Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

Because Jesus didn’t have kids.

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Something struck me for the first time today: Jesus didn’t have children.

I know, duh, right.  Like wow Jason, Seminary, really?!?  There’s 30grand well spent!

But here me out.  For many reasons i have been feeling a sense of fear and anxiety about my kid lately.  Not the existential kind of fears like will he grow up to be a good guy? will i survive the phase when he hates me?   But honest to God fears for his safety.  I think this has been brought on by a handful of things.

1st, Tara and I just watched a mini series on the BBC America (yep, we’re nerds) called Torchwood:Children of Earth and it was compelling, entertaining and disturbing.  I recomend it for those of you who don’t have kids, for those who do — not so much.

2nd, There’s been a bit of an uptick in crime in my neighborhood these last few days.  And it makes me nervous because it is happening during the day which is when i am home alone with Ethan.

3rd, I have been following the adventure’s of my friends the Alt’s who have traveled (along with a 8(?) year old daughter) to Guinea, one of the world’s poorest countries.

All of these things together have got me wondering how radically faithful am i willing to be now that I have a wife and especially a son.  Don’t get me wrong, its not that I was radically faithful before, but i have a better sense of what that could look like now and a better sense of how my life doesn’t look like that at all.

So the question is, is there a limit of how much like Jesus I can be with a kid?

or put another way…

If He were in my life circumstance, what would Jesus do?

No one knows.  Why?  Because Jesus didn’t have kids.

Posted in Ethics, Faith, Fatherhood, Jesus, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

On Healing

Monday, July 6th, 2009

The following is an excerpt from a conversation I am having with a friend of mine about miraculous healing, I thought it was worth sharing:

My overall sense from what I have heard you say so far (and I might be way off here) is that you place a high importance on supernatural healing, both physical and psychological.  And I guess I wonder where that comes from.  I mean, I see the importance of healing and exorcisms in the gospels, and I believe that the healing that Christ manifested is still available to us now, and I believe that the future Kingdom of God is something at hand, now. But, I guess, for me, instead of wanting to say that the future Kingdom is breaking into the current Kingdom particularly in things like supernatural healing.  I would argue that the current world is infused with the in-breaking Kingdom of God and that every time there is a healing in this world (be it supernatural or aspirin) it is a sign of that in-breaking kingdom.  I can’t say exactly why I feel like the difference is important, but I do.

Their Reply:

QUICKLY, from Genesis to Revelations there is a pattern where God reveals his nature through  teaching and demonstration.  Has this changed because of Western philosophical materialism/and the influence of Greco/Roman dualism on the church culture?

My Response:

I think what has (potentially) changed is the way we understand and speak about God’s “demonstration”.

So, in a world of competing deities (Egypt) we see and tell the story of locusts and plagues.

In a world of traveling healers (Jesus) we see and tell the story of healing and exorcisms.

In a world of science and governments (ours) we see and tell the story of Mother Teresa and doctors without borders.

I am not saying that plagues and locusts and healing and exorcisms don’t still happen. I am only saying that God is active in all things that work for life and freedom and He always has been. And only looking for it in the same ways as we see it in the stories in scripture is to miss out on a lot of what God is doing in the world today.

Posted in Church, Faith, Miracles | 3 Comments »

On “finding faith”

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Ok, so my Peter Rollins man crush continues…

In addition to The Fidelity of Betrayal, i am also reading The Orthodox Heretic his collection of short stories or parables — which i passionately recommend to anyone at all willing to have their faith challenged.

My favorite short story so far is called Finding Faith.  What happens is that a preacher finds out that he has the unique “gift” for being able to pray people into losing their faith.  Being a Christian minister he can’t figure out what this “gift” is good for until he meets a business man on a bus.  This business man leads a life (Monday to Saturday) that is dis-congruous with the life of Christ but goes to church and reads his Bible and does all the other things that a “good christian” is supposed to do.  Until our minister prays away his faith.

After the business man’s faith is gone and he stops going to church and doing all these “Christian” things, he realizes the depravity of the rest of his life, and makes radical changes to his daily life.  Later he finds the minister again and thanks him for helping him “find his faith”.

The point is that sometimes our “Christianity” serve as a sort of a release-valve to let us live otherwise worldly lives — an “opiate for the masses” as Karl Marx would say.

The question then, for me, is how do we shape our communal lives of faith not to serve this function, but rather to give each other the strength to change our lives Monday – Saturday?  Is it something that the community (and its leadership) has any influence over?  or is it completely in the hands of each individual member and what they bring to the community?

Posted in Faith, Peter Rollins | Comments Off

Slippery Slope vs. House of Cards

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

I was talking with a fried the other day about the problem with the slippery slope argument (you know the one: if you question 1 thing the bible says, 6 day creation for example, then it’s a short downhill trip to questioning everything and losing your faith) is that it’s just too blunt. The way he put it was that it’s like using a chainsaw to chop garlic. I agree, I think we must look carefully at every issue independently of where it leads. If I am convinced that evolution is true, then I am convinced it is true, and I need to deal with my understanding of Genesis 1 in light of that. But I don’t need to worry about every other possible question that might come down the road. When those come, I will look at them carefully too.

So that’s settled, but, I also have been thinking of an equally blunt argument that takes the slippery slope argument head on which is the house of cards argument.

The house of cards argument says that if your faith is so constructed that to challenge any one aspect (be it the Bible, or the virgin birth, or miracles, or the church, or whatever) shakes the foundation of everything you believe, then you don’t have a very well built faith. What you have, in fact, is a house of cards. And what do you do with a house of cards? You protect it from anything that might blow it over – because it is so fragile.

However, if your faith is built so that every aspect is held independently (connected but not structurally dependent on each other) then it can stand the questions and challenges that are bound to come up if your life is going to be anything other than safe. Common images for this I have heard are like nodes in a web, or springs on a trampoline (thank you John Franke and Rob Bell, respectively).

The thing that connects these two arguments is that, at the end of the day, the concern of both of them is pastoral. The slippery slope argument fears that if you question any aspect of your faith you will lose it all, and the house of cards argument fears that if you don’t question your faith then you aren’t building it in a structurally sound way, and eventually the whole thing will come crashing down.

I suppose I am beginning to see my calling as someone who can help people reconstruct their faith in a not-house-of-cards way.

Posted in Bible, Faith | 2 Comments »