On Polling

20Nov09

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Who lives?

15Oct09

Galations 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Some would read the italicized portion above as a correction, as if Paul started out by saying that he himself lives, then suddenly realizes his mistake and corrects it pointing out that in reality it is Christ that lives. Others see it as a way of validation or as some sort of moral challenge. It’s easy to think you’re right (or wrong) when you look at your life and can simply reassure yourself that that is just Christ (or the lack thereof) living in you. Of course, the problems with each of these views is quite clear. The first is downright inhuman and the second one is all too human. Or to put it differently, the first denies Christ’s humanity and the latter is divinity.

And yet this is just where the doctrine of the Incarnation enters. Paul recognizes that it is he himself that now lives, and yet it is truly Christ that lives as well. He doesn’t deny either the human or the divine reality, but simply recognizes the fullness of each. Though they seem opposites, both are true.

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on work

01Oct09

A story from the desert fathers:

It was said of abba John the Dwarf that one day he said to his elder brother, “I should like to be free of all care, like the angels who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God.” So he took leave of his brother and went away into the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door he heard his brother say, “Who are you?” before he opened it. He said, “I am John, your brother.” But he replied, “John has become an angel and henceforth he is no longer among men.” Then John besought him, saying, “It is I.” However, his brother did not let him in but left him there in distress until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, “You are a man and you must once again work in order to eat.” Then John made a prostration before him, saying, “Forgive me.”

Abba John said, “A monk is toil. The monk toils in all he does. That is what a monk is.”

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on our opinions

01Oct09

A man should know that a devil’s sickness is on him if he is seized by the urge in conversation to assert his opinion, however correct it may be. If he behaves this way while talking to his equals, then a rebuke from his elders may heal him. But if he carries on in this way with those who are greater and wiser than he, his sickness cannot be cured by human means.

St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent 4

Lord have mercy on me.

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250!

25Sep09

To anyone who missed it, yesterday was the 250th anniversary of the date when Arthur Guinness signed the famed 9000 year lease for his brewery.

In 1759, at the age of 34, Arthur Guinness signed a 9000-year lease for the St. James’s Gate Brewery, Dublin, at an annual rent of £45. The brewery was only 4 acres in size, disused, and had little brewing equipment. But in only 10 years, despite competition from imported English beers, Arthur began to export his beer to England.

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by faith alone

25Sep09

It fascinates me that some groups in modern Christianity hold to phrase “by faith alone” so tightly.  As far as I am aware, the only location we see this particular phrase in scripture is in James 2:26.

ὁρᾶτε ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Now I am the first one to admit that the phrase pistews monon might mean something completely different here in the context of James 2 than what is meant by modern ’sola fide’ folks when they use the phrase. And this is sidestepping all of the other tricky stuff (like defining justification, works, etc). However, it just blows me away that a group focusing so much on the propositional truth of Scriptures would choose such a central phrase to be one of the touchstones of their theology when that phrase is directly contradicted by this verse.

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My Dad and His Car

24Sep09

Congratulations to my dad, who won a trophy at the Bluffton Street Fair for his restored car.  Hat tip to Dick Clark for the photo.

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What would you change…

21Sep09

I posted a comment to Luke’s blog:

A couple of thoughts.

First, the main doctrine that I think we (and this goes far beyond our own denomination) hold to and yet don’t know what to do with is without a doubt the Trinity. By and large, church members of all stripes would agree that it is a true doctrine, and yet really don’t know where to go after that. Compared to other doctrinal issues (eg atonement, original sin, communion) it gets remarkably short shrift except for in more academic circles.

Second, on the one-page tract idea, I would probably just want to emphasize the fact that the simple (often simplistic) reading of Scripture isn’t always the right one. We think far too much of our own abilities to see the truth. More than spreading my own interpretations however, I think encouraging each other to take up the Bible with fear and trembling would be beneficial.

Third, in trying to speak to Daniel’s question (on the Facebook post), I have been taking up a special study of the early Church’s approach to the Trinity and scripture and how these concepts were interrelated. Beyond simply being interesting, it is helping me to be more humble in how I deal with Scripture, to appreciate a number of interpretations that I would’ve otherwise denigrated, and to increase my appreciation of the early Church (by which I mean at least up through the second council of Nicea). My plan is to eventually present this study at one of our Church’s Wednesday night Bible studies as I believe these benefits could be passed on to the other brethren.

Fourth, and perhaps most important, I agree with Daniel that these types of questions are typically unhelpful. This is not because the topics aren’t important, but because we’ve largely severed the contemplation of God from the life of the Church. As such, even when we agree on an answer to some theological question, it does little to foster the life of the Spirit within us (as Daniel pointed out).

There are undoubtedly specific topics that I might want to argue about here and there (politics, worship, authority, unity, beauty, etc), but if the conversation doesn’t have intercourse with the life of the Church (of which I am a part), it is vanity.

In my response, I think that I did a poor job of pointing out that many people would say the Trinity is important because it undergirds <insert favorite doctrine here>.

So, they believe God marked them for death, that he chose to save us by killing this guy Jesus instead, but that he had to also be God because God could only accept God’s death as salvific, and because of that Jesus had to be God and that the Spirit should be included too (though it gets hazier here).  I’m not trying to make fun or to necessarily disagree with all/any of the above, but if you find a standard Christian willing to try and answer the question, this would probably be fairly close to the response.  More important than trying to agree or disagree with this statement, I merely want to point out that this line of reasoning is not a Biblical response nor is it an accurate reflection of the early Christian approach.  Always, always, always in these far earlier examples of Christian thinking, contemplation of the person of Christ comes first and the life of salvation comes afterward (in priority of thought).  The logic above attempts to reverse it, and puts our salvation (and the doctrine of salvation) first and foremost, drawing everything else based on that doctrine.  Is it any wonder why the atonement seems so fundamental to these groups?

Addendum: In Luke’s post, he also rhetorically asked if we are living in the “perfect church”.  To this, strangely enough, I must give a qualified “yes”.  I am living part of the church that is eschatologically perfect, that is living the perfect life of the Spirit (which makes them the Church), but is not living that life in completion (as what we realize of the Spirit now is a mere downpayment on that time of the coming of the King).  As such, it is perfection in progress.  In this same way, I believe that the Church is catholic, but that’s another post.

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Kaplan on Al Jazeera

21Sep09

From Robert Kaplan’s review in the Atlantic

Overlying Al Jazeera’s pro-Palestinian and anti-Bush sentiment is a breezy, pacifist-trending internationalism. In too many of its reports, the subliminal message appears to be that compromise should be the order of the day. According to Al Jazeera, the politically weak, merely by being so, are automatically in the right. A certain kind of moral equivalency is Al Jazeera’s lifeblood. The history of human suffering seemingly begins and ends with that of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation and that of the Iraqis under erstwhile American occupation.

I don’t read the news, but if you do, I’d recommend a little saunter over to english.aljazeera.net.

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…is back

17Sep09

After a rather long hiatus (one which may extend further into the near future), I’ve updated this WordPress site with the various posts/comments I made over at http://amdg-ska.blogspot.com.  This may or may not be the site I use in the future, but for now it can act as a holding pool for old thoughts.  Also, I would warn you that some of the stuff I posted at the other site does not seem to translate well to this site, as it doesn’t seem to play nicely with iframes.

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