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End of Religion Part 2

August 29th, 2009. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. No Comments.

Another great point Bruxy Cavey makes centers around the fact that Jesus is the Word become flesh.  John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This is a defining characteristic of Christianity.  Only in Christianity does God’s revelation come in a person. In Judaism and Islam, Moses and Muhammad received revelations from God, but they themselves weren’t the revelation, it was the words they wrote down in the Torah and Qur’an.  Even Buddha as a person is not the revelation, it is his teachings that disclose the path to enlightenment and compassion.  But for Christ-followers, the revelation is a person. 

Jesus said I am the truth.  Follow me. Trust me. Come to me.  Cavey says, “The implication is important.  Reading, studying, and understanding the Bible is not the goal of a Christ-follower.  Bible knowledge is just a first step toward the goal of following Jesus.  According to Thomas Adams, ‘The Bible is to us what the star was to the wise men; but if we spend all our time in gazing upon it, observing its motions, and admiring its splendor, without being led to Christ by it, the use of it will be lost on us.’”

I think this distinction is important.  So many times we have “Bible studies” with the focus of learning and gaining a deeper understanding of the original meanings of what was written.  But we are to be reading and studying the Bible for the specific purpose of growing closer to Christ, the living Word, the Holy Spirit.  I once mentioned to a mentor of mine my desire to start a Bible study and his response shocked me.  He said, Yuck, Bible study?  Why would you want to study it?  If you see a girl across the room and you analyze or study her, you see that she has brown hair, she’s five foot whatever… Why would you want to analyze her?  Go over and talk to her and engage, but don’t study her from afar.  The same way with the Bible, don’t study it, engage it and live it, the Word is Jesus and he’s active and waiting to do life with you.  Now obviously he was just trying to make a point, he is a big advocate for reading the Scriptures.  But at the heart of the issue, why are we reading?  To learn and have more knowledge about God and Jesus?  Or to participate in an active life with Jesus?

William Barclays writes:

There was one mistake into which the early Church was never in any danger of falling.  In those early days men never thought of Jesus Christ as a figure in a book.  They never thought of Him as someone who had lived and died, and whose story was told and passed down in history, as the story of someone who had lived and whose life had ended.  They did not think of Him as someone who had been but as someone who is.  They did not think of Jesus Christ as someone whose teaching must be discussed and debated and argued about; they thought of Him as someone whose presence could be enjoyed and whose constant fellowship could be experienced.  Their faith was not founded on a book; their faith was founded on a person.

Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t read the Bible, because the Bible points the way to Jesus.  I am saying we should follow Jesus and not the Bible.  We still read the Bible, but Jesus is our goal.  And if that is true, it will radically change the way we read, interpret and apply the Bible.  Jesus always taught that the Hebrew Scriptures, the Bible of his day, always pointed to Him.  Twice in Luke 24 it says Jesus explained to them what was said about him in the Scriptures and he opened their minds to understand.

Cavey says, “So God’s written Word is not a substitute for the Word made flesh, Immanuel, “God with us”.  God’s precepts are not a substitute for God’s Spirit who continues to be God with us and within us.”  

The Bible is like a treasure map with the treasure being Jesus.  But we often treat the treasure map as though it’s the treasure itself and when we do this we miss the treasure completely.  To the religious people who did this Jesus says, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life.  But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life” (John 5:39-40)

The End of Religion

August 23rd, 2009. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. 2 Comments.

I’m currently reading The End of Religion by Bruxy Cavey. This book is amazing. The premise of the book is that Jesus never intended to found a new religion; he hoped to break down the very idea of religion as a way to God. He says, “The primary mission of Jesus was to tear down religion as the foundation for people’s connection with God and to replace it with himself – the Divine coming to us in our own context and our own form. This is what Jesus called “the kingdom of God.” It is God and his people, living together the way he originally intended.”

