Books, Theology

Hell No? Hell Yes?

1 Comment

Rudy at Urban Onramps posted a story asking his readers if they are “linkers” or “thinkers.” I think I am a linker who longs to be thinker. Whaaa!??!?!

Anyway, a few weeks ago I finished reading Brian McLaren’s The Last Word and the Word After That“. On Monday, Brian did a few guest blogging sessions at various “emergent” blogs. On JordonCooper.com here is how Brian summed up the main thrust of his book:

For those of you who haven’t read the book, here are some of the main ideas:
A. Our view of hell has a lot to say about our view of God (and vice versa).
B. For many people, hell means that God torments or tortures people consciously and forever, with no possibility of repentance and no possibility for an end to the tortures.
C. This view of God, I believe, is unworthy of the God presented to us in Jesus Christ.
D. The conventional understanding of hell developed over a long period of time. It wasn’t revealed in the Old Testament, but arose in the period between Testaments. When Jesus speaks of it, he hasn’t invented it, but rather is responding to it as a controversial idea among the Jewish people of his day.
E. The Sadducees were the conservatives who held to the older view that there was no hell or no afterlife. The Pharisees were, in a sense, the liberals who accepted the idea of hell. Many believe that the idea of hell came into Judaism from Persian religion – and that the name Pharisee may be from Farsi, or Persian.
F. Jesus does not follow either the Sadducees (who reject any idea of afterlife), nor does he follow the teaching of the Pharisees and their view of hell. Rather, he charts a bold new path and uses the language of hell (“owned” by the Pharisees) to draw attention to his own message – centered in the kingdom of God, and the character of God.
G. “The kingdom of God” does not mean heaven. Being excluded from the kingdom does not necessarily mean eternal conscious torment after death in hell either.
H. All people will face judgment. God is always both just and merciful in judgment. Being judged does not necessarily mean “being sent to hell.” Nor does being condemned. These words mean being exposed for being disobedient to God, not pleasing God, not serving God.
I. Matthew speaks the most about hell, Mark and Luke, less, and John not at all. Paul speaks often of the reality of judgment, but he doesn’t talk about hell. The New Testament is not as clear about the subject as many people believe.
K. We need to rethink the message of Jesus and the apostles in terms of the kingdom of God – which is God’s will being done on earth, and not be so preoccupied with the issue of hell.

Pretty challenging. I can’t say that I agree 100% with everything here but I can tell you that I am 100% stretched and moved. Brian does such a wonderful job asking questions. The two points that poke at my heart are A and K. I will be wrestling with this for a while and I encourage you to as well. I just wanted to post this link here for us to think about.

Popular Culture

Spielberg Wept. (Wookie 11:35)

I was already eagerly anticipating the opening of “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” next week and now I’m even more intrigued. Apparently Steven Spielberg has been overcome. He burst into tears at the screening he was a part of last week. Spielberg should know that Jedi are supposed to keep a tight reign on their emotions but I guess he forgot. I don’t expect a unbalance in my force to cause the old water works to kick on during the movie but we shall have to see.

UPDATE: I purchased my tickets for the midnight showing last night. I’ll be going with a handful of my students. A couple of them said that they will be dressing up. Oh brother!

Link

Ministry, Theology

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

What man is a man who does not make the world better?

The wife and I went to see Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven” last night. The movie is based on the siege of Jerusalem led by Saladin against the knight Balian and his forces. Although not entirely accurate (See Holy War by Karen Anderson), the film was engaging.

Over the past few months, my heart has been dogged by the question, “What does Jesus Christ mean when he talks about ‘the Kingdom of Heaven.” I know that I am certainly not the first person to ask this question. I just don’t have an answer. I do know that I am less and less inclined to believe that He speaking eschatologically. I also believe that in the USofA, we think more about the sweet by and by and less about the here and now. It seems that everything I read, every small conversation, every news report I see has been pushing me closer and closer to this question lately. Greg posted a heartbreaking thought on “the kingdom” this week. The question is driving me at the moment. Don’t be surprised if over the course of the next few weeks if this question spills a lot of digital ink here. Just a necessary part of “Kicking at the Darkness.”

Popular Culture

Oh, My Heart Stopped…. There It Goes.

My wife was appalled at the new Hardee’s commercials that feature the 4-pound Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub Burger. She couldn’t believe that such a thing existed. Well, feast your eyes on the all-new Beer Barrel Belly Buster. The news story describes it this way:

The burger comes with 10.5 pounds of ground beef, 25 slices of cheese, a head of lettuce, three tomatoes, two onions, a cup-and-a-half each of mayonnaise, relish, ketchup, mustard and banana peppers – and a bun.

It costs $30.

“It can feed a family of 10,” said Denny Liegey Sr., the restaurant’s owner.

This is just sad. In fact, it makes me very, very angry at just how extravagant and wasteful the west can be.

Via Drudge Report
My Way News

General

A Bone

This morning I walked into work and found an envelope in my box. It was a thank you note to my wife and I for helping out the boss and the school with various projects. Our schedules for the last few weeks have been filled up with these projects in one way or another. Some tasks have been tedious. Others enjoyable. None the less, we enjoy using our talents when asked so that we can help out. I never expected a thank you note but we got one today with a handsome gift card to my favorite resturant inside. Life is good.

General

The Singer Speaks

Just a few of my favorite conversations from Bono in Conversation with Mishka Assayas. Enjoy!

