Ezekiel, Bodily Posture, God’s strange mercy, and cooking with manure…

“Very well” God said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.” Ezekiel 4:15

Few have a life like Ezekiel, or are called by God to do the strange things God asked him to do.  In Chapter 4 of Ezekiel, God wants Ezekiel to get the point of the seige God is going to let happen to Jerusalem by acting out physically to represent the sin of Israel and Judah.  He is to lay on his side for 390 days “the same number of days as the years of their sin” to represent Israel’s waywardness, and then turn over and lay on his other side for 40 days (Judah hadn’t been in existence long enough to sin as many years).  While he is on his side, he was allowed to eat 8 oz of multigrain bread and 2/3 quart of water.  That is quite a fast, and it wouldn’t allow him to do much else.  This shows us the very important gravity of sin in God’s eyes.  We often don’t take our sin very seriously. 

But these reqired practices also remind us of how God often asks us to use our bodily posture to allign with our hearts.  Sometimes getting into a particular posture can make us feel a certain way.  Crouching in a football stance can make one feel ready to pounce at someone, curling up in a fetal position can make one feel helpless, bowing down on the ground with your face to the ground makes you feel submissive– this is why so many people around the world (especially muslims) pray with this posture. 

We can see this importance of physical in other ways as well– it is important, according to the Bible, to get together with other believers on a regular basis.  That person-to-person contact, and the frustrations and joys it brings, are important to us spiritually.  Singing out loud with our voices can help our heart and head allign in the right way.  Praying together in unison prayers of liturgy allows us to physically display the unity that we know we should be feeling with the Body of Christ (the Church).  Fasting (like Ezekiel) makes our sin real, and makes us discipline our body to be subservient to our wills and spirit. 

So God asks Ezekiel to lay on his side and eat next to nothing for 430 days.  Most of us could already think of reasons to object…but not Ezekiel.  What really gets Ezekiel is how he is to cook his bread in the sight of all the people of Israel: “Eat the food as you would a barley cake’ bake it in the sight of the people using human excrement for fuel.”  The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”  But this is just too much for Ezekiel– “Not so, Sovereign Lord!  I have never defiled myself.”  Ezekiel can deal with the laying on his side and eating little barley cakes and little water for over a year.  But please– no cooking with Human excrement!

So, God, mercifully– relents.  He compromises with Ezekiel.  That alone is an interesting fact.  We think that to be Godly is not to compromise, not to relent, not to alter what once we have committed to.  But God here, as he does in other situations (Abraham, Lot, Moses,  David, etc) is willing to give Ezekiel a break and cut a deal– (would that our politicians could discover the godly practice of compromise).  “Very well,”God said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”  Sometimes, as the famous popular Poet and Songwriter Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones said, “you can’t always get what you want– but you get what you need.”  Evidently, Ezekiel is happier with this compromise to cook with cowpies instead of the human-kind. 

Stories like these are why I love the Old Testament so much.  If you don’t spend time reading in the first 2/3 of the Bible, I would strongly encourage you to give it a shot.  Its very interesting, and there is a lot to learn here. 

May God have mercy on us all…

Occupy Evangelicalism: Why Evangelicals Aren’t Occupying Wall Street

 

In an article in the Kansas City Star on Monday it was pointed out that the Occupy Wall Street protest has thus far been mostly secular.  The article reports that while there have been some scattered religiously-inspired protest events, such as the moment “an ecumenical group marched with a golden calf to the camp at Zuccotti Park, turning the Wall Street bull into a biblical symbol of greed and idolatry,” Mark Tooley, of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy summed it up when he says, ”I don’t see Occupation having a lot of appeal for the average suburban, evangelical churchgoer.”

One possible reason is that the movement is widely seen as a movement critical of corporations and capitalism, and so, alligned with a socialist agenda.  Evangelicals are more often than not alligned with the Republican Party, which is traditionally seen as having pro-business pro-capitalism values, and so this movement can be construed as a non-Republican sort of movement, and so by that reason, non-evangelical.  What is interesting to challenge that sense that this is a democratic-leaning movement is some of the recent suggestions that the Occupy Wall Street movement join forces with the Tea Party movement.  Both movements seem to be a bit amorphus and organic, without absolutely clear agendas, but with enough general goals in common that they might find solidarity together. 

