Oh, Paul!

"The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). How’s this for fire and brimstone? Taken literally, such sentiment seems fundamentally simplistic. But if the phrase is subjected to even elementary examination and interpretation it reveals that kernel of universal Truth for which Scripture is consulted. As I have attempted to develop a justification for thinking of Jesus as quintessentially moral, several operational definitions have emerged which help to make more sense of Paul’s words to the churches in Rome. If understood in the context of Paul Tillich’s definition, sin represents anything that stands in the way of the human consciousness of being in relationship with its Creator. This “separation” has then been defined as “immoral” as opposed to “moral” communion with God. When Jesus speaks of the new life—of being born from above—that results from authentic communion, then it stands to reason that ignorance of, or failure to accept, this redeeming relationship leads to spiritual death. Our human preoccupation with immortality has misdirected our attention from eternity, a confusion which we make at our own spiritual peril. Sin (i.e. immorality) is that which denies or severs the relationship with our Creator, and the consequence is the death or abortion of the new and abundant life offered through Christ. We do a great injustice to Jesus of Nazareth, as well as a fatal disservice to ourselves, when we fail to comprehend that Life eternal is contingent not upon whether we profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but depends instead upon the authenticity of the relationship we establish and maintain with God.

Good News!

I am happy to report that, if all goes as planned, Mom will go home today. Being still preoccupied with that situation, I’m going to be lazy and pass along some Jesus humor that I received today from the neighboring cubicle. See if you can guess my neighbor’s gender 

P.S. Happy Birthday, Steve! You’re my favorite son-in-law! 

Who is Jesus more like?


My Cajun friend had 3 good arguments that Jesus was a Cajun:

1. He liked to serve fish to his friends.

2. He could make his own wine.

3. He wasn't afraid of water.

My Black friend had 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:

1. He called everyone "brother."

2. He liked Gospel.

3. He couldn't get a fair trial.

My Italian friend gave his 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was
Italian:

1. He talked with his hands.

2. He had wine with every meal.

3. He used olive oil.

My California friend also had 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a
Californian:

1. He had a beard.

2. He walked around barefoot all the time.

3. He started a new religion.

My Irish friend then gave his 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was
Irish:

1. He never got married.

2. He was always telling stories.

3. He loved green pastures.

But, my women friends have the most compelling evidence that Jesus,
though NOT a woman, certainly could relate to women:

1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food.

2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it.

3. And, even when he was dead, he had to get up because there was more work to do.

Amen to that!

On Being Preoccupied

Mom was hospitalized yesterday with what is euphemistically referred to as a cardiac event. My sister, Kim, reported not too long ago that a stent (Mom’s second) was successfully inserted and now the waiting period begins. Somewhat ironically, Dad also called yesterday and part of our conversation was about the health issues he’s dealing with. Intellectually, I’ve accepted the course that all we mortals follow, but I still have work left to do on my emotions. My thoughts flashed back to a Sunday very long ago in Colorado Springs when for some inexplicable reason I was profoundly saddened during a church service by the thought of losing Mom. I suppose that developmental psychologists would just chalk it up to emerging abstract thought, but I’ve never forgotten it. I try to remind myself as often as I can that I dwell in the house of the Lord, and that such provides sanctuary from the fear of the shadow of death. As the natural process continues, it occurs to me that the highest honor I can pay my parents is to let them know how very much I will miss them when their time to move on arrives.

O Holy Night

Jesus was a Jew. All indications are that he was a practicing Jew. Indeed, I doubt that his first-century culture would have comprehended the term “non-practicing”. If, therefore, Jesus’ moral bearing was in the context of practical Judaism, it seems reasonable to think that he observed the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah which culminate in the holiest of days, Yom Kippur. I am deeply indebted to the explanation of the Day of Atonement as at-one-ment. Following the line of reasoning developed thus far, if morality is defined by the degree of communion which exists between the creature and its Creator then a day to confess and be rid of all those things which stand in the way of the relationship is quintessentially moral. By the same token, amorality and immorality must then be determined by the degree to which the at-one-ment with the Creator is defiled and broken. That sin is considered immoral, then, makes sense of one definition for sin being “without knowledge”. Without a reverent awareness of the sacred and holy nature of the relationship with one’s Creator, the subsequent ignorance for all practical purposes becomes sinful. Many believe in Jesus as the Christ because of the miracles he purportedly performed, or because he supernaturally arose from the grave. My money, however, is again on the example of one who, even though he observed the holy day of Yom Kippur, continuously experienced his at-one-ment with Abba. Anyone truly interested in pursuing the moral high road exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth can surely begin by genuinely observing this most sacred occasion that begins at sundown tomorrow. I look forward to joining you in the Spirit.

