Saw an interesting article on history education in our country, and specifically how public schools teach about our founding fathers. I know there has been a long standing debate on how "Christian" our founding fathers were. Interesting article. It reminded me of my Political Science professor and Academic Counselor, Dr. Glen Martin, who being a staunch conservative still held the strong belief that most of our Founding Fathers were practicing Deists, not traditional Christians. Interesting. Read the article by clicking here.
A Biblical Theology of Women - Part 1 (Created Purpose)
(As I am doing research on this subject, it is not feasible for me to post all my findings on this blog. This would be too tedious to read, and too time consuming for me. With that said, I do wish to hit the "mountain peaks" of the conclusions I am coming to so as to encourage dialogue around the subject. )
In sketching out a Biblical theology of women one must start where the story of God and his creation starts, in Genesis. I still remember being a seminary student taking my first course, introduction to the Old Testament, from Dr. Sandra Richter. I will never forget the first time she used in a lecture the phrase, “God’s original intent is his final intent”. That was one of those divine moments in the structuring of personal theology that the story of God began to make clearer sense to me. God had an original intent when he created the world and everything in it. God’s intent has not changed just because we failed to follow his rules. So the question we must ask ourselves when we look at God’s view of gender issues is “what was God’s original intent for the relationship between male and female”?
We see that both man and woman (humankind) was made in the image of God (Gen.1:26-27): This is significant because it was not an accident for the writer of Genesis one (probably Moses) to mention that women were a part of the created humanity and the image of God. This is significant especially due to the fact that the surrounding culture was patriarchal, as was the Hebrew culture.
oIn v.26 we see that God decided to make אָדָ֛םin “our image”. This wordadm is unfortunately translated in the KJV as “man” but is better translated as human kind. This noun is common and can be seen as describing all of human kind, not just a particular sex, whether it be male or female. In understanding this word as “humankind” we see that encompasses both male and female humans, and God created both of them in his image.
oIn the ancient world an image was believed to carry the essence of that which it represented. This would not suggest that the image could do what the deity could do, nor that it looked the same as the deity. Rather, the deity’s work was thought to be accomplished through the idol.[1]
oIt seems clear that the image of God was to be best displayed in a humanity made up of both male and female. In the words of Aida Besancon Spencer, “At creation, conversely, male and female form a unity. It is that unity that mirrors God’s likeness.”[1] It is communal nature of humanity, both male and female, that best reflects the image of a God that is communal in his nature; Father, Son, Spirit. Humanity, both male and female together are needed to reflect who God is.
So, in conclusion, just in looking at the first couple of verses mentioning humanity, we can see from the beginning, both male and female were created equally by God, together as both essential to represent the image of God. More from Genesis soon.
[1] Bensancon Spencer, Aida. Beyond the Curse: Women Called to Ministry. 1985. (p.22) Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers.
[1] Walton, John H. The IVP Bible Background commentary: Genesis-Deuteronomy. 1997. (p.18) Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.
Writing is not just jotting down ideas. Often we say: "I don't know what to write. I have no thoughts worth writing down." But much good writing emerges from the process of writing itself. As we simply sit down in front of a sheet of paper and start to express in words what is on our minds or in our hearts, new ideas emerge, ideas that can surprise us and lead us to inner places we hardly knew were there.
One of the most satisfying aspects of writing is that it can open in us deep wells of hidden treasures that are beautiful for us as well as for others to see. - Henri Nouwen
After watching the Oscar Winning Movie "The Cove", I did a little research and found this documentary about the effects of petroleum based plastics on our oceons. Very eye opening.
To follow up my previous post, "Why the Earth (unfortunately) hasn't mattered to Christians", it is only right on this Earth Day 2010 to lay out for you why I think we as Christians should be leading the way in caring for the Earth. As has already been mentioned, many of us as Christians have not shown the same level of care for the Earth that others in our world have, but we should be caring more deeply than anyone. Caring for the Earth should matter to us. Why?
Because it Matters to God: We have to go back to Genesis 1 to begin to see God's attitude toward his creation and when we do we see that after creating the Earth and everything in it, he looked at it and said it was "good". It can not be over-emphasized that God sees his Creation as good. Yes, I know that the story doesn't end there but the "crown jewel" of his creation (humanity) rebelled against him and brought sin into this world; the sin that has distorted, tainted, and turned upside down his created order, but we are incorrect to think that God stopped caring for his created world at that point or that he was ready to discard it. The opposite is actually true.