Jesus completely broke down and turned upside down the religion that God set up, Judaism. He came as a “fulfillment” of the law. The Jewish religion told people that you had to do A, B, C and then D in order to be forgiven of sins, to pray, to be “clean” etc. But Jesus came and proclaimed something entirely different. He said anyone can pray, anywhere. He forgave sins in the middle of someone’s house or on the roadside. You didn’t have to go to the Temple and offer a sacrifice to be forgiven. He completely shattered the religion. He subverted virtually all of the traditions and widely held beliefs of his day, and completely dissed the religious scholars and leaders. These were people considered closest to God. In Mark 7:6-9 he says,

“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

‘These people honor me with their lips,

But their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

Their teachings are but rules taught by men.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

I think Jesus’ rebukes of religion apply just as much to present-day Christianity as it did to ancient Judaism. We honor Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from him. We obey our tradition and rules over Jesus. We worship Christianity, not Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus you don’t have to go to a church building every Sunday morning, say the “sinner’s prayer”, be baptized by a pastor, speak in tongues, never speak in tongues, vote a certain way or obey any of the other rules we’ve set up.  The early Church never built buildings for themselves or had a “sinner’s prayer” to pray in order to be a follower of Christ. They just simply did what Jesus said; they subverted the religion of their day and were outsiders to religion.

In the book he says:

“By saying something as audacious as “I am the way” (John 14:6) to his disciples, Jesus fundamentally challenged all of the how-to-systems of the spiritual world. The way is not the Ten Commandments, the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the Five Pillars of Action, the Six Articles of Belief, the Seven Sacraments, or any other of the systems of salvation stewarded by the religions of our planet. God himself is the way. He has come to earth to share this message, to show us his love, and to shut down religion once and for all. We can embrace this and the freedom it brings, or we can cling to our religious systems for the comfort and security they bring. But we cannot do both.”

There are good things about tradition and the rules we create, and he talks about it in the book. But the point is Christians generally worship Christianity and the comforts it brings. If we box ourselves in and obey certain rules and interpret the words of Jesus in a way that fits inside of that box, we’re safe, we’re Christian and we’re going to heaven. I don’t think Jesus intended us to do that, and I don’t think we’re safe.  If anything we should interpret them with a historical context, looking at what he said and did in terms of the norms of his day. Then he becomes even more scandalous and subversive than we’d ever like to believe.  I don’t think many people like it when Jesus said many people would call him Lord, Lord but he would reject them, saying he never knew them.  I think he was serious when he said “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  

Sorry if this has a critical tone to it, I usually try not to be critical.  But this is a critique from the inside.  I was raised a Christian.  As I have examined my faith, I’ve seen how my whole life, while proclaiming to believe and put my trust in Jesus, I’ve really put my faith in the religion that bares his name.  Jesus was not safe, he was not a conformist.  He was subversive and created scandals.

Now I’m only giving a cursory glance at something he dedicates 200+ pages to, so I highly recommend you read the book.

Trials and tribulations

August 20th, 2009. Published under Life in Uganda, thoughts and questions. No Comments.

Joy

May 7th, 2009. Published under thoughts and questions. 1 Comment.

The other day I experienced two raw and opposite emotions back to back. 

As I was going around downtown trying to set up meetings for Bob’s upcoming trip, I realized I was near a salon where one of my “daughters” (I can’t really call her a daughter though considering she’s 3 years younger than me) has been doing vocational training.  I always try to stop and say hi to friends or people I know whenever I can, because it really means a lot to them.  One of the aunties told me once that when you don’t have visitors, you don’t feel loved, but when people come to see you, you know you are loved!  So I always try my best to make time to see people when I’m in their area. 