There is also the fact that the movement is generally seen as a criticism of the establishment, and since the church is part of the establishment (it is a longstanding institution) perhaps the anti-establishment feel of the movement makes it feel anti-church and so, anti-Christian.   But it seems to me that Christians are currently as frustrated with many aspects of the current establishment (government, corporate misdeeds, etc) and that it isn’t really true that Christians are, on the whole, completely happy with the status quo of the establishment as it stands.

Another suggestion from the Kansas City article was that “It may also be a reflection of wariness on the part of churches to ally themselves with a movement that is not clearly defined and is more than a little scruffy around the edges.”  Certainly prudence would warn one against identifying with a movement which is without clear leadership, purpose and vision, but again, this has not kept many evangelicals from identifying with the tea party movement, and in fact there seem to be some pretty clear agenda items being promoted by the Occupy Wall Street movement as of late.

Again, it may just be the simple fact that people like Michael Moore have identified with the OWS protest that many evangelicals who don’t agree with Moores political views don’t want to allign with a movement he identifies with, even if they are sympathetic to some of the desires and aims of the movement.

In a book which came out about 10 years ago, Christian Smith made some claims about evangelicals which, if true, could help explain why evangelicals might not tend to support the OWS protests.  He said that in their desire to evangelize, evangelicals tend to not be as concerned with society-transformnative agendas, as that political involvement may undermine evangelism efforts.  Their focus is on converting souls, not transforming culture, more often than not.  But second, many evangelicals are insulated enough that they don’t see needs to make them feel society needs a major adjustment:

“This avoidance of boat-rocking unwittingly leads to granting power to larger economic forces. It also means that evangelicals’ views to a considerable extent conform to the socioeconomic conditions of their time. Evangelicals usually fail to challenge the system not just out of concern for evangelism, but also because they support the American system and enjoy its fruits. They share the Protestant work ethic, support laissez-faire economics, and sometimes fail to evaluate whether the social system is consistent with their Christianity.”

Perhaps it is true that evangelicals tend to support the status quo– except that in recent years many evangelicals have supported fairly anti-establishment movements such as the tea-party movement. 

I do not know for sure why evangelicals aren’t occupying wall street.  I know I’m not because I’m busy doing other things like read and write and get driveways poured, windows installed, and toilets fixed.  Maybe I’m too passive.  I know that I tend towards a sort of quietism– avoiding real-world political activism.  Quietism is defined as “A form of Christian mysticism enjoining passive
contemplation and the beatific annihilation of the will” which probably describes much of my Christian spiritual journey, strangely enough.  “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”– but ask me to risk my financial status or place in society or go out in public and do something to take a stand for or against something– and I’ll likely decline.  Even if its for a good cause.  I mean, I may be willing to write a small check, or help out by praying for you, but…I mean… I’m just not an activist…

So it may be that for some of us, really considering the justice or injustice, accuracy or inaccuracy, or overall importance of getting involved in something like the occupy wall street movement may be out of the question more or less because of inertia, busy-ness with other more mundane issues, and a tendency towards quietism.  I believe those are my main reasons…

May God have mercy on us all…

Ponderings (by Emily Hunt)

  

Today I got to spend some time with one of my very best friends walking around Walden Pond in Massachusettts. I haven’t ever read through Walden by Henry David Thoreau in it’s entirety, though perhaps now I might. It was a beautiful fall day outside of Boston and I could immediately tell why Thoreau found it to be a place of peace, a retreat from the daily chaos. Some would call him a Transcendentalist, others a naturalist, and some would say a Christian Anarchist. I guess I can’t be sure, but regardless of his category I would agree with him that it  was a pretty pond.   It made me want to find myself a pond. Thoreau had Walden, but there are plenty of other ponds out there to go around. My time there reminded me of a favorite poem:

 

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things 
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

—                      Wendell Berry

As Christians the peace of Christ can dwell within us despite location. Sure we can (and should) find our ponds, our places of respite. We know however that the surest retreat is found in the deep deep love of Christ, a place where we are known. The psalmist says “O God you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar.” You discern my going out and my lying down, you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (Psalm 139:1-6).

 There is comfort in the fact that amidst uncertainties, whether big or small, that God is not uncertain about us. He is pretty certain in fact.  You don’t need to find a pond to find peace.

Emily Hunt is one of the leaders at Simple Free and has lived in Omaha for more than two years, working with students at Creighton University as a residence director.  She graduated from Taylor University, and has worked in Nepal with Tiny Hands International.

