Beneath the Status Quo...

Life often gives us a reality check. Recently I posted the following on my Face Book page:
"It's pretty amazing what we believe about ourselves. Most beliefs boil down to an amazing confidence in ourselves to get... where? And for what? They do so by not really looking at ourselves, long and hard, and seeing that we have a real problem - us - all of us. We need something much deeper than a jingoistic pep-talk which just panders to our ego... we need to realize that we are in a very deep hole and the only escape is to be rescued, and when we see that, there aren't many people left in the problem with us who can truly help".

I was staggered by the responses I received, essentially taking the view in most cases that human beings were actually pretty OK and didn't need much more than their ego's fluffed so that they could tidy-up their act and their environment and everything would be just peachy. Well, I argued my case, seeking to state that no, there  really is something wrong with the human condition, but the stubborn reply was I was wrong.

It brought to mind an astute quote by C S Lewis: 
“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.”

Luther stated there are three things we all truly know -
that God exists, that He has a Law, and that we are all judged by that Law. 
The problem, of course, with such a God, is not His transcendence, but His immediacy.

The very nature of His intimacy is shown in the manner in which what has been made is bent towards us - those made in His image. It is what is totally plain and evident to us in this world which so condemns us, for it is here we see the nature of His character and power, and it is also here we see our rejection of that truth, thus, our manufacturing of a 'god' which is either so transcendent or so conformed to our wishes that it is of no consequence whatsoever.The aim becomes a 'happiness' that is as deep as our immediate wants and needs (food, pleasure, comfort and health), devoid of the fact that we temporarily reside over the void created by sin which is always concluded in judgement and death. 

The very 'contentment' we believe we have devised in our present 'happiness', is, in effect,merely the first stage of judgement at work - a being given over to our own delusions.

It's painful to encounter such harsh truths, especially amongst friends, but it is the realm which surrounds us everyday, so an equally shocking confrontation with those realities is essential if we are to provide a moment where a wake-up call can occur... the words of the preacher in Ecclesiates may not be popular, but the realism is imperative to rescue.
I hope and pray that such moments will allow a pause for sober reflection as found here.

When all's said and done...

Some twenty years ago, my Christian faith was rejuvenated by the discovery of an excellent regular American radio broadcast called the White Horse Inn. Twenty years on, and Mike Horton and Rod Rosenbladt, the regular team of that show, are still seeking to help us see what really matters and how that needs to be the focus of what we're about. This wonderful little video is a great little introduction to them, and the crux of Christianity...



ROUNDTABLE ON THE GOSPEL: Tullian Tchividjian , Mike Horton, Rod Rosenbladt | LIBERATE 2012 from Coral Ridge | LIBERATE on Vimeo.

'Tis (nearly) the season... to warm up with a good read.

I don't know how it is with you, but I often find that the colder months 'encourage' me to settle down in a warm spot with a good book, so I thought I'd suggest a couple of theological treats that you might care to share and enjoy in this season. These are by no means new titles, but they are all currently available for a reasonable investment from places like Amazon.

(Ignore the 'click to look inside' instruction on some of the illustrations here... you have to go to Amazon to do that!)....

1. Putting Amazing Back into Grace by Michael Horton.
If you're after a very readable work that places the essence of what Christianity is all about into a set of inspiring and easily digestible chapters, then this is it. I first read this explosive little volume in the 90's, and it literally re-aligned my understanding in a manner which has aided me to define genuine Christianity ever since. Penned by one of  the most insightful Christian thinkers of our generation, this one is well worth a look.

2. Creation Regained by Albert Wolters.
Another work that cannot be recommended enough, this brief insight into the nature of how Christianity impacts upon all of life will have you thinking, studying and discussing a plethora of issues and subjects in a way which is seasoned with the richness of the work of Christ - it opened vital doors for me into early church theology, the arts and contemporary culture. Highly recommended for anyone who is keen to know more about the scope and depth of the faith.

3. The Progress of Redemption by Willem Van Gemeren.
As Creation Regained gives an overview of the key themes of Christian theology, this volume invites you to examine those themes through wading into the deeper waters of scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, the author unpacks the cardinal issues of faith and life in a theological context and provides a framework which encourages thought and study on these rich themes.

4. Heaven is a Place on Earth by Michael Wittmer.
Pretty much an easy to read expansion of Creation Regained, with lots of useful material to use for personal and study purposes.

5. Six Modern Myths by Philip Sampson
A really helpful work which dispels some very common miss-understandings about Christianity's view and relationship to matters such as Science, Spirituality and the material world.

