If someone is alone in a room, their existance naturally exerts absolute authority in that space. Whatever they say goes. If another person is put into that room...things change.
I've been wondering, lately, what makes humanity so special? If we believe what it says in the Hebrew Scriptures that we were created in God's image, then we must answer the question: what does that really mean?
I believe that one of its meanings, among others, is that to be created in the image of God is to have the ability to make choices and exert authority, better known as free will. Back to the example; God was alone in the room of pre-creation (Gen 1:1,2; another interesting thing to note that will come into play later is that the name for God used in these passages in Genesis is actually Elohim, which we then translated to God. Elohim is defined as a word in the plural form, so in a sense, They were alone in the room of pre-creation is more accurate). Elohim exercised absolute authority over everything, whatever was chosen by Elohim happened, no questions asked. As God was existing (there is more depth to that concept than just a state of being), Elohim began creating. Elohim began with inanimate objects, then began to create animate objects, but once it was complete, Elohim was not satisfied because none of the created things significantly resembled God's image and essence. So then humanity was created. Humanity was created in God's image with the previously God-unqiue ability of free-will: authority and sentient choice-making.
Another person entered the room.
So now, I beg the question; if God placed in humanity the gift of authority and decision making, did God willingly gift divine authority for the sake of relationship with us?
If two people are in a room and they are engaging in healthy relationship, neither one independently has absolute authority. Each one is making decisions with the other in mind because they understand that one person's decision or use of authority affects the other. They willingly give authority and choice-making powers (free will) to the other and collectively they have omnipotence over their domain.
The omnipotence of God has not ceased to exist, rather Elohim has willingly included humanity in it so that we might be in a dynamic, ever-deepening, ever-creating (another "in His image" aspect) relationship.
Rabbit-trail: What if when Jesus said a man and woman are joined together as one flesh (Gen. 2:23,24; Matt. 19:4-6), that could also be looked at in light of Christ as the bridegroom and the church as his bride? What if, through Christ's body (intimacy) and blood (life, because life is in the blood. Lev. 17:11,14; Deut. 12:23) we are one with him, and because he is one with the rest of the Trinity, we are also one with God, just as a man and woman are? (Lest people say I am spreading cultic heresies, I will specifically make an important distincition. I am not saying that we are God, rather we are one with God. Just as a male is still a male and a female is still a female, yet they are one. Different yet unified.)
This brings new light to the concept of being the body of Christ, or humanity, even though it is fallen, still being created in God's image. What if in the same way a dillusional wife hinders the power, beauty, and redemptive essence of her and her husband's unity, so we through our actions and choices hinder the power, beauty, and redemptive essence of our and God's unity through being created in His image? If we have the previously God-unique gift/ability of free will, how bad, then, are our choices affecting all that God has created or is trying to redeem?
God has not given us a watered down version of free will, because then we wouldn't truly be made in his image, would we?
No, we have the same authority that God has through His sharing of free will with us. God and humanity are co-authors of the future! (Now, we don't have the same ability to exercise this ability/gift because we are neither infinite nor omnipresent) That's what Jesus was getting at whatn he told Peter that whatever Peter/the church 'loosed' or 'bound' (Jewish terms for accepted/decided and rejected) on Earth would be the same in Heaven (Matt 16:19;18:18,19). He was telling Peter that our choices have been given the same power and authority as God's because God has included us in his community. Again, I am not saying we are God, but we are in relationship with Him.
Also, Jesus says that when two or more agree on and then ask the Father for something it will be done. Why two or more? Does it have something to do with communal authority and wisdom and how that is manifested in the Trinity?
With that said, what are we doing?! Those who follow Jesus have been given co-authority with God over everything and the knowledge of His desire for complete redemption of the world and we're consumed with complancency from the markets of and trust in the American empire (For more on that statement, read 'Jesus Wants To Save Christians' by Rob Bell. His argument, among a lot of others; including looking at America in the context of history, reveals our empirial nature very clearly). That doesn't sound like a very healthy marriage to me.
Also, for those that would say the marriage is yet to come, I would say this: in some physical ways, yes, for it has not been fully realized in us; but we have the Holy Spirit, a part of the Trinity, in us now. In many ways, through what Christ did in his death, defeating of Death, and subsequent ressurection, we are now one with God.
Right now we are victims of bad theology, needing desperately to re-examine who Jesus is/was and the meanings of what he said, as recorded in Scripture. We also need to realize how much of an impact our choices really have on existence and that because God gave us free will, He will not stop us to a large extent, but continues to hope that we will see how bad we are letting down all creation and change so that creation may be healed and that humanity may be fully reconcilied unto her bridegroom.
