Romans 13:1
"Everyone is to obey the governing authorities, because there is no authority except from God and so whatever authorities exist have been appointed by God."
Luke 4:6-7
"[The Devil] said to [Jesus], 'I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. Do homage, then, to me, and it shall be yours."
There's a number of interesting interesting things going on in those few verses. First, yes, I know they come from different authors. But look at them. One (Romans) says that all power and authority exists because of God's will, and is appointed by God. The other (Luke) says that the Devil has all power and authority in the world (yeah, yeah, Father of Lies, the great deciever, etc etc, but Jesus doesn't contradict the Devil here) and can hand it to whomever he wishes.
What's going on here? I don't know yet. I don't know if I'll ever know. But I think I'm going to trust Jesus (and the silence that speaks volumes).
Thoughts, comments?
Monday, November 17, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Desiring God
"I don't love God. I don't want to love God. But I do want to want to love God"
I don't who said that, or where it came from, but it's nor original. It's also true. I struggle with living a Christian life. A lot of the time, I don't feel like a Christian, whatever that's supposed to mean. But I follow this Christian life, because it's convincing. The world is broken, and all the supposed 'fixes' out there just seem to make it worse.
That is, except for one. Well, sort of at least. I look at Jesus, and what he says about the world. What he says about social change, loving neighbors, loving yourself, and it makes sense. It makes sense, because I resonate, not because I could have come to that conclusion myself. Left to my own devices, I would probably hate myself, and 99.999% of the rest of the world. Most of the time, I don't even want it to be true, but my heart tells me otherwise. My heart tells me that you have worth, that I have worth, that Saddam Hussein and Adolph Hitler had worth. I don't like what they did, but they were human beings. They had worth to them.
Christ's vision of how to change the world is revolutionary. It's revolutionary because it doesn't make sense to the world. It doesn't make sense to the structures in place. But that is exactly why it makes sense. The world tells us that if we want someone to stop doing something bad (say, killing 6 million Jews) we have to kill him. That's the only option. But Jesus says that there is another option. He doesn't tell us what option is, or how to do it. He does that because our situation is not his. He couldn't have given instructions to a 21st century Christian on how to vote, because that's not what he was about.
Rob Bell picks this up in one of his Nooma videos. In it, he is in an orchestra hall, and he talks about music. How when musicians are warming up, one person will start to play something on a piano. Then as the violinist picks up on the melody, that person will nuance it, and make it their own. The two instruments will blend together beautifully. Then the cellist will join in, and make it more beautiful. Soon a saxophone can be heard, then a clarinet and a flute. Eventually there is an entire orchestra playing together, making something far more beautiful than a single piano could ever hope to be. Rob Bell ties that in with Jesus. He didn't tell us how to live, he showed us how. He wasn't telling us, you have to play this music. But he showed us his music, and invited us to join in with our own music.
That's the life that is compelling to me. That's the life that scares me. I don't love God, and I don't want to love him. But I do want to want to love him. All because he showed me, and the rest of the world, a better way to live.
I don't who said that, or where it came from, but it's nor original. It's also true. I struggle with living a Christian life. A lot of the time, I don't feel like a Christian, whatever that's supposed to mean. But I follow this Christian life, because it's convincing. The world is broken, and all the supposed 'fixes' out there just seem to make it worse.
That is, except for one. Well, sort of at least. I look at Jesus, and what he says about the world. What he says about social change, loving neighbors, loving yourself, and it makes sense. It makes sense, because I resonate, not because I could have come to that conclusion myself. Left to my own devices, I would probably hate myself, and 99.999% of the rest of the world. Most of the time, I don't even want it to be true, but my heart tells me otherwise. My heart tells me that you have worth, that I have worth, that Saddam Hussein and Adolph Hitler had worth. I don't like what they did, but they were human beings. They had worth to them.
Christ's vision of how to change the world is revolutionary. It's revolutionary because it doesn't make sense to the world. It doesn't make sense to the structures in place. But that is exactly why it makes sense. The world tells us that if we want someone to stop doing something bad (say, killing 6 million Jews) we have to kill him. That's the only option. But Jesus says that there is another option. He doesn't tell us what option is, or how to do it. He does that because our situation is not his. He couldn't have given instructions to a 21st century Christian on how to vote, because that's not what he was about.
