Well, I've finished my set on "Tough Questions for Christians"-- AZ hasn't made any more since question 36. It was fun, though.
I've got some fill in stuff to use, but I have a question for you. I have a number of books I could read and comment on, but what would you like to see?
Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which has recently been made into a movie
The Shack the popular Christian novel by Gresham local William Young
The Thomas Merton Reader, which I have on my shelf from the library
Introduction to Ethics, a lecture series by Catholic Philosopher Peter Kreeft
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, which I could re-read and make comments on
The Imitation of Christ, the classic by Thomas Kempis
or
Spiritual Life In Anabaptism, a reader of sixteenth century Anabaptist writers.
If you have any opinion, make a comment or send me a note.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Authority Matters
Tough Questions for Christians #36—Collateral Damage
Watch it here.
AZ gives us a Bible theme—when one person makes a decision, other people get punished for it. So he asks, “Why does God punish people for actions they did not participate in?”
This has to do with the principle of authority. Anyone who has authority over others—a parent, a king, a church leader—has power over the other’s lives and how they are responded to. Thus, Adam’s decision causes the rest of us to suffer because we are all born children of Adam. David’s sin caused his people to suffer because his action related to his responsibility to the people.
This principle continues on today. If Congress passes a law, we are all responsible to obey it and we will be punished if we don’t. If our father is an addict, that effects his children severely. If our mother has AIDS when we are born, that effects the rest of our life. The actions of those who have authority over us effect us, even if we don’t want it.
This is true even if we didn’t choose the authority over us. Everyone born in the U.S. is a citizen of the U.S. even if we wished that were not so. This means that whatever the leaders of the U.S. choose, that effects our lives. If they decide to enact war against another country, then it is our sons and daughters who will die in that war, and also we will all suffer the moral and mental damage of them killing others in that war. A slave in a household is stuck in the system of his master, even if he didn’t want to live in the household. When it is a choice between stealing from a master’s enemy’s or dying under the master’s whip, the choice to the slave seems clear.
This is why if we have a choice of authorities to live under, we should choose carefully. To join up to the military is to accept the military as one’s master, and they train one to kill if they say kill. That effects everyone’s life. If we choose to be a citizen of a nation, we accept their laws and accept the consequences of the decision of their leaders.
This is why Jesus is so important. He is offering us citizenship in the kingdom of God. He offers to be our King, our Lord. If we choose Him, and release the ties to all other kingdoms, all other masters, then we receive the consequences of His actions and not the weak leaders we have around us.
Authority matters.
Watch it here.
AZ gives us a Bible theme—when one person makes a decision, other people get punished for it. So he asks, “Why does God punish people for actions they did not participate in?”
This has to do with the principle of authority. Anyone who has authority over others—a parent, a king, a church leader—has power over the other’s lives and how they are responded to. Thus, Adam’s decision causes the rest of us to suffer because we are all born children of Adam. David’s sin caused his people to suffer because his action related to his responsibility to the people.
This principle continues on today. If Congress passes a law, we are all responsible to obey it and we will be punished if we don’t. If our father is an addict, that effects his children severely. If our mother has AIDS when we are born, that effects the rest of our life. The actions of those who have authority over us effect us, even if we don’t want it.
This is true even if we didn’t choose the authority over us. Everyone born in the U.S. is a citizen of the U.S. even if we wished that were not so. This means that whatever the leaders of the U.S. choose, that effects our lives. If they decide to enact war against another country, then it is our sons and daughters who will die in that war, and also we will all suffer the moral and mental damage of them killing others in that war. A slave in a household is stuck in the system of his master, even if he didn’t want to live in the household. When it is a choice between stealing from a master’s enemy’s or dying under the master’s whip, the choice to the slave seems clear.
This is why if we have a choice of authorities to live under, we should choose carefully. To join up to the military is to accept the military as one’s master, and they train one to kill if they say kill. That effects everyone’s life. If we choose to be a citizen of a nation, we accept their laws and accept the consequences of the decision of their leaders.
This is why Jesus is so important. He is offering us citizenship in the kingdom of God. He offers to be our King, our Lord. If we choose Him, and release the ties to all other kingdoms, all other masters, then we receive the consequences of His actions and not the weak leaders we have around us.
Authority matters.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Manner V. the Meaning of Death
Tough Questions for Christians #35—The “Ultimate” Sacrifice
Watch It Here.
