Army of Priests

I first posted this in May. It has since been published at The Ooze. I think it really summarizes what the gospel means to me and it is a good thing to be constantly reminded of. I’m re-posting it for that purpose.

————————————-

36 million people starve to death each year. Meanwhile, 300 million adults are obese.

1 billion people are so poor that their lives are in danger. Meanwhile, the global economy is worth $46 trillion dollars.

There are 8.6 million refugees, and 21 million “people of concern”. Meanwhile, the UN has received only 4% of the money it needs for 15 world crisis.

28 million children die from easily curable diseases each year. Meanwhile, the church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator, and property owner in existence.

I wonder: would Jesus be ashamed of us? After 2000 years we have done little to change the world. Jesus said people would know we are his disciples if we love one another (John 13:35) yet people post bumper stickers begging “Jesus, save me from your followers”. We are called to be like Christ, yet Ghandi spoke: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

I remember walking through the city one night around a great, impressive Church. Inside the choir was practising but what shocked me is that they had forgotten the homeless person left sleeping on their steps. I was moved to pen this:

Under the Steeple
Of the old, stone Cathedral
Lies man with no cradle
Bar the cold, hard, steel rail

And under that Steeple
Of the wise, holy People
The sound of the faithful
Rips the dark night’s new veil

Yet under this Steeple
Of the great, powerful Symbol
The hungry man will wail
For some food, love, or ladle

For under this Steeple
Of the old, stone Cathedral
The folk of the temple
Are too busy, yet idle

Cos’ no one is faithful
To the man with no cradle
Hoping peace will prevail
Laying under their Steeple

I latter tried to find this man and show him that Christians are more than good singers but was never able to.

I am a Christian because I believe God is guilty of scandalous and unfair grace. I believe he loved a broken world and a broken people so much he came and died for us. I believe ‘love’ is a verb – an action word. I believe God loves us so much, even though we were so wicked, that he moved heaven and earth to show just how much he cares. I believe that if God can love me, than he can love anyone.

In this world everyone is trying to do what is best for them. Three people feast on more than they can eat whilst another seven are permanently hungry. I believe there is enough food for all ten. I believe that God did not make the mistake of putting more people on this Earth than it can support but rather that there is enough for everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed.

I believe greed is unsatisfying. No matter how much one acquires there is always more to acquire. I believe there must be a better way. Jesus showed us that way. He did not seek what is best for himself but rather placed other’s first. I believe that love is a choice to place other’s before you. In this way I believe that God’s kingdom is countercultural. I would rather a shack on the rock than a castle built on sand.

I believe that Christ did not die to get a rabble into heaven but rather to create a Church that would revolutionize society. I believe he came to plant a Church which the Gates of Hell will not prevail against (Mathew 16:18). Gates are defensive fortifications, thus I believe the Church is called to be offensive – to storm the gates of sin, pain, shame, anger, and greed in this world and to change it through contagious love.

God’s plan to save us from our sin is to teach us to love. I believe love hurts. I believe that love costs. I know that the only way to undo the damage done by a self-serving culture is to become part of an other-serving culture. I believe that God loves homosexuals, immigrants, criminals, porn stars, the hungry, orphans, widows, the handicapped, the lonely, the unloved, the depressed, and the abused. And I believe that God loves me. I wonder that if God, who is infinitely huge, can love them than who am I not to?

I am a fraud. I live in comfort whilst others are uncomfortable. I eat my fill whilst others starve. I walk past people in poverty with my pay check in my pocket. But love is an action word. And love is hard. And love is costly. But love will save the world. And love has saved me.

I long for a church that reminds the world what it is to live in community. I long for more than programs on Sunday morning. I long for us to see the pain around us and ask ourselves “what does it mean to be Christian?”

I believe another world is possible. If we humble ourselves and remember that whilst we were still wretched Christ died for us than maybe we could be motivated to show that same love for other wretches. I believe that as we place others before ourselves we will infect the world one person at a time and take it over with our love. I know we won’t get it right till after we are dead, but I believe it is worth the try.

I believe we are in this world, but not of it. I think we must somehow balance the requirements of living in a corrupt world with the values of our true home. I believe God has given us the Holy Sprit and each other to help guide us on this type rope walk. I believe Christianity is not a destination. We don’t simply become saved and then exist as the end point of the gospel. I believe Christianity is a journey of imaginative, deeply expressed, and aggressive love.

