N T Wright - Interesting reads

For some months, I have subscribed to an online e-mail group who discusses the writings of N. T. Wright. There's still more I DON'T know about him and his work than there is about things I DO know, but I find reading the daily digest or two from the group is something I enjoy each day. I don't participate. I'm a lurker.

Wright joined a conversation some years ago, begun by other scholars and theologians, about the times in which Jesus lived on earth and the culture in which Jesus lived. The idea is to get a better picture of the "real Jesus," something many believe we should do in every generation and culture because we are real Christians living in the now. Christianity is a living faith.

The Jesus Seminars were going on at the time, too, and one had to wonder where those were going to end up. In some of my reading back in those days, I remember thinking that some were so off the track that I was on that I just wasn't interested in reading them. I don't know if Wright comes from that tradition - or not - but I am convinced that this is a man who fully considers himself a Christian in the same vein that I consider myself a Christian. He is a believer and a worshiper. Wright is currently the Archbishop, I think, of Durham. I may have that wrong. I'm not an Anglican, so I very well could be misremembering what I've read.

Here's a site that has a huge collections of Wright's writings: http://www.ntwrightpage.com/

I think the site is worth reviewing, and his books look well worth reading. He has written so much, and he moves from the totally readable to extremely scholarly works. I am reading at the "totally readable" end of his spectrum.

Here's a quote, though, that I want to remember from time to time:

All writers about Jesus have to live with the old jibe that the historian is inclined to see his or own face at the bottom of a deep well and mistake it for the face of Jesus.

The quote is from his second book in the Christian Origins and the Question of God series - Jesus and the Victory of God. I found that I needed to have this book in order to understand another (easier-to-read) book he's written.

I think this statement applies not only to all "writers about Jesus," but about all students of Jesus, as well. We are always on the lookout for a "Christ like me" and "Christian friends like me" - and the thing to do is to remember to periodically check what Jesus is like and compare ourselves to Him instead of the other way around.

Pluralism vs totalitarianism

The idea of pluralism crops up in many publications these days. There are so many arguments for it, and there are some against it. We wind up on diverse sides, and sometimes any one of us might wind up on both sides at once.

I am surely no one to write about pluralism with any authority, but I feel I must listen and entertain the idea that pluralism is good. With totalitarianism - the opposite end of the spectrum, we cut ourselves off from too much of the world. What kind of belief system calls that good? I don't think mine does. If I cut myself off from others, I cannot get to know and love them. I remove any chance I have to interact and, yes, share the love of my God with them. And to love, as my God loves, is what I think I should do. This love is a gift to me. Sharing it with others is a gift to me, too, because love IS a gift.

On the other hand, if we believe that what we believe is right, the one true way, how do we interact with others who believe entirely differently? If our way IS the way, can we intermingle and appreciate the perspective of the other? Somehow, I think we have to. These people who believe differently are our neighbors and sometimes even our families. I would not want to miss knowing them and learning about who they are. My job is to test my own beliefs to see that I am where I want to be, that I learn to respect others, and love them, but learn to do this while I honor our differences.

I'm sure that I'm a person who believes pluralism deserves a lot of consideration. I'm sure that I don't subscribe to totalitarianism in any sense of the word. Although I believe in an absolute truth, I don't think I know it. I don't think I'm ever meant to know it. The absolute truth is so far above my meager understanding. It's an attribute of God, not of man.

Who does totalitarianism save? In my thoughts, it would save only the individual who subscribed to it, and I'm not even sure about that.

I have a knack of remembering certain statements people make, and one such remembrance is the statement of a former pastor:

It is better to err on the side of forgiveness.

To that, I can only say Amen!

I listened to a podcast this morning entitled The Dangers of Religious Totalitarianism, presented by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Here's a link to the Web site: http://www.gracematters.org/

Ezekiel 34 - Don't muddy the water for others

Sometimes a verse or two in Sunday's scriptures jumps out at me as though it were written in bold. Yesterday, it was this:

Ezekiel 34: 17-19 - As for you, my flock, this is what the soverign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

Muddying the waters! What an indictment! That speaks loudly to me, and I think I have the essence of it, but I'm not really clear. What was behind this statement?

Unger's and Halley's had little to say about it, but my Concordia Self-Study Commentary says this:

Man's inhumanity to man was not limited to the shepherds' abuse of the flock. Among the sheep, the rams, and the he-goats there were stronger and fat ones who oppressed and injured the weak and lean ones.

I don't think I can focus on the word shepherd in the explanation and, thus, discard the ethical concepts in Ezekial's words. That would be the easy thing to do. Applies to someone else. Close book. Nah, can't do that.