I'm at the Center of the Universe!

Okay, boys and girls, it’s pop-quiz time! I’ve inadvertently found myself at the epicenter of the OJ media madness (it’s happening right across the street, but, alas, I have no window) and that makes me think that this is the perfect situation for an exercise in practical legality, ethicality, and morality. The legal aspects are the most obvious, and it’s true that a court of law will have the final say about Simpson’s guilt or innocence, so we don’t have to strain our mental agility on those.

The ethical implications of this whole mess get a little stickier. I reiterate my opinion that ethics are composed of written and unwritten social agreements, whereas I understand the law to be exclusively written. This creates an overlap with which most of us are familiar. If something is legal, does that make it ethical? If something is illegal, does that necessarily make it unethical? Secular humanists, among others, have paid a price for entertaining the notion of situational ethics that are subject to relativism rather than absolutism.

The absolutism certainly becomes more pronounced in any discussion of morality. If there is agreement that morals are composed of covenants/agreements between Creator and creature, then it can be understood how easily one can fall into the trap of knowing with absolute certainty the mind of God. However, when morality is abstracted into an emphasis upon the good of the whole rather than just the individual such absolutism begins to dissolve.

So, leaving the law to the lawyers and courts, your assignment is to compare and contrast the ethical and moral ramifications of the Simpson conundrum. And, since it is not our purpose to pass judgment on anyone, the context of this mental puzzle must be what this situation says about us. What are the ethics and morals of a people that could have their attention drawn from the atrocities of the nation’s occupation of Iraq to a sensationalistic celebrity circus? I offer Paul Tillich’s notion of sin being anything that interferes or prevents us from knowing God’s love as the closing clue.

Oh, What a Humble Man He Was

Today’s post was nearly preempted by a team meeting, but our supervisor kept it mercifully short and I will try to pass along that spirit of brevity. I’d like some feedback to my proposition that Jesus was first and foremost a highly moral person. Our cultural disdain for both hypocrites and do-gooders might reject a moral Jesus if our understanding of morality is skewed in the slightest from what it actually is. To be in communion with the Creator might be mistakenly understood as “knowing the mind of God”, an arrogant claim flaunted by all sorts of zealots and fanatics. But remember, please, that one of my earliest characterizations of Jesus was his humility. I take this to mean that genuine communion with God requires a humble spirit, and that even a hint of pride or prejudice cancels the authenticity of any such claim. Further, I cannot find that Jesus ever claimed to know the mind of God, but that he amazed and astonished those around him simply by his example. Jesus’ extraordinary prayer life is well documented in the gospels, making it reasonably safe to assume that this was an integral facet of his relationship with Abba. My father often speaks of prayer as a process of alignment rather than petition, a concept that can serve all of us well if we are sincere about becoming humble, moral people that are in genuine communion with God.

You Say Tomato…

If asked to choose one word to describe Jesus of Nazareth, I would answer moral. I will quickly admonish readers not to springboard to words such as “righteous”, “pious”, or “ethical”. While our culture has homogenized “moral” and “ethical” into synonyms, to do so is actually incorrect. My own understanding of the distinction between the two is this: “ethics” deal with conventions and agreements—written or unwritten—between and among humans; “morality”, on the other hand, addresses the conventions and agreements—again, written or unwritten—between the creature and its Creator. I would argue that such a distinction is consistent with, say, Kohlberg’s research on moral development. Certainly there are many instances in which morality and ethicality intersect and share the same values and characteristics and are not mutually exclusive. But if push comes to shove in such an understanding, morality trumps ethicality every time. Therefore, the relationship between legality and ethicality is much more synonymous than between morality and ethicality. We live in an age where the distinction between the terms is very fluid (incorrectly so, in my opinion) and so we mistakenly speak of morality when we really mean ethicality, and vice versa. Because of the divine communion that apparently existed between Jesus and God, I can say with a relative degree of confidence that this moral relationship was his primary consideration, much to the frustration of the legalistic culture of his time that so closely parallels our own. I don’t think that we can truly understand Jesus as the Christ and the revelation of his life until we realize that morality was Jesus’ primary and fundamental concern. Read your New Testament gospels and see if you don’t agree that Jesus pretty much said to let ethics and laws take care of themselves, which they will do when morality becomes the pervasive worldview.