AZ asks why the thief who didn’t accept Jesus, who suffered the same as Jesus, but is still in hell, didn’t actually sacrifice more than Jesus. Why should Jesus be praised when basically he had a weekend in hell, but this guy has got all eternity?
Because the robber’s death didn’t do anything. His death was for a crime he had done (not stealing, by the way, but rebellion against the Romans), and so he was guilty. Jesus’ resurrection shows that he was innocent. It also shows that Jesus established a new kingdom. It wasn’t going to Sheol (not hell) that made Jesus special. It is the fact that he sacrificed himself in order to give the rest of us a second chance with God. The thief’s death didn’t do that. Sure, he suffered more. But the amount of suffering isn’t the point. It is what the suffering accomplishes. Jesus’ suffering accomplished more than we could imagine.
Watch It Here.
AZ asks why the thief who didn’t accept Jesus, who suffered the same as Jesus, but is still in hell, didn’t actually sacrifice more than Jesus. Why should Jesus be praised when basically he had a weekend in hell, but this guy has got all eternity?
Because the robber’s death didn’t do anything. His death was for a crime he had done (not stealing, by the way, but rebellion against the Romans), and so he was guilty. Jesus’ resurrection shows that he was innocent. It also shows that Jesus established a new kingdom. It wasn’t going to Sheol (not hell) that made Jesus special. It is the fact that he sacrificed himself in order to give the rest of us a second chance with God. The thief’s death didn’t do that. Sure, he suffered more. But the amount of suffering isn’t the point. It is what the suffering accomplishes. Jesus’ suffering accomplished more than we could imagine.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
God's Patient Love
Tough Questions for Christians #34—Reinforcing False Beliefs
Watch it here.
AZ gives an example of a Muslim couple who prays for a child from Allah and then gets pregnant. He says, why does the Christian God reinforce a belief in a false god?
Well, first of all, I don’t think that Allah is a different God than YHWH, but let’s suppose it’s a Hindu couple who are praying to Shiva or something. Whatever.
The basic answer is this: God loves humanity. All humans. And God grants blessings to all humans, without exception. Certainly some humans are blessed more than others, and some humans endure terrible suffering (almost always at the hand of other humans), but all humans are granted blessings by God.
God grants blessings because He wants to teach all humans how to love. This is what Jesus came to teach us as well, and Jesus is certainly the better, more direct teacher. However, in praying to Allah (or Shiva) for a baby, and God granting this, shows us how to love. It shows us how to offer the blessing of life to others, all others, without exception.
And this should teach Christians especially. If God gives the gift of life and health and joy to many behind the false disguise of Shiva, then perhaps we should be less concerned about how we love and focus on the task of loving. In other words, perhaps God is teaching US that we should love, and be less concerned about pushing Jesus down people’s throats. That maybe we should love and show how to love and then some—few, but some—will take this example and follow Jesus in action. It is important for others to know that we love them because Jesus loved us, but why should we only love if they love Jesus as we love Him? That is not the love of God, but the restrictive human love.
Love that judges isn’t love at all.
Watch it here.
AZ gives an example of a Muslim couple who prays for a child from Allah and then gets pregnant. He says, why does the Christian God reinforce a belief in a false god?
Well, first of all, I don’t think that Allah is a different God than YHWH, but let’s suppose it’s a Hindu couple who are praying to Shiva or something. Whatever.
The basic answer is this: God loves humanity. All humans. And God grants blessings to all humans, without exception. Certainly some humans are blessed more than others, and some humans endure terrible suffering (almost always at the hand of other humans), but all humans are granted blessings by God.
God grants blessings because He wants to teach all humans how to love. This is what Jesus came to teach us as well, and Jesus is certainly the better, more direct teacher. However, in praying to Allah (or Shiva) for a baby, and God granting this, shows us how to love. It shows us how to offer the blessing of life to others, all others, without exception.
And this should teach Christians especially. If God gives the gift of life and health and joy to many behind the false disguise of Shiva, then perhaps we should be less concerned about how we love and focus on the task of loving. In other words, perhaps God is teaching US that we should love, and be less concerned about pushing Jesus down people’s throats. That maybe we should love and show how to love and then some—few, but some—will take this example and follow Jesus in action. It is important for others to know that we love them because Jesus loved us, but why should we only love if they love Jesus as we love Him? That is not the love of God, but the restrictive human love.
