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October 30, 2005
In Defense of Systematic Theology : An Interview with Carl F.H. Henry
I have the honor of saying that Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003) was my professor. When I graduated with an MDiv from Trinity and proceeded from there to Yale Divinty School, Dr Henry was instrumental in preparing me for the theological landscape of my new advisor, David Tracy.
Carl FH Henry is by all accounts a monumental figure in the rise of the "evangelical" movement with his seven volume opus magnum entitled God, Revelation and Authority.
Rather than a comedic presentation, I will simply provide a very brief quote from Dr Henry's writings outlining his understanding of "Theology".
Speak of an introduction to God, or to the science of God, and some people are sure to look for the nearesrt exit. ...
For our generation, is not theology a questionable concern at best? Contemporary man is far more sure of the landing of astronauts on the moon than he is of God's incarnation in Jesus Christ, more sure of scientists propelled into outer space than of the Logos "that came down from heaven" (John 3:13) as the eternal Word become flesh (John 1;14). To secular Western man, no world seems more remote than that of theology.
Religion has now become "everyone's own kettle of fish" -- a matter of personal preference rather than a truth-commitment universally valid for one and all.
Is theology then sheer bunk? Are we merely chasing a will-o-the-wisp? Has theology not been taught for centuries by men ordained by the various world religions to [simply propogate their own world view]? Is it, as some have suggested, a specialized and rather bogus form of philosophy in which the conclusions are laid down before the argument begins? Is it a spurious form of philosophy that sets out with unquestioned and unquestionable assumptions, refuses to face problems, and corralls its converts into irrational commitment that is academically closed and intellectually dishonest? Is the skeptic's doubt about Christianity to be overcome by a hurried appeal to Pascal's "wager" -- a gambling of life on the view that even if a person is intellectually mistaken he stands to gain more by betting on God than on not-God?
Theology, we shall insist, sets out not simply with God as a speculative presupposition but with God known in his revelation. But the appeal to God and to revelation cannot stand alone, if it is to be significant; it must embrace also some agreement on rational methods of inquiry, ways of argument, and criteria of verification. The critical question today is not simply, "What are the data of theology?" but "How does one proceed from these data to conclusions that commend themselves to rational reflection?" The fundamental issue remains the issue of truth, the truth of theological assertions. No work on theology will be worth its weight if that fundamental issue is obscured.
Dr Henry was an amazingly kind and humble soul despite his formidable influence and always wholly encouraged me to pursue even those avenues which at that time lay outside mainstream evangelical investigation.
Posted by sdf at 05:59 PM | Comments (8)
In Defense of Systematic Theology : An Interview with Charles Hodge
One of the great benefits of being webmaster here is the ability to interview important theological figures including those of centuries past. Due to the unrivaled prominence and sheer BLING of TheologyWebsite, I was able to secure an interview with the stellar systematic theologian Charles Hodge (1797-1878). (If you are unfamiliar which Charles Hodge (shame on you), you can read a brief bio here.)
The following interview consists of only two key questions:
- What is Systematic Theology?
- Why is Systematic Theology necessary?
Answers by Chuck (as I like to call him) are taken from his highly influential 1901 Systematic Theology. Read on if you dare... (especially you Avi :P !)
SDF: Mr. Hodge, may I call you Chuck?
Charles Hodge (CH): My friends call me Chuck. You can call me Professor Hodge, or even Charles, but certainly not Chuck.
SDF: Uh, Righto. Sorry about that. (Really.) Anyway, In light of certain questions raised (ON THIS VERY SITE!) regarding the value, validity and role of systematic theology, I was hoping you could perhaps shed some light on this issue.
CH: No problemo. Let's set those backsliders straight.
SDF: Cool Chuck!
CH: What did you just call me?
SDF: Question number one: "What exactly IS systematic theology?"
CH: What? You guys are living in the year 2005 with your skinny lattes and global internet and still you need to ask me "what is systematic theology?". Dude! Way Bad! I bet you slackers don't even know how to read Latin. You know, the first letter in Latin is "L" which you "Losers" should paste to your forehead.
SDF: Whoa, Chucky-baby, settle down.
CH: What did you just call me?
SDF: About the "What is systematic theology" question?
CH: Oh yeah. Well, here's my answer to that question (you slackers):
The Bible is no more a system of theology, than nature is a system of chemistry or physics. We find in nature the facts which the chemist and physicist has to examine, and from them to ascertain the laws by which they are determined. So the Bible contains the truths which the theologian has to collect, authenticate, arrange, and exhibit in their internal relation to each other. This constitutes the difference between biblical and systematic theology. The office of the former is to ascertain and state the facts of Scripture. The office of the latter is to take those facts, determine their relation to each other and to other cognate truths, as well as vindicate them and show their harmony and consistency. This is not an easy task, or one of slight importance.
SDF: Man, you can talk up a storm can't you Chuck?!
CH: What did you just...
SDF: Oops! Forgot. Sorry. The second question is: "Why is systematic theology necessary?"
CH: You know "SDF", if you were a pupil in any of the courses I taught at Princeton and you dared ask such a question, you'd be sitting a very long while in the corner wearing one of those hilariously long pointy caps with "DUNCE" written on it. Those hats were a riot!
SDF: Uh, yes. I am a little familiar with the "dunce cap".
CH: I bet you are! (giggles)
SDF: Getting back to the issue at hand... Is systematic theology simply an artificial human construction (aimed at diverting authentic religious sentiment toward a vacuous idol) or is systematic theology somehow an integral part of humanity's notion of God? In other words, "Why is systematic theology necessary?"
CH: Now I can't get the picture of you wearing that hat out of my mind. In any event, here is how I generally answer those who suggest systematic theology is not a neccesary core endeavour of Christians:
It may be naturally asked, why not take the truths as God has seen fit to reveal them, and thus save ourselves the trouble of showing their relation and harmony?
The answer to this question is, in the first place, that it cannot be done. Such is the constitution of the human mind that it cannot help endeavouring to systematize and reconcile the facts which it admits to be true. In no department of knowledge have men been satisfied with the possession of a mass of undigested facts. And the students of the Bible can as little be expected to be thus satisfied. There is a necessity, therefore, for the construction of systems of theology. Of this the history of the Church affords abundant proof. In all ages and among all denominations, such systems have been produced.
Second, a much higher kind of knowledge is thus obtained, than by the mere accumulation of isolated facts. It is one thing, for example, to know that oceans, continents, islands, mountains, and rivers exist on the face of the earth; but it is a much higherthing to know the causes which have determined the distribution of the land and water on the surface of the globe; the configuration of the earth; the effects of that configuration upon climate, on the races of plants and animals, on commerce, civilization, and the destiny of nations. It is by determining these causes that geography has been raised from a collection of facts to a highly important and elevated science. What is true of other sciences is true of theology. We cannot know what God has revealed in his Word unless we understand, at least in some good measure, the relation in which the separate truths therein contained stand to each other. It cost the Church centuries of study and controversy to solve the problem concerning the person of Christ; that is, to adjust and bring into harmonious arrangement all the facts which the Bible teaches on that subject.
Third, We have no choice in the matter. If we would discharge our duty as teachers and defenders of the truth, we must endeavour to bring all the facts of revelation into systematic order and mutual relation. It is only thus that we can satisfactorily exhibit their truth, vindicate them from objections, or bring them to bear in their full force on the mind of men.
Fourth, Such is evidently the will of God. He does not teach men astronomy or chemistry, but He gives them the facts out of which those sciences are constructed. Neither does He teach us systematic theology, but He gives us in the Bible the truths which, properly understood and arranged, constitute the science of theology. As the facts of nature are all related and determined by physical laws, so the facts of the Bible are all related and determined by the nature of God and of his creatures. And as He wills that men and women should study his works and discover their wonderful organic relation and harmonious combination, so it is his will that we should study his Word, and learn that, like the stars, its truths are not isolated points, but systems, cycles, and epicycles, in unending harmony and grandeur.
Besides all this, although the Scriptures do not contain a system of theology as a whole, we have in the Epistles of the New Testament, portions of that system wrought out to our hands. These are our authority and guide.
SDF: Verbose man, very verbose.
CH: Maybe you slackers were expecting "McTheology"? You know, if you were a student in one of my Princeton classes...
SDF: I and TheologyWebsite would like to thank Charles "Chucky" Hodge..
CH: What did you...
SDF: for his valuable contribution in the ongoing debate (between Avi and Systematic Theology). Hopefully souls willing to read a VERY little bit will gain some perspective.
CH: Ciao. I'm outta here dude. (you slackers.)
SDF: Thanks and seeya Chuck
CH: What did you just call me?