Involved in Brokenness, Brokenly

Its hard and confusing and sometimes costly to get involved in other people’s brokenness.  Its much nicer to maintain your own world and stick with what you know.  Sometimes I get involved in broken situations to try to help, but you maybe don’t do things just as I should– I try to help brokenness in a broken way yourself, and while some good is done, not as much good is done as could have been done.  Thats how I feel about my relationship with John (name changed).

John answered a craigslist ad just over three years ago.  He was having difficulty finding work and a place to stay because he’d just been released from prison after 9 years, and he was on the sex registry list (in part because his girlfriend had been underage).  He came hoping to get a room in our house.  Letting him in meant our house went on the sex registry list.  I talked to the guys living with me at the time, and we decided to do it. 

John was a bit socially awkward, since he wasn’t used to life outside of prison and a lot had changed in 9 years.  He went through a couple jobs, and eventually got into buying and selling cars, which he had a knack for.  John avoided drugs and alcohol entirely, and when he found out his little brother in Iowa was getting into trouble, he asked if he could bring his little brother into our house too, and we agreed.  So the two of them lived with us.  They helped us with cars, and even helped a couple of us find used cars when we needed them.

More than a year passed, and John asked if he could rent a house I had been renting for 950.  The last tennants had been rough on it, and so we agreed on rent of 700/mo if he and his brother would improve the property.  I figured that it would help him to get the 250/mo discount, and it would help me to get the place improved. 

Unfortunately, there never were any improvements.  He tried to fix some plaster, but without skills, he really couldn’t.  I got him materials to fix the garage, but nothing happened.  A remodelling of the attic remains a pile of insulation and boards untouched.  He loved the house and wanted to buy it, but had no means to do so.  I’d buy supplies for projects, but most of them went unused.  Of course after a year of this I realized I was not actually getting much out of the deal. 

Last fall some law enforcement officials came and asked me for the key to the house John lived in– they had a warrant for his arrest.  By the time they went into the house, John had left and he lived as a fugitive for a couple months at his moms in Iowa, while his brother and girlfriend stayed in the house.  They got a little behind on rent, but caught up.  I knew I was losing a lot of money now on the place, and knew it wasn’t being kept up well, much less improved.  But I felt like I couldn’t kick them out at that point…then in the spring John returned, I was focused on getting married myself, and honestly didn’t want to face the prospect of having to ask them to leave and then losing a months rent and spending a couple months rent fixing up the house again.  So I followed the path of least resistance and just settled for the 700/mo knowing this was not a sound plan.

Had I been wiser and more involved, I should have talked with John and either raised rent to a fair level or given more specific oversight of projects and some clear commands on what to do.  But I didn’t.  I let it slide.  Then a month ago they let me know they were leaving.  I knew I’d given them 6,000 in rent discounts for nearly nothing by then.  I also found the place in worse shape than I thought.  It was discouraging and frustrating.  This was a house I’d renovated 5 years ago.  It had been a badly-converted triplex with a prostitute, some alcoholics, and Mike, one of my guys who works for me living there.  I’d turned it back into a single family home, redone the floors, plumbing, electric, and facade.  But now it was looking rough again.  I felt like I’d redeemed something, only to see it fall back into something needing redemption, and I’d watched it happen, doing little to change it. 

Now we are in the middle of re-renovating it again, and it is fun to see it come back to life as a cool old house.  We raized the model T garage in the back, and ripped off the front porch to rebuild a new one.  We have fixed all the plaster, and installed some more new windows.  It is a cool old house and now I remember why I like it so much. 

My relationship with John has soured, and while it is water under the bridge now, a lot of trust has been lost, and its easy to feel taken advantage of.  But I’m sure things look different to him, and whats in the past is in the past.  All one can do is try to do better next time and learn from past mistakes. 

It is tricky to try to mix your business with your charity.  What is important is that there is clear communication and clear limits.  Help without limits will soon be taken for granted, and then its hard for the receiver to feel as much thankfulness. 

If I have learned anything it is that I need to be willing to confront and maintain accountability.  It is harder, short-term, to maintain that accountability, and its easier to let things slide.  But the long term consequences of that short term easy solution can be costly. 

I do pray blessing on John and his brother as they are in a new place with a great garage for all their car deals. 

May God have mercy on us all…

Release Ministries: Helping Teens in Jail and out of Jail

This morning at the 11worth cafe I got to have breakfast with Garrett, one of the most encouraging people I know in Omaha.  Garrett has been working with Release Ministries in Omaha for a number of years.  Release  works with teens in prison, and helps them as they transition out of prison by having group homes which give oversight and direction to them outside of jail. 