Another world is possible. Another world begins in each of us.

Exclusivism encompass two different yet highly coupled ideas. Firstly, that salvation is by Christ alone (as understood by Christendom) and Secondly, that there exists mutually exclusive categorizations between those that are saved and those that are not. Most denominations are exclusive and some are so exclusive they do not believe people from other denominations within Christianity are saved.

There are two events that greatly shake by belief in exclusivism. Firstly, when a person dies who has had no chance to hear the good news. Secondly, when I encounter a non-Christian who shows more fruit of the spirit than most Christians. I find it very difficult to believe in a God who sends very good people to hell because they never heard the gospel (or because the gospel was misrepresented). My mind is even more ravaged by the thought that God creates people who He knows are going to go to hell. Unfortunately for me the alternatives are not much better.

Alternatives

Universalism – The belief that there is no hell, or that hell is temporary. Everyone ends up going to heaven. (Opt-out is a newer theology found in “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity” by Spencer Burke in which people are born saved but may choose to “opt-out” of God’s grace)

Pluralism – The belief that all religions are equal and valid paths to salvation. People who fail to meet the standard for salvation for at least one religion still end up in hell.

Inclusivism – The belief that salvation is by Christ alone, but that people do not need to have a Christian understanding of Christ to be saved. God only expects people to comply with what has been revealed to them.

If we take Jesus’ words “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) at face value we can eliminate universalism and pluralism as plausible alternatives. Inclusivism still seems possible, but the strong terms surrounding many salvation passages and Paul’s questions in Romans 10:14-15 (How can they believe unless someone tells them?) makes this appear unlikely.

I much prefer these alternatives. I would love it if no one had to face the horrors of hell, but unfortunately this seems unlikely. Thus I must learn to understand exclusivism in light of an all-powerful, all-loving God.

Unanswerable Questions

It seems to me the greatest injustice that an all-loving, all-powerful God would allow people to suffer so dreadfully. People who do not grasp the depth of this tragedy usually underestimate God. There is nothing God cannot do. God can create beings with free will who will not disobey Him. To suggest otherwise is to make God subject to laws He created and set them up as higher than Him. God can also intervene to ensure that no one should perish. He did it with Paul and no one suggests Paul’s free will was taken away.

God intervened in such a way that it made Paul fall in love with Him. Paul still choose to love God, even though God had determined what Paul’s choice would be. Why did God save Paul (and similar events for other people have also been recorded) but not everyone else? God is willingly allowing people to go to hell. He has the capacity to stop it, but does not use it. Further more, God could have created Adam and Eve in such a way that they would not have succumb to the temptation to eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The same applies for Satan (not to mention there is the question of the origin of Satan’s temptation).

I have heard it suggested that God created (and predestined) evil so that He would be glorified. This makes a mockery of God’s love. It sets God up as a vain monster rather than a loving father – not worthy of worship or glory.

Thus I cannot reconcile an all-powerful, all-loving God with an exclusionist soteriology. Yet the bible calls on me to believe in both. This means that either a) the bible is wrong about God and/or the exclusivity of salvation, b) my interpretation of the bible is wrong, or c) I am unable to understand the complexity of the issues involved. Option c seems the most likely, thus I will file these issues under “mystery”. I can however deal with the practical elements of exclusivism.

Categorizations

I do not generally believe it is helpful to label one group of people “saved” and another “unsaved”. Where would one draw the line? At a certain amount of good works? At baptism? When you speak in tongues? Upon the recital of the “sinner’s prayer”? At faith? If so, in what exact doctrines because people disagree. If you are a Protestant do you consider Catholics saved? How about Jews or Jehovah Witnesses? If we cannot know to what exact degree salvation is exclusive it become practically impossible to draw a line at which someone joins the “saved” category.

Also, by labeling ourselves “saved” and outsiders “unsaved” we send the message that “I’m ok, you’re not”. This is clearly untrue. The reality is that “saved” people are not ok. We are still sinners and we are still broken. We are not saved. We are not saved from our sin because we still sin. We are not saved from injustice because we still perpetrate it and are victims of it. The only thing we have been saved from is the label of “non-Christian”.