Posted by sdf at 12:10 PM | Comments (4)
October 28, 2005
Intimacy II
In Intimacy I, I wrote about my thoughts on intimate relationships, and the difficulty we -- especially men -- have in relating to God on more than an intellectual level. I received several responses, and many said I had hit the target. I hope so, but I don’t assume so. I am not so much “shooting at a target” as I am searching for understanding of a very difficult and important problem. I am certainly no expert in this matter, but simply a man who wants to understand why I have struggled and my friends struggle with being intimate with God. I want to continue on the line I began, and I hope this will begin some dialogue, both between some of you and me, and between you and others. Perhaps even including God.
I have continued praying, thinking and reading about this, trying to understand some things about myself, and about other people whom I know. Why do we have such a struggle with relating to God?
I think there is the obvious element of fear: If we are truthful, this invisible but very obvious God leaves us edgy. I think it’s a little like being in a situation where we have absolutely no control. We don’t like it, sort of like feeling like life is like a bus, and we are passengers, and nobody is driving. Not a fun place. God is driving, but we are not sure we trust his judgment. Actually, that was Adam’s problem, too.
So there is a fear of God. But there is another fear, I think, one that is more pertinent to us in the context of our relationship with God and each other. That’s an internal fear, the fear of being found out for “who we really are.”
I wonder, too, if there is not in men an awareness that we mostly live our lives for something that is ultimately unfulfilling. We live, we work hard, and we die. And overwhelmingly, we leave nothing of consequence to show for having lived. Do we, perhaps without conscious awareness, wonder if we are somehow missing a very important mark? I certainly have done that.
Everyone seeks meaning in life. Nobody wants to “just be.” Life is hard, and for it to be both hard and pointless is too much to bear. Pain with purpose is bearable and can even bring good. Pain that is random is unbearable. And the idea that we can “invent our own meaning” is nonsense. The only person who gets to write the rules is the one whose game it is. Life is not ours to define. God is the source of life, and only God can define success and failure in life.
So what is God’s standard for us? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is to be good, upright, and people of character. We are to love our wives and children, work hard to provide for them, and be all-around good guys. But that’s not it. That’s not what God really wants from us. That’s only the surface, the easy part.
To understand more, we have to look at Genesis, the account of the beginning of “us.” That account (Chapters 1 & 2) tells us something important about men and women: We were intended to live in open, transparent relationship with God and each other, and our “job” was to be God’s “agent,” acting on his behalf and with his authority, in governing the earth. We were to multiply and subdue the earth, making it productive and orderly. In a more concise way, we were to represent God, being his “junior partner” in running the world. We didn’t do that very well then, and we don’t do that very well now. In fact, I think the whole idea is a complete blank for most people. It’s beyond our imagination.
There is certainly present in men as a group a desire to build, to subdue and to make things happen. We are by nature doers, and that has brought some very good things. It is that inherent urge that has led to the development of advanced technology, and life-saving medical treatments. Sadly, it has also led to conflict and war, and great human suffering.
That urge was put in us by God. And, despite distortions, it remains that God intended that we be his “junior partners” in running the world. We have fallen far short of that. Compared to that original -- and still valid -- purpose, no matter what else a man might accomplish, it is in itself far short of being God’s representative on earth.
When Adam and Eve sinned, God found them hidden and covered with leaves. It is the first occurrence of shame in humans, a shame that came out of betrayal.
I believe that every sin involves a betrayal. Adam and Eve obviously betrayed God. I think we might also say that Adam betrayed Eve, in not protecting her. In some of the sins we commit, we betray friends and family. In others -- more private -- we betray ourselves, offending our own integrity and worth. And in all, we betray God.
Every betrayal brings guilt. Betrayal is an offense against a person, and brings the consequence of guilt before the offended person. The most difficult aspect of having betrayed, however, is not the guilt incurred. Guilt -- a legal concept -- is resolved by forgiveness from the one offended. Guilt is relatively easy to deal with. The bigger issue is shame. Shame is internal, and cannot easily be done away with. “I forgive you” does not touch shame. And shame -- which is seldom discussed or considered -- is a huge factor, because shame warps our self-image into something with little resemblance to the one God created us to be.
Stories are common of those who were caught in some major moral failure, something that brought humiliation on the person, and great pain and betrayal to others. But then there is a confession and a seeking of forgiveness; those offended are quick to forgive, and the offender is joyfully accepted back into the community. Then, after a time, everyone is surprised when the forgiven offender takes his own life.
The problem is that forgiveness by others could relieve the offender only of his guilt. A guilty person who is forgiven is still guilty, but the claims of the offense are eliminated. The guilt is, in effect, done away with. But forgiveness does not touch shame, and shame made his life unbearable. Shame is at the root of many addictions, much destructive behavior, and, I suspect, many suicides.
So coming back to the issue of intimacy with God, is it possible that our problem with intimacy is due to an inner shame -- perhaps deeply buried -- over falling short of what God called us to? A shame over an ultimately wasted life? A shame over betraying both our own potential and our God? I don’t know the answer, but I think it’s worth considering.
I tell people that my greatest talent is making mistakes. Big ones. And sadly, when I look back at my life, that’s more true than I like. However, when I look a the lives of others, I think perhaps “my” talent is not uniquely mine, but is rather a characteristic of people in general, and perhaps men in particular. When I look back at my life, I grieve at the lost years and opportunities. I grieve at the waste I have made of the talents and abilities that God gave me. And, truth be told, I have been inwardly ashamed. I can identify with what Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 6:9a): “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?...”
Continuing, Paul lists a pretty sleazy sounding bunch. You can check it in your Bible if you want the gory details. It’s really easy to look at them and feel at least a little bit superior. But the truth is, the difference between them and me is a matter of degree, not of kind.
While writing this, I finished reading a book called “The Gospel According to Judas,” by Ray Anderson. It is a study in forgiveness, and examines the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.
There is perhaps no name on earth as maligned as that of Judas. Even people who don’t know the history know that to be called a “Judas” is no complement. He is remembered as the ultimate betrayer.
But the truth is, I am little different than Judas. I have betrayed Jesus, repeatedly doing things that I knew grieved him, things that I knew were wrong. I knew and I did them anyway. And I betrayed Jesus, not out of a mistaken zealotry like Judas, but out of a selfish insistence on my own pleasure and will.
But….
But Paul also wrote the following verse: “11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
Notice the tense: Such WERE some of you. I WAS something worthy only of shame, BUT I was sanctified -- set apart for God. BUT I was justified, restored and able to be united with the One who loves me so well, knowing full well all that I have been.
What is the remedy for shame? It is not forgiveness. It is certainly not denial. It is not casting out “spirits of condemnation.” We cannot talk ourselves out of shame.
The remedy for shame -- and there is only one -- is to begin to understand the deep, passionate love of God for me. It is to understand -- only a little -- the joy God takes in me, just as I am.
I know me. I know who I am and of what sort I am. And I am amazed that God would have anything to do with me. But he did and he does, knowing full well who I am and of what sort I am. And I am not where I want to be, nor am I where I am going to be, but I am growing in the likeness of my Redeemer, and I am no longer ashamed.
Posted by at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2005
Intimacy I
I have been wondering just what it is that keeps so many of us from entering into an intimate relationship with God. So many of our “Christian” lives are pretty cold and distant from God, it seems to me. It’s an interesting question, but a difficult one. It seems there are no easy answers to it.
But we are not alone in this problem. The Israelites, in their 40-year trip through the Sinai, saw just a little of God, and it scared them to their core. They didn’t want to be anywhere near this awesome something -- they weren’t quite sure what to think God really was -- and they certainly had trouble living as the chosen people of an invisible yet fearsomely powerful being.
I look at them and I scoff. I say, “Not me, baby! I’m no wishy washy chicken. I would have been right there with Moses and Josh. I’m not one of those crowd-following sissies.” I look down on them and smugly wonder how they could be so foolish. I would have been different! And so would you. Right?
Fat chance.
The truth is, there is something in all of us that is at least a little afraid of God. After all, he’s powerful beyond our comprehension, waaay beyond our understanding, and though he says he loves us, he didn’t hesitate to toast a bunch of people who ticked him off. So we keep a little distance. He’s dangerous.
But inside, we have an empty place that needs filling. We don’t like to think about it, and most of us have denial down to an art. Still, if we read the Bible, and we look at our lives, we have to say, “This just can’t be what God had in mind.” Perhaps that’s why so few of us actually read the Bible.
I think there are several factors involved in this problem. One is the natural aversion of people for God. We will convince ourselves that just about anything is true to avoid Truth. It dates all the way back to Adam and Eve.
And I notice that men, especially, have great difficulty being intimate with God. In fact, my hunch is that most men have trouble being truly intimate with anyone. I think most men are pretty unsettled inside about who they really are, and are unwilling to let many people see “the real me.” But that’s just my opinion. As a man, of course.
I think part of the problem is that our culture was shaped by Christianity. Rather, it was shaped by what came to be known as Christianity. The original “Hebraic” Christianity -- the “Christianity” of the Bible -- came to us, substantially modified, via a church that long ago became dominated by Greek-speaking and Greek-thinking men. Now, Greek-speaking is okay, but Greek-thinking was a problem with some consequences that have plagued us until this day. The Greek-thinking church rejected both its roots in Israel and anything Jewish, with sad consequences.
