This worries me:
There seem to be traditions of conservative Bible interpretation, of even more conservative Bible application. There is a tendency to lean on what we have known to be discerned by wise men long ago rather than to step out on faith and follow a new, fresh, challenging thought. There is an idea that it's what you know and how you know it that makes all the difference in how you live your life; even that it's what you know and how you know it and how that knowledge plays out in your life now and in eternity that actually decides whether that eternity is even an option for you. There is an exaggerated avoidance of anything 'too figurative' or 'too illustrative' which 'might lead [you] astray' from 'the straight and narrow'.
Be careful! Don't expose yourself to the world and all its evils, that would be horrible. You're no match for it; it'll get you---you and all you hold dear would be destroyed. (this is what I hear, anyway...)
I am not worried that these traditions exist--there's often some good stuff in there--but I'm worried about their effect on me, and about their effect on this little bubble that is my small existence on this planet.
Yes, I'm worried about their effect on all I hold dear. What if I, and all I hold dear, am destroyed by my uncertainty? By my lack of confidence in my OWN (God-given and Spirit-led!) judgment? What if I, and all I hold dear, am being destroyed in a puddle of self-pitying, self-preserving, soggy and stagnant and seamless--seemingly safe, and therefore Smart!--religion?
What if I, living in today's culture of Church and World and Jesus and Satan, have spent so much time focusing on knowing mySELF and on how I as a CanReffer fit into the Church and the World and relate to Jesus and to Satan that I have forgotten to let mySELF get lost in the goodness that is new, fresh, challenging thought straight from the Holy Spirit living in me? What if Barbara Ehrenreich is right and we have repressed ourselves almost beyond our own reach, in an effort to keep ourselves safe and whole and untouched and pure and content? What if, by doing so, we actually are destroying ourselves in puddles of self-pitying, self-preserving, soggy and stagnant and seamless--seemingly safe, and therefore Smart!--religion? What if the outright rejection of something that could potentially deceive us into believing that God is a woman, or that the baptism of an infant has no effect whatsoever on that child's prayerfully coveted future within God's kingdom, is actually the outright rejection of potential spiritual growth--of a closer relationship with God our Father--of a better understanding of Christ's redeeming love? What if someone's artistic illustration of how God has made himself known to him or her is being misread as a concrete and fully researched intellectual exploration of certain doctrines held dear to Christians all over the world (and therefore this piece of literature is being refuted and condemned as a faith-shattering, heretical piece of campfire fuel, because the people who read it might be led astray by their own misunderstanding...ok, legit, but why are we not giving them any credit for being able to think for themselves?) What if Asher Lev really did paint his Jewish mother crucified on the wall of his parents' home? What if my colleague back in Photo 2 misunderstood and used Biblical imagery in a 'wrong' way to make her point? Maybe ignorance and arrogance are inexcusable when you're illustrating or reflecting or expressing yourSELF...but maybe we need to get ourselves pulled out of this puddle of self-pitying, self-preserving, soggy and stagnant and seamless--seemingly safe, and therefore Smart!--religion in order to see God in our lives in new, fresh, and challenging ways! Maybe we can stop reacting (refuting and condemning) to inexcusable ignorance and arrogance, and maybe we can start dialoguing with and gently loving PEOPLE who are ignorant and arrogant and who just don't know.
See, I'm worried that this tradition has taught me (steeped me, rotted me, repressed me) to ignore the possibility that 'human redemption grows in a field of fearless, irrational inclusivity' (Will Brawn in Geez, winter 2006, page 6) And look where the previous paragraph(s) took me in a rant full of 'us vs. them' and 'right vs. wrong' and 'think, don't be stupid' talk. Yikes!
As we start new chapters next week I hope, and pray, that I can learn how to steer away from this kind of rant and instead maybe learn a little from Geez. I hope that I can get myself pulled out of that dang puddle (just thought of Robert Munsch's Mud Puddle, heh...another can of worms...) and start losing myself all over again in the new, fresh, challenging--yet eternal and never-changing and faithful and amazing--love and mercy of our almighty God.
To HIS glory!!
3 comments:
So, I can honestly say that I don't glean all of what you said in this post, but still I feel a response brewing inside of me. The "Safe Faith" is something that a lot of decent young Christian people have been conned into. Myself included, they lit to themselves that God hears their cut-and-dried prayers and turns a blind eye to the application of the Word of God, and subsequent obedience to that Word, in their own lives, messed up and without repentance when they boldly and foolishly think they can do things on their own and don't have to report to God and be held responsible for their actions. That bothers me more than a little. But what are the merits to this faith that we have been brought up in as kids? They are abundant, though often it seems more prominent to slog through the shit than appreciate the blessings, but I believe they are there. One thing I keep on learning by falling and stumbling and tripping up in my own pride, is that being down is so much farther down without God, and the down is a long way away when we are with God. Are there merits to daily being caught in sin? Does being a sinful person and still sinning make me love God more? I feel totally lost when I try to contemplate the relationship of love between God and us. I am so unclear on how a 'safe' faith and the 'safe' community of Christians promotes a strong faith. Do we even realize the danger that we are being shielded from? Your post really raises questions in me, for myself to answer, and some I guess I will never get answers to. Hmmm.
In other news, I want to hear about Wycliffe!
Yay! Thanks for your response, Ben! I must admit, I was worried that I had scared away anyone who might have read this blog...with too many WORDS
This post was mostly sparked by overhearing a 'sermon' dad was listening to online somewhere. Preacher said something like "have you read the Shack? DON'T" and proceeded to inform his listeners why the Shack is such a horrible piece of literature. (learn how to argue---can't use blanket statements to apply your dang opinion)
It's really frustrating when there needs to be a line between illustration and doctrine, between someone's expression of their experience as opposed to a footnoted research brain-focussed paper. Of course you're not going to walk away from reading the Shack having all of your questions about God answered---the ONLY place you can get those answered is God himself. But when the rules (unspoken or assumed) around 'Safe Faith' don't allow us to even enjoy the artistic endeavours of fellow humans...when those rules don't even allow us to understand what dialogue ABOUT these things needs to look like, then it's really really sad...because then we don't even have questions to bring to God himself to get answers for---we just have whatever 'Safe Faith' has prescribed for us.
I'm excited to have raised questions :P But I'm more excited to talk about them and learn lots...
Post a Comment