Worth Reading

Reinhold Niebuhr and the Political Momentby Benedicta Cipolla

Remember that the link to Religion & Ethics is on my home page.

Shifting Gears

Mary’s encouraging comments on yesterday’s post remind me that I really am not finished with the Jesus thing. What I need to do is regroup, meditate, and seek guidance for how best to proceed with a message that I believe is critically important to our time. In the meantime, I’m choosing to share some of my personal journal entries to provide some insight into what goes on in the old man’s head when he’s not at lunch.

07.01.05
It might be difficult for the reader to understand just what a profoundly sad and disturbing personal process began for me when I realized that I no longer wished to be identified as a Christian. It is an identity that I feel—with no little resentment—has been co-opted by a fundamentalist Right that has finagled its way into the popular perception as what the faith represents. I have carefully and purposefully chosen the words corrupted and perverted to describe what I believe has happened to the teachings of Jesus in the name of “official”, “evangelical”, and “bible-based” Christianity.

So it is then with great joy and excitement that I report a Gestalt! I am a child of the Christ! This designation acknowledges the Judeo-Christian roots of my worldview while at the same time placing me squarely in the reality of the present moment. I need not be ashamed of my childish imperfections so long as I intentionally strive to mature toward the perfection revealed to human consciousness by the Christ in its various forms and incarnations. Yes, I am saying that the cosmic Christ is universal and is therefore knowable in an infinite number of ways.

I am pleasantly struck by how inclusive this understanding is as compared to the exclusivity of the “I am the only way” misinterpretation embraced by literalists. When the Christ is understood as all things that strengthen the connection between the Creator and the created it can then be legitimately thought of as the Way, but not as an exclusive claim to one particular dogma that fails to accommodate the comprehensiveness of universality. I am not alone a child of the Christ but am instead one of many children included in the whole family of God who celebrate our kinship through connectedness.

07.01.27
Canned Heat’s On the Road Again is playing in the background, while C-SPAN’s fare today has been coverage of the peace rally in D.C. and the commencement of Hillary’s campaign in Iowa. The three most important people in my life are socially, politically, and morally conscious activists, and the concentric “rings” spreading from this source include many, many more who, while they may not fall into the “three most important” category, are nonetheless critical elements of the construct I perceive as reality.

I am beginning to think that our government is growing fearful of its constituency, of its people. I think that this —if it is in fact what’s happening—is not a good thing. Jesus of Nazareth, who is proclaimed Prince of Peace by countless millions, repeatedly counseled his followers to not be afraid. Therefore, regardless of what they call themselves or think themselves to be, anyone who encourages violence by percolating fear throughout the public mind is truly antithetical to the Christ.

To find any truth or meaning in the teachings of the Christ requires clarity of theology that naturally becomes increasingly important for each succeeding generation; for it is true that the transmission is always but one generation from extinction. We must hope and pray that the transmission has not already been lost.

07.04.21
I am becoming numb to the killing. The Virginia Tech massacre crossed the threshold. Killing is reported via the local, national and global news on a scale that is truly incomprehensible even when presented in the horrifyingly intimate now. The perceived value of life is plummeting even as the Supreme Court superficially attempts to restore it. No partial birth abortions, baby, but the carnage wrought by sinful Evil still escalates exponentially by the day. As a people we are guilty of criminal negligence on a more widespread basis than ever before (yes, there is a correlation between the increasing population and the decreasing reverence for all life of which Albert Schweitzer spoke) but this is okay as long as it somehow falls under the pro-life banner. How hypocritical can we be to feign concern for the unborn while systematically killing the already born? The incredibly apocalyptic eye-for-an-eye insanity which is being promoted by the Christian Right is neither.

07.05.05
Mary and I have just viewed The Frontline/American Experience production of The Mormons on PBS and found it powerfully moving. I had been taught that the Methodist church in all its developmental variations closely paralleled the evolving United States of America government in its political structure and conduct. The Mormons, however, makes a strong case for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints being a uniquely American faith tradition that borrows heavily from traditional Christianity and then presumes to take it to the next level of contemporary revelation. The irony here, perhaps, is that while the Mormon’s expectation of others to accept an incredible and miraculous prophecy as true, it seems unlikely that the LDS would not be highly skeptical of such an expectation aimed toward them requiring acceptance and practice of a hypothetically even more recent claim of prophetic revelation. There is a great (and curious) spiritual hunger emerging globally and The Mormons does an excellent job of showing how this particular culture is satisfying that quest for a growing number of people. Now if we can just figure out the part about letting our selves be drawn to the dynamically powerful I AM without succumbing to the static but equally powerful temptation of organizing and institutionalizing it.

