Archive for October, 2009
How to Siege a Citadel: 4 Approaches
Four people want to conquer a walled city.
Three are successful.
One is not.
The choleric sets up his battering ram and hammers away day and night.
The sanguine woos his way into the city with conversation, confetti and concert music.
The melancholy loses a year of sleep engineering a tunnel underneath the city.
And the phlegmatic lingers along the wall feeling for a soft spot.
And if he doesn’t find one…
he takes a nap.
I’m the phlegmatic. You?
Is the Gospel What the World Desperately Needs?
Love.
In the face of doctrine, creeds and faith systems…isn’t the important thing that we just love?
Isn’t love the superior truth we should be after?
Depends.
Depends on what motivates that love. What content is behind that love.
Faith systems like legalism and philistinism, moralism and secularism, lead to arrogance and superiority. Fist fights. Military coups.
Not love.
Only salvation via the Christian gospel can lead to a deep, humble, enemy-embracing love…a love the world desperately needs.
Let me explain.
Why the World Needs a Better Method of Salvation
If your method of salvation is performance based, then you are saved by your performance.
This, not surprisingly, leads to self-righteous arrogant behavior towards others who don’t measure up to your standard.
Think of legalism. Which leads to oppression. Tyranny.
Secularism isn’t any better.
A view that you’re the enlightened intellectual leads to smug feelings toward the dimwitted religious zealot.
Each group snubs the other.
What Christianity does differently is grinds out self-righteous thinking in a believer as he discovers and admits that he is a helpless sinner in need of grace.
It makes him humble before the people who are different from him.
Why the World Needs a Better Purpose Behind Salvation
And if the ultimate purpose of salvation is the restoration of the earth–the elimination of poverty, disease and death–then that should also be our mandate.
Our mandate should be the renewal of our cities. Our neighborhoods. Our homes.
That means we seek to bring peace where we live. We seek to make it a prosperous place…
A region non-believers want to live.
See, this idea that salvation’s ultimate goal is the renewal of heaven and earth humbles us: If God’s goal is the resurrection of ALL creation, why should we prefer anything different?
We should seek to serve our government. Corporations. Schools. Museums. No matter who runs them…
…which brings me to my next point.
Why the World Needs a Better Origin of Salvation
The Bible teaches that Jesus is not just a prophet or a teacher. It teaches he is God. It teaches he is Lord over all–
“Now wait a minute,” you say. “Doesn’t that view lead to a sense of superiority? Arrogance?”
No.
What it does is lead to inclusion. [I know that sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out. ]
One of the most dramatic shifts in society occurred when Christianity introduced the idea that all people–under a just and holy God–were equal.
Jew and Gentile. Greek and non-Greek. Husband and wife. Child and adult. Master and slave. Rich and poor.
All were alike.
Unlike the Greco-Roman separation of classes and races, Christianity compressed all people into one class: sinner.
And when early Christians recognized their position in this new class, it led to patient, humble and compassionate behavior.
Why would this happen?
Think.
In Jesus, ultimate reality appeared as a man.
God entered a world hostile to him. He poured himself out for a people who rejected him. And he died on a cross for those who didn’t deserve their crimes to be forgiven.
All for their salvation in the shadow of a wrathful God.
With that in mind, how can Christians trample and double-cross and snub others? With the truths of the gospel embraced deep in the Christian’s heart, it’s near impossible.
Conclusion
In the last couple days we’ve learned that we all have exclusive beliefs. Christianity included.
The question remains: which one is right? I submit Christianity.
I submit Christianity because of the power embedded in the gospel truths that can radically transform human beings into passionate agents of reconciliation–something the world desperately needs.
That is true love.
And if you are a Christian, take this truth deeper into your being. If you’re not, embrace it now…
The world needs you.
How to Deal with Religious Conflict
There’s no getting around it: Everybody has an exclusive set of beliefs.
Moralists look down their noses at unbelievers as filthy, undisciplined misfits.
Secularists snub religious people as psychopathic nut jobs.
And pragmatists demand we shed our religious beliefs when we debate matters of life.
All privileged–but partial–views we hold over others.
What are we to do?
What we need to do [and what really matters in the long run] is to discover which set of beliefs create peaceful, inclusive and loving behavior…
…will radically change you into agents of reconciliation for the world…
…and deal with the discord of religion.
I know this sounds counter intuitive, but the set of beliefs that will do that are found in Christianity–and the uniqueness of the Christian gospel.
Here are three major ways Christianity is unique to other religious views.
1. Origin of Salvation The founder of Christianity is not a human–he is God. God who came in the flesh. All other religious founders are human.
2. Purpose of Salvation That God came in the flesh is important. Most Eastern religions tend to teach liberation from the flesh. And most Western religions tend to condemn the flesh.
However, through the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity teaches that the flesh will be redeemed and renewed.
3. Method of Salvation All other religions teach you to perform the truth to be saved. They put salvation in the hands of humans. Christianity, in contrast, puts salvation squarely in the hands of God:
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
Jesus lived the life that we should have lived and died the death we deserved. He suffered for people who didn’t love him. And this is the highest act of love.
Is there one true religion? I believe so.
How can I say that in a flat, pluralistic world where every religious flower can bloom? And how does that deal with religious conflict?