Anyways, I walked into the small salon and Sarah (not her real name) saw me and ran over to greet me and we sat and talked for a while.  The home she stays at is a home myself and others have befriended and supported in any way we can.  The ladies in the home decided it was time to resettle some of the girls, the ones best capable of making it either on their own or with their families.  The resettlement day when they are leaving is today.  As we talked I knew Sarah was depressed and not excited about leaving.  At one point she leaned in and just started crying into my shoulder.  I did my best to hug and comfort her, but I didn’t know what to say.  Here was a girl who came from the streets, was brought into the home and had her life completely turned around.  Now she has to go back out on her own.  Her life will be difficult, she’ll no longer have the support of her sisters or “mommy” in the home, and she’s realizing it.  She has to support herself now.  Obviously the organization is going to help her get started, but her life will never be the same as it has been for the last 3 years. 

I say all this in full support of the resettlement, without it people like Sarah will be dependent on an organization for the rest of their lives.  Sarah is at a point where she is mature enough to not be in the home anymore… its just sad for her to leave and sad to see her go.  After doing my best to cheer her up, I talked about what she had to look forward to and how happy she should be to have been blessed with living in the home.  I left sad to know I wouldn’t be seeing her much anymore, sad for her, knowing life would be much more difficult in the weeks to come, but trusting that God was watching over her and knowing things would work out.

After leaving there I went to the remand home to meet with the wardens.  They had been telling me they had more kids who needed help so I wanted to find out more information.  The main problem was the only girl they had waiting for the High Court.  She had been in the home for 5 months and never brought before the court because her district was really far away and they lacked money to buy fuel to take her.  I asked them to draw up a budget and said I’d get back to them.  Before I left the girl came into the room and I was able to meet her.  She knelt next to us (as is custom) and looked at the ground solemnly.  The warden introduced me and told her we were going to see if we could help get her before a judge and she immediately looked up, bright-eyed and smiling.  She covered her face with her hands to hide her smile as the warden laughed at her reaction and assured her we would do what we could. 

I wiped the corner of my eyes as she left the room with a bit of hop in her step.  I silently prayed that the injustice that had kept her in remand would soon end, and vowed to do my best to help.  I too left with a hop in my step, knowing that that girl was going to sleep tonight a bit more hopeful than the night before.

That night as I thought about my day, I saw how connected the pain and joy I experienced was.  I realized that the deeper the level of sadness or pain, the greater the joy will be.  If I had been sad over a papercut or stubbed toe, then happy over its healing, my joy would not have been as great, I don’t know if I would have praised God about it.  But seeing and feeling their deep sadness and pain makes the optimistic outcome all the more joyful and reason to rejoice.  For Sarah its come full circle, her past circumstances were painful and sad for any human being.  Then she entered the home and has been full of joy, having been transformed… and now sad and painful to leave the new life she has known.  For the young girl in the home, she’s spent the last 5 months with no hope, no real reason to believe she’d ever get out and before a judge… but now she has reason to believe that day is approaching and she has a new hope and joy for her life.  I don’t know why I write all this, I guess it really struck me the other day how connected the valleys and mountains in our life are.

Global Village

May 4th, 2009. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. No Comments.

pro missions athiest??

January 15th, 2009. Published under Life in Uganda, religion, thoughts and questions. 1 Comment.

I was recently emailed this very interesting article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece 

An athiest wrote it on his observations of aid and missions in Africa.. and comes to a conclusion that Africa needs Jesus more than they need money.  Pretty cool coming from an athiest.

But… having lived there and seeing the brand of “Christianity” that is in Africa, I don’t fully agree.  I obviously agree that everyone needs Jesus, but I don’t agree with the Jesus that is being preached.  Most of the Christianity that is preached and brought over from the West is the prosperity gospel, telling the people that God will bless them if they give… and if they aren’t blessed with wealth than they are doing something wrong.  The most commonly watched TV programs (apart from soccer of course) are televangelists asking for money.  Ask any local Ugandan who has access to a TV and he’ll name off several megapastors from the US, mostly guys I’ve never even heard of.  But I have seen these guys on TV there and it makes me sick… seeing a # on the bottom of the screen to call to donate money so one can be blessed by God.