The immediate problem comes in seeing God -- and just about everything else -- as something to be analyzed and dissected. Life for the Greeks was about reason and logic. It’s no coincidence that the world’s great ancient philosophers were nearly all Greek. As the leadership of the church shifted from Jews to Greeks, the way of thinking about God also shifted. The Greek way of “doing theology” -- thinking about God -- was far different than anything in the world of the Jews. And from this Greek orientation, God became something to be analyzed, the object of reasoning and intellectual inquiry. And so he remains in much of the church and in many of our lives today.
The problem is, the Bible is not about analysis and philosophical discourse. The Bible is about God’s revelation of himself through relationship. It is about revelation that comes from God to us, for the purpose of establishing a relationship between us and God. It is not “systematic theology.” The most “systematic” of biblical writers, Paul, is a long ways from modern systematic theology.
The “system” of the Bible is that we “know God” by experiencing God. It’s like any other interpersonal relationship: A person knows another person only by experiencing that person. Otherwise, all we can hope for is to know about others. It is no coincidence that Genesis speaks of a sexual relationship between a man and a woman in terms of “knowing”: Adam “knew” his wife.
The Bible, especially the Old Testament, is a wonderful work on relational theology. It is an account of how we can know God by experiencing him. And we can know him only by experiencing him.
Now that’s all well and good, you might say, but what’s the solution? Any fool can point out a problem. What’s the answer? Here, I can only talk about my own experience. Perhaps it will speak to you, too.
I grew up in a church that emphasized study. We studied the Bible Sunday morning in Sunday School. We studied the Bible Sunday morning in the worship service. We studied the Bible Sunday evening in youth group, and we studied the Bible Sunday evening in the worship service. But we weren’t done yet: We studied the Bible Sunday night after church, when we had college-level Bible classes. And to be sure we covered the bases, we also studied the Bible on Wednesday night at “prayer meeting” -- where there wasn’t much prayer, as I remember.
I was immersed in it, and I have to say, it built some good habits in me. However, at the end, I knew a lot about God, but I had no idea about knowing God. To say, “I love Jesus” would have been unthinkable. Embarrassing, even.
The change for me, it seems, began when I started reading the Old Testament. (You remember: that bunch of books at the front part of your Bible. The ones you always pass to find John 3:16.) I mean, really reading it, paying attention to what has happening and the story that was told.
As I started in Genesis, I read about Abraham and Moses and others who seemed to have this “friendship” with God. I read the accounts, and I was amazed at the intimacy. And the more I read, the more irritated I became. Who were these guys, that they got to have this amazing closeness while I had to stand off in the distance? I didn’t want to stand at the foot of the mountain and watch. I wanted to go up the mountain with Moses. I’m from Colorado, and I like mountain tops. And after all, God says he loves me, that he has chosen me, that I am supposed to call him daddy, and all that. So why are we so far apart while they were so close?
In my frustration, I began to pray fervently to know God. I copied from the Hebrew text a sentence from the Genesis account of Jacob wrestling all night with the “angel,” and hung it over my desk: “I have seen God face to face.” If Jacob could see him, why couldn’t I? I wanted to know, and I would not accept God ignoring me.
As a result of this passionate longing in me (which I think God stirred up), I began a little at a time to sense God’s presence with me. I began to see new things in the Bible, things that revealed more and more of God to me. And soon I began to understand just a little of how much God loves me. Slowly, we came closer. Slowly, I came to know him and his love for me, and slowly I came to love him, too.
Another factor in the process has been some very difficult times. There have been times when I (1) didn’t think I would live through the experience, and (2) I hoped I was correct.
In these times I very slowly came to understand a little of the apostle Paul’s statement in Romans, that he “exults” in tribulation. I had considered that the mark of insanity. No sane person likes pain. And yet, in tribulation, I began to really know God and stopped all the games and let God break down the walls in me that separated me from him. I didn’t do it because I was a spiritual superman or someone with special wisdom: I did it because I was desperate.
Just this morning I read an interview with a Chinese house church leader, who said, “Persecution is good for those who love God deeply. Persecution is not good for those who love God only a little.” What a profound insight. I have not been persecuted. But there is a broader principle here: Hard times are good for those who want to love God deeply, but don’t know how.
Some years ago I taught from Revelation, and encouraged people who seemed spiritually “high-centered” to pray for trouble in their lives. I said that nothing will get you moving again in your relationship with God better than problems and troubles in your life.
Of course, you know that just about everyone pretty much blew that off. Nobody wants to pray for trouble. But one young woman heard me, and later told me that she had done just that. The results, she said, were a wonderful deepening of her relationship with God. She grew and matured in ways she had not thought possible.
I believe there is no such thing as “10 easy steps to being a man or woman of faith and power.” Abraham and Moses both tell us that the closer we seek to come to God, the more difficult our life will be. But Abraham and Moses also tell us that it’s worth it.
Posted by at 05:06 PM | Comments (2)
October 26, 2005
The way to go...
This is an article from the L.A. Times. People like this are one important reason that I love and worship the God of the Bible.
Living With Cancer, a Scholar Inspires Students
The Rev. David Scholer copes with constant pain, but he still teaches the New Testament and even draws lessons from his disease in lectures.
By Connie Kang
The Rev. David M. Scholer, a prominent New Testament scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary, has lived with constant pain and side effects from the treatment since he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer 3 1/2 years ago.
The cancer is incurable, he says, and has spread to both lungs.
"I have outlived some of the predictions already. And I have no idea how much more life I have," Scholer, 67, an ordained Baptist minister, told the First Baptist Church of Pasadena congregation during a recent sermon.
Living with incurable cancer is like having "a terrorist bomb strapped on your back," said Scholer, who with his wife, Jeannette, is a member of the church. "You don't know when it's going to go off."
Despite the illness and fatigue, Scholer continues to teach and supervise the PhD program and its 155 candidates at the Pasadena seminary's Center for Advanced Theological Studies, where he has been associate dean since 1997.
The way he is continuing with his duties has made Scholer a role model for living with an incurable disease, many people at the seminary say.
Students, faculty and members of congregations where he speaks are deeply moved to see how he uses his suffering to minister to others.
At the beginning of every course, Scholer tells his students about his condition so they're not surprised. In his teaching, however, he mostly sticks to the subject: the New Testament.
"The kind of [theological] knowledge we have doesn't give us any special status," he told seminarians in his class. "But there is a special responsibility we have to share it."
His voice is hoarse, a side effect of the many medications he takes. And he lectures while seated, because it tires him to stand.
Until cancer struck, Scholer traveled the world to speak at seminaries, universities and conferences. Only a few months before his diagnosis, he taught a three-week course on the Book of Romans at Moscow Theological Seminary, the only Baptist seminary in Russia.
Now his destinations are mostly local churches, where he teaches from the New Testament and shares his journey of living with cancer. His next sermon, "Prisoners of Hope: Living With Cancer," is scheduled for Nov. 13 at First Baptist Church of Los Angeles in Wilshire Center/Koreatown.
When you have cancer, Scholer said, it is important to know how you live with the disease — in relationship to yourself, to your family and friends and to God.
"Cancer doesn't change everything, but it does give everything a new perspective," he said in his sermon at the Pasadena church.
"One of the greatest lessons I've learned is the value of memory and recollection," said Scholer, a large man with an enthusiastic manner.
"I revel every day in remembering all the good things of my life — all the wonderful things I have been given: my family, my friends," he said. "I can't travel much anymore, so I think of all the places I've been. The joys and achievements of the past don't mean I live in the past, but I do celebrate with gratitude what has been."
Jerry Ransom Wilkerson, a former Air Force captain who took Scholer's New Testament course last year, described the teacher as "a walking testimony of his faith."
"Every day I sat there and I was amazed," said Wilkerson, who is working on a master's degree in divinity in preparation for the ministry. "On the first day of the class, he said: 'I have an incurable disease.' He wasn't mincing words. He had accepted it."
A month ago, when Wilkerson was considering canceling a preaching engagement in Philadelphia because he was ill, he thought of his professor.
"I may have been sick, but Dr. Scholer is ill all the time," he said. "He doesn't let that sickness stop him from doing what God has called him to do." Wilkerson kept the appointment.
Jill Williams, who will complete her master's degree in divinity in June, says she was in Scholer's class the quarter he learned his cancer had returned.
"Ironically, I do not remember a marked difference in his teaching before and after the diagnosis," she said. "He consistently taught with joy, theological conviction and passion throughout the quarter."
In a recent interview in his book-lined office, Scholer described his wife of 45 years as "the best caregiver in the world." (They were classmates at Wheaton College in Illinois, and she is director of academic programs at Fuller's School of Theology.)
