Great leaders who survive crisis exhibit fanatic discipline, empirical creativity and productive paranoia. Their practices change but values don't.
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There's a tension we feel in the Church between preaching the Gospel and serving our community. We feel it when we talk about Jesus, when we say that our lives are nothing without Christ, but then we go to Honduras or Benin and encounter people whose lives really are nothing. We wonder how they can even hear God speaking to them over the growling of their stomachs.
We feel it when we serve, too. When we go out to do some good work, like we are this morning. We think, Does shoveling mulch really make any real difference? Am I making any sort of eternal impact?
This is a real tension. It's not an easy one to grasp, and we usually split into two camps - some of us tend towards the spiritual. We believe that no matter how bad someone's earthly life is, the most important thing is to embrace the Gospel of Jesus. We might call this the Sharing camp.
Others of us fall into the other camp - we see real human suffering, injustice on a massive, systemic scale, and we know these things don't honor God. We believe that God wants to make a real difference right now, that Christianity isn't about waiting around for Heaven, that Jesus' abundant life starts now, and it shouldn't include swollen bellies. We might call this the Serving camp.
(And sure, a lot of us aren't in either camp... we're caught in that gray area between, wondering what following Jesus really looks like. Caught in that tension you could hear in those questions.)
We tend to think of the Sharing camp as Spiritual, and the Serving camp as unspiritual. Sharing people tend to emphasize things like reading scripture, prayer, going to Church - "spiritual" stuff. Serving people tend to be a lot more practical. Food drives, shoveling mulch. Holding babies and building houses. "Unspiritual" stuff.
Andy Stanley - Do For One
10 Reasons I'm Headed to Catalyst 2011 - Be Present
Mostly Legal Aliens
To be holy means that we live differently than the culture around us. That the values that shape the world we live in don’t shape us. That we are immigrants, exiles. We’re strangers… we ought to have a sense of displacement. That sense we get sometimes that we were made for more than this? We should feel it. We should feel like we don't quite belong here. We belong to a culture, a nation, that has different values than suburban American culture. And we should live lives that reflect that.
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
Is the Bible All Literal?
Despite the fact that the Bible is foundational to the Christian faith, most Christians find it a confusing, intimidating book to read. And our fear is only heightened by the slew of self-styled Biblical experts who clamor for the right to tell us what the Bible means, but who can’t seem to agree with each other. That’s the sort of confusion that leads us to ask questions much like this:
I was taught at young age to believe literally in Bible - creationism and such. I have met many as I've grown older with different beliefs/views and with valid sounding points. So my question is how literal is [the Bible]? Do we pick and choose?
What parts of the Bible are literal and what are not? And if they’re not literal, what are they? First, a proviso:
Some people insist that the whole Bible is literal, from Genesis all the way to the Revelation. That’s a silly claim, and one that even those who say they believe, don’t really.
Consider Jesus’ parables, for instance. No one (I’ve ever encountered) believes that Jesus actually knew a Good Samaritan. Or a father who had two sons. Or a farmer who went around throwing seed everywhere. Of course, he might have. But that’s not the point. The stories are true whether or not they actually happened.
Or consider the Revelation. Even the guys who claim to interpret it literally (I’m looking at you, Tim LaHaye) don’t. Not even close. They don’t believe the Antichrist is literally a seven-headed beast that comes up out of the sea. They think Revelation 13 is symbolic language about a real person. Symbolic language. As in not literal.
Even the Creation Museum in Kentucky is a culprit of this. Despite adamantly arguing that Genesis 1-11 is wholly literal history that modern science cannot correct (only prove), the museum features a life-size section of Noah’s Ark. The problem? The literal Biblical dimensions make the Ark to be a 3-D rectangle that wouldn’t be able to float. The museum allegedly used a Navy simulator (which I’m pretty sure runs on science) to tweak the design to make their model sea-worthy. The literal Biblical specifications weren’t good enough even for the Creation Museum.
The point is that no one interprets all parts of the Bible literally, and we’re not supposed to. The Bible is a massive, beautiful document full of all kinds of literature – poems and stories and histories and visions and letters and sermons and more.
We shouldn’t assume all those genres of literature were equally literal in the ancient world any more than we do today.
Of course, admitting that makes our reading of the Scriptures maybe more intimidating than less. Before, we could just stone sinners to death, not eat pork, cut off our hands when we sin, and more. Of course, no one actually follows the whole Bible literally – as A. J. Jacobs learned when he tried (and there’s another book that’s worth your time!). But because the Bible is so daunting, we are often happy to let someone else interpret for us. Especially if they’re confident. And that’s dangerous.
Everyone who claims they interpret the Bible literally really means that they are the final arbiter of what counts as truth.