6. Where God Meets Man by Gerhard Forde
A really down to earth little volume which studies the Reformational approach to the Gospel and the ramifications of this.

and finally, a personal plug...

7. Preparing for Heaven on Earth by Howard Nowlan
Which seeks to distill the wisdom of all of the above (phew!), and is still available from Amazon UK.


Enjoy!

"Yes, but"....

"And you, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but you remain. They shall wax old, as a garment, and you shall fold them up, but you shall remain unchanged, for your days shall never cease". Hebrews 1:10-12.

There are clearly many Christians who have a problem with all this talk of a 'new creation' -  the view that earth will one day be heaven - and when we read passages like the one above, it's not hard to see why. Surely, they reason, particularly in the light of this and passages like Hebrews 11:13-16, we are going elsewhere, and to focus on this realm is to become earthly minded, which isn't of great eternal value.

The answer, of course, is that there's a partial truth here.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul re-visits the issue of the life that is coming. He tells us that this current 'tent' (body) we inhabit will be destroyed, but that this is not the end of the physical - yes, those who are Christ's and who die go to be 'present with the Lord' (vs 8), but the ultimate hope for the believer is the 'clothing' of a new, heaven made 'house' - a physical body that will last forever (verses 2 & 3).

What is true of us is also true of creation as a whole.

In Acts chapter 3, following the miracle healing of a crippled man, Peter proclaims to those in the temple that Christ was crucified and raised so that they might repent and be renewed (redeemed) before the day comes when He will bring about the complete restoration of all things (vs 21) - so even judgement is merely a pre-cursor to the beginning of that momentous event.

So, let's go back to Hebrews.
The Amplified bible notes the true nature of what is being expressed here when it translates verse 12 of chapter 1, regarding the future of the heavens and the earth, "they will be changed and replaced".  In other words, the same change which happens to us, a death to the old (corruption) and a raising to the new (redemption) is common to all material things, but this brings renewal, not termination, to what God has made.

The men of faith, then, were indeed pilgrims in this life, because they looked to something far more substantial than the present temporary powers and structures to sustain and endure - they were truly mindful that from that other country, where we are given eternal citizenship, is coming a new city - the one John tells us will come from heaven to a renewed earth, where humanity will dwell at peace with God and each other without sin, sickness, sorrow or death - where all that is good shall be enjoyed through the astonishing and marvelous love of God, made ours in His beloved Son (Revelation 21:1-5).

Eternal life is not 'going up' to some pie in the sky 'otherness', where none of what has been bestowed upon us will amount to anything. True life is what we now see as good and true and pure amplified and magnified into its full potential.

So the next time someone starts talking to you about eternity on some distant shore, ask them why the Bible so clearly talks about that life as being something entirely tangible - the substance of what we all truly hope for... the return to the garden, but a garden, now, perfectly  transformed into the living city of God (Revelation 5:8-10).

Gripping the Fig Leaves

"We are all like foolish puppets, who desiring to be kings, now lye hopelessly crippled, after cutting all our strings"  Randy Stonehill.

Hard boiled confidence about who and what we are is everywhere. Just look at the popular tweets and phrases people post all day everyday and you'll see the problem isn't belief, which is really bizarre when we actually consider what is deemed irrefutable about human existence. You're born, you live and you die, in a universe that, in those hard terms, is, as far as we can tell, totally indifferent about us being here, about whether we survive, and doesn't give a damn about how we feel about it.

So why all the bells and whistles? Why do we seek to fill our time and heads with the idea that we have some meaning, that what we decide to do today counts, and that we should, indeed, seek to make it all count? 

Well, you can take the view that it's just a 'meme' cul-de-sac... an evolutionary hick-up that just comes with the particular territory of being us, or you can entertain the thought that it all points to the fact that there's more going on, and more to unpack here.

Genesis tells us that when Adam became aware of what he was without the innocence of the garden, that he covered himself and told Eve to do the same.

Humanity didn't seek an answer to its malady - it clothed itself in its self-made poverty, and when God asked us to look at the results, we raised our defiance, lied our socks off about our tragedy, and exiled ourselves from love.

Religion is all about keeping us right there, bared in our own self exultation, but God raises a different image of worth - one which means we truly become people bared of such pretense, open to true worth and meaning once again.

I've said to several of my friends, just take some time to look at Jesus Christ - not our formulated ideas about Him, but the man Himself, as He speaks to us through the words and actions recorded in the Gospels. Not many do, because once you take that step, you're confronted with a humanity, a depth, that leaves us without the fig leaves, running for cover again.

