Scholarship and Faith

A friend on "Facebook" had this interesting (and convicting?) quote under his favorite quotes. "The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole like will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament." Soren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard was never one to mince words, but now he's gone to meddling. I love my theological education (ongoing). But I know the experience about which he writes. Many years ago, in preaching school, I nearly fell into a depression, because the more I studied the Bible the more I felt like a pitiful disciple of Jesus. That wasn't a healthy place to be.

Yet, I am sure at time I have strayed to the other extreme. The more I studied, the more the Bible became an academic exercise, meant to be analyzed, scrutinized, and theologically categorized. Living it? Obeying it? As soon as I get done studying it.

But this is not a problem just in academic settings. This is a problem that infects the Churches of Christ, the Restoration Movement, and other communities who emphasize the study of the Bible as the height of Christian activity. A few times I have tried to reduce the amount of time we spent in communal Bible study, so that we could do some ministry for others together. The result? Well, let's just say we are back to spending all of our time in Bible study.

It is clear to me that we have made Bible study as the height of Christian discipleship. One man in my congregation can hardly forgo a single class without quoting from 2 Tim. 2:15; "Study to show thyself approved..." Studying the Bible is great. It is empowering. But empowering to what? If it is just so I know more answers than the Baptist church down the road, then it is meaningless. It should empower us to live it, to obey it. Let's not be busy studying the Bible that we have no time to carry the cross.

What does God require of you?

Can there be a more important question? Once you determined you believe in God, then this is the next big question. How do I stay on his good side? How do I have a relationship with the Creator of the universe? I think it is interesting how we often define faithfulness and discipleship by what we do during an hour or so a week on Sunday. I am not diminishing that at all, but it is as if we believe if we sing right, do communion right, baptism, prayer, etc. that God will be pleased with us.

The ironic thing is that we love to heap scorn on the ancient Israelites. They thought that if they kept the sacrifices coming, then they were pleasing to God. When confronted with their covenant breaking they responded to Yahweh (and Micah) with this attitude: "With what shall we come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

Are we so different than them? Do we not believe that if we offer up thousands of prayers, ten thousands of songs, and perfect ritualistic observation of baptism and communion that he will be pleased? Do we not believe that if we are confronted with unfaithfulness that we must immediately address one of these areas?

Yahweh's response: "He has showed you, O' man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

There is great grace in that simplicity of that statement. But don't be fooled; it is easier to simply believe correctly performed rituals is the key to pleasing God than to actually try to live the way he has called us. It is a lot easier to come to church than it is to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Yet true freedom and life is walking humbly with our God.

Will you walk with me? I stumble often. Maybe we can help each other along the way. God, may you grant us the grace to humbly walk with you and honestly examine ourselves when we place confidence in ritual over you.

The nexus between faith and politics

I am sure this is a popular topic these days. We live in an age where a candidate is probably coached to reference God a certain amount of times per speech. Isn't that interesting, when the perception is that God isn't so popular in America any more? Well, most Americans want to believe that their candidate believes in God, but don't want them to allow their faith to influence their public policy. Such a thing is absurd, of course, if faith is real at all, it cannot be tucked away at home.

Still, sometimes the "God talk" unnerves me as well, if not for the same reasons. I get nervous, if a candidate is claiming for themselves or their party to be the voice for God. I get even more nervous when I see Christians believing that a particular party would be the party for Jesus. Both parties have good emphases and both parties have points that would certainly be pleasing to Jesus. However, both parties are defined by their ideologies and their constituents not Jesus of the Bible.

Jesus is abhorred at some of the practices and beliefs of our two major parties. I can never see Jesus going around talking about a woman's right to choose when that choice requires the sacrifice of the most innocent of lives. I cannot imagine Jesus would approve of a party filling their coffers with the likes of the NRA, Big Tobacco, or the ACLU.

Some might suggest that Jesus would just stay out of politics all together. I'm not suggesting that Jesus would run for office, but the teaching of Jesus and the kingdom of God shake the very foundation of all political structures. The question is what would Jesus have his people do in a society where they can literally influence the society at large with kingdom values. Would he have them set on the sidelines, if their involvement would mean more justice to the fringes of society, the very people that Jesus' kingdom message purports to include?

I say Jesus would have us be involved in the political process. It doesn't mean that every person has to be a political activist. We all have different callings. However, a totally passive response might be to neglect justice for those that desperately need it.

Jesus would have us care for the un-born, because they don't have a voice to protect themselves. Jesus would have us care for the poor, because they are always close to his heart. Jesus would have us stand against racism, for he has made a kingdom of all nations and tribes. Jesus has many concerns in this world. I believe our major role in politics is to give voice to the voiceless. I have been heavily influenced by Jim Wallis and John Yoder in this, even though I don't agree with them on all points. They do articulate an exclusive allegiance to Jesus over any party or political system. I couldn't agree more.