Come on, church! It's time to begin anew!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The Church/Christianity/Truth
Over the past years, I have been noticing an increasing gap between the life and teachings of Jesus and the lives of those who claim to follow and obey him, called Christians (I am not saying everyone, so I hope people don't get defensive right off the bat...). As a result, I've noticed many who truly want to follow Jesus as best they can disassociating themselves from the word Christian for names like Christ-follower or other non-adjective, phrasal descriptions. I have a problem with a mindset I see running behind the change. I feel like a majority of those people don't want to redeem the term Christian from those who have misrepresented it with their lives. Rather, they just make up another name like Christ-follower (Which, incidentally, means basically the same thing as the term Christian: "follower of the Way" or "follower of Christ). People have been doing the same pitch and run routine for a long time now and I'm getting tired of it... Catholic v. Protestant, Baptist v. Methodist, Eastern Orthodox v. Roman Catholic, or even when a person get's tired of a church because it "doesn't suit their needs" and leaves without a second thought of trying to make it better.
With that said, I've heard something recently that makes me wonder about any of these terms we use. I've been hearing more and more that the term Christian, whose original use is recorded in the book of Acts, was originally a negative and condescending term used by those who opposed the followers of Christ or the Way. Although, I haven't fully researched this personally (so take that into account, but don't throw up defenses if this stuff is seemingly "unorthodox"), this idea has got me wondering...even though I still think the pitch and run mindset is bad, I am beginning to wonder if, because of subtle mindsets people have, even among the church, adjective labels we use do more to divide us than to give distinction.
I truly feel that many people, especially those who claim to follow Jesus Christ, are holding these terms in such a way that they seperate or isolate us from each other, not just distinguish.
So I propose a shift in thinking that will be manifested by literally the words that come out of our mouths. For example- I, Peter Elliott, am no longer a Christian, Republican, Middle-class, Kansan, Caucasian. And you, my reader, are no longer a Muslim, Democrat, Lower-classs, New Yorker (Change adjectives as is appropriate).
I am a human.
You are a human.
We are nothing more, nothing less. Because we all do believe different things, and that is natural and good, it would be foolish to leave our langauge and descriptions just at that. So, furthermore,...
I am a human....who follows Jesus, agrees with certain political outlooks, has inherited a certain social status, and was born in a certain city. You are a human....who believes things that are different or similar to me, but we are both just human. Nothing more, nothing less, perfectly human.
The way I see it: to be co-humans means we are truly related (which is the way God created us): no matter how much we try and disassociate ourselves from each other, we are one. We are blood.
Because of this.....I am the father of a young Muslim boy who will detonate a bomb on his chest tomorrow. I am the son of Hitler, the grandchild of Gandhi; Mother Theresa and Saddam Hussein are my aunt and uncle. Hindus and Atheists are my brothers and sisters, and as delusional as I may think he is, Fred Phelps is my father.
No matter how we try to distance or dissassociate ourselves from those we don't agree with or like, we are still one. As the church, then, we need to unify ourselves and own the junk of our family members (e.g., even though I never killed a Muslim during the Crusades, one of my relatives did, so I must seek forgiveness and reconciliation for what my blood did or what has been done to my blood). That is the only way we will ever fully become those who follow Jesus. He did not come to restore Judaism itself or start another religion, he came to reveal God, God's truths, and restore all of humanity to God and itself.
We, both humans and those who claim follow Jesus, have done a pretty good job of undoing that work, and we must seek an end to that through our words and lives. No, I don't think what Hitler did or what Fred Phelps is doing are right, but they are still family. Those who attacked us on 9/11 and those we are attacking now are our relatives.
I am not saying the adjectives are wrong. What I am saying is that I think we need to re-examine how we use them, possibly through a period of not using them. Once those who believe come to the realization of how we've misused them, then we will be ready to properly use them again, if we find them still needed.
We are all family, no matter how you cut it, we have the same source and father, so let us work to restore ourselves to each other. Then we will begin to see the truth of Jesus in powerful new ways and the battle-scars we've given ourselves and the planet will begin to heal.
One Love. One World.