I’ve heard it said that in Africa if you want to be rich you pursue one of two professions… You become a politician or a pastor.  And the pastors in Uganda at least, are just as corrupt as the next person.  The pastors of the two largest churches are currently in legal trouble.  One of them is being investigated by the FBI for molesting a young girl while in the US this summer.  The other was just arrested (for at least the third time) for stealing cars in Uganda and selling them in the Congo.  This pastor heads a 40,000 member church and in the newspaper said something along the lines of, “Stealing is a sin.  I’ve sinned but God forgives me.  If you are sinning come to Miracle church on Sundays to get saved.”  But this guy has been arrested over three times for stealing cars… I assume because of his wealth he constantly is let go.

While I ultimately agree with the author of this article, I believe the Christianity that is being brought over and being preached is wrong.  The people need something to believe in, and I agree that the Christians are different/happier than the next person in Uganda… but my Jesus didn’t steal or ask the poor for money.

Community

November 9th, 2008. Published under Life in Uganda, TIA, religion, thoughts and questions. 1 Comment.

I’m in the middle of the first funeral I can remember.  I honestly cannot remember going to any funeral.  I know I went to some as a little kid, but I have no vivid memories of any. 

My best friend here and head teacher of Restore Academy, Peter, lost his “mzee” Friday night.  He had throat cancer and went to Kampala for surgery on Wednesday, but died Friday night from complications to the surgery (this is no Seattle Grace).  It is really sad, Peter lost his biological father two years ago, and now he’s lost his uncle, who stepped in to take his father’s place as head of the family.  The funeral process here in Uganda is much different than back home.  Saturday they transported the body back up to Gulu.  We drove with Peter and by the time we got to Gulu people had already gathered at his house to help mourn.  Saturday afternoon/night probably 50 or so friends and family had shown up at the family compound to pay their respects and help mourn.  Many of them traveled from pretty far and are staying on the compound, wherever they can find a place to sleep.  This will go on until at least Monday or Tuesday, with the actual burial on Monday.  But this custom of paying respect and helping the family mourn is really cool.  Virtually all family members drop what they are doing and come mourn until after the burial.  Friends come and join them for as long as they are able, many staying the whole time.  Its literally a 3-4 day event.

Wanting to respect this norm, I went and sat at the house for several hours last night.  As tired as I was, it was an amazing experience.  There were about 3 small bonfires with people sitting around talking into the wee hours of the night.  There were a few fires for the women and girls and a fire for the old Acholi men.  I sat with Peter and five Cornerstone OB’s (alumni) nearby and just enjoyed great conversation.  In no particular order, it went from death to life to Jesus to current events to astronomy to Obama to morality to football.  But as I sat there listening I just absorbed my surroundings and what was taking place.

I realized I was in the midst of community.  Someone that each of us around the fire loved was hurting, and we came together to mourn with him and bring him back up.  I take no personal credit for intentionaly doing this, I just knew it was a cultural norm so I wanted to go and sit at the house.  But I realized how great that norm is.  It reminds me of Luke 6:20-26 and what my buddy James has to say here:  http://jamestravels.com/2008/02/blessings-and-woes-2.php.  The Acholi culture says that when one of you is mourning, all of you mourn and together (after the burial) you celebrate and life goes on.  I’m personally getting a first hand experience of how great that is. 

As screwed up as some things are here in Uganda, the sense of family and community is something we all should be envious of. 

Storming the gates

October 22nd, 2008. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. 2 Comments.

“Eternal life.  Where is it?  When is it?  For a long time I have thought about eternal life as a life after all my birthdays have run out.  For most of my years I have spoken about the eternal life as the “afterlife,” as “life after death.”  But the older I become, the less interest my “afterlife” holds for me.  Worrying not only about tomorrow, next year, and the next decade, but even about the next life seems a false preoccupation.  Wondering how things will be for me after I die seems, for the most part, a distraction.  When my clear goal is the eternal life, that must be reachable now, where I am, because eternal life is life in and with God, and God is where I am here and now.” – Henri Noewen

I heard this quote recently on a podcast and have been turning it over in my head a bit.  I have to say I agree with what Nouwen is saying here.  If you look at Jesus’ teachings and parables when he tells us what the kingdom of heaven is like, he gives us examples in the earthly realm.  Or when people asked him how to inherit eternal life, he spoke of eternal life as being here and now, on earth.  The parable of the Good Samaritan, part of Jesus’ response to the question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” is a perfect example.

