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.