A lot of us don’t know anyone in jail personally, and the idea of our kid going to jail seems pretty distant to many.  But Garrett works with families and kids for which this is a fairly regular occurance.  They try to break the cycle of incarceration and hopelessness, and they have some wonderful stories– and some very depressing ones as well.  The reality of evil and brokenness of the world becomes more apparent when you are working first hand with teenagers who often come from broken homes in disfunctional neighborhoods. 

Release does three things primarily: organize volunteers to go into jails to meet with teens.  Garrett told me this morning that they have plenty of opportunities, but not enough volunteers.  I plan to do it when we return from Milwaukee full time in the spring.  Its once a week, with a one-year commitment.  Garrett says its easy for them to get 8-12 kids to want to come do a bible study etc, and the informal mentoring is very beneficial.

Second, they line up mentoring for kids who come out of prison.  Again, its a once-a-week commitment to get together with these teens to give them a stable friend and mentor to talk with and get respect from. 

Third, they have group homes– they are currently renovating their third one right now.  They hire group home parents to live in the house with the teens.  Garrett and his wife and kids had some of these troubled teens in their home for years. 

Every year Release Ministries has a fundraiser dinner.  It is next Tuesday the 18th, and they have a great speaker lined up.  I went last year and plan to go this year.  Release does things outside of the box.  They are a local homegrown ministry here in Nebraska, and since I know some of the people involved in it–ike Garrett– and I know they are meeting the needs of kids around us in our own neighborhood, its a no-brainer for us to choose to support it.

If you have even a slight interest in helping this ministry, please consider acting on it.  They rely on the support of whoever happens to know of them.  If you are around, I’d encourage you to go to the banquet next Tuesday.    I’ll see you there.

Shortcomings and Failures: Living in the Valley

I try to read Oswald Chambers pretty regularly, and this morning the reading was on living in the ‘valley of humiliation’,   which seemed appropriate after the Nebraska-Wisconsin game last night.  As usual, Chambers’ devotional was powerful:

After every time of exaltation we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are where it is neither beautiful nor poetic nor thrilling. The height of the mountain top is measured by the drab drudgery of the valley; but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mount, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at the heroic pitch because of the natural selfishness of our hearts, but God wants us at the drab commonplace pitch, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship to Him. Peter thought it would be a fine thing for them to remain on the mount, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mount into the valley, the place where the meaning of the vision is explained.

There is a temptation for me to try to avoid the valley, to escape it, to avoid it, and to live above the day to day.  But when I am stuck in the mire of the daily difficulties, and am at the end of my strength, with no energy to pretend– that is when I have little choice but to give in to God and believe, because there is nothing else I can do.  Chambers says, “It takes the valley of humiliation to root the scepticism out of us.”

Here in Milwaukee we go to a little Lutheran Church which is great for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the liturgy that we say together.  Each week we have a prayer of confession together.  This morning’s meant a lot to me, because it speaks to our brokenness, our incompleteness, and our failure to be what God has made us to be.

First, the pastor said:

Lord God, we confess our failure to be all that you have created us to become.  We acknowledge falling short of what we could have been as a community, congregation, family, people.

  Then the congregation all said these words together:

Where we might have been compassionate, we have shown indifference; present, we have been absent; our voices heard in protest or support, we have remained silent.  Where we might have sown seeds of understanding and love, we have scattered conflict and confusion.

We confess the promises we have broken, the vows we have violated, the relationships we have compromised.  We confess all the possibilites for growing up that we have ignored for the sake of being comfortable and secure.

There isn’t a line there that I couldn’t relate to.  No one knows our own unfaithfulness like we do I suppose.   I know I often am indifferent when I should have shown compassion.  I know that I’ve been absent on purpose in situations where I should have been present.   Many issues I should have spoken for or against, and I’ve remained silent.  Many times where I caused confusion and dischord instead of bringing love and understanding to a situation.  Promises I have broken, relationships I have scarred or broken, and many possibilities to grow and get stretched which I have given up for the sake of comfort and my own lazyness.  Nothing like church to get you cheered up

But these things are true whether we confess them or not.  It is not less depressing to hide them and cover them up, but we like to live in intentional ignore-ance of these truths.  When we confess we acknowledge that we are in the valley, and then in our need we are able to receive from God.  When we still pretend to be self sufficient and ‘together’ we are so busy holding things together that we cannot open up our arms for mercy. 

