. Conversation has been pretty good.

On Acceptance

Update on life.

Outcomes acheived.

I thought it would take a long time. But when he wants to God works fast. My life is filled with love, community, purpose and call and it only grows day by day.

There is so much that has happened, I don't know where to begin or how to explain it -- except to say that a turn of heart, a true turn of heart on my behalf has led to an outpouring of God, love, life and purpose in my life.

To highlight the changes I can say:

• A woman, Amber, with a hard life and a really rough 2010 moved into our house in January. As she was moving in, some of the most important people in her life passed away. Mom happened to be here. As a family we held her up and helped her through the roughness of it all. As that has passed, her life continues to improve day by day. She is growing more confident in herself and growing in every direction like a flower.
• Scott moved in. He has thrived here. He helps a ton around the house and takes care of Eddie. He has had lots of chances to "be the man." He is on his game and really exploring his career. He has a good chance of landing a good job and has been really engaged in church and biblestudy.
• My business partner, Chris, has had a hard couple of years. Her life also seems to be filling with joy. Just recently, her daughter is got engaged. She and I are sharing life in deep ways -- talking about everything like best friends from highschool. We have grown our business - have paying customers and have hired our first employee. Mom and Dad are signed up as clients as ours and my partner is really helping them take the business to a new level.
• I was signed up at church to help with these Haitian dancers who are coming to visit at Easter. More and more people at church are starting to know me and talking to me.
• We started our biblestudy and its really really good. It is deep and meaningful and we are very honest and open about faith and growing together. We pray together at the end of the night. It seems that more people will start coming soon to that and I can feel a small church beginning.
• The homeless woman, Sonja, that I was helping has gotten on her feet - stopped drinking and got an apartment. I have hired her to clean my floors once a week. She is really happy and cracks jokes with Scott and Amber.
• Over all, it feels that my family has grown. From me and Ulrich and Eddie to now include Scott and Amber and Chris and Sonja. And it is still growing... new employee, people from church, people coming to biblestudy.

It is not often that God turns things around so quickly. But sometimes it is amazing to see his hand at work bringing different people together in new ways. I love to watch that. It feeds me and my faith. It makes acceptance of people easier. The life God is building around me feels so much like a parable. Feels like the kind of life that Jesus lived. Filled with people who are amazing and inspiring -- even though many of them may be overlooked by the world. I find I am learning lots by being open to their stories and God is growing and stretching me.

So, I am looking inside and trying to find deeper pockets of resistance -- pride, snobishness, self-absorbtion. I am working on honesty. Finding honesty in myself and trying to connect with authenticity to the people God has put in my life.

More to say for sure, but that's just a short overview of where I've been.

PS Toni - I met with my financial planner today. I thought of you. How's the saving going?

CFF Objection #5: It's Offensive to Claim Jesus is the Only Way to God

The exclusivity clause has always been one of my biggest issues with Christianity - so this chapter really hit home for me and tackled an important issue with my faith.  It made me realize that it wasn't the exclusivity clause by itself that has bothered me for so long - really at the core of it was more-so the arrogance o f the people talking about it that turned me off so much. Here's what the chapter covered and my responses to it:

Q1: "Why do Christians think they're justified in asserting that they're right and everybody else in the world is wrong?"

A1: "First, it's important to understand that Christianity is not the only religion that claims exclusivity..All truth is, by definition, exclusive. If truth does not exclude, then no assertion of a truth claim is being made."

R1 : Well that certainly takes the wind out of the sails... But, being a highly rationale and logical person, it was a very important argument for me to absorb.  It is true that nearly all of the major religions of the world claim exclusivity/truth....but when they have mutually exclusive tenants it's impossible for them to all be true at the same time.  I believe, though, that this doesn't necessarily negate the argument that many of the major religions have aspects of truth.  The ultimate argument made in CFF though is that Christianity is the only religion with the WHOLE truth.  Christianity is the "seeing man" in the parable of the three blind men and the elephant. 

"While there may be aspects of truth elsewhere, the sum total truth is in Christ."

"It's one thing for Christians to believe that.  It's another thing to communicate it without sounding smug or superior, but Christians often come off that way."

"If truth is not undergirded by love, it makes the possessor of that truth obnoxious and the truth repulsive...One cannot communicate the love of Christ in non-loving terms." "Mahatma Gandhi said, 'I like their Christ, I don't like their Christians.' Friedrich Nietzshe said, 'I will believe in the Redeemer when the Christian looks a little more redeemed.' Their points need to be taken."

The response to that statement was one that I wish more Christians would take to heart - I think if they did it would open the door to a lot of people...I know I would've been more receptive much longer ago if they did.




Well, this entry is already getting pretty lengthy so I'll leave it here for now and let you chew on it..


TO BE CONTINUED...

Compassion

So I've gotten into a lot of deep conversations this week for some reason and am blown apart by how broken so many people's lives are. One friend is having a hard time keeping her marraige together, another her finances are devasted by a recent divorce, another is a former drug addict, another grew up without parents around and just fended for herself...

It feels that there is a sea of brokenness. That people aren't friendly because they haven't experienced geniune love. I'm starting to wonder if that is my call in this place. To be a voice of deep and radical love -- so people can see what it actually looks like.

I met a woman this week, who, in spite of having every possible thing pitted against her continues to reach out and look for a good life. She would be in the example book of "how people don't have to suck, even if they had a rough childhood." Though, because she's never seen it, she doesn't know what the life she is looking for looks like. She inspires me to want to show her what life can be....

I think I'm finding my heart softening as I begin to walk this road of faith and acceptance....

An arrogant prick...

So, I was chatting with mom last night and she commented that like all other smart people I can come off as an arrogant prick. I know its true and at the heart of this goal of mine is to not come off that way. But I have some grave challenges:

1. I'm an extrovert. If I think it or feel it, there's a good chance I'll say it.
2. Its really hard to "not be right" sometimes -- especially when objectively I am right

I talked to Ulrich about being genuinely open to other people's ideas and allowing things to go in ways that are "suboptimal." I think a lot of the time I can do this, but there are sometimes when it grates against my soul and it drives me nuts. In these cases, if I have the grace to actually let go and let someone else do it the "wrong" way, then I nearly always need to vent later or my emotions will fester.

Venting later means that I talk poorly of someone (or sarcastically) also against the heart of the goal.

Acceptance, the deep letting go, is hard. In realms of faith, I have an easier time...or at least, I've learned that I can let go and trust God and not have to control things. But other people -- I think its harder because people, unlike God, are not perfect and they suck sometimes.

It seems that there are moments when you can't stand by and you need to stand up and be an arrogant prick -- or be right -- but then, blessed are the meek.