It does not help to say that we have been saved from death and hell when we are still living in death and hell. Only Jesus could claim to be saved, for he was the only person to exist who was not in allegiance with the empire of this world. Furthermore, to suggest that we will be saved upon death because of our faith or our baptism and that others will not says that we have influenced God’s grace. His love is no longer unconditional. It can be earned by having the right beliefs or doing enough works.

The Gospel is not about our personal salvation. Religion is the work of man to reach God. The Gospel is the work of God to reach man. The question is not “what must one do to be saved?” the question is “what has God done to save me?” The great commission is not to go out and create saved people, it is to create disciples – followers of Christ. The gospel is an invitation to join God as He goes about the work of saving the world in a much greater sense than merely the after-life spiritual dimension. Our task is not to do the right stuff to “get saved” because we can’t do it. Our task is to take up our cross and follow Christ and trust Him to go about the work of getting us saved – because only He can do it.

Can we know we are saved? The question misses the point. It doesn’t matter if we know. If I serve God my entire life and go to hell than I still would have done the right thing. I do not follow Christ in order to ensure my salvation – to acquire favor in the afterlife. I follow Christ to help him save others (from more than just hell) and because He just happens to be God. There is still assurance of salvation, because, by grace, the spirit assures us. But this assurance is based on trust not something I have done to deserve being in the “saved” category.

I read recently (I cannot recall where) that the only difference we can determine is between people who act like they are saved and people who do not. Perhaps this is the great irony of God. There is an old trick where by if you act like you are x even though you are not, you eventually become x. Perhaps if we act like we are saved, even though we are not, eventually we become saved? Yet it is still the wrong motive for doing what is right.

I am a human first, a Christian second. I may always be 100% human, but often I am not very Christian. The only difference between me and a non-Christian is that to me Christ means something, to the non-Christian He doesn’t yet. We both still sin. We both struggle. We both have the same needs and desires. But I have hope that one day the my lover will save me and the non-Christian does not have that yet. However, until that day happens I have only faith in my salvation, I am not saved yet. It’s bedrock faith whereby I proclaim my salvation now (prophetically) knowing it will not actually be realized for some time. So until that time both me and my non-Christian friend are unsaved sinners in desperate need of grace.

My non-Christian friend does not need me to get them “saved”. They just need me to give them the hope and love that comes with knowing a certain friend of mine.

Alexandre Kalomiros in The River of Fire explains his idea of heaven and hell as follows. Judgement will be a time when every man and woman shall bow before God. God, who loves all equally, shall pour himself – His love, His presence, His essence, His fire – upon everyone equally. Those that respond to God with love will be consumed with joy, those that hate him will burn in their own malice. To the Eastern Orthodox God gives both Christians and Non-Christians the same thing (note that in the bible fire can represent both wrath and love) but our response determines whether we enjoy this or not. Hell is not the absence of God, but rather suffocation by His presence.

This makes a lot of sense to me. God, who loves us, should not suffer to keep Himself from us because of our rejection. It also deals with all of the “How could a loving God send us to hell?” questions. Heaven and Hell are both best described as states in our attitude towards God. A condition of being. Their positional metaphors are better understood as describing “where we are” in our relationship rather than a physical or spiritual location. Presumably one cannot change their response to God after that have been so completely exposed to Him.

This certainly changes our understanding of what it is to be “saved”. Ever since Anselm’s works western Christianity has understood judgement as being God sentencing us to our fates based on our actions in life. This is the result of Paul’s legal metaphors being taken out of their original 1st century context, being placed in our modern context, and then being stretched to their extremes. Salvation is a legal transaction where by we receive a pardon from judgement because judgement is understood as a bad thing. We are literally saved from the hands of God.

But if our eternal state is a reflection of our response to God than Judgement becomes a good thing. We want to be exposed to God in such an extreme manner. Salvation is not being pardoned from this judgement – which is to be looked forward to. Rather salvation is a process whereby we, who hate God, come to love Him (and we all do know God whether we know that or not). By this process we accept God’s grace and pardon ourselves from our own brokenness and hatred. We are saved not from God, but from the evil that rules and wishes to destroy our life.