I was reminded to two things today: I like Oswald Chambers, and I like to go to church…

May God have mercy on us all…

“(Your Church name Here) Ranks First in National listing of Churches Contributing to the Common Good”

St. Francis is known for the saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and use words if necessary” (whether he actually said that or not, I have no idea).  I just noticed today on the front page of Creighton University’s website that there is a ‘news’ banner which proclaims: “Creighton Ranks First in National Listing of Schools Contributing to Public Good”  It immediately made me think, “what if our churches got such headlines?”  I mean, technically, Creighton’s reputation does reflect on the Roman Catholic Church, since it is a Catholic institution, so it does add to the Catholic Church’s reputation for contributing to the common good.

Evangelicals have traditionally focused on witnessing– bringing people to Christ and into the Kingdom, not only by “getting people saved” but by helping them “grow in Christ”– to have life transformational changes in their lives once they do become a Christian.  And some evangelical churches may have a strong witness through what they do for those in need around them, or for contributing to the social good.  

Now to some extent, you can’t control what people are going to think about you, so it can be pointless to try (some people may simply have such a biased view against Christians, or Nebraskans, or philosophers, that I can’t win no matter what).  But usually you have some power to win people over, and to alter their view about you, for better or ill. 

It is a fruitful excersize to think through what your church is known for in the neighborhood.  Maybe its primarily known for its location (Oh, thats the one on 96th and Maple beside the bowling alley) or for its looks (“Oh, thats the one thats all white and has the old time spire on it”).  Maybe you are known for your theology (“oh, that church is pretty liberal- I heard the pastor once questioned the virgin birth from the pulpit) or for your politics (“they tend to intersperse their Bible study with anti-obama (or anti-bush) rhetoric” –depending on the church).  Your church might be known for being wealthy (“lots of BMW’s and Cadillacs in that lot”) or for your diversity (pretty much all white suburbanites at that church) or maybe even for your potlucks (best in town!). 

Again, I don’t doubt that some of your churches are known for contributing to the common good, and it would be encouraging to hear about that if they are, but wouldn’t it be cool if on a regular basis Christian Churches were regularly extolled for their activities leading to the greater good?  It seems like that would be an amazing witness to Christ’s transformative power in our lives. 

At the same time that I say that– some of your churches already do contribute to the common good, and we don’t always think of it.  Insofar as your church helps to establish and grow healthy marriages and families, it definitely contributes to the common good.  Insofar as it encourages you to be in life- giving and transformative relationships with other Christians, and to build each other up through accountability and through challenging each other to live lives of love and good deeds (Hebrews 10) it does just that.  Insofar as your life becomes more and more concerned for others, less and less concerned with satisfying your own needs, and more open to laying down your life for your neighbor– your church is contributing to the common good. 

The church today needs more and more of this sort of banner headlines.  With so many headlines about churches being about Priests molesting children, or outrageous luxories of Christian ’leaders’, it is all the more important to give people some alternate news about the local church.  Hopefully they know more about our churches than where they are located, or what our politics are.  Hopefully they will come to know our churches to be a witness of the love of Christ for the world, and the grace of God to all peoples. 

May God have mercy on us all.

Andy

None of Our Business: Letting God Work in Others in Strange Ways

I wonder if sometimes God gets slightly annoyed with us trying to figure out why He does what He does.  I wonder if He ever thinks, “why don’t they just mind their own business and think about what I’ve given them to do instead of bothering with trying to figure out what I’m doing?”  We busy ourselves trying to analyze God’s motives, options and perspective.  Our accounts of how and why God does what he does are similar in quality to the nuclear physics research of a golden retriever.

Its freeing when you come to the point of ‘letting’ God do what he does and you just keep your focus on what God has given you to do.  This even applies to other people’s situations.  I had cancer when I was 25 and I went through 8 rounds of chemotherapy.  It was difficult, of course, but honestly I handled it pretty well (the last couple of rounds nearly killed me, but still, it was OK).  I remember people– well-intentioned– saying things like “I bet you are really struggling with why God let this happen to you– I bet that is difficult!” And they were trying to sympathize with my situation, with loving compassion.  But the fact was, it never crossed my mind that I was suffering something I didn’t deserve.  It just was not a struggle for me.  To outsiders it appeared that I probably was going to be struggling with certain questions, but it turned out that in fact I wasn’t, and those weren’t questions for me at all (which is surprising, since I am a philosopher and all). 

