Doubt is not the enemy- cont.

continued from yesterday, Pete Rollins, The Fidelity of Betrayal:

"In addition to these problems, such an approach creates a wedge between possessing 'truth' and engaging in a life of devotion and service."

"Following on from this, when the truth of faith is reduced to the idea of a theoretical system divorced from one's practice, then faith becomes associated with an affirmation of certain beliefs that seem to do little more than offer the believer a matrix of meaning with which to understand life. This effectively reduces Christianity to a set of claims concerning ideas such as the world's being created for a purpose, God's loving us, and the existence of heaven. The problem arises not when one accepts these beliefs but rather when one thinks that they are what constitutes the truth of faith."

"Indeed, if one does believe in a literal heaven, it may even be important to suspend this belief in order to approach the truly good news of Christianity. For the original disciples the introduction of an afterlife arose only after they had already given up everything and followed Jesus--in short, after the good news had already been received."

I had to skip a bit of text to get to that last paragraph, but felt that it needed to be included to draw the subject towards Rollins' full meaning.

Doubt is not the enemy

Pete Rollins, The Fidelity of Betrayal:

"Apologetics, in its attempt to defend the factual claims of the Bible through the use of reason, thus implicitly affirms the very philosophical outlook that undermines its own project, placing the truth of Christianity in the realm of rational reflection and thus in to the realm of reasonable doubt and provisionality."

"This has the effect of placing the Christian idea of truth upon a very tentative and fragile foundation, one that could not possibly justify an individual's unconditional commitment--one that would not be able to embrace Jesus' statement that one ought to lay one's life down for one's faith. Such an approach to the truth affirmed by Christianity would effectively mean that the believer would have to bow down before the academic researchers who are able to discuss which biblical texts are authentic, when they were written, by whom, and for what purpose. The believer would need to study all the available evidence and ascertain facts such as whether or not the Gospels record the writing of people who were eyewitnesses to the events they mention, and if not, whether they knew the eyewitnesses."

"To be a believer would thus require some hefty subscriptions to the latest academic journals in order to see if the truth claims of Christianity could still be regarded as plausible, or even possible. Philosophy journals would become a stable diet for the preacher who would, in fear and trembling, be working out whether believe in Christianity is still rational."

I'll continue on this section next time.

the reduction of God

Pete Rollins, The Fidelity of Betrayal:

"The idea of the "word of God" becomes pale and anemic when reduced to the idea of a factual description of historical events... the Word of God can be described as that dark core around which the words of the text find their orbit, the unspeakable Source within the text that cannot be reduced to the words themselves but that breathes life into them."

So then, if we were to imagine someone rewriting the text in such a way that all the tensions and conflicts were exiled, if we were to do the impossible and render the text into the ultimate fantasy of the fundamentalist (a text at one with itself), then the Word of God would not be clearer; rather the Word of God would have been systematically eradicated. This attempt to systematize the text would be nothing less than a form of exorcism in which the Word of God is cast out--removing the spirit until we are left with nothing but the letter of the law."

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The Fidelity of Betrayal on the Word of God

Pete Rollins, The Fidelity of Betrayal:

"Part of the reason we find it so hard to let (the) Word reveal itself as it is rather than as we imagine it to be relates to the intellectual presuppositions that we have unwittingly inherited from our Western philosophical tradition, particularly in relation to our idea of truth."

"Within the church as much as within the academy, we have been deeply influenced by the idea that for something to be true, it must show itself in the world, opening itself up to contemplation in some way. Truth, including religious truth, is thus related to the world of objects, to the world of facts. The result is a belief that we can distill the truth of faith into various sacraments, creeds, doctrines, historical interpretations, and even scientific theories, all of which are able to do justice to the claims of these ancient writings. The Word is taken to be something (the words of scripture) that we can assess and interpret (stretching and distorting it until it becomes intelligible to us)."

"The net result is that we approach the Bible as something that can be analyzed and assessed..."

"If the claims of Christianity are not open to being assessed in this way, the only alternative would seem to involve rejecting them as meaningless, a view that was developed by the philosophical tradition called Logical Positivism... Logical Positivists would say that if someone claims that God exists but cannot be seen, heard, or experienced, then this is much like saying that pixies exist but cannot be seen, heard, or experienced, as statement that is not even worthy of being considered as true or false (for how would one go about proving or disproving it). While Logical Positivism as a philosophical system was short-lived, its influence continues to be felt everywhere we turn... It is precisely this approach to faith that postmodern religious thinkers question and critique as philosophically untenable, religiously problematic, and biblically unjustified."

As I see it, the insistence on turning the Bible into a book of facts that must be proved or disproved effectively kills our ability to have meaningful faith. The evidence of this is in dogma and absolutism that refuses to consider the possibility that another reading of the Word could have merit. It is a refusal to wrestle with, but rather an insistence on containing God.