Because Saving the Earth is a part of God's Plan: After the fall of man, God did not give up on his Creation, rather, he set in motion a great rescue plan to redeem his Creation (humanity and the created world) from the grips of sin. You see, God's original intent for his Creation is still his final intent. God did not change his mind, or reconsider what he was trying to do when he created the world and man within it. He gave us free will, so that He could have a loving relationship with us, and when we rebelled against him, he lovingly didn't give up on us or his Creation project. Many times in the church we have focused solely on God's desire to save one part of his creation, namely humanity. Human salvation should have the central piece in our understanding of God's salvation/redemption but we should not stop there. God's plan was to, as the Apostle Paul puts it, "reconcile all things in heaven and on Earth under Christ." (Eph. 1:10)
God's plan has never been to discard this world and create another place for him to dwell with his people. God did not desire to save man to live in a "cloud city" in the sky somewhere, but to live with Him in the place he created for them in the beginning. By taking on the sin of the world, Jesus redeemed the world, the whole world, from the eternal affects of sin. In John chapter 20 we read the the Gospel writer's account of the resurrection of Jesus. In this story we see Mary at the tomb distraught over Jesus' body being seemingly stolen. She sees who she thinks is the "gardener" and it turns out to be Jesus. Interestingly enough, Mary wasn't that far off in her identifying Jesus as the gardener, because in a real tangible and cosmic way he was. Through his resurrection, "new creation" or the redemption of God's creation had been accomplished. Some day we will see it completed, which leads us to...
God has saved us to be a part of His "World Saving Plan": So, if God's plan has always been to redeem all of his creation, us included, then the question is, "shouldn't we be about the same business God is?" I hope your answer to this question is "yes". And I hope that our answer does not just consist of getting people to place faith in Jesus. Again, I can not stress strongly enough that leading people to follow Jesus should be the central piece to the message of the church to the world. However, it can not be the only piece, because if it is we are displaying to the world only part of the Gospel of Jesus, that God is only interested in saving humans, not his creation. Jesus said, "as I am to Israel, you are to be to the world", so the question is, what was the message Jesus told the world? When we read the New Testament we see that the key to his message was, "The kingdom of God is present". That is basically saying, God has reclaimed his creation through the life death and resurrection of Jesus, and that is all of his creation. As he was separated from his creation when the first humans rebelled and brought sin into this world, so he has reclaimed his Creation through Jesus. As his people we are to now enact what he has already done. We should be living out the reclaiming of his creation from the effects of sin. We should be reversing the trend of selfishly using the resources of the world without thinking of others or future generations. We should be leading the way in supporting things like clean air/water initiatives, the discover of safe sustainable energy, and the responsible use of natural resources.
So as the people of God, desiring to live out the plan and the heart of God, let us this Earth Day rededicate to having God's heart for his Creation, and be the leaders in restoring his Earth!
Why the Earth (unfortunately) hasn't Mattered to Christians
Well it is Earth day again. Although, like every other event/day/occasion/holiday on the calendar it seems Earth Day has been hijacked by advertisers and media, it is what I would consider an important day for us Christians to care about. Why? Because we should be leading the efforts in caring for the Earth.
Unfortunately we have seen the opposite from the church and those that call themselves Christians. For years upon years it has seemed as if the church of Jesus Christ has at best been slowly catching up to the rest of the world in doing the Earth friendly things to care for the world, and at worst just ignoring Earth care all together. Why is this? I believe it has come from what can only be called "bad theology" and more specifically "bad eschatology".
Let me explain. First, we all have a theology of some sort, for theology is how we think about God and his actions in this world. All of us, wether we know it or not, have a theology. From that theology grows our praxis or "actions" or how we live in this world. As a part of that theology we also have an "eschatology", which is basically "what we think the culmination of history is going to be". Even if we don't have it figured out, we have some sort of idea of what we think all of history is pointing towards. It has been said that "how we think of the future/end directs how we live in the present."
With all of that said, we need to realize that much of the church has for years had an "eschatology" that goes something like this: in the end all Christians are going to be raptured from this Earth, and after being raptured the Earth is going to go through "hell" and finally be "burned or destroyed". Couple with this the fact that most that believe this also believe that it is going to happen any time now. Now, when this is your idea of how it is all going to go down, what emphasis would you put on taking care of the Earth. If it is all going to burn, why place much emphasis on caring for a doomed garden? Why worry about things like recycling it doesn't really matter how much trash we accumulate, it will all be destroyed. Why worry about Global warming, when the real "global warming" is coming. The desire to care for the Earth seems to go away when you believe the Earth is going to go away.
This eschatology has also led many Christians to the sole emphasis of their actions on helping people escape the burning ship. What I mean is, rather than seeing the role of the church as "announcing the kingdom of God is present" and "all things (including creation) are being reconciled in Christ", we have focused solely on getting people a ticket to escape the devastation we think is coming. If you think it is all going to burn, then your efforts would not be put towards things like clean water or environmental advocacy. No, all of your resources will be used toward getting people their tickets to escape this place.
Don't get me wrong. I think the message of personal salvation is key within the larger message of God's salvation through Jesus, but it is not the only thing God is saving. (I don't want to get too far ahead here because I am going to post another article entitled "Why the Earth Should Matter to Christians" speaking to some of these issues).