So sometimes I see things happen to others, and I start to be concerned about their business, and I see situations where maybe I think someone is struggling– but it turns out they aren’t.  From my perspective, it looks like they got thrown under the bus– like my cancer maybe looked to outsiders.  But the funny thing is that when its you and God going through something together, sometimes its simply not a big deal– or at least not something you need someone else to help see you through.  God’s grace is sufficient, and if you happen to be an outsider to that, its likely you won’t get it– and its not yours to get anyway!

Its especially hard to not get involved, especially when it is someone you care a lot about.  But sometimes the way to be involved is to stay out of it and let God do what he needs, and you just pray.  God is weird– His ways are not our ways– and its good for us to simply get used to that idea and accept it.  Sometimes God doesn’t need us to get involved– he needs us to stay out of the way because he needs to get alone with the person and bring them through something alone. 

Kierkegaard talked a lot about Abraham going up the mount to sacrifice his son Issaac.  Abraham was in a situation which he could not fully related to anyone else.  He was, in Kierkegaards words, experiencing the ‘height of subjectivity’– it was him and God and no one else could understand.  His wife wouldn’t really understand what he was doing because she hadn’t heard from God as Abraham had.  He couldn’t go talk to his priest about it– he just had to go with God up the mount facing the situation himself. 

It is wonderful to have community, and to be supported and loved, challenged and embraced by community.  But there are some things that God wants you to face on your own.  And while its hard to know, as an outsider, when that is– its important to remember that sometimes God has plans for others which may seem strange to you– and its absolutely none of your business.  He has given you things to do– given you a direction and a purpose– and you only need to be faithful to that calling he has on your life.  What he does in anothers life is really between God and that person. 

It is important to sympathize with others– rejoice when they rejoice, mourn when they mourn– but it is also important sometimes to simply let God work in and through them in His very strange ways that are beyond our comprehension.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your way straight.

May God have mercy on us all…

Holy Hill Pilgrimage — a cosmo journey

Catholic Churches are usually beautiful.  They definitely know where to build too– if there was to be a contest between Catholics and protestant evangelicals on architecture, I’m not sure what we protestant evangelicals would even put in to compete.  Evangelical protestants have traditionally spent money on missions and programs and staff rather than buildings, and when they do build, they build pretty functional buildings– thats why so many of them look like giant machine sheds. 

There are so many things I am thankful for from evangelical protestant church– like strong Bible focus and the community of love and the steadfast devotion and commitment to personal relationship to God.  But I am also thankful that God gave us good architecture through our Roman Catholic brothers. 

Holy Hill is about 45 minutes from Milwaukee.  Its a gorgeous church up on a hill from which you can see (up in the tower) the towers of downtown Milwaukee.  We up the tower, of course, to see what we could see.  We also went into the church sanctuary for as while, and a woman was singing “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and so when I went home I looked up that hymn in my book on the stories of old hymns (101 Hymn Stories).  It was by Issac Watts, who lived from 1674-1748.  Watts was a bright kid, learning latin by 5 and greek by 9, french at 11 and Hebrew by 13.  And he started writing hymns because he thought the songs at his dissenting Congregational church stunk.  An example of a hymn from that day is given in the book, so show how awful they were:

Ye monsters of the bubbling deep, your Master’s praises spout; Upf from the sands ye coddling peep, and wag your tails about…

(Remember that next time you even think of thinking negative thoughts about singing “shine jesus shine” or some other chorus you aren’t too fond of…)

So this young kid Watts wrote

When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it Lord that I should boast, Save int he dealth of Christ, my GodAll the vain things that charm me most– Isacrifice them to His blood.

Were they whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small.  Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

For a while Watts wrote a new hymn each Sunday, and eventually composed 600 hymns.  So this kid from a Congregational church which had dissented (broken away) from the Church of England (which had broken away from Rome, Obviously). 

On Saturday, I got to hear this hymn of a doubly-protestant teenager from the 1600′s in a beautiful Roman Catholic church atop a hill with Milwaukee in the distance.   Afterwards, we walked down and around the hill past the 12 stations of the cross– each with a beautiful relief carving of Jesus from the sentencing by Pilate to his burial.  A good reminder of the story of Christ’s crucifixion.

The experience made me appreciate again the diversity of the Body of Christ– the many components of Christianity.  God uses us in our own churches in various ways, and who knows what good God is going to bring us from one of these other churches we don’t regularly go to? 