Scholer talked about some of his daily challenges beyond the rounds of medical appointments. Fatigue means sleeping nine to 10 hours a night, and napping too. His fingers and toes tingle constantly. His colostomy bag causes a lot of difficulties.
"Every morning, when I get out of bed, I have to confess, one of my first thoughts is: I wish I could have just one more normal day," he said.
"Within three minutes, I am painfully aware of my limitations. Within five minutes, I can predict how the day is going to go. And the battle is — to put it frankly — the will to keep going. To say each day, 'I want to live. I want to enjoy today. I want to push forward with everything I am able to muster.' "
So, he said, you learn the limits of what you can do.
The theologian, a Minnesota native who received his doctorate at Harvard Divinity School, was ordained in the American Baptist Church USA in 1966 and worked as a pastor. After teaching at three other seminaries around the country, he came to Fuller in 1994.
Scholer is an authority on Gnosticism and has written books dealing with the ancient religious movement that stressed salvation by knowledge and found a home in early Christianity. He has also written books on New Testament interpretation and on the importance of having women in ministry.
His course "Women, the Bible and the Church" has been the most popular elective at Fuller.
He collects Bibles. In his home library is a personal collection of 400, including rare English translations.
As he continues with teaching and research, Scholer said, he is experiencing the meaning of living one day at a time.
"Nobody who went to the World Trade Center on 9/11 said, 'Oh, I am going to die there today,' " he said.
When he thinks about his last day, he sometimes wants just his wife and their two adult daughters at his bedside.
But at other moments, he thinks of a hundred people he would want there.
In life's ups and downs, what's important to realize is that God's ways are well "above our ways," he said. "Maturity in faith is the ability to accept mystery and ambiguity."
His message is this: "I really do trust in God. I believe in God's comfort and love. I believe that God is the giver of life, and that means to affirm this life, as well as to have faith in the life to come. God has given me life. I feel I have a calling in life."
But, for the terminally ill, a time comes when the will to live doesn't work anymore, he said.
"So, as an incurable-cancer patient, I give myself to God," Scholer said. "My life is in God's hands."
Posted by at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2005
Does God have friends?
I had yet another birthday recently – a good thing, I suppose – and as I get older, each of these “special” days gives increasing occasion to look back on my life. And so, with some trepidation, I reflect back on the years I have lived, on the things I have done and the things that have been done to me. And as I look, I don’t see what I would like to. If I set up a scale, and put everything that I am happy about on one side, and the things I wish I had not done on the other, I don’t like what I see. I don’t see a life that I want my children or anyone else to model. Too many mistakes and bad choices. Sad.
But there is one exception in that mix.
For as long as I can remember, it seems like I have had something pulling me toward God, and I have had a deep longing for a relationship with God. I am happy for that. I have wanted to be, like some biblical figures, a friend of God. This is something I pray for my children.
But, as I think of the question, “What is it like to have God for a friend?” I have a lot of questions, and not many clear answers. It would seem, from my perspective, that being God’s friend would result in a life that “worked” and was generally recognized as a pretty good life, something worth having. But it doesn’t often seem to happen that way.
As I try to understand this, and try to not get discouraged about things in life, I have to look at scripture, because it’s about the only place where I can see “case studies” of people who seemed to want God as their friend. Or, wanted or not, they wound up with some sort of more substantive relationship with God. Three guys come to mind right off: Abraham, Moses and David.
Abraham had a strange pattern in his life. First, God called him to pack up and move, a long ways, with only uncertainty ahead. He did that to me, also. Then, he was way rich. Well, one out of two is still batting .500. Abraham lacked for nothing in the material world, considering the resources of the time in which he lived. Finally, he left a legacy that was beyond awesome. No single individual in all of history has made as great a difference in the world as Abraham and his progeny. And yet, he made some really big mistakes – I like that – and he had to undergo some really hard times of testing.
His mistakes – three come to mind – included letting his wife be taken into a harem, not once, but twice. (And the first time, in Egypt, I believe there is a good argument that she was sexually compromised.) What could he have been thinking? This sort of action is utterly incomprehensible to me by any reasonable standard. And the third was giving in to his wife and agreeing to father a child by a servant. What kinds of problems came from that! Abraham comes across to me as sometimes lacking character and backbone. Yet, God continued to use him, despite his very human failings.
We see another side of him at the “binding” of Isaac. This account – so horrific to us that we simply cannot agree on what really happened – is beyond imagination. If I were in his place, and my daughter on the alter, what would I do? I honestly cannot say. I don’t know. The entire scenario is too hard for me to imagine.
But as I look at Abraham, I see something we have in common: An ability to do the right thing paired with an ability to really screw up.
Then there was Moses, whose relationship with God was simply breathtaking. He was another example for us, but from a little different perspective. Moses was God’s unwilling friend. Moses was not like Abraham: He did not hear the call of God and obey. Rather he heard the call and said, God, I don’t want to do this. Call someone else. But God was not interested in what Moses wanted.
And so it appears that it’s possible to be a “friend” of God by God’s choosing, and not ours. Putting them together, it seems that God uses people who have major “flaws” – they are seriously screwed up – and He is not above going out and recruiting them, even against their will. Seems that, for the big jobs, He does this more than He uses volunteers. Hmm. An army with drafted leaders.
David is the third case that comes to mind. Here was someone with the natural gifts and talents that make him a logical choice for leadership. And God chose him. And then, after God assured David of his choosing, He let him wander about in the wilderness, hunted like a wild animal, for nearly 10 years. And when we look at David we see a man whose heart was clearly God’s, but who often didn’t live that out well. Ever hear of Bathsheba?
As I have considered David, it seems to me that one might make a case that he was an illegitimate son. I have found that this idea really raises the blood pressure of some folks, but I think it explains some things. First, his father didn’t even consider him when asked to bring his sons to the prophet. Second, David wrote a song about “being conceived in iniquity,” which we take to mean having a sinful nature. But what if this is not a profound theological statement, but rather a simple statement of his own origin? Then there was David’s own parenting record: He was a great poet, musician, and military leader. As great as he was in these areas, he failed equally as a father.
Everything about David’s history as a father suggests that he had no idea what he was doing. Could it be that he had never experienced a real father? Who knows, but it seems plausible.
And all that is very encouraging to me, because my father died while I was still a young boy, and I grew up in a home that could only be called strange and malfunctional. I have not made every boneheaded mistake possible, but I have overlooked only a few. And yet, for whatever incomprehensible reason, God has chosen me to bear his name and carry his appeal to the world. For whatever reason, God has chosen me to be his friend. And that leaves me speechless.
Posted by at 09:45 AM | Comments (12)
October 20, 2005
Lessons from a Tree
“Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go” Joshua 1:7.
The search for “super glue” was long and arduous, but eventually successful. As a result, we’re now blessed with amazingly tough stuff which can tightly bond virtually anything to anything else. It has changed our lives: How did we ever live, unable to fasten our fingers to our eyelids?
As tough as the toughest super glue may be, however, there is another adhesive as tenacious as any developed by modern science. What’s more, this “substance” is as common as water. It’s everywhere, and is well known to us all. This “miracle bond” agent is well known but seldom named, and therefore has no “trade name.” However, it’s really no secret, and it’s nothing more than “sin-glue.”
That’s right, a bond even stronger than super glue is the one between a believer and the sins and bad habits that he wants to get rid of. It’s not by accident that we have the expression, “sticks like a bad habit.”
My belief is that the kingdom of God is comprised of only two kinds of people: sinners, who tell discouragingly familiar stories of struggles - usually unsuccessful - to overcome the “old nature,” and other sinners, who just, well, lie about it. The fact is, everyone knows first hand something of the warfare of which Paul writes in Romans 6-8.
Yet, the fruit of the old nature, the dead leftovers of the previous life (that’s before being born again, not before reincarnation) is not so hard to get rid of, once the process is understood. And to understand, it is helpful to consider a tree.
We have all seen trees in summer, covered with leaves. And we have all seen those same trees in winter, with bare branches. We have also seen the dead leaves just fall off the trees in autumn, as the tree transitions between the two seasons. You know how it works: The leaves turn die and brown, a little breeze comes along, and down they go. The problem with this obvious statement, however, is that it just ain’t true. Leaves don’t just “fall off” of trees.
Aw c’mon, you say. Of course they fall.
No, they don’t. They are pushed. Witness the branches torn from trees by a storm in mid-summer. They were covered with leaves, they fell, and they died. Did the leaves fall off? No. Though dead, they remained as firmly attached as ever.
Leaves don’t fall off: They are pushed. And the force that pushes the old, dead leaf from the tree in the autumn is the development of the bud of the new leaf, getting ready for the next spring. The new life pushes off the remains of the old. And all that is needed for the new life to happen is that the branch remain well-attached to the tree. Period.
But what about sin, you say. Simple. Our sins, bad habits and other unpleasantries from earlier days, like last summer’s leaves, will simply fall off when the right conditions are met.