With that said, I've heard something recently that makes me wonder about any of these terms we use. I've been hearing more and more that the term Christian, whose original use is recorded in the book of Acts, was originally a negative and condescending term used by those who opposed the followers of Christ or the Way. Although, I haven't fully researched this personally (so take that into account, but don't throw up defenses if this stuff is seemingly "unorthodox"), this idea has got me wondering...even though I still think the pitch and run mindset is bad, I am beginning to wonder if, because of subtle mindsets people have, even among the church, adjective labels we use do more to divide us than to give distinction.
I truly feel that many people, especially those who claim to follow Jesus Christ, are holding these terms in such a way that they seperate or isolate us from each other, not just distinguish.
So I propose a shift in thinking that will be manifested by literally the words that come out of our mouths. For example- I, Peter Elliott, am no longer a Christian, Republican, Middle-class, Kansan, Caucasian. And you, my reader, are no longer a Muslim, Democrat, Lower-classs, New Yorker (Change adjectives as is appropriate).
I am a human.
You are a human.
We are nothing more, nothing less. Because we all do believe different things, and that is natural and good, it would be foolish to leave our langauge and descriptions just at that. So, furthermore,...
I am a human....who follows Jesus, agrees with certain political outlooks, has inherited a certain social status, and was born in a certain city. You are a human....who believes things that are different or similar to me, but we are both just human. Nothing more, nothing less, perfectly human.
The way I see it: to be co-humans means we are truly related (which is the way God created us): no matter how much we try and disassociate ourselves from each other, we are one. We are blood.
Because of this.....I am the father of a young Muslim boy who will detonate a bomb on his chest tomorrow. I am the son of Hitler, the grandchild of Gandhi; Mother Theresa and Saddam Hussein are my aunt and uncle. Hindus and Atheists are my brothers and sisters, and as delusional as I may think he is, Fred Phelps is my father.
No matter how we try to distance or dissassociate ourselves from those we don't agree with or like, we are still one. As the church, then, we need to unify ourselves and own the junk of our family members (e.g., even though I never killed a Muslim during the Crusades, one of my relatives did, so I must seek forgiveness and reconciliation for what my blood did or what has been done to my blood). That is the only way we will ever fully become those who follow Jesus. He did not come to restore Judaism itself or start another religion, he came to reveal God, God's truths, and restore all of humanity to God and itself.
We, both humans and those who claim follow Jesus, have done a pretty good job of undoing that work, and we must seek an end to that through our words and lives. No, I don't think what Hitler did or what Fred Phelps is doing are right, but they are still family. Those who attacked us on 9/11 and those we are attacking now are our relatives.
I am not saying the adjectives are wrong. What I am saying is that I think we need to re-examine how we use them, possibly through a period of not using them. Once those who believe come to the realization of how we've misused them, then we will be ready to properly use them again, if we find them still needed.
We are all family, no matter how you cut it, we have the same source and father, so let us work to restore ourselves to each other. Then we will begin to see the truth of Jesus in powerful new ways and the battle-scars we've given ourselves and the planet will begin to heal.
One Love. One World.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Newness and Oldness
So, this is a new thing that I've started. I hope that for those of my friends who live near or far away this will be something that can let you know how I'm doing, what I'm thinking about, and what Yahweh is pouring into my heart. I've got some things I've been writing about recently that I'll be posting. I'll say this in advance.....my heart burns for the church to become truly what it was intended to be. I've seen a vision of what that can be and hope that my words will help bring that about.
"Greater things have yet to come!"
With that said, I've been thinking about a lot of things in a lot of different areas with regards to God, life, religion, and how the church and a follower of Christ fits into that. Some things have really stretched me for the good, so I'll pass these on so that hopefully it will do the same for you.
Let's conversate and let's follow truth where ever it may lead, even if that's some where we've never been or never have wanted to go. I'm not saying I have it all down, I'm not saying all I'll write is perfect, however, I do believe there is some powerful truth and life in the things I've been thinking about...and I want everyone to join in the conversation so that we can become those who have been healed and can help heal all of Creation.
One Love. One World.
"Greater things have yet to come!"
With that said, I've been thinking about a lot of things in a lot of different areas with regards to God, life, religion, and how the church and a follower of Christ fits into that. Some things have really stretched me for the good, so I'll pass these on so that hopefully it will do the same for you.
Let's conversate and let's follow truth where ever it may lead, even if that's some where we've never been or never have wanted to go. I'm not saying I have it all down, I'm not saying all I'll write is perfect, however, I do believe there is some powerful truth and life in the things I've been thinking about...and I want everyone to join in the conversation so that we can become those who have been healed and can help heal all of Creation.
One Love. One World.
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