I remember going not infrequently to the Church of the Holy Seplecure in Jerusalem when I was studying in Jerusalem for a semester back in college.  That church has at least 7 different denomenations who have a part of it, because it is thought to be on the site where Jesus was buried.  The Roman Catholics call it the Church of the Holy Seplecure (holy grave) while one of the Eastern Orthodox churches there call it the church of the Risen Saviour.   It was a massive vaulting and ancient structure, so different than Monroe where I grew up in the cornfields of Nebraska.  We know God is not contained by any structure, but I know he is glorified through them, and I thank God for such beautiful places like that, like Holy Hill, and like our living room where we meet on Wednesdays.  Simple Free sure doesn’t have such a nice building, and its nice to not have that maintenance expense.  But we also don’t have any monuments to our saviour on this earth made from brick and stone.  I am thankful some churches can provide such places of sanctuary for the rest of us to go to.  God blesses us in so many ways through so many different churches.

May God have mercy on us all.

Andy

Are Atheists More Ethical than Theists?

“The non-religious, or Nones, hold the fastest-growing world view in the market,” says Kosmin. “In the past 20 years, their numbers in the United States have doubled to 15 percent.”  (Der Spiegel)

My friend pointed me to a recent article in Der Spiegel called Does Secularlism Make People more ethical? which quoted some who study secularism claiming that belief in God may actually lead to less ethical behavior, not more ethical behavior.  I’ve met a lot of outstandingly ethical atheists, and a lot of not-very ethical theists, so I tend to think that belief in God is not alone a great criteria for knowing if one is ethical or not.  I know some people only go to Christian mechanics, etc– because they think they can trust them more– but I haven’t found it to be true that Christian mechanics are always more ethical, or that my non-religious one’s cheated me. 

Now there is no doubt that belief in something Transcendent (God, for example) does provide a basis for certain moral courage that others who don’t have such a belief may not have.  A friend of mine recently was pointing out that perhaps just wars are only possible if you have a belief in God, since only something transcendent is worth dying for.  Now I think that even if you don’t believe in God it still can make sense to die for your heritage, family, country, way of life, etc in war– its not like secularists care about nothing more than their own skin necessarily– that just doesn’t accurately describe reality.   But the more interesting thing about this argument that only theists could have a just war is that on the flip side of that claim is the atheists claim that “belief in God leads to violence.”  In other words, only a belief in God would lead one to kill people at 911, in the Crusades, in Northern Ireland, in the Pakistan-India skirmishes, in the Iran-Iraq war, in Crete (Turkish Muslims and Greek Christians), Croatia, Kyrzykstan-Uzbekistan, 30 year war (Lutheran-Catholic) etc etc etc.  Now from most of these skirmishes you could just as well say “ethnicity leads to war” or “desire for wealth leads to war” or even simply “pride and arrogance leads to war”.    In other words, picking out religion as the cause simply because many wars ostensibly use religious arguments to justify their claims and get adherents to go sacrifice themselves (the many virgins (in heaven) promised to Martyrs in sects of Islam who are willing to die for the cause is one case in point) is not an entirely accurate picture of what is going on.

Now there are Christians who think that non-Christians can not do good, because to do good requires God’s grace.  They also think that anything done apart from God is sin, so since an atheist is certainly apart from God, and nothing they do is done for God’s glory, nothing they do can NOT be sin.  Now I do not agree with this viewpoint.  I understand the gist of it, and see why someone would argue that any act done not for the glory of God is sin in some sense.  But I do think that atheists can love their wives, be kind, honest, follow most of the 10 commandments, etc.  I see all people in God’s image, and see the vestiges of that, regardless of the current state of their relationship with God.  Some people are in better shape than others morally and soul-wise, but you can tell that all of them were made by God and for God and that beauty is there regardless of their current stage.  It doesn’t matter if they are a theif a murderer, or a terrorist– there is still some of the goodness of God left there which is redeemable and lovely.  Some think that is semipelagian.  I just think its Christian.

 One reason I think theists think secularists are less ethical is that secularists don’t tend to follow the same restrictions as theists.  One reason atheists think theists are unethical is because they push all their rules on everyone else!  So the theist biased against atheists may find atheists to be sexually loose, unsupportive of basic societal goals of marriage and family and fidelity, supportive of unnatural activities, likely to cheat or steal if they can get away with it, willing to kill the unborn, supporters of killing the elderly (euthanasia), focused on animals more than people (Peter Singer, case in point), etc.  Atheists biased against theists will see theists to be oppressive to women (no abortion), anit-homosexual, oppressive to those outside the norm (single moms, etc), prone to be divisive and retributive, argumentative, and generally pushy.  (Kosmin, at the Trinity College (CT) center for secular studies said, “For example, many believe that the US population is steadily becoming more religious — but this is an optical illusion. Many evangelicals have simply become more aggressive and more political.”)