Our problem is that we focus on the sin, and work to get rid of it, not knowing that the effort is self-defeating. Our focus must be on God, the source of new life, not on the sin that remains from the old life.
Jesus perhaps had this in mind when He said He was the vine and we were the branches (John 15:1-6). As the branches remain firmly attached to the vine, they just naturally bear fruit. No work, no strain, no sweat. And at the end of each season, the old growth -- leaves -- is discarded naturally by the preparation for the next season of growth.
This brings us to the most difficult challenge in living a godly life: focus, staying vitally attached to the vine. It is not difficult to overcome temptation, to resist sin, if we are focused on God and attached to Him. The hard part -- and it can be hard, indeed -- is maintaining that focus.
We have been taught that we should work hard to live holy lives, to “witness for Jesus,” to always be happy, to . . . well, you get the message. Most of us have experienced guilt and frustration as we have tried to do these things and failed. And they are not bad things: We should live holy lives. We should do many of the other things we think God would have us to do. But we should not -- in fact, we cannot -- do them in our own power, or out of a feeling that we should do them because . . . well, we just should. We’re Christians, after all.
We must focus on living in the closest possible relationship with God, and the rest will take care of itself. Joshua (1:7) was given the key, when he was told by God, “Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.” Stay focused.
Most of life's problems that we struggle with resolve themselves as we focus on the Source of Life. Do you lack peace? Seek the Prince of Peace, and focus on Him, not on your lack of peace. As you focus on Him, He causes the Holy Spirit to be active in your life, bringing forth the fruit of His presence, an aspect of which is peace (Gal. 5:22). As you focus on the problem, you give that problem a prominent place -- a place of control -- in your life. You are reinforcing the very thing you want to be rid of.
How about excessive eating? Or compulsive shopping? Or any of the myriad behaviors we blame on “lack of will-power”? The answer is the same.
There is no such thing as “lack of will-power.” We all have a basic ability to choose, at some level. And we all have an ability to do what we choose, at some level. As we choose to focus as much of ourselves as we control, on as much of God as we know, again the Holy Spirit is freed to work in us, and another aspect of the fruit of His presence is self-control. (We understand that there are some people who, because of emotional implications, can exercise only a limited portion of their normal ability to choose. However, God offers healing and freedom to those people.)
Like happiness, which cannot be obtained by direct pursuit, the fruit of the Spirit cannot be produced by direct effort. However, the goal of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and glorify the Messiah in and to us (John 16:13-15). As we draw toward God, the Holy Spirit sets about creating in us the character of Jesus, making us into little reproductions of Him.
As we go through life, there will be an endless supply of distractions, yapping dogs of circumstance, seeking to move our focus off of who we are in our God and why we are here, and onto things which, though often fearsome in appearance, are secondary at best. They are the yapping dogs of distraction.
There is an account of a reporter from a major American newspaper being sent to do a story on a man who had for many years been a missionary on a remote island in the Pacific. The reporter flew across the ocean, then took a smaller airplane to an island. There, he boarded a boat, bound for a still more remote island, where he took a still smaller boat up a river. At the end of the river, he began walking, and after a trek of several days, he arrived at the place where the missionary lived. When the missionary’s wife answered his knock on the door, the reporter identified himself, and said, “I have come from America to interview your husband.” She graciously invited him in, but said, “I’m sorry, but today is Monday, my husband’s day of prayer. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see him.”
The missionary -- and his wife -- understood focus, and understood that “urgent” things must be put off to remain focused on the important things.
The key to a successful life as a believer is in the instructions given to Joshua: Be courageous, and stay focused. God will deal with the yapping dogs.
Posted by at 05:02 PM | Comments (2)
October 18, 2005
What's really important to me?
A couple months ago, I left a job that I disliked, moved to another state, and entered the supposedly blissful state called “retirement.” Here’s how it works: I stay as busy as ever, but I don’t go to an office every day and live by someone else’s schedule. On the other hand, nor do I receive a paycheck for said activity. I get to choose what hours I work, and when I complain about my idiot boss, it doesn’t help.
This change, which is a very large adjustment, has given me occasion to reflect on some priorities and values in my life. I am somewhat goal-oriented, and used to being a part of a team doing relatively important things. Now I am just me: a part of nothing immediately discernable. Does that really matter? Just what is it that is most important to me? What is it that, in the final analysis, I will not trade for something else? Is there anything that is non-negotiable?
Some years ago, I was reading in Genesis, and came to the account of Jacob wrestling all night with the “man” or “angel.” As I read the account, I was especially struck by Jacob’s statement afterward, “I have seen God face to face.”
Taking the account at face value, I began to ask what was special about Jacob and some others in the Old Testament, that they can experience God’s presence in visible form, and I cannot. And I became irritated and even perhaps jealous. If Jacob can see God, so can I. After all, he was no better than I am. I make a lot of mistakes and mess things up more than I want to or should, but so did he.
So, for some time, I have been wrestling with this idea, trying to understand the concept of seeing God face to face, to know what it might mean, and more importantly, how can I experience it.
I have come to understand that the phrase in Hebrew probably carried a sense of intimate knowing, of a relationship where two people can stand close, face-to-face, truly knowing each other. And that’s good, but it still leaves me with something I want but don’t have.
I recently began reading a Larry Crabb book, SoulTalk, where he writes about someone making a list of all the good things – things that are truly okay for a follower of Jesus to have – that he would like in his life. He lists good hot meals when he is hungry, a good bed to sleep in, a nice house. A late model car would be good. Perhaps other things, as the list of his “good life” equipment grows longer.
As the guy was checking his list again, God spoke to him. He said, “I will give you everything you want on that list. You can have it all, and in abundance. There’s only one condition: If you take them, you will never see my face.”
Crabb says the pain or discomfort you feel at thinking of this prospect is an indicator of the depth of your love for God.
I have been thinking about this, wondering. I am not generally driven by the urge to collect “stuff,” but I still like some nice things. I wouldn’t mind a nicer car, and a larger house. But the thought of never seeing God’s face stops me. Is that a price I am willing to pay? If I had the choice of living in a tent with shabby clothes and beans to eat, but knowing the face of God, or living in luxury and never seeing him, what would I do?
It’s a hard question. But it’s one that we face far more often than we realize. What's really important to me?
Posted by at 10:58 AM | Comments (2)
October 16, 2005
sunday sunrise
I guess I stayed up a little too late last night. When I looked out the window it was already getting light outside. So I decided to take a walk and watch the sun come up. Here are some of the photos I took.
(BTW: Here's where I took these pics..)
Posted by sdf at 06:34 AM | Comments (2)
October 15, 2005
Teachable...by whom?
We all want to learn and grow in our faith, but here's a pitfall, in the words of Beth Moore: “Our teachability most often depends on our teacher. If we respect the teacher, we might accept the teaching. If we don’t, we dump it.” More accurately, our teachability depends on our perception of our teacher.
How many of us would rush to church if we saw an announcement that the apostle Paul was the guest speaker? Standing room only, right? But if Paul walked into our church unannounced and anonymous, how many would listen to him? Remember, tradition tells us that Paul was a slightly built, scrawny guy with a head several sizes too big. And he had a bad speaking voice, and probably eye problems, so that he couldn’t see well. The bottom line is, in our charisma-driven society, Paul would never make it. And yet, think of our loss by not hearing him.
If we were asked whether we could accept it if God told us something new, the answer would almost certainly be yes. And if the “teacher” was someone like Moses? Again yes. And even if it was Paul, with his charisma problem, we might still agree to listen. What if it was Avi, the writer of these words? To be honest, he isn’t all that charismatic, either. Here it gets tougher, but some might still say yes. But now, what if it was someone whom you consider less mature than you, or less educated, or less spiritual, perhaps less attractive? Someone that you might even look down on, just a little? Could someone we think of as a nobody help us hear from God and know him better? That’s a teachable spirit.
Posted by at 07:32 PM | Comments (3)
October 14, 2005
And at the resurrection...?
Remains of Star Trek's 'Scotty' headed for space
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Evidently "Star Trek" actor James "Scotty" Doohan took the catchphrase "beam me up" very seriously -- his cremated remains will be launched into space in accord with his last wishes.
Commercial space flight operator Space Services Inc. will launch the late actor's remains into space aboard its Explorers Flight on December 6, a company spokeswoman said on Friday.
She said the remains of more than 120 others will be aboard the flight, including those of an unidentified astronaut and Mareta West, the astrogeologist who determined the site for the first spacecraft landing on the moon.
Space Services spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld declined to identify the astronaut whose cremated remains will be launched into space. She said the name would be announced the day of the launch.
Doohan, who portrayed feisty chief engineer Montgomery
"Scotty" Scott on the "Star Trek" television series, died in July at age 85.
On the program, when Capt. James Kirk ventured off the spaceship Enterprise and faced peril, he would demand Scotty "beam" his body up to the safety of the ship.