At what point does one’s reaction to God turn from agony to joy? The question is the same as asking “at which point can I say I love someone?” There is no formula. No benchmark. No one tells you that you are in love. There is no action that proves it. No test or prayer. You just know. And although you can say “I love you now when I didn’t before” you can never explain at what exact moment you fell in love (though some people fall in love at first sight and this applies with God as well).

And what does such love do to a person whilst they are on earth? They are, in some regards, already in heaven and reflect the joy and peace that accompanies this fact – even in the face of the injustices in this world. They will end their adulteries with the debaucheries of this world and instead pick up their cross and follow Christ. Leading a counter cultural life where they forgive others and love even the most rejected.

However, whilst I love God I am still subject to the awful habits and addictions and brokenness which my old lover – sin – subjected me to. God, my husband, also becomes my healer working to undo the very deep damages evil has ravaged upon me. How can I be married to a physician and not also healed? In this way I am in heaven now, but also not yet. My relationship with God brings me joy, but all relationships take work, and admittedly all of the problems are on my part.

God however is not like a human. He is illusive and never speaks directly or acts the way we expect. Unlike a human, God cannot be understood. God is beyond comprehension, so once my mind creates something I can comprehend I am not worshiping God but rather an idol. My imagination is idolatrous. So I have a relationship with a God who I can nether contact like a human nor conceive. As such my journey is complicated and paradoxical. But that is alright, because the journey is the destination. The relationship, the walk, change itself, is the point. The goal is not to be changed, the goal is to be changing. Let us not hold ourselves up to any other standards.

So, in short, salvation is to be saved from the hell of unchanging rage into the heaven of dynamic love.

(Obviously this is more of a series of ideas than a serious unpacking of scripture. The bible uses a lot of analogies to explain salvation and I think the reason for this is that analogy is the only way we can understand salvation. Attempts at a systematic theology tend to fail on this account.)

“work out your salvation with fear and trembling” – Philippians 2:12

I was at a switchfoot concert the other week. These Christian events are the pinnacle of religious hype I have grown to hate so I treat them like entertainment just as I would a secular concert. During the night a high profile evangelist gave a highly emotional talk designed to get as many people as possible to go and get themselves “born again”. Hundreds responded, “praying the prayer”, and left the room to pick up some packs to kick start their faith. Heck, the speaker was so good I was ready to join them for the emotional high of it all.

But something really irks me. Most of those people will be in exactly the same place in a years time as they were that night.

When we reduce salvation to “praying the prayer”, or just “baptism”, or believing the right stuff we violate the Philippians 2:12 principal. To suggest that justification is an event that happens at a certain time and at a certain place is a mistiminer. Jesus listed a whole heap of things someone needed to do in order to “enter the kingdom of God” and you don’t get to that place in a day.

I think we have this idea that we pray a prayer and (bam!) we are at the end of our salvation journey. Sanctification, an entirely new journey, begins. I don’t think it works like that. Praying a prayer or giving your life to God is a stepping stone to salvation, it doesn’t mark the final destination. I think it is what happens when we take Paul’s legal metaphors (only one of the many metaphors used) to its extreme and we end up with this bargaining idea (which also creates the idea that we are saved from God). I give you faith you give me life, sign here, mark this date. But relationships don’t work like that. You don’t meet a girl and become her husband the next day.

Now I know some people can genuinely pin point when they were “born again” and that’s great for them, but is that really the best way of theologically understanding what is happening? I can’t pin point a date. Sure, there are times in my life where God became more real but I never responded to an alter call or prayed the prayer. I hate it when people try to get you to write a testimony and it is suppose to go something like this: “My life sucked, I got saved, my life got better”. My testimony is closer to this: “My life was fine, as I grew up I slowly and confusingly got to know God better and as I have things have only gotten more and more difficult, and doubtful, and challenging, and painful. And I have had to come to terms with verses that tell me to ‘take up my cross’ and ‘give everything I own to the poor’ whilst fighting against increased temptation, and persecution, and such.” (Before you start to worry I am over-exaggerating. I am a happy guy but Christianity is not meant to be comfortable).

I don’t think many people would “pray the prayer” if I told them that.

There is part of me that absolutely knows that I am “saved” despite all my failings. I can’t explain that theologically. All I can say is that after years of striving for God, I belong in His arms. It takes more than a prayer to be able to say that.

Technorati Tags: Christian , Religion , Salvation