THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Well it may be Halloween, but the 31st October, is important for a far more significant reason than costumes and candy. This is the day in 1517 when a Catholic monk named Martin Luther, nailed a list of demands for church reform on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. That gesture demanded church reform and led to the creation of Protest-ant churches of the 16th century.

While the gospel spins from this historical event, it would seem a great opportunity for churches today to explain to other religious groups and secular listeners and readers, the importance of freedom of speech and freedom of faith. It would also be appropriate for students of the Bible who are also students of today’s issues, to tell the world what the Bible says about a surplus of concerns that are persistently in our news. The Bible teaches about economy, equality, gender justice, sexuality, cooperation, compassion, wealth and poverty, environmental management, social service and more.

MEDICALLY ASSISTED DEATH

There is no definitive answer in this article. I am making some statements and asking some questions. Death on request or aid to suicide violates deeply-rooted moral beliefs of most faiths and is deemed ethically unjustifiable. These beliefs have most certainly influenced our civic laws. In Canada euthanasia and assisted suicide are forbidden. Ten years ago the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against physician-assisted suicide when Sue Rodriguez petitioned to end her life. Recent cases are again challenging that ruling? Journalists evoke approval of assisted death by emotionally describing the petitioners’ desire to leave their pain behind. Anti-doctor-assisted suicide proponents ask whether legalization implies a normalization and approval of euthanasia, turning it into an ordinary and established element of medical and clinical practice. Should this legislation be changed? If the ruling isn’t changed, and if the church continues to oppose this practice, it must realize a responsibility to suffering people, to help them deal with the experience of meaningless suffering. Civil libertarians assert that the right to life does not imply an obligation to live. This debate will not go away. They will say that neither from a legal nor a Christian point of view have we the right to oblige others to live or to go on living. Do we or don't we?

POST CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALS

When my theology was in its formative stages, I was instructed by Great Tradition evangelicals. It was a conservative Evangelical theology that accepted the Bible as God’s inspired and trustworthy word. At the same time I was aware of scholars and theologians who attempted to reform or correct the great faith traditions. Reform or correction was accomplished by questioning divine authorship of parts of the Bible.

THE POSTMODERN MIND AND THE CHRISTIAN

A large percentage of people today have a naturalistic worldview and a relativistic morality. For them truth is perceptual and subjective rather than objective and absolute. Experience and observation determine whether something is true or false, and that renders a variable reality, which differs from person to person and culture to culture.

CHALLENGING THE ONE WAY STREET

Christianity avows its uniqueness and asserts that it does matter what a person believes. In fact, speaking of absolute truth, Jesus Christ declared himself to be the Truth: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6, NIV). Postmodernism denies Christ’s claim to be the truth. Postmodernists do not believe that there is only one way to the Father and/or to heaven. Christianity’s claim to uniqueness is interpreted as conceit and intolerance. In the modernist’s mind, all religions, faiths and philosophies are of equal legitimacy. Who are you going to believe? And why?

LABELS SUCK - Metanarrative, Postmodernism

Seriously, terms slurp and labels suck, but we speak with them so I must deal with them, usually to define them before we can carry on normal conversation.
Metanarrative, there’s one, a slurp. It means a grand story or the big story. The Bible may appear as a collection of unrelated stories among a select nation, yet a comprehensive appraisal suggests the Bible is God’s self revelation to the world through a chosen people who experienced God and so give meaning to life as well as define what is true.
Postmodernism, there’s another one, a label. Postmoderns do not believe in metanarratives. They contend that there are no grand stories which convey meaning to life and which define what is true. Postmodernism is a philosophy that says absolute truth does not exist. Typically, postmoderns deny long-held beliefs and maintain that all perspectives are equally valid. In fact, postmodernism rejects absolute truth, and accordingly discards the Bible. In postmodernism, all religion is abridged to mere opinions. Can an opinion get you to heaven?

CHURCH AS BUSINESS

Church today is increasingly business–like. Scripture makes no case for the gathering of Christians being a business. We call these gatherings churches, and collectively they are ‘The Church.’ That collective is described in scripture by terms like body, bride, family, and spiritual house. It is understood in the Bible as a living organism of which Jesus Christ is the head. But church today is increasingly business–like.

ASSESSING CHURCH - WHAT TO LOOK FOR

LOOKING FOR HELP FROM THE WRONG SOURCE

I don’t mean to rag on any individual or group desiring to help congregations but … I can’t help myself. I read with dismay the list of services being offered to churches by a consulting team. Like countless other consulting services, this team has developed strategies based upon working with some of America’s most innovative and fastest growing churches, which if applied to other churches, will unfailingly produce the same cutting edge outcomes. That’s the expectation.

BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION OR GRACE

Listen, I have gone to church since I was a boy. I have a good idea of what I heard then, what I trained to say, and what I hear now. I have been a participant in countless ecclesiastical programs and discussions. We tend to emphasize external change and obedience and underemphasize grace. We preach grace but are sort of afraid of it, lest it lead to recklessness.

INTELLIGENT RISKS

I will assume that if you have been attending church for a long time, you have heard a substantial portion of the Bible’s narratives and teaching sections. With that background, have you given yourself permission to explore the reliability and believability of the stories, that is, to pursue valid clarifications to hard questions about God?

Will intellectual inquiry kill your faith? Is that a concern? If the entire bible is God’s inspired word, shouldn’t the entire volume stand any authentic scrutiny? None of us believe that God wants us to set our intellect on ‘dumb’ simply to maintain faith do we?