When we don’t do the hard work of learning to discern among Biblical genres for ourselves, we abdicate our ability to hear God speaking to us through the Scriptures. We’re at the mercy of whatever Bible teacher we follow.
Speaking as one of those Bible teachers, that’s dangerous. None of us is perfect. None of our readings of the Bible is perfectly biblical. And we don’t know where we’re wrong, because we all think we’re right.
So where do you start? Here’re a few suggestions:
- Start with what you know. Stories still function basically the same today as they did in the ancient world. You’ve got main characters, plot, rising action, conflict and more. Your old English lessons will serve you well to get a foothold in the world of Biblical narrative.
- Use some great online resources. Wikipedia is a great starting point for information and background on books of the Bible. So is the site Biblos.com, which is a wealth of Biblical reading tools. Most study bibles have a good introduction as well. Again, these tools give you somewhere to start.
- Distrust anyone who oversimplifies. If the Bible could be reduced to four spiritual laws or a few key verses, it probably would’ve been already. But for the past 2,000 years, Christians have kept and celebrated the whole big confusing book. So trust that it’s going to be complicated. And distrust anyone who says it’s all literal, or that it’s easy.
- Enjoy yourself. Don’t be afraid to be confused. If you have questions, write them down and go try to figure out the answers! Imagine yourself to be a detective, and these questions your case.
Approaching the Scriptures as a collection of different genres of literature is much more challenging than either believing that anything goes or that everything is literal. It requires a lot more work from us as readers. But ultimately, this is how we learn to hear the Bible God inspired in all its power and beauty.
Bottom Line: No, the whole Bible isn’t literal. But that doesn’t mean we just pick and choose either. We have to learn to read the Bible on its terms. It’s challenging, but ultimately rewarding.
What experience do you have reading the various genres of the Bible? Is that something you’ve considered before now? What does this mean for passages like the Creation stories?
Life is Spiritual
Here's a PDF of the full talk.
Download the Discussion Guide here.
I hurt for orphans and abused kids in Honduras and want them to have opportunity and fulfilled purpose here on earth. Is that wrong? Our whole family has had the opportunity to see lots of less fortunate folk... (kids, babies, abused girls, addicted adults etc.) Would make sense for these less fortunate people to really believe all they needed was God? I have to work, eat, be responsible, care for others. Are those kids facing the [sin] of their parents and society as victims? If they understand that all they need is God then [will] earthly purpose, food, shelter, clothing opportunity be given to them?
There's a tension we feel in the Church between preaching the Gospel and serving our community. We feel it when we talk about Jesus, when we say that our lives are nothing without Christ, but then we go to Honduras or Benin and encounter people whose lives really are nothing. We wonder how they can even hear God speaking to them over the growling of their stomachs.
We feel it when we serve, too. When we go out to do some good work, like we are this morning. We think, Does shoveling mulch really make any real difference? Am I making any sort of eternal impact?
This is a real tension. It's not an easy one to grasp, and we usually split into two camps - some of us tend towards the spiritual. We believe that no matter how bad someone's earthly life is, the most important thing is to embrace the Gospel of Jesus. We might call this the Sharing camp.
Others of us fall into the other camp - we see real human suffering, injustice on a massive, systemic scale, and we know these things don't honor God. We believe that God wants to make a real difference right now, that Christianity isn't about waiting around for Heaven, that Jesus' abundant life starts now, and it shouldn't include swollen bellies. We might call this the Serving camp.
(And sure, a lot of us aren't in either camp... we're caught in that gray area between, wondering what following Jesus really looks like. Caught in that tension you could hear in those questions.)
We tend to think of the Sharing camp as Spiritual, and the Serving camp as unspiritual. Sharing people tend to emphasize things like reading scripture, prayer, going to Church - "spiritual" stuff. Serving people tend to be a lot more practical. Food drives, shoveling mulch. Holding babies and building houses. "Unspiritual" stuff.
That's a false dichotomy. The truth is, everything is Spiritual, and everything is Practical.
Night of the Living Dead Christian
This book is outstanding. We need more totally silly, totally serious theology like Matt gives us. Not everyone will enjoy the monster metaphor, but if that's your cup of tea, then you need this book. It'll make you take a hard look at the monstrous aspects of your own soul. And you'll ache for the same transformation Matt and his band of monsters discover.
Sorry!
4 Lessons "The Help" Teaches Us About Racism
"The Help" explores at least four issues concerning how we talk about race and racism. The discussion of race is far from dead in our culture. Sometimes, it seems as though we haven’t learned anything from the mistakes of our past. In that regard, The Help offers us some powerful lessons on racism, violence and dehumanization in American culture.