Rob Bell picks this up in one of his Nooma videos. In it, he is in an orchestra hall, and he talks about music. How when musicians are warming up, one person will start to play something on a piano. Then as the violinist picks up on the melody, that person will nuance it, and make it their own. The two instruments will blend together beautifully. Then the cellist will join in, and make it more beautiful. Soon a saxophone can be heard, then a clarinet and a flute. Eventually there is an entire orchestra playing together, making something far more beautiful than a single piano could ever hope to be. Rob Bell ties that in with Jesus. He didn't tell us how to live, he showed us how. He wasn't telling us, you have to play this music. But he showed us his music, and invited us to join in with our own music.
That's the life that is compelling to me. That's the life that scares me. I don't love God, and I don't want to love him. But I do want to want to love him. All because he showed me, and the rest of the world, a better way to live.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The God Christianity never told you about
In the book, "Letters from a Skeptic" Greg Boyd's father wonders at one point why he had never heard of the God that Greg was describing to him. The God described is a personal, caring being that enters into suffering with humanity. He is described as "one who knows firsthand what it's like to be a Jewish child buried alive, and knows what it's like to be a Jewish mother watching her child be buried!"
And it made me wonder, why hadn't I heard about this God from Christians? Throughout my life, growing up in the Lutheran church, I never quite heard that story. I never heard about that God. I heard all about the God of Israel, who protected his people from the Cannanites. I heard all about the God that enables David to slay Goliath. I heard all about the God that gave Solomon wisdom. I heard all about the God that healed the lepers. I heard all about the God who would judge humanity at the end of the world and separate the sheep and the goats.
What I never heard was the God who was distraught over David's sin. I never heard about the God who wept and mourned over his beloved who strayed from him. I never heard about the God who took on human suffering and died the most humiliating and painful death the Roman empire could inflict on a person.
After going to a Baptist church in high school, I started to hear about that God. But it was always softened. It's uncomfortable to really describe the way God feels about Israel. We don't want you to know about the language used to talk about them. That would be inappropriate. We aren't told just how much it hurts God to see people go astray. We aren't told what really happened on the Cross. We aren't told that what really killed Jesus wasn't a cross, or a beating. No one ever tells us he died of grief and despair.
Christianity has been too scared for years to tell us the truth behind our God. But people haven't been too scared to show who that God is. For years, people have been willing to demonstrate who God is to the world. Mother Teresa gave herself to the world, loving it with abandon. Throughout the centuries, people have been too afraid to tell us, but bravely showing us who God is.
Maybe Christianity hasn't been telling us about this God, because it doesn't know how. Maybe it hasn't been telling us, because that God can only be shown.
And it made me wonder, why hadn't I heard about this God from Christians? Throughout my life, growing up in the Lutheran church, I never quite heard that story. I never heard about that God. I heard all about the God of Israel, who protected his people from the Cannanites. I heard all about the God that enables David to slay Goliath. I heard all about the God that gave Solomon wisdom. I heard all about the God that healed the lepers. I heard all about the God who would judge humanity at the end of the world and separate the sheep and the goats.
What I never heard was the God who was distraught over David's sin. I never heard about the God who wept and mourned over his beloved who strayed from him. I never heard about the God who took on human suffering and died the most humiliating and painful death the Roman empire could inflict on a person.
After going to a Baptist church in high school, I started to hear about that God. But it was always softened. It's uncomfortable to really describe the way God feels about Israel. We don't want you to know about the language used to talk about them. That would be inappropriate. We aren't told just how much it hurts God to see people go astray. We aren't told what really happened on the Cross. We aren't told that what really killed Jesus wasn't a cross, or a beating. No one ever tells us he died of grief and despair.
Christianity has been too scared for years to tell us the truth behind our God. But people haven't been too scared to show who that God is. For years, people have been willing to demonstrate who God is to the world. Mother Teresa gave herself to the world, loving it with abandon. Throughout the centuries, people have been too afraid to tell us, but bravely showing us who God is.
Maybe Christianity hasn't been telling us about this God, because it doesn't know how. Maybe it hasn't been telling us, because that God can only be shown.
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