FROM CYNICISM TO OPTIMISM

Maybe what needs to occur to modify our thinking about church from cynicism to optimism, is first of all to admit that it has not lived up to our expectations because we had an unrealistic picture of what she was. She is not Paradise. She is not Utopia. She is a gathering of once damaged people all of whom are in stages of recovery. Cynicism dissolves when we rid ourselves of wrong notions. Another thought shaper might be the acceptance of the role of the critic rather than the cynic. Criticism can be energizing to the subject of the criticism when it is genuinely delivered and honourably received. It’s like an objective performance analysis. Finally, a virtuous approach is to be the change that you wish to see in the church. This is far more demanding work than cynicism. It is about action and not merely about words. Yet how often in the past, those who have led by example, have been instrumental in awakening the church to new paradigms and necessary change. Maybe you have to live a radical life. Get past crabbing to contributing once again. If you truly want to become serious about the things that have made you cynical, then you must graduate to objectively speaking about this and living it.

JUST BE THE CHURCH

Or perhaps something more profound must be said to any of us who may be critical of church as it is being experienced today. Maybe we need to detach ourselves from the chorus of naysayers and lampooners. Maybe we need to reread the gospels and fall in love again with the church that Jesus loved enough to die for her. Okay, so the church with all that property, all that square footage, that fat revenue has not seen seekers come to faith in five years. And true enough, some high profile church leaders and even local pastors have embarrassed themselves and humiliated the church through one scandal or another. And yes, you’re right, the communication of good news gets buried sometimes under the mountains of self-reproach being pumped from pulpits. Then why not be a change agent. Don’t buck a system. Just be the church, you. I’m talking to you, and of course to me. You can let your own faith be so winsome that people will come to faith in Christ. You can identify in practical ways with poor and disenfranchised people. You can love. Strangers, neighbours, friends can be exposed to the love of God simply by you being you, a helper, a listener. You can have church in your apartment suite, your home, at Starbucks, and it is legitimate and genuine. In the process, church will be renewed, reformed.

SHOULD YOU BE INVOLVED IN RESTORING THE CHURCH?

What if God wants those who cannot help but be cynical about church right now, to actually help improve it? What if some of the observations that have fed the cynicism are actual? And now, what if you cynics are actually being called by God to reconstitute her, that is, the church? You can sit on your duffs and crab until you croak but that will serve no purpose. If you agree that the church is enduring, and by that I mean the church constituted of all whom Christ has emancipated, then you cannot in good faith give up on her. You are part of her. If you are correct to be cynical about the condition and the operations of church, are you not one of those many who should be active in restoring her credibility?

ROAST THE CHURCH

It bothers me. I have friends who are avid and unquestioning church supporters. They are uncomfortable with conversation that is critical of church. I also have friends who express cynicism about church, skepticism with which I do not altogether disagree. So I’ll tell you what I am thinking. People are disappointed with church. The church should want to hear about that, yet because it is a closed subject in church, articles, books, and blogs poke at the church, deride the church. There have always been jokes about religion. This is different. This is a preoccupation, even a movement. Knock the church. Roast the church. That’s partially explained by the failure of church leaders and members to listen and to discuss the reasons why a growing percentage of Christians are dissatisfied. So the disappointed withdraw and possibly become this vocal resistance to which I refer. The crazy thing is, both positions argue from the conviction that the church belongs to Jesus, and he loves the church. One side queries, “how can you dare to be cynical about Christ’s bride?” The other side charges, “the way you are doing church, is losing credibility, confidence and relevance.”

PLEASE TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS SITE

I am having a rest day ... well, truthfully not. I am communicating some truth to an audience nearby, grateful for the opportunity and trusting that seed finds soil in which it can germinate and grow and become productive. I would be please if you refer this site to other readers as time goes on and you think something challenging is happening here.

ENGAGING THE WORLD LIKE JESUS DID

Pharisees by James Tissot

Today, Christians tend to relate to the world either as separatist Christians or as cultural Christians. Neither way works well and these approaches have been seen before.
Pharisees insistently enforced rigid obedience to God’s Law and developed additional traditions in order to protect Judaism against the impact of Greek culture. Pharisees held on to their Jewish identity at the expense of relevancy, (Matthew 15:8-14).
Sadducees contrarily clutched relevancy at the expense of their identity, seeking to assimilate with culture, even if it meant surrendering some doctrine. Resurrection was objectionable to the Greeks so the book of Acts reveals that Sadducees threw it out, Acts 17:3; Acts 23:7-8; Matthew 22:23. Into this religious climate Jesus came.

CHRISTIAN SCHIZOPHRENIA ABOUT ENGAGING CULTURE

I hope to demonstrate a correlation between the last two posts on Monday and Tuesday, that is, the church’s schizophrenic engagement with the culture and the increased number of millenials leaving the existing church.
First, I underscore the paradox mentioned in yesterday entry. Christians grapple with tension because scripture urges them to be careful about the world’s influence upon them while instructing them to be intentional about influencing the world.

CHRISTIANS AND CULTURE

CHRISTIANS AND THE CULTURE AROUND THEM

How well are Christians engaging with the culture outside the protected church environs? It has been common for churchgoers to view culture as “secular,” evil, and something to be avoided. The former group of Christians whom we may term as ‘legalists’ has categorized believers who have not made the secular/sacred distinction as ‘liberal’ or ‘libertine.’ This dichotomy is not uncommon to Christian conversation and Christians have stereotypically opted for one or the other of these approaches to engaging culture.

GOD MAY BE FINE BUT THE CHURCH IS NOT

Thirty years ago, no one questioned the value of the local church, of church membership and involvement in church programs. Many do today. I am writing with the Caucasian North American church in mind. The demographics and stats may differ in other countries and continents. The demographic that most of our churches are missing are teens, college students, young working adults, and young marrieds. They are the Millenials and for them, God may be fine but church is not.