Holy Bothering

Based on my past experience, I am not the greatest candidate to read the entire Bible through in a calendar year. The truth is that I have often questioned the value behind such an approach, which probably contributes to my failure rate (100%) in attempting this endeavor. I feel like if I read three chapters a day over the course of the year that I will not be very good at reading other books that also help me grow spiritually and assist me in ministry. On the other hand, I could certainly gain from developing the habit of daily Bible reading.

However with all that said, it bothers me that I have never read the Bible cover to cover (which is way more important than those other books I like to read). So, I decided on a new strategy; I would read nothing else but the Bible for four months. If I read nine chapters a day, then I will finish the Bible in that time period instead of a year. I started on January 5th and so far so good. I finished the Pentateuch yesterday. It has really been an eye-opening experience to read so much of the Bible at such a rapid pace. You may lose the ability to dwell on details, but you gain something in regards to the connected themes of the Bible.

I read Genesis through Leviticus before taking a break from the Pentateuch to read Mark. It was amazing to experience just how different reading the teachings and actions of Jesus was compared to reading the Pentateuch. Though much more interesting, I could not read Mark as fast. The words of Jesus "give us pause" to quote a good friend.

There is a lot of fascinating material in the Pentateuch, but I confess that there are a lot of things that bother me. Let's be honest; they probably bother you too. I don't feel like men and women are treated equally or even valued equally under the Mosaic Law, but I will leave that topic for another day. I will only add that yes it is true that the Law of Moses was much more considerate of women than other Ancient Near Eastern law codes, but that doesn't necessarily explain away all the inequalities between men and women under the Law of Moses.

Yet, what is truly bothersome is the frequent command to either stone or burn or otherwise cut off from his or her people those foolish enough to transgress God's law. To be sure, God differentiates between those that simply make a mistake (unintentional sin) and those that willingly transgress. Still, there is death for those who blaspheme, takes the name of God in vain, worship idols, practice sorcery, divination, witchcraft, rebels against their parents, desecrates the Sabbath, commits adultery, etc. All of this threat of death reminds me of growing up with the threat of hell constantly proclaimed and seared into our consciousness.

Late we see the flaws in such an approach. We find ourselves far more motivated by grace and the love of God than threat of punishment, and indeed this seems to be a consistent emphasis in the New Testament. It is present in the Old Testament as well (just as the threat of hell is present in the New), but what gives with the extreme threat of punishment in the Old Testament for offenses that many of us (if not all) have committed?!

Well, the truth is that our modern sensitivities, evidenced by the fact that many consider lethal injection to be cruel and unusual punishment, has little chance of truly comprehending life and death in the Ancient Near Eastern world. Also, we elevate individual rights and dignity to such an extreme that is hard for us to understand how stoning an individual (or in some cases his entire family) for the benefit of the entire community (or nation) was more sensible than showing individual compassion.

Yet, what we really don't get is far more important than the differences in modern and Ancient Near Eastern sensitivities. We simply don't understand the holiness of God. I suggest the Pentateuch is really about two related themes. The first is the narrative of God's developing relationship with his people--the call of Abraham, the Patriarchs, the journey to Egypt, his dramatic rescue through Moses, the Wandering, and the preparation for entering the Land. The second theme is God's gracious willingness to dwell amongst his people, evidenced by the manifestation of his glory at the Tabernacle.

All of the sacrifices, the laws, the death penalties, etc. exist so that God's people will not be consumed by the holiness of God. Yes, God values every individual but not so much that he will allow sin in the camp to threaten the entire community. God's holiness cannot abide sin and rebellion. So, the people are to be holy as he is holy. If your actions threaten this tenuous relationship between God and his people, then you are going to be eliminated (a constant refrain is "the sin must be purged from among you").

We take holiness for granted, because we rightly believe that we are made holy by the blood of Jesus. We know that no amount of law keeping could truly make us holy. But with the passage of time, and our general neglect of the Old Testament, we forget just how holy God is. Then we forget just how holy we are supposed to be. Yes, the blood of Jesus is a better motivator for holiness than the threat of being stoned, but there is also an even greater price to pay for making a mockery of that blood and the holiness it brings. It means we are "crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace" (Heb. 6:6). In doing this, we separate ourselves from God forever.

Peter tells his audience, quoting Leviticus, to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16). Being holy as God is holy begins with recognizing just how holy God is. I think we had better read the Old Testament with the humility to learn instead of rendering modern day assessments that have no regard for the holiness of God!

Thoughts on Unity

I began my new ministry in Portales with a sermon on unity from John 17, which contains the great prayer of unity offered by Jesus before his crucifixion. Just like many concerned Christians, I have often thought about unity, but have rarely come up with any novel approaches to address the division that is throughout Christendom.

Usually when this topic is addressed to a particular divided group, John 17 is highlighted and an emotional appeal is articulated for Christians to honor the prayer of Jesus and just be united. Complimenting this appeal is usually some proclamation that our differences are for the most part petty and that what we have in common is far more precious than what we don't. This kind of approach usually gets the gathered emotionally committed to unity. There is a spirit of repentance and togetherness. The songs and prayers are accompanied by tears and embrace. Someone will usually say this is a glimpse of heaven.

But then those of the gathered assembly go their separate ways and we have to ask the question: was any real unity accomplished? Christian Church and Churches of Christ had a round of such gatherings in 2006 --marking the hundred year anniversary of their split. They repudiated such a split and affirmed all they had in common, but is that unity?

I have a couple of problems with making unity the end goal of our efforts: one practical and one theological. The practical concern involves trying to decide what unity looks like. Unity becomes an ambiguous ideal, one that no one is ever sure when it is truly accomplished. Speakers that often opine about unity rarely will tell their audience "we will know that we are united when..." Would we all have to worship together on Sundays for this ideal to become reality? Or is unity merely acknowledging we have the same Savior and that we won't throw spiritual stones at each other anymore (this would certainly be an improvement)? The only worthy vision of unity, in my view, is the one in which we can all assemble as one people to praise the Lamb on the throne (cf. Rev. 5). I don't know that we can get there this side of eternity.

My theological concern is that as I read scripture, unity is not something we can accomplish. This has been played out in our own Restoration history. Declaration and Address was signed just over 200 years ago by Thomas Campbell and others with the vision that all denominational lines would simply dissolve into the greater union of believers. Sounds great, but the patternist approach--the idea that we would all be unified by simply following a supposedly obvious New Testament pattern--was ultimately doomed to add more factions than it would ever contribute to the cause of unity.

Rather unity is given and accomplished by God through the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Go back and read John 17. Is there any place in that prayer that calls on the disciples to create unity? Go read Eph. 4:3, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Our role in unity is to maintain what has already been created and given. We do not create unity, though we certainly can and do create division.

So, does this mean we can do nothing regarding the division we see throughout Christendom or even amongst our fellowship and congregations? Absolutely not. We can begin to make strides in enjoying greater unity when we realize that such unity is given by Jesus and not created by us. We can better focus then on being the disciples and the church we are supposed to be and when this begins to happen unity amongst ourselves and others will increase. We don't rally around unity; we rally around the cross. But when you find a whole lot of disciples at the cross, you will find them united!

Obviously, where we have contributed to division and factions we need to repent, be humble, and ask for forgiveness. This will allow the gift of God's unity to wash away the walls of division and hostility that we have erected. We can't solve the division we see all around us and around this world, but perhaps we can start with this humility and seek to enjoy the unity already given to us in Christ Jesus!