I understand the appeal of containing God in words. I used to do it. But my heart and my faith tell me now that He cannot be contained and would much prefer that I wrestle with him over the truths I don't understand.

Why has the church so espoused a fear of wrestling with God while this concept is so deeply ingrained in the very Word we claim to have contained? And what can be done about it?

The Fidelity of Betrayal

Pete Rollins does it again for me with The Fidelity of Betrayal.
I'll begin with a series of quotes from the story of Jacob (Gen. 32) in Chapter 2.

"Jacob does not seem in any way repentant when he discovers who this stranger really is, and God, far from seeming to have a problem with such and unrepentant follower, bestows the victor with the blessing of a new name that would come to represent, not only Jacob, but all of his descendants."

"It is here, in this encounter between Jacob and God, that we discover why the Jewish community is marked out by the name 'Israel.' This title represents the spirit of a people who have 'wrestled with God and with men and have overcome.'"

"The name Israel is not some kind of curse, or dispassionate description, it is a blessing. Here God does not merely describe something that the Israelites do; the name describes what they ought to be... Thus, if relationship with God within this tradition is to be understood as promising peace and harmony, it cannot be understood as a peace and harmony that stand in contrast to a kinetic life of tension, striving, and conflict. For the blessing that God bestowed upon Jacob brings us face to face with the fact that God wants a fight."

Rollins' book comes to me at precisely the point in my life when I'm realizing that God does, in fact, want some kind of a fight with me. For my own good, of course, but that good isn't going to come without the struggle before me. I think I may have been in this conflict with him for a while without recognizing it. Now, I welcome it.

fond farewell

It seems that the wee one accidentally left our garden gate open, so the wild things munched the tops off our unique crop. Since they were starting to rot, we harvested what was left. Oddly enough, not even the wildlife seemed interested in the roots.

So here, submitted for your final approval, are the last of our curious carrots.













Previous carrots:
Jan. 09
Nov. '08
Sept. '08
July '08

church is not a competition

church is not a competition

church is not a competition

church is not a competition

church is not a competition

church is not a competition

CHURCH IS NOT A COMPETITION

I know you knew that already. I just needed to get it off my chest. You can probably guess why, at least in general terms.

Blue Parakeet

If you've read The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight, please take a minute to tell me your thoughts. Thanks!

new ground on common values

Evangelical and Progressive Leaders Release “Common Values” Agenda Covering Gay Rights, Abortion, Immigration Reform, and Torture

"Washington, DC – For decades, many Evangelical and progressive leaders have been stuck in a divisive and corrosive war over cultural issues. But today, seizing on a new political moment, emissaries of these historic adversaries have come together to send a letter to the President-elect and congressional leaders offering “a shared vision and a plan for ending the culture wars.”

"The Come Let Us Reason Together Governing Agenda breaks new ground by uniting key Evangelical and progressive leaders behind specific policy recommendations on abortion, gay rights, torture, and immigration reform – ground zero in the nation’s culture wars. Specifically, the agenda calls for:

"Reducing abortions by preventing unintended pregnancies, supporting pregnant women and new families, and increasing support for adoption.

"Protecting the rights of gay and lesbian people to earn a living by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or refuse to promote employees based on sexual orientation so long as there is an exemption for faith-based employers.

"Renouncing torture through an unequivocal statement that calls on government to forbid cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment against prisoners.

"Supporting immigration reform that paves the way to an earned path to citizenship for most undocumented residents."

thanks to Tony

so much

sometimes there is so much to say, it isn't possible to say anything.

Happy New...

CARROT! (Fooled ya didn't I?)


I didn't try to clean this one up too much for fear that I'd break off all those weird little knobby things.

For more information see here.

bragging on my kid

So yesterday we cleaned the carpet. It's been... let's just say too long and leave it at that.

While Keith and I moved and stacked furniture etc., I told Ruby to get everything off the floor of her room-which is what I say each time I vacuum. It's a routine thing and she does it well and quickly. Baskets, rug, bean bag chair and what ever junk she hadn't been able to previously see gets put on the bed or away somewhere. She gets the clothes or whatever off the closet floor. It's no big deal.

Well, yesterday, she apparently decided to do it properly for the formal carpet cleaning, though I only intended for her to do the usual pick up. When I walked into her room I saw this:


Not only did she get EVERYTHING off of her floor, she also took every last thing off of the floor of her closet: large (heavy!) storage drawers, laundry hamper, toys, shoe bag, a small tent, I don't know what else. Everything in the child's room was on her bed. It isn't what I meant, exactly, but I was so impressed at what our 9 yr. old did entirely on her own. For the sake of cleaning! (She can move worlds for the sake of fun, but never for this kind of thing.) Today there will be a great deal of sorting out before we haul it all back in the closet, but that was on my radar anyway.

Thanks for letting me indulge.