I’m just a nobody. I’m learning stuff. Stuff about theology, and I want a place to think it through. I process and think through writing. So this shall be where I think my theological thinks.
Comments and discussions most welcome. Let’s be friends ok?
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
— Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
I read Love Wins by Rob Bell a few months ago. I haven’t really written down my thoughts about it, and can’t even begin to try at the moment.
My ongoing questioning has caused some rather seismic events in my theological life. Not caused by Rob’s book really…nothing in it shocked me, having come to some of his conclusions myself. In fact I remember questioning the Gospel that was presented to me when I was 12 years old. I wondered aloud how it could be considered just that people who had never had a chance to accept Christ (because they lived and died before him) or lived now in deepest darkest Africa and died never hearing about Jesus, could be sent to eternal conscious tortuous torment in hell. A trusted person answered me (a theology student and long time minister) by saying that God would judge them according to what they had done, how they had lived, according to their conscience. It was some comfort on the surface but it didn’t take long for me to see the glaring inconsistencies: that mankind is born into sin, that it is not so much our behaviour that is the problem but our condition, that no amount of good behaviour would help. And besides….weren’t these native Africans worshipping false gods? Isn’t this really really bad? This is what my 12 year old self worried about. My gospel seemed just too small. Not quite good enough. The almost good news.
Anyway. I liked Rob Bell’s book. I don’t really understand why people get all upset about it. Do Chrisitans actually like the idea of people going to hell?
I may write more on my thoughts another day, but here’s a review that I think covers it pretty well.
Will Hell Be Empty? Rob Bell’s Love Wins – at Faith & Theology
Will hell be empty? I do not know. But it is my sincere hope that it is.
Just because I like it.
Image from here: The Theological Wanderings of a Street Pastor: Charity vs Justice.
I loved this statement and wanted to repost because it seems that Christians are quite comfortable with charity, but seem to get a little uneasy when some ask the deeper questions. I have asked lots of questions, the answers to which are matters of justice. In the process of asking these difficult questions, I have become more politically minded, and more sure about my political position. (I’m still a baby thinker though and have so much more to learn – if only I could read all day…sigh)
It’s seems to me that it is inevitable that if you ask questions about poverty, access to education and medical care, about disparity in health status and life expectancy that you are going to encounter issues of justice. It goes beyond charity (which is good and right) and starts to become political.
The fundamental evangelical movement in America, and by and large the churches I have been involved in, (mainly influenced by evangelical fundamentalism) have a strong right wing position. Could it be that a theology of a rewards based relationship with God, and an emphasis on human effort (prayer and programs, pressing in and going hard after God) to advance His Kingdom, results in a political view of rewarding the successful and favouring the strong? What political position would result from a theology of a God who speaks on behalf of the widow and orphan, the poor and down trodden, the oppressed and broken? (And worth thinking about: What kind of theologies spawned Nazism, apartheid and the absolute destruction of indigenous peoples that we have seen over and over again throughout history? Extreme Calvansim perhaps? I don’t know, I’d like to find out. I think most can agree that it was a faulty theology that justified slavery, where many Christians were vocally in support of it at the time)
The thing I have found difficult to swallow in the preaching of the church background I’m from, is the emphasis on success, prosperity, and positivity. I just can’t close my eyes to the fact that 925 million people in the world don’t have enough to eat. I’m not sure the prosperity message would go down too well in the developing world, and yet we know throughout scripture that God’s heart is towards the poor, the broken, and the oppressed.
Our western culture by and large IS an oppressor. Our greed for cheap luxury goods keeps people poor, and robs countries of their natural resources. Our demand for trinkets and latte keeps people producing electronics, coffee and chocolate instead of food for their own people. Yes, we rich nations give a lot of aid. But stop and think about why Africa or Asia needs aid in the first place? Yes there is corruption and poor governance there, but don’t you think some of Africa’s troubles has to do with the hundreds of years of exploitation of it’s people and natural resources to make the west rich? The breaking of indigenous cultures under the oppression of racist policies? The breaking of families: fathers away for months or years at a time working for a pittance in diamond and gold mines to make a few white people rich? Hell Yes. So, granted, we rich people give aid and our wealth allows us to do a lot of good in the world, but let’s stop and think about how we got rich in the first place. I’m not talking about the last 5 -10 years. I’m talking about looking for a moment at the history of the worlds richest countries, and their track records of justice or lack of it.