The actual phrase "Beam me up, Scotty," was not used on the show, but it entered pop culture.
To mark the flight into his final frontier, Doohan's family will hold a service for fans on a 60-acre site near Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Los Angeles the day of the launch to pay tribute to him. Some fans are expected to attend in the formal white suit of a Star Fleet commander.
"I can't think of a more fitting send-off than having some of his fans attend this, his final journey," his widow, Wende Doohan, said in an open invitation to the service.
"Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry also had his remains shot into space after his death in 1991. They returned to Earth in 2002, Schonfeld said.
Doohan's cremated remains will be packed into a special tube that is ejected from the rocket and expected to orbit Earth for about 50 to 200 years before plunging into the planet's atmosphere and burning up.
Fans can post tributes to Doohan at the Space Services Web site. Those messages will be digitized, packed with "Scotty" and blasted into space.
Copyright 2005 Reuters.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/14/doohan.remains.reut/index.html
Posted by at 09:12 PM | Comments (0)
Jesus as Curricula
I have the (GREAT) pleasure and (yet) nearly unbearable weight of teaching courses entitled "Jesus of Nazareth" and "Intro to Biblical Studies" to adult students of a degree completion program at a university in north chicago. While the history of the university is indeed Christian, there is no such criteria for students. Thus my own students have ranged from Zen Buddhist priests to palestinian Muslims to outspoken Gay pastors in local mainstream denominations.
Here are the three texts I am currently using for my "Jesus of Nazareth" course:
1. Jesus the Messiah - by Robert H. Steain
2. An Introduction to New Testament Theology - by Raymond E. Brown
3. The Case for Christ - by Lee Strobel
I would like to hear YOUR alternative texts and opinions (or support for the current texts). You can post your responses via the "comments" option below.
Posted by sdf at 08:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Do Protestants have a better life?
As I was working out today, I was watching TV, because it serves to distract my mind from what I am requiring of my body. Some will understand. In any case, the TV had a program on the relationship between “natural disasters” and religion.
There have been many occurrences in the past year that have killed horrendous numbers of people. Last year’s tropical storm season was terrible, devastating parts of the southeastern U.S., and killing many thousands of people in even more vulnerable places. Then there was the tsunami the day after Christmas, and this season there have been still more tropical storms – of which Katrina and Rita are only two of many – along with mudslides wiping out entire villages, and now a devastating earthquake in south Asia. The people on the program were discussing those – of every theological bent – who cry that natural disasters are God’s judgment on infidels, whether the infidels are Muslims or Christians.
To that idea, I say nonsense. People who run their mouths like that are demonstrating their own stupidity.
But this idea of a relationship between religion and the life of the people got me thinking about this issue from another direction.
I took a map, and marked those countries where the people have a high degree of political and religious freedom, a stable society, high levels of economic and educational opportunity, and a high material standard of living. Generally, it’s western Europe, North America (U.S. and to a lesser degree Canada), and perhaps Japan. And even western Europe is spotty, with a great difference between Germany, for example, and Portugal.
Then I looked at the same map, and outlined the areas that had their roots in the Protestant Reformation. In other words, what areas had a population that in general has a Protestant Christian heritage?
It’s interesting that there seems to be a fairly close correlation between Protestant Christianity and the more “advanced” cultures. One exception might be Japan. However, post-war Japan was the creation of a Protestant American, Douglas MacArthur. And in fact, Japan is in the past decade or two having serious problems, and one might ask if the influence of the “transplanted” Protestant roots are wearing off, and without that foundation, the culture cannot sustain an American-style free-market economy and democracy.
I don’t know if this holds water. But it seems that there are some very interesting coincidences. Perhaps it’s really true that “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord.”
Posted by at 04:50 PM | Comments (5)
October 10, 2005
Some thoughts on knowing God ... and each other
As I look at my life, I see one thing – actually, I see a lot more than one – that puzzles me. It’s my relationship with God.
At the core of my being, I truly want to know God, serve him, and live my life in a manner that honors him. But in the actions of my life, I fall short again and again. And there is something in me that looks at God and the idea of being close to him, and draws back. Know what I mean?
As I have considered this, it has occurred to me that a large part of my relational problem might be found in shame.
In The Gospel According to Judas, Ray Anderson writes about the nature of betrayal. He says that in every betrayal, there are two problems for the betrayer: guilt and shame. First, he is guilty. He has to deal with the issue of guilt. The second is shame. He has to deal also with being ashamed of his conduct.
He gives an example of a prominent man who was caught in some serious transgression, and publicly exposed. He confessed and asked for forgiveness, and his family and friends gathered around him, accepted him back among them, and all was well with the world. It was a wonderful testimony of love and forgiveness.
Some months later, the man killed himself.
None of his friends or associates understood, and his family was devastated. Anderson says there is a simple explanation: shame.
Guilt is a legal matter. It has nothing to do with our feelings; we either are guilty or we are not. And guilt is resolved either by penalty or forgiveness. Any offended party can resolve the issue of guilt by forgiving the offender. But not shame.
Guilt is outwardly focused, and involves a relationship with another. Shame is inwardly focused. Shame deals only with me, and if left unresolved, it can be fatal. Shame kills.
Anderson says that every betrayal involves shame. I would add to that and claim that every sin is a betrayal. It’s inborn in us to want to do well, and when we do not, we have reasons to be ashamed of ourselves. We have betrayed our own expectations. We have betrayed the one least likely to forgive us.
Can it be that a factor in hindering our growth is this shame? Is it possible that the reason we act with such hostility and self-destructive behavior is because we have so many times screwed things up that we are deeply ashamed of ourselves, and so keep everyone else at arm’s length?
You know: “If they knew what I am really like, they wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”
Posted by at 04:10 PM | Comments (3)
October 09, 2005
Doxa + Logos = Word of Praise
Have you ever had a time when nothing you thought about God seemed sufficient? You read, you pray, you sing, you talk, and whenever your thought turns to God, the only thing that comes forth is an overwhelming sense of thanks and praise. They are wonderful times, and too few in many lives.
Some years ago, on a trip to Israel, about a dozen of us were in an ancient church, and noticed the superb acoustics. So we gathered in the center of the sanctuary and sang the Doxology, a song of praise to God. It was a time we will never forget, listening as our voices blended and echoed in singing the wonder of our God. On another day we went to the border between Judea and Samaria, and sat on a hillside overlooking a huge valley, full of history. It was cloudy and foggy, and a light drizzle was falling. As we sat taking in the scene before us, someone began to play the great Hallelujah Chorus, from Messiah, on a battery-powered tape player. Surely this is one of the greatest songs of praise ever composed, and this, too, was a moment never to be forgotten, as if we were sitting at the throne of God.
Probably most of you have heard of “The Doxology,” and I am certain there are a number of musical pieces going by that name, but did you know there are many “doxologies” in Scripture?
The word comes from two Greek words: “doxa” meaning “praise, honor, glory,” and “logos,” meaning “word.” Put together, a doxology is a song of praise, honor, or glory, in this case to God. There are many in Scripture, and they are some of the most wonderful parts of the Bible. For example, these two verses from Jude are one of my favorites:
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling,
And to make you stand in the presence of His glory,
Blameless, with great joy,
To the only God our Savior,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (24-25)
Or this from Romans:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
For who has known the mind of the LORD, or who became his counselor?
Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever.
Amen.” (11:33-36)
And the Psalmist put it this way:
“Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory (24:7-10).”
Or this, also from Psalms:
Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD in holy array.
The voice of the LORD is upon the waters;
The God of glory thunders,
The LORD is over many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful,
The voice of the LORD is majestic.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everything says, "Glory!"
The LORD sat as King at the flood;
Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.
The LORD will give strength to His people;
The LORD will bless His people with peace” (29:1-11).
And finally, the “last word” from the ultimate Praise Book, which, of course, is the book of Psalms:
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!” (150:1-6).
What an awesome God we serve!
Praise the Lord, all ye nations, exalt Him, all ye peoples! He alone is worthy to be praised! Amen!
Posted by at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
4 God so luvd da world...
The Bible Society of Australia has been working diligently on translating the ENTIRE BIBLE INTO SMS TEXT SPEAK and has just this week released it freely to the public via download from the Society's website.
For the less tech saavy amongt our readers, "SMS" stands for "Short Message Service", an increasingly widespread standard for sending small (less than 150 characters) text messages via an exploding number of "hand held" devices such as cell phones and PDAs. In essence, "SMS text speak" strives to convert spoken English into the fewest alphanumeric characters possible. (thus "for" becomes "4", "great" becomes "gr8", "you" becomes "u", and "sanctification" becomes... ???).
Example: In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth
If you have a cell phone, chances are YOU (yes even you!) have SMS capability. And if you are a blossoming techie and crave the full scoop on SMS you need look no further than HERE.
