The private sphere of faith...

A statement, and the pages leading up to and beyond it in Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright, challenged me this morning. The statement is "... many people still today assume that faith lives in a private sphere, shutting itself off from history lest history make unwelcome inroads." (page 69 in the hardcover edition)

Previous to this statement, Wright is making a point that the resurrection cannot be explained within our framework of conventional wisdom. Our right (rational) brains don't process this concept because it has never happened before, it isn't something anything we even remotely expect, and we can't repeat it in a laboratory. By examples and words, Wright makes the case that believing the resurrection, this totally unscientific event, changes our entire worldview.

That's the point that caught my attention and challenged me this morning. How can we keep our faith in a private sphere if our entire worldview has been changed?

Our faith changes us absolutely, even if we don't admit to others that we're believers. We are never the same again. We can't be.

Having faith (belief) that Jesus "died, was buried, ... rose from the dead, ... ascended into heaven" means we can no longer say, for example, that we are moral because that's the right thing to be. We are now (or attempt to be) moral because there's an important (permanent) witness to all we say, do, or think. We believe in "God, the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth...," and that God knows all and holds us accountable. (Some might say we're not accountable because we're "redeemed," but if you think about it, the fact that we need redemption means that we've been held accountable -- and guilty.)

During the last several elections, there has been much talk about faith and whether the candidates are "people of faith." I remember being outraged 4 years ago when participants on a 60-Minutes segment made what I believed was an unhealthy, un-Christian comparison between members of the two major political parties.

All that aside, though, the lesson for me this morning is simply this:

• The way I choose to live my life is fundamentally based on what I believe. I don't know if I'd want to be ethical or moral if I didn't believe in a supreme being who is named, who is all seeing, knowing, and powerful, and who holds me accountable.
• I believe Jesus and all he taught. I believe he was man and at the same time God, and all he said and did showed me how God wants me to live and to think.
• Even if I want to keep my faith in a private sphere, I don't know that it's possible. To think that my faith is private is just fooling myself.
• Therefore, I might as well admit it. Why do I ...? (Fill in the blank.) The answer is: Because I believe.

There is nothing truly private. Our very lives are telling. Others can read us much more than we think they can. For those of us who are believers, we can only pray that the message we're sending with our lives is the one we want to send, the one we believe God wants us to send.

First Century Judiasm, John the B, Prophesy

Reading N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, this morning. Some interesting ideas:

• Some thought that prophecy had come to an end in the first century. That's true in these times, too. (Part II, 2, (i) First-Century Judiasm, pgs 151, 152 ...)


• Even so, there were a variety of prophet-types, including some that were hired by the occupiers of the area (Romans, I suspect) who spread false information to confuse the people and some who were inspired to keep the people on the path toward God's salvation for Israel. This seems true to me in my times, too - truth and false "prophets" abound. You have to be careful who you believe. We are not unlike first century people. (pgs 153, 154)


• John the Baptist (recognized as a prophet type by Josephus) offered, through baptism, "what you would normally get through the Temple cult." The idea of an alternative to the norm, an alternative that produces a surer and truer Way, intrigues me. I have never thought of John's baptism as being an "alternative." Like many Biblical stories, I just took John's baptism as fact and never thought beyond that point.

The hymn "Open my eyes, that I may see...." comes to mind. For whatever these ideas mean, it's my prayer that a greater understanding helps keep my faith fresh and true.

A list of things we know about Jesus (from N. T. Wright)

In Jesus and the Victory of God, in Chapter 5, N. T. Wright gives a short list of things we know about Jesus. The bare-bones nature of the list speaks to me. Here's a condensation:

• ... most likely born in what we now call 4 BC
• ... grew up in Galilee, in the town of Nazareth
• ... spoke Aramaic, some Hebrew, and probably at least some Greek
• ... emerged as a public figure in around AD 28
• ... summoned people to repent
• ... announced the kingdom, or reign, of Israel's god
• ... journeyed around the villages of Galilee
• ... effect[ed] cures, including exorcisms
• ... shar[ed] table-fellowship with a socio-culturally wide group
• ... called a group of close disciples
• ... incurred the wrath of some elements in Judaism, notably ... of the high-priestly establishment
• ... was handed over to the Romans and executed in the manner regularly used for insurrectionists
• ... followers claimed ... that he had been raised from the dead
• ... [followers] carried on his work in a new way

In subsequent paragraphs, he adds these items:

• ... engaged in an itinerant ministry
• ... [ministry] took him into synagogues, into private houses, into the open countryside
• ... sometimes ... met with his followers in secret
• ... often to be found in prayer..., sometimes in lonely places
• ... ate and drank with all sorts and conditions of people
• ... kept company with people normally on or beyond the borders of respectable activity

In these opening paragraphs of Chapter 5, Wright describes Jesus as one might observe his actions. He purposely is attributing no god-like attributes to him. I find this useful as I think about the way I observe the times I live in. In some way, the list gives clarity to how I should live and tells me, at the same time, that I cannot, with certainty, understand the full measure of those around me. The list describes a man who is focused, who understands what he is about, whose eyes are on some goal that perhaps isn't always clear to those around him. Yet, we don't see the man apologizing for who he is; we don't see him backtracking and changing his ways to be more acceptable to society around him. This man seems convinced that he is on the right path. For me, it's a powerful list.

What if (God and Satan, vs God alone)

As Christians, we recognize two powerful and opposing personalities in the world - God and Satan. Sometimes, it seems that we give each of them equal time. What if we changed the way we think and recognized only one personality as powerful - God!

Instead of saying "The Devil made me do it," we would say something like "I wasn't paying attention to God, and I did it."

My thought isn't well developed, but it's a concept that's been on the fringes of my mind for many years. I always have a reaction (of some kind) when a fellow Christian says something like "Satan is tempting me" or "I am struggling with Satan." When we do that, our focus is on the thing that pulls us away from God. Why not see only God and say "God, I'm struggling. Let me hide (seek safety) in you." It seems that this would downgrade Satan, the fallen angel, and rob him of status, and, at the same time, give full due to the Lord God (where we really want to be).

Not well described, I'm afraid. Other thoughts that come to mind: Walking securely in the world, knowing that God's protection surrounds us; absence of fear or debilitating guilt; servanthood without apology for being a servant; centered (in God).

Pondering ...

N. T. Wright on Heaven (Surprised by Hope)

Interesting and good article:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1710844,00.html