In the next post I’ll explain how holding these unique truths of Christianity seals people off from religious superiority, transforms them into agents of peace and produces humble, patient and compassionate behavior…behavior that ultimately shuts down religious animosity.
Pragmatism: Where It Breaks Down [and Why You Should Care]
Richard Rorty, the leading American philosophical pragmatist–who I wrote about in The Problem with Your Personal Testimony post–argues that when you come to the public square to debate issues like divorce, abortion or civil marriage, you should leave your religion at home.
That’s pragmatism.
Unfortunately, there’s a problem with that approach.
The problem exists in the nature of religion. Religion, at its core, is a set of beliefs about the hard questions of life.
Hard questions like what is really real? What is a human being? Why is it possible to know anything at all? How do we know what is right and what is wrong?
What Pragmatism Looks Like in the Public Square
Let’s pretend for a moment that the issue on the table is population control via contraception, abortion and infanticide.
Someone who believes [based upon their religious view] that a person becomes a human at inception would see abortion and infanticide as legislated manslaughter–no matter its practical impact on society or economics.
Yet, a person who doesn’t hold that belief–say, like utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer–might argue that abortion and limited infanticide is a reasonable mechanism to control population and decrease economic strain on the health system.
As you can see, the question becomes, “Who throws out their belief?” Both arguments emerge from their answers to hard questions of life.
Where I’m Going with This
But my point here is not to argue the merits of one case over the other.
My point is simply that it’s impractical to remove one’s religious view from the public square–even if they are controversial and faith based.
In fact, to say “Please, leave your religious views at home” is in itself controversial and faith based.
It smacks of anti-religion. And exclusivity.
It’s equivalent to saying “My views are privileged above yours.” In other words, my beliefs hold sway over yours…
And my beliefs are exclusive to truth.
What Comes Next
So, in the end, it’s not a matter of practicality or exclusivity when we debate issues in the public because we’ve seen that the pragmatic argument is equally indicted as making an exclusive claim to truth…
And we’ve also seen that you can’t determine what’s practical until you determine which world view you hold.
So, in the end, it’s not a matter of who’s views are religious or not. It’s a matter of who’s right and who’s wrong.
And it’s best to decide that with evidence.
With that in mind, tomorrow we’ll explore why it makes sense to embrace Christianity’s exclusive claim to truth.
Slaves to Satan [Our Condition Apart from New Birth]
**Part of the 10 Hard Truths about Being Born Again series**
This much is clear:
The path to new birth is strewn with opposition.
Death. Ignorance. Disobedience. Blindness. Bondage. Rage.
And as if that wasn’t enough to discourage or depress you, let me add another one…
Bondage to Satan.
Forget [Just About] Everything
You Knew About Satan
In 2 Timothy 2:26, Paul talks about the “snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
What is Satan’s will?
It’s not as sinister as you might think. Nor is it the graphically wicked portrait we picked up from the Middle Ages:
A horned half man, half goat carrying naked witches off to burn. Or an amorphous monster swallowing sinners.
No.
Satan’s will and work is, for the most part, more subtle. Though no less real.
His will is to work in unbeliever’s [sons of disobedience] so that they walk according to the course of this world.
And what is the course of the world? Rebellion. Particularly rebellion against God. Rebellion through arguments and speculations against the knowledge of God.
What This All Boils Down To
There are real spiritual influences behind ideas. There is more at work behind political, religious, philosophical, analytical or scientific ideologies than simple human effort to explain the universe, craft legislation or satisfy our souls.
That’s why Paul in Ephesians 2:1,2 called Satan the prince of the power of the air: He’s the monarch of our corrupted world. And he comes upon us as unconsciously as the vital air we breathe.
He’s the god underneath guiding the course of this world. He’s the evil monarch who ranges through out the earth. And if a monarch–if a god–then he holds power. Sovereignty.
And rule over this world.
This is why Paul describes Satan’s reign in 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 as one of a stronghold imprisoning people during a war.
The Unconventional Behavior
of a Believer in War Time
In fact, Paul often refers to himself as a “soldier.” So you know the warfare metaphor is real to him.
It should be real to us, too.
But how does a Christian soldier behave? We have to answer this question because how a believer–a bond-servant of Christ–behaves is quite contrary to what you might expect in war time.
We must get this right.
Fortunately, Paul gives us a hint. Five in fact. He says the Lord’s bond-servant in war time:
1. Must not be quarrelsome. Christians may argue, correct, train and teach, but they must not do it in a vicious manner.
2. Must be kind to all. This means understanding and respecting another’s position. Smiling. Joking. Complimenting.
3. Must be able to teach. And you can teach only if you have content. And the right content at that.
4. Must be patient when wronged. Do I really need to elaborate?
5. Must gently correct those who are in opposition. The core of our existence as believers. “Go, and make disciples of all nations.”
You can find this list in 2 Timothy 2:24-25.
And Paul’s thrust in this list is a hope that by obeying the Great Commission with grace and mercy God may perhaps grant a person repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.
So, even though the path to salvation is loaded with opposition, we have hope. Faith. Trust that through the gospel of Jesus Christ people may come alive. They may see. Embrace. Adore. And rest in the peace of God.
Salvation is hard. But that’s why it’s a divine rescue operation by God. And not us.
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