Different things have set me thinking about the Church lately. I've had a chance to watch last fall's Luther a few times. I'm reading a book with which I have some hefty disagreements (at least in the earliest chapters). And there's some deep division among some friends here. Since classes are over and packing doesn't take much brain power, these thoughts and troubles consume my mind.
I really do think that we (the Church in general, Fundamentalism in particular since that's what I know best) have largely forgotten Jesus. In watching the movie about Luther, I couldn't help recognizing similarities between the modern Church and the Roman Catholics of the sixteenth century. The outward forms are different, but the errors are the same. The Bible is taken from the common people, not literally but rather through an overemphasis on scholarship that causes us to believe that we cannot understand or trust our English Bibles because we do not know Greek or Hebrew like the "authorities." Just as the Church at the time of the Reformation said that only the Church could correctly interpret the Scripture, the modern Church uses layers of interpretation to keep people within certain preconditioned mental states when reading their Bibles, causing them to often miss the plain meaning of the passage. Worst of all in this are those who promote ancient translations as the best (whether out of good motives or bad), which truly prevents the people from a plain understanding of what God has to say to them. We have trapped Jesus in a maze of hidden word meanings and philosophical constructs, keeping ourselves from knowing him and preventing others from coming to him as well.
My beef with the book, which shall remain nameless at the moment since I haven't finished it and may have a misunderstanding of where it's going, is that it seems to promote a loose interpretation of Scripture. What I mean by that is that it takes its own ideas and appears to lay a veneer of remotely applicable verses--taken out of context--atop them to "Christianize" the proposals. While the ideas in and of themselves may be noble, I take a strong offense to anyone who speaks in the name of God (or appropriates his name) saying what God has not said to us. This includes political speeches from the pulpits of churches or religious schools. It includes those books that tell us we need something more than Jesus to be either truly happy or to attain further blessings from God (or achieve further merit with God in order increase his happiness with us or to attain additional happiness he has for us). If you have a good idea and it is based on the Bible, that's fine. But to take an idea--good or not--and appropriate the Bible to it in order to give it "moral" strength (or worse) is an abuse of God's name and, therefore, an abuse of those people who may be deceived into trusting that these extra duties will somehow improve their lives, whether focused on this world or the next. Our salvation and happiness are secure in Christ, and there is no magical formula or action that will improve our standing with him.
The third problem is division in the body, which is division among Christ himself. Christ's one great command for his people is to love one another. If we do not walk in love, we do not walk in Christ. Will we always agree? No, because we are human and as such are inherently sinful. But though one part of the body gives pain to the rest, it no longer ceases to be part of the body. It is best to deal with the problems, trying to bring health, rather than for one part of the body to deny the existence of the rest (or not speak to them, in the more present case on my mind). A house divided against itself cannot stand. And how can Christ fight Christ? James tells us that our division comes from our own selfishness and pride. If we would walk like Jesus, we must humble ourselves and seek reconciliation. But instead we seek the happiness promised through our sin and leave Christ wounded and bleeding again in the sight of all the world, believers and non.
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"Beloved"
Beloved these are dangerous times
Because you are weightless like a leaf from the vine
and the wind has blown you all over town
Because there is nothing holding you to the ground
So now you would rather be
A slave again than free from the law
Beloved listen to me
Don't believe all that you see
and don't you ever let anyone tell you
That there's anything that you need
But me
Beloved these are perilous days
When your culture is so set in it's ways
That you will listen to salesmen and thieves
Preaching other than the truth you've received
Because they are telling lies
For they cannot circumcise your hearts
Beloved listen to me
Don't believe all that you see
and don't you ever let anyone tell you
That there's anything that you need
But me
Beloved there is nothing more
No more blessings and no more rewards
Than the treasure of my body and blood
Given freely to all daughters and sons
--Derek Webb
Posted by at June 7, 2004 9:01 AM