I know that our understanding has evolved over the years. I know that many wrongs were done by people who had the best of intentions and who thought they were doing good. It’s my hope that our theology, our knowledge of God and his goodness, will inform us and transform the way we live…and I hope for justice. I hope that of all people, that Christians will be known as those who stand up against injustice. God forbid that we would find ourselves in bed with the oppressor (again).
Some related stuff I’ve been reading:
“There is no event so common place but that God is present within it, always hidden, always leaving you room to recognize Him or not to recognize Him.” ~ Fredrick Beuchner
Facebook posts seem to provide plenty of fodder for discussion on belief. It’s quite often in fact that a status or quote elicits a response in me, but more often than not I don’t comment. I can never think of a reply succinct or witty enough to make my point without causing offense or taking up the whole page.
However, in the past week or so two things have irritated me so much that I have to write something! I’ll write it here instead to get it off my chest I suppose, but also perhaps to prompt some thought in anyone reading. The first is a quote, and the second is a comment made by someone in response to a discussion about optimism vs pessimism.
Before the quote, I must mention that I haven’t read the quote in context, and I don’t know if it is true to it’s original intent when read in isolation. However, it sums up a widely held position in the church today, so regardless of what J G Lake intended it to mean, it’s literal meaning is one commonly held and is what I’d like to comment on.
“When a Christian tries to live by reason he is moving out of God’s country into the enemy’s land. We belong in the miraculous and the supernatural realm.”~ J G Lake
It goes without saying that there followed a number of ‘likes’ and hearty comments of agreement. My favourite was a tongue in cheek dig from my friend: “sounds reasonable”.
I would like to know by what means the writer, the quoter and the ‘likers’ came to the conslusion that reason is the enemy’s land? Surely it was by reason that they reasoned it?? Surely it was reason itself which enabled them to become literate and educated (terms used loosely)? Is there not some inconsistency here? If reason is of the enemy, and reason was the means of them discovering this, then it follows that their conclusion is not to be trusted. A conundrum yes?
The problem I have with all of this is that this view of things undermines God given intellect. This kind of belief excuses all sorts of ridiculous behaviour, phenomena and outright stupidity, by which people can defer to ‘the Spiritual realm’ and not have to hold themselves to any sensible thought about it’s validity. God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus Christ..has made Himself knowable. He has shown Himself through creation which mankind has studied and continues to discover. The fact that God has made Himself knowable, means that He can be revealed to our minds.
I’m not saying there is no supernatural realm, no place for faith or mystery. What I have a problem with is the idea that the supernatural is right, the mind is wrong. I am a whole person. All of me is wonderfully made, and there is no part of me that God hasn’t included into Himself in Christ. His work is complete and perfect and wonderful. I love that He has given me a mind. I love discovering Him with it! I love learning and reasoning and understanding.
And the second:
“An optimist operates from the spirit realm, he sees in faith; a pessimist operates from the soul realm, he lives in the natural and is not a partner with the Spirit!”
Yes. I proudly live in natural realm. I was born here. It is the home God has created for me. It’s a beautiful creation, nature delights me and I don’t want to live anywhere else to be quite honest. I also quite like the soul God gave me. Our bodies are incredible and it’s ability to adapt and heal fascinates me. I love the raw messy humanity of it…I love the great leveller of the fact that every person on earth uses their bowels and has to clean their ears out once in a while. I’m so tired of hearing that the spiritual is better, and the natural is embarrassing and a necessary but temporary evil. The natural realm is perfectly natural! It’s our habitat! He created it for us! What the heck is wrong with it???
Why this constant separation, this cutting me down the middle? Why this constant defining of good and bad?
The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness. ~Norman Cousins