The Mission Statement of the Bible Society of Australia is:
...to provide the Word of God to all people, in their own language, in a format they can use and at a price they can afford
And thus the sole intent of the SMS project is to redraw every verse of Scripture into a 150 character or less text message so that Scripture becomes WHOLLY transmissable via handheld devices. (At a price we can definitely afford... FREE!)
This from BBC News:
The Bible Society in Australia scripture director George Rodriguez said only the spelling of the Bible had been changed for the project, not the language.
"It's a logical step. Our aim at the Bible Society is to get the Bible out there among the people and this is a very effective way of doing it."
The SMS Bible from the Bible Society of Australia is a 7.7MB executable (.EXE) file which must be downloaded and installed onto your PC. However, the SMS translation itself is NOT readable via your PC and whollly assumes that you have an interface/connection between your PC and your cell phone. First you must upload the software to your cellphone from your PC. And then (and only then) may you consider yourself one of the biblically 31337.
Posted by sdf at 06:19 PM | Comments (1)
October 05, 2005
God: hard to love?
A while back, I led a group in our church, working through the popular “40 Days of Purpose” study. We read the book, watch the video, and then discuss the material. One week, we were talking about loving God.
One person in our group said, “I have great difficulty with ‘loving’ a being that I cannot see, touch, or really understand.” Around the room there were nods of agreement. This idea -- loving God -- is a central part of Christianity, of course, and yet I suspect it is one of the biggest problems for most people who call themselves Christians.
It’s a good question: How can I love someone I can’t see, touch, or often even have a conversation with (God seems not very talkative at times)? One characteristic we seem to hold in common as human persons is that we really don’t relate well to intangible beings. We really like -- and need -- someone “with skin on.” So how do we solve this problem? If loving is something that requires knowing, and knowing comes from time together, how can we truly love God?
This is not a problem unique to modern western culture. The ancient Israelites had the same struggle in the desert, trying to relate to a God that was totally unlike anything in human experience. This invisible, intangible -- and dangerous -- “something” that demanded their allegiance under pain of death, how were they to love that?
I think part of the problem for us is in our understanding of love. Especially in America we often think of love in a sort of ethereal sense, as an experience with another person with whom we have a close relationship.
However, the biblical idea has little to do with liking, or enjoying, or being attracted to, or any of the many facets of a modern definition of love. The biblical idea is closely tied to one word: obey. To love God is first of all to obey God. And to obey God is, by biblical definition, the first step in coming to love God. The Old Testament is pretty clear on this idea of obedience, and even Jesus -- God “with skin on” -- said, “If you love me, show it by doing what I've told you” (John 14:15 MSG).
But we might understandably say that sounds more like being the subject of a dictatorial ruler. Isn’t love about more than slavish obedience? And the answer, of course, is that it certainly is. However, slavish obedience isn’t really what this is about, and it helps if we look at what God is trying to accomplish.
God is by nature a creator, one who brought into existence a physical world of breathtaking diversity, complexity and beauty. This created world was at first chaotic and unproductive. God is by nature not chaotic and unproductive, and a chaotic and unproductive creation was not his intent. But he wasn’t finished yet. He took some dirt, fashioned a human person, and breathed life into him. Then he cleared some land, planted a garden, and put the man in it. Then he took from the man and fashioned for him a mate, one to complete and complement him and together with him to be a whole.
Now all this is true, but it is incomplete. What I have not mentioned in this very short history is the *reason* God made these two and put them in this special garden.
God gave Adam and Eve two positive instructions. One was to be fruitful and multiply. He intended that they be the first of many, who would spread out over the earth, subduing it and exercising delegated authority from God -- “dominion” -- over the earth. And in conjunction with that, they were to protect and work the garden, which was the first place to come under the dominion of man. The garden, which I believe was intended as a prototype for the rest of the earth, was a special place of God’s presence. Adam was God’s “on-site” manager for the garden, and, had things played out as intended, of the world.
So, in other words, God created us to be his “partners” in the “family business,” whose mission now is to redeem a lost creation, and to reconcile broken relationships. This is the God we are told to obey, the one who is the creator of a world of fabulous complexity and beauty, and the one who then shares it with us. This is a God who intended that we live in true intimacy with him, simply because he loves us.
So then why the emphasis on obedience? Can’t we all just love on each other and just get along? Well, no.
When I was a boy, I was my mother’s delight. I was her ideal little boy. (I know this will come as news to my brothers, but it’s true.) Then I turned twelve, and when I did…. Well, never mind the gory details.
If you had asked my mother, she would have told you she deeply loved me, and that’s true. She would also have told you that she really would have liked for me to be an obedient son, which I was not. If I had been obedient, her life, my life, and the lives of everyone in the house would have been much less hectic. (In later years, my mother looked at me, her oldest son, the delight of her heart, and said, “You made my life pure hell.” She was -- I hasten to point out -- speaking of days long past.)
The reason she wanted obedience, however, had nothing to do with family peace. It had to do with relationship: We could not enjoy each other unless I gave up being a rebel. Every parent reading this knows what I am talking about.
Our relationship with God is not immune to these principles: We cannot live in rebellion and hope to have any relationship that leads to knowledge of God. So once again, the first step in loving God is obedience.
A relationship with God starts with a decision, a choice of will: to choose to act *toward* as much of God as I know. This has nothing about it that feels like what we think of as love, but we are trying to open the door, to build a foundation on which a relationship can grow.
In honesty I might say, “God, I know I should love you, but I don’t. I don’t know how, or even what that means. So I choose to obey you to the greatest extent I know how.” God responds to this by beginning to reveal himself to me, showing me a little more of himself each time I make a choice toward God and not away from him. Over time, there grows a knowing and a loving relationship. I am not aware of a point in time when it starts, but at some point I look, and to my surprise I can say that I love God. It just “sorta snuck up on me.”
Obedience is the key to loving God, to knowing God, to living a life of fulfillment and fruitfulness. We cannot be rebels and live the life for which we were created. If we think we can -- and many of us do -- we are simply fooling ourselves. It just ain’t gonna happen.
So the question now is simple: Are we going to obey God or not? Put another way, how much more of our life are we willing to throw away, with nothing to show for having lived?
Amen.
Posted by at 05:39 PM | Comments (4)
And While You're At It...
Check these out:
- The Brick Testament - The entire biblical story recreated with Lego bricks
- The Bible According to Cheese - Biblical stories recreated using... cheese.
- BIBLE BOBBLEHEADS!!
Posted by sdf at 09:45 AM | Comments (1)
Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
That got your attention didn't it?
In a new teaching document released by the Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland and aimed at both laity and clergy, the Catholic Church has further officially reiterated that portions of Scripture are to be taken "symbolically" rather than "literally".
“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.
In particular the document insists that the first 11 chapters of Genesis cannot be considered "historical" though they may contain "historical traces".
From the London Times Online:
In the document, the bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars. They say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is “God’s word expressed in human language” and that proper acknowledgement should be given both to the word of God and its human dimensions.They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways “appropriate to changing times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries”.
The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: “We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters.”
They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its “intransigent intolerance” and to warn of “significant dangers” involved in a fundamentalist approach.
The article suggests an example of such "fundamentalist" thinking and the contrasting perspective laid out in the new doctrinal document:
The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right, in particular in the US.
Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution in schools, believing “intelligent design” to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.
Note the characterization of "Intelligent Design".
You can read the entire article here.
Posted by sdf at 08:52 AM | Comments (1)
October 01, 2005
Why is life sometimes so hard?
As I reflect on recent months of writing, it seems like I am spending a lot of time writing about relationship, especially our relationship with God, and our understanding of the sort of God we think is there. This is unusual, because I like variety both in my life and in my writing. I am normally not a “one-song Sam” kind of guy, and it is unlike me to remain focused on one area for this long.
However, I keep coming back to this topic because I keep wrestling with these questions, even though my faith in God is pretty deeply rooted. I think it’s because as I talk with people I hear these questions over and over. People are struggling with the pain in their lives, and the seeming failure of God to answer their prayers, or to rescue them from intense suffering. I hear of loved ones dying a slow, painful death. I hear of jobs unjustly lost. I hear of spousal abandonment. I hear, in short, of lives fallen apart, and people who have been committed Christians despairing of life itself. I hear of struggles to continue living a life that seems devoid of meaning.
Some years ago, I heard a teacher talking about the biblical character Job. He that Job teaches us this: “Just because your life is falling apart doesn’t necessarily mean you are doing something wrong. It might mean that you are doing something right.”
At the time, I was in a hard place. I was unemployed, having followed what I thought was the voice of God. After I committed myself to a course of action, absolutely nothing happened as I had expected. On top of that, my wife was using the “d” word a lot. Further, I was dealing with a teenager who seemed determined to wreck his life and mine, too. And I confess, the statement about Job was music to my ears and it lifted my spirit. Yet, for many long months, nothing changed in my circumstances.