07.05.06
The hour is come for me to proclaim that the gospel revealed through Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ is bad news for the Church. If self-actualization is defined as independently entering into harmonious relationship with the Whole, then organized attempts to assume the role of mediator become antithetical to the desired outcome. In this sense, the correct objective of any organized effort should be to facilitate rather than dictate. Failure to distinguish between theology and religion devolves into a profound misunderstanding which in turn enables those who seek to inhibit complete personal autonomy/atonement to their own advantage to label such thinking as heretical. Jesus as the Christ proclaims the extant organization illicit and in so doing defies the establishment which proselytizes for its own betterment. The Christ was, is, and will always be a threat to those who wish to seize the Power rather than share it. The good news is that the Power can never be absolutely co-opted.

07.05.11
Pssst!
Over here!
Where am I?
Who are you?
Can you please just tell me where I am?
I can’t until I know who you are.
What difference does it make who I am when all I want to know is where I am? Isn’t everyone else here with me regardless of where they’ve come from?
I don’t know them either, but they are not asking me where this is. Either they already know, or they don’t care. (10:44)

07.06.14
Just as there are different kinds of presents, there are different kinds of presence. Presence is that which we intuitively feel—perceive; comprehend—in the context of the time and space that we occupy. It is sometimes said that someone brings a presence into a room, that some people have charisma. But there is also the holy, sacred experience of being in God’s presence.

This requires an aside: I have intentionally used the word “God”. This is the word I have associated with concepts such as eternal, transcendent, supranatural…even omnipresent! When we stand still with the intention of prayerfully communing in Its presence we experience the sacred, the holy, the One.

07.07.07
I need to know the question before I can answer.

07.08.24
When one understands that all others are children of God, conditions cannot but disappear.

Did not Jesus challenge claims to know the mind of God? I cannot find that he ever claimed to know such a thing himself. In the beautifully poetic style of Hebrew literature, Jesus could at best come up with analogies and comparisons to attempt a glimpse at the true nature of God’s reign/kingdom/heaven. Paramount in his teachings, however, is that such revelation and relationship is unconditionally available to Creation. Being human, we generate distortion and interference which makes such authentic communion with God difficult. This is why we have need of the Christ. In sacred remembrance we are invited to receive the Christ’s good news that it is possible—indeed, necessary—to become one with our Creator, and in so doing to become one with ourselves. God is love!

07.08.31
Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow.
My cup runneth over.

07.09.03
It is with understandable trepidation that I entrust my Labor Day thoughts to the laptop. I am not sure that my current form of employment constitutes labor, but I have been a laborer in my earlier life. I just heard Barak Obama speak to a gathering in Manchester, and I am once again inspired and encouraged by the way he speaks so sincerely of hope and change. All we who labor one way or another have in this man, I think, a champion. I’m sorry to do this to you, Mr. Obama, but I have decided that you are the one I would hope to see as the next President of the United States (my readers know that this has been the kiss of death to previous presidential aspirants, and hence the apology).

“We the people” does not address the Corporation which continues to assume greater and greater constitutional privileges and rights in the government of which they own an increasingly large share. “We the people” were not consulted on the horrific Iraqi mess that is funneling inestimable amounts of taxpayers’ money into the coffers of the military industrial complex, although we are expected to shed the precious blood of our citizens on foreign soil—and natives on their own soil—as the price that we are to supposedly pay in order to demonstrate patriotic support of immoral corporate greed.

07.09.07
Esoteric truth is an illusion because Truth is knowable to all. While it is true that knowing is subject to individual degrees of openness and receptivity, there is no aspect of Truth that is hidden from anyone and everyone. Truth is not exclusive. Truth is inclusive.

07.09.08
Is this what is meant by bipolar? On one hand I am filled with awe, wonder, and gratitude as I am overwhelmed by the countless blessings that are mine. On the other, I can tell that I am increasingly sad. The sadness seems to come from my perception that far too much of humankind cannot or fails to comprehend the miraculous thing we all possess in common: life! Our species has evolved to an awareness that this miracle does not continue in its present form forever, thereby making it something to revere and cherish each and every moment that we experience it. And yet, we profane life by demeaning, desecrating, and ultimately destroying that very thing which wisdom calls us to hold sacred and holy.

If not now, when?
Stop
Stop now
I mean it
Stop

God is love
God is
God
Love God
Love is God

Thank you, Britney!