My NLT Life Application Study Bible has this to stay about Ezekiel:

• Written about 571 BC (during the Axial age, per what I'm learning from Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation. This is when mankind began to study and understand the self in relation to others - in other words, an ethical point of view - a serious effort during all world-wide religions.)
• The writing was directed to the Jews in captivity in Babylonia
• Parallel to the time of Jeremiah, who was prophesying in Jerusalem that the city would soon fall to the Babylonians.

There's more history here than I know, and knowing it would be much enlightening, I'm sure. But the concept of the verses is very similar to the (ethical) concepts in many other places in the Bible. Take just these two verses, for example:

Micah 6:8 - ... this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Romans 14:3-4 - Those who think it is all right to eat anything must not look down on those who won't. And those who won't eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for Go has accepted them. Who are you to condemn God's servants? They are responsible to the Lord, so let him tell them whether they are right or wrong....

And then there's always Do unto others ...:

Ethical treatment of others - it's part of the great command. There's a lot of fine lines here, and it never seems simple when we are close to the border between doing nothing and doing something, between accepting or criticizing, between doing good or attempting harm. Even when we're not close to the border, the thing we often do is nothing.

However, I think if we take this from one side only, the other side will usually take care of itself. The side we should start with is just this:

Rejoice in what we have, and be thankful. What we have was provided to us freely. We did not deserve it - or deserve to do without it, and it has nothing to do with either our rights or wrongs or the rights and wrongs of others.

Don't assume we're right and everyone else is wrong. Don't assume that we deserve good stuff and those who are not like us deserve bad stuff. Reach out with generosity. Reach out with acceptance. Reach out with love. Put all that other stuff behind us. Our first duty, if we are followers of Christ, is to reach out the way he did and still does.

Maybe we could say we always need to do something, but that something we need to do should be for the benefit of others. And as Christians, it's always good to remember that when we do something for the benefit of others, we're doing it in the name of Jesus.

A new title for this blog .. the why of it

I started this blog on June 24, posted several thoughts almost in succession, and then nothing!

It's not that I'm not studying. Rather, it's that I'm studying people who believe, what they believe, and the why of it, instead of limiting my study to the Bible. If the purpose of this blog is to make a history of my thoughts so I can reflect and grow from my learning, then the original title, Bible Studies, indicating that I would record my thoughts only when I was studying the Bible, became a dead end for making notes. Although the Bible (actually, the study of God) is primary in my thoughts, the Bible isn't the only resource I use.

My quest for understanding and growth stems from one premise: There is one God, not many gods. Because I believe ethnic origins can't create the reality of many gods, then all peoples who seek God must be seeking the same (and only) God. Firmly believing that, then I am lead to wonder about the religious beliefs of those whose expression of god is different from mine.

Among Christians, there are different expressions of who God is and what he wants for and from us. And even among LCMS Christians, a group of Lutherans who band together under one banner (myself included), there is some lack of agreement about God and the ways we should live.

I know I will never understand all these things, but what better to do with my life than to spend some time in study and meditation and gain some glimpses of the "why."

The thing that I need to be wary of is getting off on a wrong track and losing something which I've already gained. It is my hope that my life experience in the presence of the One God I worship will remind me always that there is, indeed, a straight and narrow. It's the straight and narrow described by Jesus, though - not the straight and narrow prescribed by a brand of church. And it's on Jesus' straight and narrow that I must stay, even while my journey may give me a view of many paths chosen by others.

For myself, because I am a natural skeptic of the mandates and expositions of others, at least on the face of it, I feel compelled - even as a religious obligation - to understand God through my own eyes. So I read and listen to others for whom I have respect, and then I evaluate and fortify my own beliefs where I feel changed because of something new I learn. Here are some of my core beliefs and practices:

• There is only one God, and that God is the god of the Christian Bible.
• Jesus is God incarnate.
• The Holy Spirit is God within me (but the Holy Spirit is NOT me).
• Although Triune God is a concept I could never explain, I ascribe to the mystery. The Triune God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but only one God. The Athenasian Creed says it best. (Amazing that the site where I found this is maintained by a 16-year-old (now 17) boy!)
• I will never fully understand or know God, but because of the relationship I believe we should have with God, I feel compelled to learn to know him better throughout my life. (If I were in a business meeting, I might say that God is compelling!)
• My religious bend is Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). That's not to say that "if the LCMS says it, I believe it," because that would be irresponsible of me, in my opinion. But I believe the basic fundamentals of the church is good; there are serious scholars throughout the history of the church and it's conservative enough to meet my liberal needs. I like the LCMS theology and its way of establishing it.
• I find myself naturally disinterested in excitable religion, light religion (a brand I would characterize as religion without study, including feel-good religion), or prosperity religion (I've never thought my relationship with God is about me, and prosperity is definitely about me. God might want me to be prosperous - He's definitely provided comfort for us during our lives, but that's not the point of the relationship.)
• God is a God of renewal (that's the work of the Holy Spirit within me). So I expect that I will be continually renewed and even changed as I continue my journey. The best example of renewal or change is a simple Christian thought. I am a sinner (Biblical terms). God continually changes that and counts me ok (without sin) in Jesus. So I expect to be changed as I go along; and I expect to be able to know the difference (discern) between changes that keep me on the straight and narrow path vs changes that lead me astray. I must continually be on guard for the latter! But I trust God to make that knowledge known to me.