The article also points out that secularism increases as ‘the church’ generally is decreasing:

This heightened public profile may be contributing to the shrinking numbers of religious believers. Churches in the US are losing up to 1 million members every year. In Europe, secularization has advanced even further. The number of non-religious people, those who do not believe in God or any higher power, has reached approximately 40 percent in France and about 27 percent in Germany.

 But even though they may have increased in numbers, they still generally are not trusted, and the article points out that “since secularists rank among the least-liked groups of people in the US, falling behind even Muslims and homosexuals.”

The other problem, apparently, that secularists have is that they don’t have anything around which to organize themselves.  Kosmin mentioned a  ‘secularist demonstration’ planned in Washington last year, “But they couldn’t even agree on a motto,” he says. “It was like herding cats, straight out of a Monty Python sketch.” In the end, the march was called off. 

I have read a lot of Christian arguments claiming that if one doesn’t believe in God, then you don’t have a strong basis for morality, because you don’t have a metaphysical structure deep enough to really prescribe behaviors to others.  In other words, if there is no designer to plan how we are supposed to live, then there isn’t really a right way and a wrong way to do things. 

This argument is generally meant to show people that if they want to hold to a moral standard, then not believing in God is inconsistent.  Now I am not too interested in such arguments for the simple reason that I have never known people to believe in God after hearing this argument: “Oh you are right, I am inconsistent, I’d better believe in God right now then!…” 

But I also have a very practical and selfish reason I’m not too interested in the argument.  I tell my friends who try to use this argument to think about what they are doing: They are using it on Atheists who are acting morally– not murdering, not cheating, not stealing, being honest– and they are saying to them: ”Look, you are really being inconsistent.  If you were a consistent atheist you would start cheating and stealing and lying and killing…”  My response is– DON’T TELL THEM THAT!  I mean, even if you are right, and the atheist has no good reason to not kill me unless he believes in God, why in the world would you want him to realize that?  Let sleeping dogs lie!   So I do not use that argument, and highly discourage its use.   

In the end, we obviously must take seriously the gradual increase of secularism and the gradual decline of theism.  There is no doubt that Europe is in most respects a post-Christian culture, and the US is slowly going that direction.  I’m not sure what the answer is to that.  I tend to think that it is not necessarily to become more politically antagonistic.  In a conversation I was having last night with a good friend, I asked him why he thought some high level Evangelical academics were becoming Catholic.  He said he wondered if it might not be because evangelicalism has become so identified with particular political outlooks, and the less they liked being identified with the tea party the less they liked being identified as evangelical.  I don’t know if that is acurate or not, but it was an interesting consideration. 

One might say, “well if we don’t do something and stand up, what will happen?” and I understand and appreciate that sentiment.    But we don’t want to let the vocal minority dominate the discussion and the perception of what it is to be evangelical.  Those who speak loudest are usually considered to be the spokespeople, unfortunately. 

Now there are Christians who think that non-Christians can not do good, because to do good requires God’s grace.  They also think that anything done apart from God is sin, so since an atheist is certainly apart from God, and nothing they do is done for God’s glory, nothing they do can NOT be sin.  Now I do not agree with this viewpoint.  I understand the gist of it, and see why someone would argue that any act done not for the glory of God is sin in some sense.  But I do think that atheists can love their wives, be kind, honest, follow most of the 10 commandments, etc.  I see all people in God’s image, and see the vestiges of that, regardless of the current state of their relationship with God.  Some people are in better shape than others morally and soul-wise, but you can tell that all of them were made by God and for God and that beauty is there regardless of their current stage.  It doesn’t matter if they are a theif a murderer, or a terrorist– there is still some of the goodness of God left there which is redeemable and lovely.  Some think that is semipelagian.  I just think its Christian.

As for secularists being more ethical– I doubt it.  As for theists always being more ethical– I doubt that too.  Fortunately, people who do not believe in God can still in many cases act as ethically or even more ethically than Christians, in my experience.  And though they don’t mean to, this in itself is something which glorifies God. 

May God have mercy on us all…

the article from der spiegel was at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,777281,00.html