Of Emperors, Presidents and the King

At Grace Community Church, we’re going through 1 Peter.  It has been, for me, a very formative time.  As I continue to consider things like community, marriage, the church, and suffering for the sake of the Gospel, I find 1 Peter to be extremely encouraging and challenging.  I have read the epistle many times before but had never quite grasped the richness of the text that I’m gleaning now.  It is full of covenant imagery and language and, at the same, time very practical words of instruction.  Perhaps, as we continue through it, I will post more of my thoughts and learnings from 1 Peter.

A little less than a month ago, we discussed 1 Peter 2:13-17 and it prompted me to make a claim on my facebook page. I’ll repeat that phrase here and elaborate on it some.  My hope is discussion.  Since we, and by we I mean I, have not been faithful in keeping up with The Lost Road, I’m sure discussion will be minimal but still I’d like to hear thoughts.

If dishonoring the emperor is dishonoring to God, then we as evangelicals have a lot of repenting to do.

Let me say first the word that we translate emperor in our Bibles can rightly be translated governing officials or rulers.  To the churches Peter was addressing that was an emperor, to us it is the sum total of the governing officials (from town mayor to state senate, from congress to the president) over us.  I would also like to point out that I am choosing to identify myself with evangelicals.  This is a term that carries different connotations with different groups of people. However, for better or for worse, I identify most closely with evangelicals.  This is not an call to any other community than my own.

That being said, the way that we talk about and disagree with President Obama is appalling.  We speak as though he is the devil.  We speak as though he is persecuting or martyring us (like the emperor did to Christians shortly after Peter wrote that letter).  We speak as though he is our enemy.  What’s worse, we speak as though he is ruining that last true hope we have in the world.  I’m not particularly an Obama fan or critic, I didn’t  vote for or against him.  I know Bush was dishonored during his term.  Still, we as believers are called to honor the governing officials, not act like those whose hope is solely in the here and now.

I think our dishonor shows a hope placed in the wrong kingdom, which ultimately placed in the wrong king. For that, let us repent.

listening to:
the smiths- the sounds of the smiths
franz kafka- the metamorphosis

reading:
the emotionally healthy church by peter scazzero
jesus for president by shane claiborne

News?

I found this to be an interesting article.

There’s a word for what the WH is doing to Fox News, and it’s marginalization.  It’s not new.  All of us are guilty of it at some point or another.  It’s important, however, to see it for what it is.  Rather than take time to painstakingly dismantle Fox’s claims, the WH would rather dismiss them out of hand– “they’re a point of view,” they say, “not the truth.”  It’s easier to say that than to say why what they are saying is not true.

Don’t think I’m defending Fox.  I don’t watch it or visit the web site.  Don’t think I’m attacking the White House.  Like I said, we’ve all been guilty of boxing up someone else’s opinion and then throwing out the box (because it’s a box).

Do think that I’m pointing out that all news channels have slants.  Fox may be the conservative voice, but CNN & MSNBC just happen to have voices that the WH would rather hear (at the moment).

Christian Fiction

I just came across this quote on Kingdom People, one of the Christian blogs I read. It’s a great quote from a critique about The Shack and I think it’s a lesson that really well-read good writers need to learn. Perhaps the world doesn’t need your next big commentary, or yet another systematic theology. I think, more than most things, it’s fiction that shapes most people, it’s fiction that helps most people think through larger issues, it’s fiction that will help people get deep theology that they hold fast to. So, where are the excellent Christian fiction writers?

It is easy to sit back and critique The Shack. (There is so much to critique!) But perhaps evangelicals who can see the problems with The Shack should instead invest some creative energy in writing stories that resonate with people in a similar way. As I have written elsewhere:

Do you ever wonder why stories often have a greater impact than debating the theological minutia of Bible interpretation?

C.S. Lewis could have written a fine theological treatise on what the world would have been like had Adam and Eve never sinned. But Perelandra worked much better. Lewis could have (and sometimes did) describe in colorful theological language the nature of the atonement, but Aslan sacrificing his life for rebellious Edmund fired up our imaginations. In his advice to aspiring writers, Lewis reminded them to describe truths vividly – not merely multiplying adjectives, but working hard to help people feel the beauty of the truths presented.

When I consider the phenomenal success of The Shack, the seminarian in me rises up and wants to make a detailed list of the book’s many theological aberrations. But perhaps the greater challenge for someone like me is to recognize the power of a good story and then to take a bestseller like The Shack as an incentive to write better stories.

I think that term “theological minutia” is excellent. I think that often people who have been trained by seminary spend so much time talking about angels on the head of a pin that they forget that theology is actually a way to love God and when it becomes just a hobby, it’s sin. The real challenge is not who you can defeat in some great, televised or published debate, but how many souls you can help love God and theology.

~chuck

Ramadan

From now until Sept. 19 marks the month of Ramadan (the English name), which is the month which Muslims celebrate the coming of the Quran to Muhammed. If you don’t know about it here’s a quick run-down (at least of how it works here). Adherents to the Islamic faith fast from sun-up to sun-down. Someone comes around with a very loud drum at 3 a.m. to wake everyone up so they can eat a huge breakfast, then for the rest of the day they don’t drink, eat or smoke (they don’t smoke here because the verb they use for “smoking” is actually “drinking”). Then at sun-down they have a huge dinner. There are other things which mark the month for them, the try to be particularly generous with their money for one. But for most (at least those I’ve met) it’s just a holiday to them, kind of like most “Christians” think of Christmas (though the holidays could not be more different). It’s a fun time for them, they have traditions, and different kinds of food, and family visits…etc.

I just came across this article in which Brian Mclaren explains why he and some of his friends are participating in the fast. Let’s discuss.

~chuck

Michael Ruse and the New Atheists

Hello all!

Sorry for the long absence.  I’ll be more regular starting… now.  Here’s a link to an article I read recently.  Michael Ruse is a philosophy of science professor at FSU (go Seminoles!) and wrote an interesting article on Dawkins, Hitchens and the rest of the “New Atheist” bunch.  It’s interesting, I think, as we consider apologetics in the 21st century.