An Inferno of Apotheosis

"How many were killed?" "That's Incidental".

Zoe vs Clarice - Caprica: Apotheosis.

"Professing themselves wise, they become fools".

Paul - Romans 1.

(Please bear with me in this post - the 'destination' won't be obvious at first, but the diverse themes at the beginning are going to help us get to where we need to go...)

Sometimes, the various strands combine to grant a grander view of what's taking place around us.

This morning, I came across this interesting conversation between Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson on the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity - but it says quote a bit more.

Notice, first, Peterson's definition of the key themes of Christianity (in the first two minutes) where 'redemption' becomes all about what 'we take on' (in respect to things like suffering). Then notice Ben Shapiro's telling response to this (2:40 mark) - that Christianity isn't, crucially, about our 'imitation' of the divine, but is about GOD SAVING US. He then goes on, after defining what Christianity teaches (God saving us through Jesus Christ) to state that he personally, as a Jew, agrees with Peterson's ORIGINAL statements, because for him, "salvation"  is 'taking responsibility for his own sins' without a mediator.

So that sets out the boundaries, but what comes next is really interesting.

Peterson decides to zone-in on what he defines as the 'confusion' on this issue (how we are saved) in the Christian community (around the 3:30 mark onwards). He states that Shaprio's definition of substitutionary atonement as "Protestant", and the Roman Catholic but especially Orthodox views would be far more akin to his definition of what makes the Christian religion tick. Notice how he defines this - "it is their sense", he states, "Of the imitation" (of Jesus) "that is of primary importance" (4 minute mark). Then he goes on to say that, in reality, Protestantism belongs in this basket as well, because although it may teach Christ died for our sins, that does not "alleviate the moral burden". In other words, Christianity 'gets it' when, like Judaism, it sees Jesus as a great example of what we should be like, and through suffering and the like, seeks to mimic His manner of behaviour. He then goes on to conclude his argument by quoting from Dostoevsky about how the church 'lowers' the high moral calling of Christ because it was too high. Peterson sees this as the church's compromise - to make the religion viable, and therefore more like Judaism, but Shapiro then comes back and states again, that 'theological' (protestant) Christianity isn't like that - it is about believing in Jesus.

The important thing to notice here is an underlying idea that essentially defines the abrupt arrival of the sacrificing work of Jesus as, well, pretty unnecessary and, spiritually, almost certainly irrelevant.

The basic notion goes like this - yes, we have this nagging little problem we define as sin, which, at its worst manifestation, is something aligned with real evil, but don't fret, God has given you a free will and with some help from His trove of mercy, and with some good resolve on your part (along with some suffering to hammer all this into place), you can become fit for eternity - religion just becomes an aide to help get you there.

The thorn in this otherwise "wonderful" little elixir is an Apostolic Christianity that refutes this by stating that only faith in Christ makes the ungodly acceptable to God - it's trust in Christ's singular atoning work, or it's judgement (See Romans chapter 1 to 5).

The thing which fascinates me here is what happens when we ask what transpires in our world when the Peterson/Shapiro preference is given precedence as THE Christian faith? How does this 'manner' of Christianity seek to "deliver' itself amongst us?

The other item I came across today was this insightful article by Giles Fraser on the nature of the vision behind the actions of Vladimir Putin.

Beginning with the historical sources of the world as we now find it, Fraser shows not only what is now motivating the invasion of Balkan regions in 2022, but how this derives from a very particular rendition of religious belief which causes Putin to view himself as a virtuous agent of God in what he is seeking to achieve. This may bring bloodshed, may take the world into war, and may even bring a major division into a manner of belief which is supposed to be indissoluble, but that is all viewed as inconsequential in the light of what is viewed as a 'divine' mandate.

The church has, of course, been there many times before (a brief reading of Peter De Rosa's 'Vicars of Christ' will show how often this same folly was evident amongst the Popes), and it has allowed the same powers to go as far as to anathematise the very gospel (The Council of Trent articles on Justification by Faith alone), but this all leads us to one very telling and disturbing point.

How much of today's Christianity is revolving around "Christ and Him crucified", and how much of it has left that universe entirely?

The opening conversation by Peterson and Shapiro is telling.

So many want Christianity to be something that it isn't - a "form" of godliness that we can identify as "our" righteousness, but that won't come anywhere close to making the grade. It was Him who was 'bruised for our transgressions' that singularly heals us 'by His stripes' (Isaiah 53). If our focus isn't on that complete and perfect work, then we're going to find ourselves severely wanting on the last day.