I know personally I can struggle with living “in the here and now.”  Much of the time my thoughts go into the past and I dwell on what I should have said or done in a certain situation or I dream about the “what ifs” of life.  Then I find myself wondering/worrying about the future and what it looks like.  I worry about money, my health, or where I’m going to be in 5 years.  Yet the end of Matthew 6 tells us not to do this.  We’re not to worry about tomorrow and what it brings, but are called to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.”  I think my thoughts and actions should be in response to the question what can I do, today, that will bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, today?  Not what can I do today that will benefit the kingdom of heaven when I die.  Or what I can do tomorrow.  Tomorrow has its own worries, lets focus on the here and now.

But maybe I have a plan for the future, and some decision comes up that deciding one way affects that plan, but the other brings eternal life to earth today.  I think I need to choose the latter.  I don’t think planning in and of itself is bad, but I think we need to be fluid in our plans and know that we are to be living our eternal life out daily.  We can’t let our plans, our friends or our possessions get in the way of living our eternal life right now.  That was the case with the rich young ruler.  He had too much stuff that stood in his way.  Although he obeyed the commandments, he had too many things that kept him from following Jesus.  For some people their hindrance may be their “need” to save for retirement.  What about sliding into home at 65, 75 or 85, penniless but truly living and enjoying the ride?  Completely trusting God each step of the way.  I know some people think not planning financially for the future is immature and stupid (I myself used to think this way, but maybe I’m still immature and stupid) but what did the early church do?  They shared everything, some sold land or homes and brought the money to the apostles and it was distributed to anyone as needed.  If this is how the original church operated, how those who walked with and learned from Jesus decided to start, shouldn’t we be doing likewise?  Just recently I’ve seen friends moving in that direction (www.loveisone.org) trying to raise money for their friend in need.  But its happening with young, broke 20-somethings.  What if this started happening with the millionaire and billionaire Christians out there?

Going back to the quote, our desires and dreams shouldn’t be on life after death.  I know it’s going to be great and I will love that day when it comes, but I don’t think that the “afterlife” is the beginning of eternal life.  I think eternal life begins when we are “born again” and we begin to let the Holy Spirit guide our life.  I believe life after death is going to be amazing, but its not what we should be sitting around waiting for.  We shouldn’t just be coping with this earth, dreaming of a better life in heaven and waiting for that magnificent change after we die.  A friend of mine said she thought the biggest, most radical change in our life should be between our life before we started to follow Jesus and our life after.  Life after is the beginning of our eternal life and we have to humble ourselves, admit that we know nothing and begin to learn anew.  When we do this and we live with God in the here and now, we bring heaven to earth.  Jesus said the gates of hell will not overcome the church.  That means the church is storming the gates of hell, not the other way around.  We’re not sitting around building up a protective wall for ourselves and waiting to go to heaven.  We’re on the offensive, storming hell’s gates and bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth!

Prayer

October 15th, 2008. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. No Comments.

I’ve been reading/listening/thinking about prayer in the last few days.  I have to admit, my prayer life has been a wreck.  It’s usually very routine.  Something like thanking God for the day, saying prayers for family and friends who I’ve told I’d pray for (mentally marking them off like a checklist), maybe asking forgiveness for things, and then asking God for things, to intercede on my behalf or to heal so and so.  I’m sad to say but its felt so… dead.

