The Christian Quagmire.
Hmmm.... where to begin?
Quagmire: a soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot. An awkward, complex, or hazardous situation.
How do you start a "fresh" conversation about Judaism & Christianity that has taken place a million times before with more educated people than I? I am not a scholar in greek or hebrew. I am not a historian. I never attended seminary school, let alone graduate from one... hmmm... come to think of it, I didn't graduate from high school either. Not much to work with, is there?
So, if I can't figure out how to start, perhaps I should ask myself if I should even try? The answer to that is surprisingly simple, in spite of my lackluster resume. A great majority of Christians know less greek and hebrew than I do. Very few Christians know the last 100 years of their particular denomination's or sect's history, and even fewer still know anything about the critical first 300 years of church history and the development of present Christian doctrine. I was raised in Sunday School and was very active in the evangelical church my family attended, therefore, my religious education meets or exceeds, in some measurable way, that of the vast majority of Christians on that basis alone. So while I may not be over qualified for this, I certainly am not under qualified, compared to the masses of Christians who believe they are "equipped" to carry out the Great Commission. If they are qualified to spread the gospel, with many of them relying on a few pet verses from the New Testament or from some mission-izing formula, I guess I'm more than qualified to dose those flames with a little water. There. Enough about that.
Probably the first thing to say is this: I'm not here to change your mind. I don't think anyone will be convinced of anything unless they are already questioning what they've previously been convinced of. If you are convinced that Christianity is the "truth" and the only "truth," especially if you believe it is the only "truth," I suspect there is little that I can say to change your mind. I might irritate you, to which you may simply turn the channel. You could become angry because I've offended your "spiritual" sensibilities and you may hurl insults and claim I'm deceived and am now going to hell (isn't it odd that it's always everyone else who is deceived and going to hell). I may cause you to run out and buy Josh MacDowell's "Evidence That Demands A Verdict" so that you can quickly reaffirm your fragile state of faith when perhaps you find yourself for the first time realizing that your rock-solid "truth" (Christian doctrines) and the source of that "truth" (the New Testament) don't fully line up with each other, let alone the Hebrew Scriptures which these are supposed to naturally emanate from. You may even say, "we'll just have to agree to disagree" (but then they usually don't) or "I still love you brother, I'll be praying for you." And while that sounds tame compared to some responses, we're not talking about any kind of passive "if it by Thy will" kind of praying... you are certain of what that prayer should be and that will include being put on the local prayer chain with intense crying to God to rescue me. These are but a few of the numerous kinds of possible reactions. And I'm okay with that. Having spent many years as a devout evangelical, I would expect nothing less.
There may be those who are in the same place I was a number of years ago and may find the information helpful... those looking for some explanation to their uncomfortableness with their Christianity. This is my audience. And this will be the place that I share my own exploration of the faith of my family for several generations and the faith I embraced during my own youth and where this exploration has taken me. I want you to know that there is life after Christianity that can be God-centered and meaningful. It's not easy letting go of the baggage, as I know I still carry some. And I do not have all the answers. However, I do know that every time I listen to someone extol the "perfect Gospel," whether from a family or friend, at someone's funeral service, or I want to punish myself by listening to the "Way of the Master" radio or a televangelist, I am ever grateful to God that I no longer live in that space, the Christian space.
I mentioned a quagmire.
Perhaps if I was less lazy and spent the time to layout my argument in a more systematic fashion it would be much easier to read. But the truth is I have neither the time nor the mental focus to do so. Therefore, I will dive into the deep end and pose the question at the root of the said quagmire:
Is Jesus really THE Messiah?
1 comment:
Hey Prescott! Great to see you blogging (and video-blogging) about your journey. I have wondered a lot about your journey over the years. We come from similar places (in fact I still benefit from your wisdom from my formative years as a Pentecostal). What is interesting is that we've probably both changed in our views radically. Consider that I'm a guest speaker at First United in a few weeks time as sort of an indication that my journey has led to far more generous places than my narrow evangelical beginnings.
I'm just starting in on your stuff but I have an initial comment. See I am quite aware of primitive church history, academically I study theological shifts in the evangelical movements today and while my Hebrew sucks, I have a fairly good handle on Greek. But I'm not a Biblical scholar - I am more of a systematic theologian (at least that is what my degrees say).
What I wonder about is that you seem to have some pretty monolithic ideas about things like Christian doctrine, evangelicalism, biblical interpretation, etc. We would definitely agree that Ray Comfort in any format is torture. But I wonder how much you are planning to engage with the less fundamentalist Christians (like myself)?
I'm not interested in debate either. The area of greater concern for me is not what religious identity one holds (Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.) Nor what sectarian views within those nebulous terms folks gravitate towards. That argument is, in my opinion, quite fruitless. But rather how we as the religiously honest (honest about a religious orientation) self-evaluate our own commitments and convictions in terms of the good that is the potential of any and all religion. I tend to do this through ideological critique with my academic hat and through a hermeneutic circle (see-judge-act) with my pastoral hat.
I don't think it is possible to do that without also having an openness to each other as God's image bearers (or for other religions as bearer's of humanity, I think both are synonymous). That is one of the things I'm most interested in finding through your posts. I remember, with excitement, some of the stories you shared about helping out strangers.
I'll pick away at this over the next few days. I'm trying to tackle a reading course on Political Theology which takes up a fair bit of my time.
Blessing!
Post a Comment