Love that judges isn’t love at all.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Justifying the Wicked
Tough Question for Christians #33—Christianity is an Abomination
Watch it here.
AZ is being pretty sneaky in this video, trying to get in two questions. His first question is a general complaint about God’s justice in condemning, even killing, an innocent man so that others can go free. I agree with AZ that this is unjust, but I explain in detail in my atonement blogs that this concept of atonement is only one idea of Christian atonement, and it is historically recent in the whole of Christian theology. I just don’t think it’s true. Rather, as I’ve said, I believe that Jesus was condemned by the Jews to show that every human system of justice, every human government is inadequate and that it rejects and kills the just and innocent, and then God established Jesus as the “First Citizen” of the Kingdom of God with its own law, it’s own system of forgiveness and it’s own merciful justice. And it is this kingdom that will rule the whole world.
AZ’s second question is his main point in this video, and in this he quotes Proverbs 17:15—“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.” Yet, AZ says, the whole point of Christianity is to justify the wicked. Does this mean that, biblically, Christianity is an abomination?
On the one hand, I can easily say that Jesus was fully condemned by the Law and thus made a curse. Part of that condemnation is seeking justification for the wicked.
However, I think specifically for Proverbs, we need to look at the general context. The point of Proverbs is to have a pithy saying which communicates a truth. However, since each saying is brief, we have to look carefully in a broader context to understand the more nuanced truth. First of all, if what AZ is saying is correct, it means that the very idea of forgiveness of sin is an abomination. This is hard to accept, since forgiveness is a central characteristic of God in many places in the OT. No, God doesn’t forgive everyone, but it says in Ezekiel 18 that God is ready to forgive anyone who repents. Jesus says the same as does many others in the NT.
So what does this mean? Even as I John and Hebrews 10 can both be misinterpreted to mean that anyone who sins is going to hell, the fact is the OT defines the “wicked” as the person who unrepentedly sins continually. But the person who repents of their sin is forgiven, and this is justice. Jesus, in creating a new kingdom, is simply creating a place where the wicked can have the opportunity to repent.
The Proverbs passage AZ is speaking of is saying that the wicked must be punished by a judge. The abomination is not in forgiveness of the repentant, but in forsaking punishment for one who continues in their sin.
Watch it here.
AZ is being pretty sneaky in this video, trying to get in two questions. His first question is a general complaint about God’s justice in condemning, even killing, an innocent man so that others can go free. I agree with AZ that this is unjust, but I explain in detail in my atonement blogs that this concept of atonement is only one idea of Christian atonement, and it is historically recent in the whole of Christian theology. I just don’t think it’s true. Rather, as I’ve said, I believe that Jesus was condemned by the Jews to show that every human system of justice, every human government is inadequate and that it rejects and kills the just and innocent, and then God established Jesus as the “First Citizen” of the Kingdom of God with its own law, it’s own system of forgiveness and it’s own merciful justice. And it is this kingdom that will rule the whole world.
AZ’s second question is his main point in this video, and in this he quotes Proverbs 17:15—“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.” Yet, AZ says, the whole point of Christianity is to justify the wicked. Does this mean that, biblically, Christianity is an abomination?
On the one hand, I can easily say that Jesus was fully condemned by the Law and thus made a curse. Part of that condemnation is seeking justification for the wicked.
However, I think specifically for Proverbs, we need to look at the general context. The point of Proverbs is to have a pithy saying which communicates a truth. However, since each saying is brief, we have to look carefully in a broader context to understand the more nuanced truth. First of all, if what AZ is saying is correct, it means that the very idea of forgiveness of sin is an abomination. This is hard to accept, since forgiveness is a central characteristic of God in many places in the OT. No, God doesn’t forgive everyone, but it says in Ezekiel 18 that God is ready to forgive anyone who repents. Jesus says the same as does many others in the NT.
So what does this mean? Even as I John and Hebrews 10 can both be misinterpreted to mean that anyone who sins is going to hell, the fact is the OT defines the “wicked” as the person who unrepentedly sins continually. But the person who repents of their sin is forgiven, and this is justice. Jesus, in creating a new kingdom, is simply creating a place where the wicked can have the opportunity to repent.