Realizing the poor state of my conversations with God, I’ve been thinking about the why/what/when/how questions of prayer.  I’ve just begun Philip Yancey’s book Prayer and in the first chapter he begins talking about these questions.  He says, “We pray because we want to thank someone or something for the beauties and glories of life, and also because we feel small and helpless and sometimes afraid.  We pray for forgiveness, for strength, for contact with the One who is, for assurance that we are not alone.”  Now this isn’t some grand statement, but it holds a lot of truth.  We pray when we are thankful, afraid, remorseful, weak and feeling alone.  Yancey then quoted surveys showing that prayer was ranked extremely high on theoretical importance to people, yet ranks incredibly low on surveys of actual satisfaction.  Why is that?  Are we praying for the wrong things or become too structured and intellectual in our prayers?

Tonight I fellowshipped with the youth corps kids with all this on my mind.  I realized about halfway through how “un-into-it” I was as I just stood with the kids clapping my hands (I find my mind easily wanders when every other song is in a different language).  I was there physically praising God, but mentally I was in a million different places.  When the singing turned to slower, more intimate songs I closed my eyes and just listened to their beautiful voices, silently speaking to God.  Midway through the power went out, leaving us in a pitch black room.  But their voices rose and they sang even louder.  Then they started to pray.  Deep, passionate cries out to their Father.  It should be noted they pray out loud, all at once and speak incredibly fast.  I joined in and just let my heart talk to God, my mouth and mind not even knowing what I was saying.  It was… incredibly refreshing.  I felt so close and known by God in those few minutes. 

Then I thought about the kids.  I doubt any of them would say they are dissatisfied with the “quality” of their conversations with God.  Maybe Jesus said the kingdom belongs to ones such as these for a reason.  They don’t have daily devotionals or read the Bible everyday.  But they do sing and talk to God in ways I’m jealous of.  If praying is my means of conversation with God, and I desire to love Him with all my heart, I should be pouring out my heart to Him every day with reckless abandon.  Not marking things off a mental sheet, but wrestling with Him.  Releasing all my fears and struggles, but also humbling myself knowing that His thoughts are not my thoughts.  Giving Him the praise for any and every blessing or woe I have in my life.

Anyways, this is what has been on my mind the last few days.  I thank and praise God for all the amazing things I’ve learned through these kids.  Here’s to many more.

Biz-en-uss as usual

October 12th, 2008. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. 1 Comment.

I’m spoiled.  I’ve been blessed with amazing friends.  The last few months I have had the incredible opportunity to spend time with old and new friends from the states, both those living here and those here only a week or two.  I feel a little guilty because of how much fun we’ve had, but it has been a great time of growth within our little unique community.  I’m continuing to see how church isn’t confined to brick walls inside of a building.  In fact, its hardly been that at all for me over the last year.  My church has been the daily interactions with my fellow brothers and sisters, lifting each other up, encouraging one another and just having fun together. 

Something that continues to astound me though is the quality of people I’ve befriended.  No offense to my friends back home, I love you all, but I’ve met the brightest, most creative guys and girls who have this incredible drive to make the world a better place.  A place where no young girl is forced to the depths and darkness of prostitution.  A place where no child is enslaved behind the production of our food/clothing/tv/toothbrush/________(enter your consumer product here).  Corporate and consumer responsibility have come up quite a bit, which has really hit home with me and my negligence to these issues.  But whats best is that people aren’t standing idly by and talking about the next great idea or just complaining about whats wrong in the world… action is being taken.  In the last 6 months I’ve seen friends start businesses and organizations, and I’ve dreamed with others about starting businesses, with a focus on more than the bottom line.  Businesses that operate first and foremost out of love.  Non-profits where the directors take personal losses to keep others employed.  Individuals who live day in and day out a life of love and reconciliation.  This is what the Golden Rule is about. 

Through several conversations, brainstorming sessions and Bible studies I’ve seen that people at the ripe young age of 24 can and will make a difference on the global village that we live in.  With Jesus’ principles as the guiding light, change will be made, there is no doubt about it.

I’ll write more soon with details on some of these businesses and how you can get involved…