Beyond the cliché's of Facebook and the face we present to the world, there's the pain of what we all face, and the grave before us. Jesus Christ is the only one in the history of our little world who says, there is a way back, and it'll change everything.

Why not take a look for yourself?

An 'Ecology of Evil'?

"From a distance
We all have enough
And no one is in need
And there are no guns, no bombs and no disease
No hungry mouths to feed
From a Distance
We are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They are the songs of every man

God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us
From a distance".

Yesterday, I touched on the legacy of Robert Farrar Capon, briefly alluding to his wonderful focus upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ as the underlying glory and truth of history, and the catholic ramifications for us all. In Capon's theology, there simply is no value for religion which seeks to blind us to such splendor and romance. I love how he rightly sees this as the truth that underpins everything else, leaving no place for some dualistic divide between the material and the spiritual (God is truly here!), but I also pointed out that there are a few problems, and one of the deepest I have is with regards to Capon's understanding of evil in creation.

Here's a quote from something he said in a 2004 interview with Tim Brassell  (italics added): 

"To return to (my book), Genesis: the Movie, the world as it’s presented in the mind of God in chapter one of Genesis is good. Evil doesn’t show up until chapter three. Obviously, however, evil is built into the world from the beginning. When God makes the creatures of the sea, how do they live? They eat each other. When he makes the creatures of the land—same thing.

He makes the world as an ecology—it works by life and death. Death is the engine that drives life—creatures kill and eat one another to stay alive. Even plants die so that animals can live. And it has always been that way—it’s the nature of creation. Creation is an ecology of life and death, and it works! The brilliance of the ecology is that it is created purposely to operate on sheer chance, that is, creatures eat the next edible thing that they see. Foxes eat chickens and so on. All that is done within the ecology God set in place".

Capon's view works because, as in the song above, God views creation 'from a distance', so from such a pinnacle, there are 'no guns, no wars, no disease', and everything is "good", even though death is the key principal already at work!

If we truly believe the opening passages of Genesis, however - that all things were created not only 'good', but 'very good' - a genuine delight to the giver of life - this cannot surely be right. Does God truly enjoy a world concluded in death and the evil that accompanies this? If nature is primarily red in tooth and claw, then what have we to say - there may as well be only a future made cold by entropy, than a eternity of cruelty and blood.

Now whilst I entirely accept that there is a 'mystery' of death at work even in Eden (Genesis 2:21) and the primal creation (Genesis 1:11), this was something inherently different to the nature of death which came about as a direct result of the fall of humanity (2:17), which denuded us of our original glory (2:25, 3:10). Evil, so far as humanity's nature is concerned, begins not in Eve's beguiling (3:6), but in the willful rebellion of Adam choosing to justify his rebellion before a God searching for him (3:8,12, Romans 5:12). It was, we are told, as a direct result of this event that sin not only became inherently part of us, but that nature itself changed (Genesis 3:17-19, Romans 8:20), so that all things in heaven and earth require redemption, provided in Jesus Christ at the cross (Colossians 1:19, 20).

God's work of redemption in Christ, therefore, is not only the underlying truth of all things, it is evidenced in the new creation, which makes all things 'new' (renewed to their original glory - Job 19:25,26).

Why, then, is there a form of death in Genesis (amidst some living things)? This, surely, is because of our one great need in Eden - to discover the love of our creator to us in His Son. How this would have become more evidenced can only be glimpsed at, hinted at, in those short moments of Genesis 2, in the creation of Eve, but it was clearly God's intent to show us much more, explicit in the presence of the tree of life (Martin Luther's commentary on this makes for interesting reading!).

The enduring and meaningful work of God is marked by bringing life, because that is inherent to His nature (John 1: 4). Sin, evil and death (aside from a means of redemption) are contrary to this, so the aim, the goal of His work is to bring about a culture where these things are no more (Revelation 21: 4, 24, Romans 8:21) - God Himself being at the very core of this, tasting death for all, to make what He loves truly free.

The 'ecology' of Eden shall be seen again, but it shall be one where the rule of the tree of life, sustained by the throne of the Lamb, is fruitful forever.

What Really Counts

Robert Farrar Capon left us this week, and will be truly missed, not because you would agree with everything he said, but because, even if you vehemently disagreed, he put you into a mode of thinking afresh on things that really mattered, and that is no small gift.

When he was right, however, it was wonderful, and his focus on the catholicity of God's grace amidst a world corrupted by religion was spot on.
His books are really worth a look. Here's just a sample quote of his genius: 
“The reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellarful of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two hundred proof grace—of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly.  The word of the Gospel—after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps—suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started.  Grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale, neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case.”

I am deeply indebted to such wisdom.