The Proverbs passage AZ is speaking of is saying that the wicked must be punished by a judge. The abomination is not in forgiveness of the repentant, but in forsaking punishment for one who continues in their sin.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
What Will Our Eternal Bodies Be Like?
Tough Question for Christians #32—Foreskins
Watch It Here.
AZ acknowledges that this question is pretty silly. “When you get resurrected, do you get your foreskin back?”
It is silly, but it brings up an interesting assumption in Christian eschatology, which is that the resurrected body is a “perfected” body with nothing wrong. But we can see that Jesus’ resurrected body still had the scars of his torture on them. And Jesus also eats, which means that the body will have to also dispose of the food, and so one of the most unpleasant aspects of having a body still remains after the resurrection.
Is the body “perfected”? Paul says that the body is “spiritualized”, which really means “empowered”, but I don’t think it means perfection. In eternity, sickness is gone, which I assume includes mental illness and disabilities. If Jesus healed a man born blind, then it seems that other similar limitations will also be eliminated. But will we be perfect? I think we will still stumble over our words, sometimes saying the wrong thing. I think we will still have misunderstandings, as we will not be all knowing. I think that we will still have to learn away all of our prejudices and we may have to determine not to participate in certain behaviors we continued to have until death.
I really think that the idea of “perfection” is one of the most unfortunate one in Christian theology. The Bible doesn’t ever speak of “perfection”, but completion. And what that completion looks like is up to God, in the end. With or without foreskins.
Watch It Here.
AZ acknowledges that this question is pretty silly. “When you get resurrected, do you get your foreskin back?”
It is silly, but it brings up an interesting assumption in Christian eschatology, which is that the resurrected body is a “perfected” body with nothing wrong. But we can see that Jesus’ resurrected body still had the scars of his torture on them. And Jesus also eats, which means that the body will have to also dispose of the food, and so one of the most unpleasant aspects of having a body still remains after the resurrection.
Is the body “perfected”? Paul says that the body is “spiritualized”, which really means “empowered”, but I don’t think it means perfection. In eternity, sickness is gone, which I assume includes mental illness and disabilities. If Jesus healed a man born blind, then it seems that other similar limitations will also be eliminated. But will we be perfect? I think we will still stumble over our words, sometimes saying the wrong thing. I think we will still have misunderstandings, as we will not be all knowing. I think that we will still have to learn away all of our prejudices and we may have to determine not to participate in certain behaviors we continued to have until death.
I really think that the idea of “perfection” is one of the most unfortunate one in Christian theology. The Bible doesn’t ever speak of “perfection”, but completion. And what that completion looks like is up to God, in the end. With or without foreskins.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Is the Jesus Story Plagiarism?
Tough Question #31—Made Up By Satan
Watch It Here
This is a common question, but that just means it needs to be answered. AZ claims that there are a number of characteristics of Jesus that are also characteristics of mythical figures in the ancient world, written down hundreds of years before the gospels. Among these characteristics is birth at the winter solstice, attacked by tyrants, grew up to perform miracles, death by violent means and raising from the dead. Thus, AZ asks, is the story of Jesus embellished by these details, or simply invented completely? (The “made by Satan” part comes in the church father’s response to why these similarities existed. Their supposed answer is that they were “made by Satan” before Jesus was born to deceive the world.)
First of all, most of the similar characteristics exist in the birth narrative, not in heart of Jesus’ life. Let’s talk about those first. If God wanted to communicate that one baby in particular was special, to a limited and select group of people, why wouldn’t He use cultural ideas that already existed? It is simply a matter of communication, even as Genesis 1 and other portions of Scripture are similar to previously written texts. Just because a form is similar and it borrows characteristics, that doesn’t make it untrue.
Secondly, most of the things about Jesus’ life is unique. There are few in ancient history who is a miracle worker on the level of Jesus. Perhaps Elijah and Elisha, but apart from pagan gods, you don’t see people walking around doing miracles, including Heracles, or other ancient humans. And even so, Jesus is the only one making rules for how his miracles work or why he was doing them. Jesus’ miracles isn’t about “Wow, aren’t I great?”, but about helping those in need and following God’s will.