We also can not ignore the reality that many of those that hold to this type of end times eschatology, are also closely connected politically to the right wing conservative movement. It is no surprise that those who consider themselves "right wing" on the political spectrum have had suspicion about the validity of the need to care for the Earth at all. They have openly questioned things like Global Warming, pollution affects, and long term environmental dangers, even though these things have been and are almost unanimously accepted within the scientific community. Let me say at this point, without sufficient time or space here to elaborate, that as it is true that our theology should drive our politics, it is the sad case for many Americans that our politics have driven our theologies. (It is also important to note that this happens on both the Left and the Right and we should be careful as Christian to be labeled as either)
So, where do we go from here. Why should Christians care about caring for the Earth? Good question, and I have some answers....coming up next.
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Not long ago we had a family visit the church. After the service the father of the family came up to me with the bulletin in his hand, and I could tell something was wrong. "I have a question" he said in a voice that displayed a mix of concern and curiosity. "I noticed that you list your house churches (small groups) in the bulletin and that you listed a woman as one of the House Church Pastors. Is this a mistake?" I immediately knew where this was coming from, and began to try to explain why we at NPC seek equality between men and women in all things including ministry. Referring to the usual verses (1 Tim. 2:11-15, 1 Cor. 14:34-36) used by those that hold to a patriarchal view of the bible, I was again reminded of the disappointing reality that much of the Christian Church in our world lacks what I believe is a Biblical view of women. I am not saying I have it all figured out, but I do feel there are clear misunderstandings when it comes to how we see the roles of men and women. I will be posting a few thoughts on this issue over the next few weeks, and would love for your thoughts, no matter where you land on the issue. Come, let us reason together.
Another Gem from Henri Nouwen...a very counter cultural and Christ-like approach to authority.
The Authority of Compassion
Mostly we think of people with great authority as higher up, far away, hard to reach. But spiritual authority comes from compassion and emerges from deep inner solidarity with those who are "subject" to authority. The one who is fully like us, who deeply understands our joys and pains or hopes and desires, and who is willing and able to walk with us, that is the one to whom we gladly give authority and whose "subjects" we are willing to be.
It is the compassionate authority that empowers, encourages, calls forth hidden gifts, and enables great things to happen. True spiritual authorities are located in the point of an upside-down triangle, supporting and holding into the light everyone they offer their leadership to.
- Henri Nouwen
I don't think I am the only one that needs to listen. We are a people surrounded by sounds. The sounds of hectic schedules, the noise of constant movement, the buzz of endless deadlines, and the hum of the busy life. I can't stop now...too much to do. What will happen if I slow down? Will it keep turning if I am not moving? Yet, when I stop, I can barely hear that small still voice, "slow down, listen to me, spend time with me, it will be worth it."
Our imaginations have a hard time grasping the concept of God's continual forgiveness. Yes we have heard it preached, taught and its even been modeled to us by our parents as we grew. Yet, we don't fully understand it. It can't be that we mess up again and again and keep being forgiven. It doesn't seem to jive with the way the world runs. The rules of our universe seem to be "you get what you deserve" and "you reap what you sow". Of course there is truth contained within these sayings, truth that we have all experienced. However, the ultimate truth almost seems to contradict the application of these saying...the truth that God forgives us for what we have done, and even though we deserve to pay the full consequence of our actions, he has taken it for us. We are tempted to think that there is a limit to how many times we can mess up before we lose this gift...and yet there he remains, offering us forgiveness again and again. Maybe we aren't supposed to understand it as much as accept it.
How many Easter sermons have you heard that go something like this..."because Jesus rose from the grave, we have hope of eternal life...because Jesus rose from the grave we have the hope of Heaven." Let me say at the outset that I agree with these statements, however, I want to deal with what I feel might be a grave mistake in allowing the story of Jesus' resurrection to be kept at such a limited view.
Let me start by laying my thoughts out in a sentence...the story of Jesus' resurrection is at its heart the story of new creation, or the reclaiming of creation by a God who did not give up on what he created. Yes Heaven is a part of that story of new creation, as it is a promise that we will be with Jesus when we die, however, in the words of N.T. Wright, "heaven is not the end of the world". Jesus rising on that first Easter morn was the beginning (or firstfruits as Paul put it) of what is the new creation that is transforming all things. It is the remedy to the sickness of sin that has distorted the creation of God. In rising from the grave Jesus overcame the ultimate result of sin...death.
Remember back to the book of Genesis when our fore-parents made the decision attempt to be like God. They brought sin into this world and that sin distorted, tainted, and twisted God's good creation, including us. In Gen. 3 there were a number of consequences given to Adam and Eve for their actions, but the ultimate and overarching result of sin was death. Jesus (who is correctly labeled by Paul as the "second Adam") rose from the grave after dying on the cross and in doing so overcame the ultimate result of sin. He is the remedy for the sickness of sin. He is new creation within the old dying creation. He did not come to evacuate his people from a world burning and going to hell, he came as the remedy to cure the sickness that infected humanity and all of creation. He is the New Creation, and now when we place our faith in him, we too are new creation and a part of new creation. This is the story of Easter. Let the story go further than just Heaven, because if it doesn't it is not telling the real "Good News."