So, here’s the deal. I’m growing tired of the Jesus thing, which means that my few readers were tired of it long ago. The subject is an important one (see Michael Kinsley’s link on yesterday’s post) that is deserving of much more thought than it generally receives. But that’s my point. Whether as a pastor or layperson, I know relatively few people who share my passion for learning more about the man and his message. The majority seems to be divided between those who just accept whatever they learned from organized religion and those who simply choose to reject organized religion. That pretty well closes the door on any attempt to—as Dr. John Cobb once described the process—peel away the layers of the onion until you get to the actual heart of the matter. I find that my heart is heavy much more of the time than it ought to be, and a rather pessimistic outlook on our future contributes to that. I so desperately want for my children (and, in time, my grandchildren) to know the blessing of moral living, the kind about which Jesus taught, but this seems to be an age of fanatical zealotry rather than of reason. Put more correctly, I’m not personally tired of the Jesus thing. I don’t think I ever will be. But I have grown weary of looking for companions to share the journey. Give me some time to try to think about something popular to write about…did you see Britney at the MTV awards?

Another Day That Will Live in Infamy

I’m letting the pros do my work for me today. Fortunately, they have some very important things to say on this sixth anniversary of 9/11:

How to Remember 9/11 by Nancy Gibbs

Beyond Sorrow. by Jeffrey Kluger

God as Their Running Mate by Michael Kinsley

In Today's News...

Committee: Good morning. While General Petraeus is giving us a progress report on the troop surge in Iraq and Afghanistan, we thought it would be sensible to ask for your opinions, as well. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

J.C.: I am not going to use the Lord’s name in vain, but I assure you that I have no reason to tell you anything but the truth.

Committee: Do you think that our objectives in the Iraqi conflict are being met?

J.C.: If your objective is to be immoral, then, yes, I think that is being met.

Committee: By what authority do you judge what is moral and what is not?

J.C.: I do not judge; that is for God alone. But from what I know of your reasons for being there and what you have done since the occupation, I am confident that it is contrary to God’s will and therefore immoral.

Committee: Well, we have it on good authority that we are doing God’s will! What do you have to say about that?

J.C.: A Moslem was taking the road to Baghdad when he was set upon by insurgents…

The author of this little fantasy apologizes for the disservice it does to everyone portrayed, although it is intriguing to think of how the gospel might interact with today’s world events if taken seriously. Thank God that our consciences have only the Risen Christ to wrestle with, and not the historical Jesus.

Jesus Wept

The recent revelation of Mother Teresa’s profound “crisis of faith” should have come as a surprise only to those who hold a stylized, popular understanding of Christianity. The gospel texts reveal a Jesus that “suffered” from a similar angst generated by the stubborn ignorance of those he hoped to enlighten, and that his sense of alienation and estrangement was certainly no less severe than Mother Teresa’s as he cried out from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Only a superficial acquaintance with the Christ would allow one to embrace the consumer-oriented success theologies that are gaining such current popularity. When Elton Trueblood suggests that “the unexamined faith is not worth having,” I take this to mean that the belief in everything being better when one “gives” her/his life to Christ is mistaken because Jesus himself found it to be an ongoing struggle. Again, popular religion manages to do a great disservice to Jesus the Christ.

All Is Well

Indeed, everything is just great because I got to have lunch with Rebecca while she's in town. It's hard to believe that it's already been three months since she moved to Flagstaff. So, this is why there's no "inciteful" post today and that can be your reason to celebrate!

Blinded by the Light

It was quite a weekend! Using the holiday to catch up on some overdue viewing, Mary and I watched Clint Eastwood’s films, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, and the six-hour CNN presentation of God’s Warriors. A cynical conclusion to be drawn from all this is that human beings are incurably violent and that we will ultimately destroy ourselves. I’m still working on a hopeful point of view.

It all makes me wonder if revelatory enlightenment is simply more than the human mind can handle. Maybe we’re just not hard-wired for anything other than irrational, angry, violent, destructive reactions to perceived threats. If this is the case, then the occasional mutant oddballs like Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Gandhi and King are going to dazzle the masses with incomprehensible gibberish that, in the end, makes no difference.

I personally want to be more than that. I want to believe that even glimpses of what my relationship with One can be may truly inspire me to more Christ-like living. That means, however, that I’m not going to get to go out and smack everyone who disagrees with me upside the head. If I earnestly intend to pursue the Way, then I’m going to have to look past the brilliant p.r. that’s been trumped up to promote these figures in order to actually see the light they shed upon my path.