1. Over-familiarity:
--so used to reading a passage and glibly finding the meaning. Easy. God meant this, here's the lesson, here's the moral, la-di-dah.
2. Reading Selectively:
How many times have I heard a preacher skim over a bunch of problematic, confusing verses to get to the one palatable verse that he wants to talk about? Or how about whole books of the Bible that are never talked about? Really, we get our working belief system from a very small slice of the Bible.
3. Selective Literalism
--Christian teachers take some passages literally, word for word, and then painstakingly explain why other passages don't literally mean what they seem to be saying.
-- for some passages, preachers/teachers insist that we don't question or challenge one word of the verse- but then those same leaders will "soften" the interpretation of other passages when it seems necessary. For example:
In one passage, Jesus says that the only way a woman could divorce and still be right with God is if her husband is "unfaithful." But how about domestic abuse? And you'd be hard pressed to find a pastor who would counsel a woman to stay with her husband under these circumstances. Clearly the pastor is applying Love and Common Sense to his reading of the scriptures. If we're just to be literal, then "unfaithfulness" is the ONLY justifiable reason for divorce. So pure literalism seems highly problematic as a way of reading the Scriptures...
4. Schooled only to understand, appreciate, revere and obey the Scriptures- not how to ask questions- real questions.
-- I think the practice of asking questions, of being confused by what the Scriptures say, is a healthy practice. The more we open our eyes and acknowledge how difficult and complex the Scriptures can be- this will help us avoid over-familiarity, and over-simplifying of God, and perhaps also over-simplifying other religions as just "wrong" and Christianity as so "right"
So how am I supposed to approach the Scriptures?
I don't know.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Questions
What's so wrong with "just trying to be a good person"?
As Christians, we always slammed that idea down. If someone said, "well, I try to be a good person," we'd pontificate about how they're trying to live life without God, trying to be righteous in their own strength, that they're denying their need for Christ.
But really, if a person says that, and genuinely means it- what a beautiful statement it is. And there is such a greater ring of honesty to this than a Christian's brand of "goodness." With a Christian, when they do something good, it's more than likely not because they just want to; they're doing it because they're a Christian and that's what Christians do, or to gain status in their Christian culture.
As Christians, we always slammed that idea down. If someone said, "well, I try to be a good person," we'd pontificate about how they're trying to live life without God, trying to be righteous in their own strength, that they're denying their need for Christ.
But really, if a person says that, and genuinely means it- what a beautiful statement it is. And there is such a greater ring of honesty to this than a Christian's brand of "goodness." With a Christian, when they do something good, it's more than likely not because they just want to; they're doing it because they're a Christian and that's what Christians do, or to gain status in their Christian culture.
More Problems with Evangelism
Evangelism is not just about undertaking certain efforts to communicate a message to others. It profoundly affects the way we see ourselves, and ourselves in relation to other human beings.
Evangelism teaches the Christian that he is the sole agent of "truth," called by God to put down every other religion or belief, that he is God's "ambassador" on earth.
Is this really a healthy and humble way for a human being to view himself?
I remember those first conversations with A., thinking in utter amazement to myself: This Muslim has more understanding of God in his baby finger than I have in my whole being.
It threw me... at the time I really did think that I was the expert on God because I was the Christian, the messenger of truth. ha ha. get a life.
Evangelism teaches the Christian that he is the sole agent of "truth," called by God to put down every other religion or belief, that he is God's "ambassador" on earth.
Is this really a healthy and humble way for a human being to view himself?
I remember those first conversations with A., thinking in utter amazement to myself: This Muslim has more understanding of God in his baby finger than I have in my whole being.
It threw me... at the time I really did think that I was the expert on God because I was the Christian, the messenger of truth. ha ha. get a life.
Labels vs. Substance
I think it's important in this process of questioning to rigorously separate the label of a thing from its substance.
For example- to separate the label "Christian" or "Christianity" from what I was doing, and what I was being.
It is only clear that I was being Something, living out a certain set of rituals/practices/beliefs- but was that (living and being) really being a Christian?
By separating label from substance, I give myself a new freedom to question with abandon, without fear. ie. perhaps I'm not leaving Christianity- I'm just dismantling that particular framework of beliefs I've practiced for most of my life. Perhaps that wasn't "real" Christianity at all- if such a thing exists.
Can now freely ask: What do I think of what I practiced now that I'm looking at it without the sanctifying label of "Christianity?" Does it look good?
Or ie. questioning the god of my belief system vs. a "real" God, who may or may not be similar to the idea I had in my head.
Separating label from substance allows for subjectivity- "God" and "Christianity" might be Absolute in nature, but our knowledge of them will always be subjective and limited at best.
For example- to separate the label "Christian" or "Christianity" from what I was doing, and what I was being.
It is only clear that I was being Something, living out a certain set of rituals/practices/beliefs- but was that (living and being) really being a Christian?
By separating label from substance, I give myself a new freedom to question with abandon, without fear. ie. perhaps I'm not leaving Christianity- I'm just dismantling that particular framework of beliefs I've practiced for most of my life. Perhaps that wasn't "real" Christianity at all- if such a thing exists.