So, Bible study really is God study for me. Changing the title of this blog opens the way for me to use it as I really wanted to - to make notes about my study of God during this period of time.

Who needs our good works?

From Issues, Etc., Sunday, Jul 23 07

Dr. Klemet Preus, speaker for this edition of Issues, Etc, Sunday, says: Our good works please God, but God doesn't need our good works. He has plenty. Our neighbor needs our good works.

This edition of the podcast, from Issues, Etc. Sunday, for Jul 23 07, can be found at http://www.kfuoam.org/podcast/IE_Sall.xml or http://www.issuesetc.org/ (or via iTunes) examines the relationship between salvation by faith and good works. Thought provoking! The program opened with a piece by Rick Warren who stresses good works.

This topic has always been of interest to me, a practicing Lutheran, raised as a Methodist. I am of the thought that Rick Warren also understands justification by faith, faith alone, but that he's talking about how we live out our faith.

My own thoughts are that works do not save me, but my faith is proven by the works I do. Actually, "my" good works have already been queued up for me and really don't qualify as "my" works:

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

Dr. Preus' point that if we focus on good works, however, we run the risk of becoming self-righteous (as opposed to Christ righteous) when we see that "our" works are good.

Interesting that this session of Issues, Etc., took place in Maple Grove, MN - close to LDR's roots.

Self or selfless - 2 Cor 5:15

From 2 Cor 5:15 during self-study in the Life Application Bible Studies series:

He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. (NLT)

Questions to ponder:

• Is it to please ourselves to spend much time talking about God and telling others?
• If we are caring for others, are we doing so with the idea of a reward? Does the idea of "reward" negate the good of caring?
• Is it best to focus more on telling, or best to spend more time on showing? Are these two ideas incompatible? Or are they companions?
• Is the message complete if we tell and don't do?
• Is the message complete if we do and don't tell?
• How do we find the right balance? Is it up to us to find that balance?
• No matter our motivation and our failings, does God work his wonder in others through our lives?

Possibly related verses:

• Matthew 10:39 - Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (NIV)
• Matthew 16:25 - For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (NIV)

More thoughts to ponder:

• Let go and let God has new meaning. We can't really manage our eternity. Once our lives belong to Christ, he manages our eternity.
• If we stop too long to examine, we may be focusing too much on ourselves and miss an opportunity that God has placed before us.
• A fine balance. We can never "nail it"! All the nails belong to Christ.

Bonhoeffer - Speaking of Faith

From Kristin Tibbett's 4/9/07 podcast from her book, a quote from Bonhoeffer, in prison in 1944:

I’m still discovering, right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world one learns to have faith. In so doing, we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God.

What a thought! To me, it seems that Bonhoeffer is saying that only by engaging in living does one engage in faith. Such a fine balance. Bonhoeffer certain followed that idea, totally engaged in his time and the needs of people in that time. We can't protect our faith (and our hope of eternity) by living only for the end times. In order to be in a heavenly state of mind, we must be engaged in a worldly frame of mind.

Dead Sea Scrolls - The Torah and Jesus

Last night (July 16, 2007), we went to a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls at the San Diego Natural History Museum. The 50-minute lecture was presented by Dr. Risa Levitt Kohn, curator of the exhibition. It was certainly worth our time and provided food for thought! Here's my morning-after notes of what I learned.

In ancient Israel, the Tabernacle, and then the Temple, was built to be the dwelling place of God - or at least of God's name. The Ark of the Convenant was in the Holiest of Holies, and God dwelt between the tips of the wings of the gold cherubs on the top of the Ark. This was the place where God made his will known to the people.

The Ark disappeared, and the Temple was destroyed. Where did God go? The Temple was rebuilt, but there was no Ark. How were people to communicate with God? The second Temple was also destroyed in about 70 CE, but that was of probably lesser importance than the destruction of the first Temple because the Ark wasn't present in that second Temple. The people had already had to deal with that important question - Where was God and how did they know his will?

The Scrolls lead us to believe that the people resolved that question by believing God was now within the Torah (Jews) or, later, in Jesus (Christians). Dr. Kohn's proposal, based on the information in the scrolls, is that the new Jewish way of seeing God and the Christian way of seeing God may have evolved as twin belief systems, not as parent-sibling systems. It's an interesting way of seeing the Christian-Jewish relationship now.