And the questions came, legitimate questions, of where is God in all this? Where is the God who said he wanted to bless me and not curse me? Where is the God who said that as I delight myself in him, he would give me the desires of my heart? Where is the God who claimed to love me enough to die in my place? He’s hard to see in these times.
It seems to me that the God that many Christians claim to worship, and the Christianity that they claim to follow, doesn’t work very well in the real world. By that I mean that it’s a good thing to be a “Christian,” when everything is going our way. It’s even a good thing even if only some things are going our way. And perhaps it’s still a good thing when little or nothing is going our way, as long as it doesn’t last too long. You know, we can tough it out through some pretty hard times if we know there is an end to them -- one not too far down the road -- and that we are headed straight toward it. It’s like going to the dentist for a root canal: We can stand it for a while because we know it has a good purpose and it will end, but even the dentist doesn’t want to live in a dentist’s chair. But when we hurt and we don’t know why, and we don’t know when – if ever – it will end, then is the test of our faith.
Most of the rest of the world would find this a strange attitude, indeed, this idea of things going our way. Christians in most of the world suffer greatly precisely because they claim the name of Jesus. An expectation that a Christian would not suffer is incomprehensible. Christians stand – by their very existence – against evil. Of course they will suffer. And this was the attitude of much of the early church, as well.
How do we deal with these things? They are important: matters of life and death. And, I fear, the “solution” for many of us is to live in denial. We have no answer, and the question is just too hard to think about, so we block it out. However, denial doesn’t work. The questions are real and will not be denied. One way or another, sooner or later, we have to address them. Either we reconcile this conflict, or we will walk away from the God of the Bible. And many have indeed walked away. They have chosen to live with their own God, in their own reality, if that is possible.
I think part of the answer is to try to understand the nature of this world and what God is doing in it. Why does he let hard things happen to us? What is the big picture that all of this fits into? To know the answer to that, we have to go to the Bible. Anything else leaves us with only speculation and opinion, not good materials on which to build a life.
We must point out first that God never intended for us to live in a world of pain and suffering. That came about as a result of our ancestors rebelling, and saying to God, “We don’t trust you, and we don’t need you.” And every generation down to our own has endorsed their decision. We have said, by our own words and lives, “God, I think I can live a perfectly satisfactory life without you. So please go away and don’t bother me.” Here is sin, and here we find the source of suffering, not in some malevolent “will of God.”
God’s intent was that we live in a place of intimate fellowship with him, loving him and being loved by him, knowing him face to face. It was his further intent that we be his partners in transforming the earth from chaos to order and productivity. Read the first two or three chapters of Genesis.
And now, since the option of spreading the Garden of Eden to cover the earth is long past, his intent is that we be his partners in redeeming what was lost, and bringing about reconciliation between people and God (II Cor. 5). It’s important to know and remember this when trying to understand the world around us, and the hard times in our lives.
I recently hired a person for a new supervisory position where I work. I didn’t have the budget to hire highly experienced applicants, so I looked for potential. I wanted someone who was smart, motivated, of high character, and someone whose personality clicked with me and the rest of my staff.
The person I hired is in fact doing well, and will very quickly be an asset. But part of her training process is to spend time knowing me, learning how I think, facing problems, learning ways of dealing with difficult people, and more. Before I “turn her loose,” I will have to know that I can trust her, and that she knows me well enough to know what I would want done in situations where I am not available.
God faces the same situation. He wants someone to be his junior partner in managing the world. But he has to “hire” potential, since experienced people are in very short supply. And complicating things more, the job description calls for only members of the family in these positions. So he puts those who join his “staff” -- those who are adopted into his family -- through a rigorous training and testing time, to know him and how he would have them act on his behalf. Before we are entrusted with God’s authority, we have to truly know him, we have to be found utterly trustworthy to represent him, and we have to understand the task to which we are called.
And the task to which God calls us is unimaginable. How awesome is it to be called by the True and Living God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, to be his sons and daughters, and his partners in the task of reconciliation of creation? If that idea doesn’t stop you for a minute, you aren’t paying attention. But the nature of that call has another side: It means we will suffer. Read the accounts of what happened to various of God’s people. Look at the prophets in the Old Testament. Look at the apostles in the New Testament. Look, especially, at Jesus.
So, if we consider the end for which we are preparing, and that the reconciliation process is in fact a war for the lives of people, how can we be surprised that we suffer? How can we be surprised that we are called to a life of trial and toughness, and yet a heart of tenderness? Fluffy, ease-loving people are not much good for important tasks, because such tasks are never easy.
So, I ask the question, “God, why is there so much pain in my life?” And I hear the answer, “Why should there not be pain in your life? Look at the world you live in, and the mission on which you are sent. Look at the one who is your redeemer and leader.”
The life of a follower of Jesus is sometimes a hard life, but the high calling involved makes it worth it all. Don’t give up. Ask God to build your strength. Ask God to show you that his strength is your strength, and your task is to remain snuggled as close as possible to him.
And he is faithful. He never fails. Hallelujah.
Posted by at 04:58 PM | Comments (9)
Just a hassle? Perhaps, but…
It was a fairly stressful time for me, looking at a 1000-mile move in a large rental truck, while towing a car, and doing it pretty much alone. So I planned and I prayed. A lot.
I was concerned because I knew it would take me a week to load the truck by myself, and people we expected would help had other commitments. So, I finally got a crew of 6 lined up, plus myself. One was a woman who was a couple months off of major surgery. Two more were her teenage sons. Another was a petite Chinese woman, who also volunteered her husband. “We are very hard workers,” she insisted. Correctly, it turned out. Then there was a young man who worked for me and who was strong, a hard worker, and a real asset. And finally, there was me, an aging man with a problem knee. There was room for concern.
I thought we could handle it, though, starting at 9 a.m. and finishing up at about noon, before the day got seriously hot. I wanted to leave after lunch get as far as I could to the east, and even perhaps turn north, before I stopped for the night, perhaps somewhere in Mississippi.
Problem number one: The woman and her two sons didn’t come. Problem two: The temperature rapidly soared into the high 90s, with a heat index over 100 and a blazing sun. It was, in a word, miserable.
So, working until we thought we would drop, we finally got everything loaded, and the truck was full to the tailgate. And it only took us -- one strong young man, two hard-working Chinese students, and me … seven and a half hours! So much for my good start. We finished just before dinner time, and were fortunate to do that.
Then, the car carrier trailer broke, and we couldn’t move it for over an hour. After we finally managed to work around that, but before I had gone a mile, the gauges on the truck began to malfunction. I had no idea how much oil pressure or fuel I had, and had to stop. It was still over 90 degrees, now dinner time, and I was stuck. The rental company didn’t offer any hope of help before two more hours. Was I unhappy? Well…
So I went to a motel, while it took until 10 p.m. to get service to the truck. At the motel, I turned on the Weather Channel and was surprised to see the change in that “little storm” in the Gulf, the one named Katrina. She had become a monster, and was headed precisely to the same place I was! And the roads were jammed with people trying to escape, all using the same highway I had planned!
So, being an astute young lad, I got the message immediately and changed my plan. I left at first light, driving straight north, getting as far away from the coast as I could.
To say I was frustrated is a big understatement. I thought several things about the truck rental company for which I had to seek forgiveness. However, my intense frustration over their junky equipment was easing now, knowing that if the truck had run properly, I would have driven straight into the teeth of the storm.
And as I began to think a little more rationally, I was somewhat chagrined as I felt compelled to thank God for an unreliable truck. Could it be that God had a hand in my getting that truck and trailer? I mean, it was really junk, even though it was new. Besides the broken trailer, malfunctioning gauges, and marginal brakes, it ran out of fuel on me in the middle of a construction zone, while the gauge said I should have 20 gallons of fuel left. Give thanks? For that? Yes.
That brings up the question of all the times when things don’t go as we plan or expect in our lives. Could it be that we get caught up with frustration over things not going as planned, or not going our way, when in fact, God is working for our good and we don’t see it? Are we ascribing things to the devil -- or anything else unpleasant -- when in fact it is God at work? I don’t know a nice, neat answer to that question.
But, especially after my recent “moving experience,” I wonder how many times I might have missed the still, small voice of God, to the point that he had to throw all sorts of obstacles in my path to get me to turn away from disaster. Have you ever considered that?
I wonder how many times God uses the problems in our lives -- illness, broken cars and trucks, “natural disasters,” even death -- because we are so spiritually hard of hearing? It’s a sobering thought.
It is pretty clear from reading the Bible that high on God’s priority list is having a close relationship with you and me. Someone has called it a “conversational relationship,” and it is that, but I believe God seeks something far more intimate than a “conversational” level. It doesn’t take a very close relationship to have a conversation, does it? (Though, as I consider it, not many of us even have conversations with God.)
I wonder how much heartache and frustration we would have avoided if we listened and responded to the “still, small voice” of God in the first place? I am certain that in my life it’s a considerable amount.
Posted by at 08:23 AM | Comments (1)