Can now freely ask: What do I think of what I practiced now that I'm looking at it without the sanctifying label of "Christianity?" Does it look good?
Or ie. questioning the god of my belief system vs. a "real" God, who may or may not be similar to the idea I had in my head.
Separating label from substance allows for subjectivity- "God" and "Christianity" might be Absolute in nature, but our knowledge of them will always be subjective and limited at best.
The label "Christian"
What if I could go through life without claiming this label?
To recognize that there always is some disparity between the label and the substance of a person...
For example- we say "mother" to any woman who has given birth to a child. But how different those women could be...
The same for the label "Christian"- does it really have any meaning, given the almost limitless variety/quality of person that claims it?
What does "Christian" mean?
Even if we give it the most positive meaning- let's say a "Christian" is someone who is "right with God"... do I have to claim that label for myself?
I wish I could just return that label to people with a question, "Who do you say that i am?"
ie. look at the stuff of my life, and tell me what you see.
To recognize that there always is some disparity between the label and the substance of a person...
For example- we say "mother" to any woman who has given birth to a child. But how different those women could be...
The same for the label "Christian"- does it really have any meaning, given the almost limitless variety/quality of person that claims it?
What does "Christian" mean?
Even if we give it the most positive meaning- let's say a "Christian" is someone who is "right with God"... do I have to claim that label for myself?
I wish I could just return that label to people with a question, "Who do you say that i am?"
ie. look at the stuff of my life, and tell me what you see.
A Bad Christian Habit
It is a bad Christian habit to have "answers" for things I couldn't possibly have answers for (as a mere human being). We feel free to have "answers" for all kinds of complex subjects which we know nothing about.
"Frankly, I'm suspicious of anyone who has a strong opinion on a complicated issue." -Scott Adams
I don't see how/why I should "speak out" at all, or have some concrete standpoint, in complicated issues (ie abortion, homosexuality, evolution, other religions)- because I would immediately set myself up as both "Expert" and "Judge;" two roles I do NOT want to find myself in. Not sure that any human being should actually occupy those roles.
"Frankly, I'm suspicious of anyone who has a strong opinion on a complicated issue." -Scott Adams
I don't see how/why I should "speak out" at all, or have some concrete standpoint, in complicated issues (ie abortion, homosexuality, evolution, other religions)- because I would immediately set myself up as both "Expert" and "Judge;" two roles I do NOT want to find myself in. Not sure that any human being should actually occupy those roles.
Actively Choosing vs. Just Obeying
"In a sense, the religious person must have no real views of his own and it is presumptuous of him, in fact, to have any. In regard to sex-love affairs, relations, to business, to politics and to virtually everything else in his life, he must try to discover what his god and his clergy would like him to do; and he must primarily do their bidding." -Albert Ellis
This religion kept me as a Note Taker in life- here, read this, study this, learn this, this is what God is like, this is what you should be like, etc. Everything was Absolute; none of this "knowledge" was viewed as Subjective.
I don't want to be a Note Taker. I want- and have already begun- to be a Doer, a Creator, a Progressor; dynamic, alive, thinking, engaging, the agent of my life, the actor, the driver.
"Just put Jesus in the driver's seat of your life." A metaphor commonly used to describe to "unbelievers" what "submission to Christ" means. But is that really what God wants? To be the driver in our lives? I'm not so sure.
If He really intended that every choice should be His, why did he give us wisdom, common sense, prudence, intelligence, the capacity for logic, etc. etc.? Just so we can turn to Him at every juncture and say piously, "What do YOU want me to do?"
He's probably just looking at us, going, "Ummm, hello? Put your hands on the steering wheel and DRIVE for crying out loud!!"
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who endowed us with sense, reason and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use." -Gallileo
I think He meant for US to be the actors, the drivers of our lives. He has a different role. And then we will answer for how we conducted our lives; to what end did we exercise our free wills.
This religion kept me as a Note Taker in life- here, read this, study this, learn this, this is what God is like, this is what you should be like, etc. Everything was Absolute; none of this "knowledge" was viewed as Subjective.
I don't want to be a Note Taker. I want- and have already begun- to be a Doer, a Creator, a Progressor; dynamic, alive, thinking, engaging, the agent of my life, the actor, the driver.
"Just put Jesus in the driver's seat of your life." A metaphor commonly used to describe to "unbelievers" what "submission to Christ" means. But is that really what God wants? To be the driver in our lives? I'm not so sure.
If He really intended that every choice should be His, why did he give us wisdom, common sense, prudence, intelligence, the capacity for logic, etc. etc.? Just so we can turn to Him at every juncture and say piously, "What do YOU want me to do?"
He's probably just looking at us, going, "Ummm, hello? Put your hands on the steering wheel and DRIVE for crying out loud!!"
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who endowed us with sense, reason and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use." -Gallileo
I think He meant for US to be the actors, the drivers of our lives. He has a different role. And then we will answer for how we conducted our lives; to what end did we exercise our free wills.
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