One of the important things I came away with from the lecture is a new awareness of the importance of the Torah to the Jewish faith. God is present there. The sacredness of the Torah, in the Jewish faith, is equal to the sacredness of the presence of Christ in the Christian faith.

Martin Marty on Speaking of Faith

Yesterday, I listened to Krista Tippett's podcast interview with Martin Marty entitled America's Changing Religious Landscape. The podcast, published November 2, 2006, and a written guide to the interview (entitled "Particulars") is available at http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/marty/index.shtml. It's well worth the time to listen at least once, and probably much more than once. The interview covers a lot of ground about contemporary American religious practices.

Although I've heard Marty's name many times (he's a Lutheran, a teacher, a modern-day religious thinker), I've never read anything he's written, nor have I heard him speak before this time. Now I know why I've heard his name so many times during the course of my Lutheran life. He's thoughtful and thought-provoking. A general theme throughout his career centers around religious pluralism in our society. Pluralism is a hot topic and one that dances around in my head, but that's not the subject of my thoughts today.

What brings me back to that podcast today is not only Marty's candid statements of his own faith and the state of contemporary religious life, but a quote from a talk he gave during a series of lectures at the Clinton White House, from a book by Reinhold Niebuhr:

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true, or beautiful, or good, makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.

This struck a chord with me. In our hopelessness, we find hope, faith, love, and forgiveness. This describes to me the ultimate humility - the fact that we can do nothing, that we cannot do it our way, that instant gratification is not a reality we can depend on.

Is this one of the ways God steps into our lives and says "I AM"? Is this one of the ways he gets our attention, by making the realization known to us that, by ourselves, we are hopeless?

Take this in the same thought as the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-26 and its key verse, Matthew 19:26, and remember it:

NIV: With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

NLT: Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.

See also http://sroesner.blogspot.com/2005/09/puddleglums-testimony.html for a C. S. Lewis response to hope being born out of hopelessness.

Be it so for me to remember.

Galations 6:9

July 8 07 - Epistle at Mt. Olive - Galations 6:9

NIV: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

NLT: So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

Thoughts about why we would become weary in doing good:

• Do we feel taken for granted and under appreciated?
• Do we get tired of doing good because we think we are the only ones doing good?
• Are we doing good for brownie points - or just to work off a list - and we don't engage in the moment we spend in this good deed? And therefore we would simply become tired working off the list?
• Are we looking for a reward every time we do something good? Know anyone like that? Could it be that is our attitudes, too?

Some reasons to do good:

• There's a lot of satisfaction in doing good when you don't need to. I have better days and sleep better at night.
• Doing good sometimes produces rewards later down the line, when I need a reward (a helping hand from someone else).
• Doing good produces friends, and who doesn't need a friend? I surely need all my friends!
• Doing good is what God expects of me. After all, none of my "doing good" will ever equal the good he has done for me. When I do good, it's my response to the good God has done for me, even when I don't deserve that good.
• I am disappointed in myself when I do "bad" to someone, whether it's a harsh word wrought from my own exasperation or frustration or an opportunity to help someone who is in need.

Note to self: Doing good doesn't always mean being "nice." "Nice" and "good" are not necessarily the same thing. But "not nice" should always be delivered in and with love and acceptance.

Galations 5:15 - Devouring each other

From the epistle reading at Mt Olive on July 1: Galations 5:15:

NIV: If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be
destroyed by each other.

NLT: But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.

Does this verse speak to our critical spirits? A few examples that occurred to me:

• When two or more of us criticize the lack of work others do in the church.


• When we express our dissatisfaction with the hymns for the day.


• When we have expectations that others should behave as we think we do and we voice our dissatisfaction about their behavior.


• When we judge before we learn.

Things to think about:

• Is there a cure for the critical spirit?


• Whose responsibility is it to lead the way to change?


• Can we make this change on our own?


• How do we stomp the critical spirit within our own selves?

Isaiah 65:1 - Finding God by accident

Old testament reading on June 24 07 at Mt Olive - Isaiah 65:1

NIV: I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.

NLT: People who never before inquired about me are now asking about me. I am being found by people who were not looking for me.

Thoughts:

• How amazing that God puts himself in our way so that we stumble across him and find him. I personally am blessed that it happened to me.
• Who would know God if he didn't reveal himself to us on purpose? Would we ever actively seek him if we had never known about him?
• Are we seeking something when we stumble across God, or does God just pop up in our way and we stop and take notice?
• Is it in our human nature to seek? Is it inevitable that we come across some one or some thing to identify with?
• Why is it that some refuse to believe or have a face to face with God? Is the reaction a void? Or is it a face to face "I see you, but I don't believe you exist" reaction?