Conversation 1

Assayas: Some of your fans had a hard time with records you made in the nineties.

Bono: That’s right. They didn’t see it. On Pop, I thought it was a tough relationship with God that was described there: Looking for to save my, save my soul/ Looking in the places where no flowers grow /Looking for to fill that God shaped hole. That’s quite a interesting lyric, because that’s the real blues- that comes from Robert Johnson, it happens through the machine age, through the techno din, but there it is: the same yearning. But he (Bob Hewson, Bono’s father) didn’t see it. A lot of people didn’t see it, because they wanted to feel it, not think it. (25)

Conversation 2

Bono: (Paul McGuinness) would sit me down and say, “You have what it takes. You must have more confidence in yourself and continue to dig deeper. And I don’t be upset or surprised when you pull something out of the depth that’s uncomfortable.”

Assayas: So you discovered things that, on first glance, you’d rather have kept hidden? What were those?

Bono: The gauche nature of awe, of worship, the wonderment at the world around you. Coolness might help in your negotiation with your world, maybe, but it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw. That’s the connection with great music and art, and that’s the other reason you wanted to join a band: you wanted to do the cool thing. Trying to capture religious experiences on tape wasn’t what ypu had in mind when you signed up for the job.

Assayas: What about your own sunglasses, then? Do you wear them the same way a taxi driver would turn off his front light, so as to signal to God that this rock star is too full of himself and not to hire at the moment?

Bono: Yeah, my insincerity… I have learnt the importance of not being earnest at all times. You don’t know what’s going on behind those glasses, but God, I can assure you, does. (53-54)

Conversation 3

Bono: I know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond (sighs) in allowing myself to be transforrmed by that love and acting in that love, that’s my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when I try and live this love. Now, that’s not so easy.

Assayas: What about the God of the Old Testament? He wasn’t so “peace and love.”

Bono: There’s nothing hippie about my picture of Christ. The Gospels paint a picture of a very demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is. I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that’s why they’re so relatable. But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is like the journey from stern father to friend. When you’re a child, you need clear directions and some strict rules. But with Christ, we have access to a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combonation is what makes the Cross. (200)

Conversation 4
Assayas: The son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.

Bono:But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certian results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s morality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to your actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled… It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven.

Assayas: That’s a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that farfetched?

Bono: No, it’s not farfetched to me. Look the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But acctually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: “I’m the Messiah.” I’m saying: “I’m God incarnate.” And people say: No, no please, just be a prophet. A prophet we can take. You’re a bit eccentric. We’ve had John the baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don’t mention the “M” word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you. An He goes: No, no. I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but acctually I’m the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he’s gonna keep saying this. So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who He said He is- the Messiah- or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Chrles Manson. This man was like some of the people we’ve been talking about earlier (Islamic fundamentalists). This man was straping himself to a bomb, and had “King of the Jews” on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: Ok, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I’m not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over a half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nut case, for me, that’s farfetched… (204-205)

Books, Theology, U2

Meeting God Without The Sunglasses

The other day I posted that I was reading Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas by Michka Assayas. On that post, Beth commented that she was “quite astounded by his complete candor about his faith in the Assayas book.” I could’t agree more. Bono seemed more than willing to open up about his childhood, his family, and his causes. What stuck me more was that Bono could be speaking about the Sandanistas in South America or conversations that he had with his father and seemlessly transition into talk of the Spiritual. On top of that, he never falls into the televangelese of “JEEEEEE-SUS.” When he discusses a scripture reference or uses a biblical example he steers clear of beating his breast for shameless self-promotion by saying “Look at how spiritual I sound.” His words on faith just come out at any given moment in humility and earnestness. They are real and raw. When he is speaking about faith, Bono reminds me that the gospel is good news. It isn’t a weapon or an aurgument as much as it is a life giving story that should permeate our thoughts and pepper our outlook. Brian McLaren speaks of the gospel in terms of the daily paper. The paper has a daily section, a sports section, a religion, a buisness, and a world section. Instead of keeping the Trinity exclusively in the religious section, the Gospel has something to say in every section. The Gospel should interact with every facet of our society just as it inteacts with our heart, body, mind and soul.

I’ll post some of my favorite conversations later this week.

General

History

My father is a high school Govt/Economics teacher in Texas. He is one of those great teachers who gives his lessons through story. I grew up listening to him regale his students with tale after tale of how our country came to be. As I went to college I had a professor who would have to dismiss class because he would not be able to compose himself after telling the story of heroes such as LaFayette and Lincoln. I had a great experience learning history and that has served me very well as a minister. I am at heart a storyteller. I love history and I love engaging with it.

Today, I engaged.

I am in Williamsburg, VA. One of the “perks” of my job as a campus minister is that I do not teach a daily class. That frees my schedule up so that I can join groups on class trips. Right now, I am with our band as they are preparing for a competition tomorrow in colonial Williamsburg. We spent the day in town and took a “hauntings” tour this evening. We had a grand old(e) time!

I have enjoyed my time with these students this week. On the 14hr bus ride here I spent some time with a number of students talking about the school year and where they want to take the school next year. Many of these students are thirsty for true spiritual development. Some of them have talked to me for an hour about their Bible classes, family life, and relationships. Then they quote “Family Guy.” I have a weird job. A wonderful, frustrating, rewarding, heart-wrenching, great, weird job.

The Goal Is Soul