Another unique aspect about Jesus is his death. Not the fact that he died a violent death, which, as AZ says, is pretty common among ancient heroes. His death is unique because the one thing that was emphasized is that his death is not simply punishment, but it was a. punishment for a crime he was innocent of and b. it emphasizes his rejection by the nation. This rejection is what is most unique. Jesus was an outcast, which made him uniquely UN-qualified to be a savior. And yet Jesus’ teaching and NT theology continually claim that this DISqualification is, in fact, the true qualification. This is thinking outside the box in the ancient world.
And another unique feature is Jesus’ resurrection. Life after death isn’t really amazing. In the ancient world, everyone assumed there was life after death—that people’s empty spirits went to Hades to live. Not only did Jesus return from Hades, but he returned to his own body, which was restored, better than before. This is the unique aspect that most people who look at ancient myths don’t understand. You see, Osiris, Hermes, etc, all were already eternal. They were in their spiritual bodies—the interesting part of the story is that they escaped from Hades. Heracles became divine. But Jesus’ restoration is different—He is still perpetually human in an eternally human body. Resurrection in this manner—life after life after death—was a unique concept. It was talked about in Daniel and hinted at in Isaiah and Psalm 22, but Jesus’ story is the only one that actually talked about it actually happen.
So AZ and others can deny the historicity of Jesus’ life if they wanted to, but it can’t be done on the basis of Jesus’ similarity to others’ lives in myth. Jesus’ situation was completely unique, unparalleled by other myths unless you squint so much that they all look the same in that blurry fashion.
Watch It Here
This is a common question, but that just means it needs to be answered. AZ claims that there are a number of characteristics of Jesus that are also characteristics of mythical figures in the ancient world, written down hundreds of years before the gospels. Among these characteristics is birth at the winter solstice, attacked by tyrants, grew up to perform miracles, death by violent means and raising from the dead. Thus, AZ asks, is the story of Jesus embellished by these details, or simply invented completely? (The “made by Satan” part comes in the church father’s response to why these similarities existed. Their supposed answer is that they were “made by Satan” before Jesus was born to deceive the world.)
First of all, most of the similar characteristics exist in the birth narrative, not in heart of Jesus’ life. Let’s talk about those first. If God wanted to communicate that one baby in particular was special, to a limited and select group of people, why wouldn’t He use cultural ideas that already existed? It is simply a matter of communication, even as Genesis 1 and other portions of Scripture are similar to previously written texts. Just because a form is similar and it borrows characteristics, that doesn’t make it untrue.
Secondly, most of the things about Jesus’ life is unique. There are few in ancient history who is a miracle worker on the level of Jesus. Perhaps Elijah and Elisha, but apart from pagan gods, you don’t see people walking around doing miracles, including Heracles, or other ancient humans. And even so, Jesus is the only one making rules for how his miracles work or why he was doing them. Jesus’ miracles isn’t about “Wow, aren’t I great?”, but about helping those in need and following God’s will.
Another unique aspect about Jesus is his death. Not the fact that he died a violent death, which, as AZ says, is pretty common among ancient heroes. His death is unique because the one thing that was emphasized is that his death is not simply punishment, but it was a. punishment for a crime he was innocent of and b. it emphasizes his rejection by the nation. This rejection is what is most unique. Jesus was an outcast, which made him uniquely UN-qualified to be a savior. And yet Jesus’ teaching and NT theology continually claim that this DISqualification is, in fact, the true qualification. This is thinking outside the box in the ancient world.
And another unique feature is Jesus’ resurrection. Life after death isn’t really amazing. In the ancient world, everyone assumed there was life after death—that people’s empty spirits went to Hades to live. Not only did Jesus return from Hades, but he returned to his own body, which was restored, better than before. This is the unique aspect that most people who look at ancient myths don’t understand. You see, Osiris, Hermes, etc, all were already eternal. They were in their spiritual bodies—the interesting part of the story is that they escaped from Hades. Heracles became divine. But Jesus’ restoration is different—He is still perpetually human in an eternally human body. Resurrection in this manner—life after life after death—was a unique concept. It was talked about in Daniel and hinted at in Isaiah and Psalm 22, but Jesus’ story is the only one that actually talked about it actually happen.
So AZ and others can deny the historicity of Jesus’ life if they wanted to, but it can’t be done on the basis of Jesus’ similarity to others’ lives in myth. Jesus’ situation was completely unique, unparalleled by other myths unless you squint so much that they all look the same in that blurry fashion.
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