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Science and Faith

30 Nov

I’m not very smart in a lot of areas, and one of those areas is science.  Because I never felt like I needed to learn science-y stuff.  I took chemistry because there was promise of explosions (thank Mr. Hilty).

But lately, I have been compelled to reconsider my understanding of faith and science and how they interact.  This has led me to have some really interesting conversations, but more importantly it has led me to trust God more and more as I talk about scientific investigations that some might feel could discredit my faith.  This has not happened at all.  My faith, I feel, has actually become stronger.

One of the blogs I read is from Professor of Philosophy Jamie Smith.  Smith was the prof. of one of the most impacting classes in my entire MATC at Northwest University.  He posted this blog about an organization called The Colossian Forum, which is trying to help foster conversations between science and faith.  I watched this video today and was encouraged about the science and faith discussion, and reminded that truly all things hold together in Christ.  If you are intersted in the Colossian Forum go check them out.

Freedom of God

4 Aug

“The idealized God is maintained at the expense of his freedom.  The idealized God lacks flexibility; initiative, the capacity to surprise.  The resulting picture of God is a sophisticated idol, but still an idol.” (Judson Mather, “The Comic Art of the Book of Jonah.” Soundings 65, no. 3 [September 1, 1982], 286).

I read this in my research on Jonah and Satire.  The author is essentially arguing that the Author of Jonah is satirizing the idealized God of ancient Israel.  The same God that uses Jonah as a kind of comic foil throughout the text.  But this passage got me thinking about Uber Calvinism.

As I understand it the challenge with theological systems that lean so heavily on pre-destination and the foreknowledge of God is that God can’t really change his mind.  And what Mather is saying is that God changed his mind regarding Nineveh because they repented.  This made Jonah angry, because God didn’t do what Jonah understood God was planning on doing.  (I understand that’s a really bad sentence.  Sorry).  Jonah is frustrated because he knew that God was a God of compassion and that he would relent of destroying Nineveh.  Jonah wanted to follow the formula, and he wanted the result that God had promised, That the city would be overturned.

Now, in the book of Jonah, the City did repent.  Nineveh was not destroyed but could it be argued that their hearts were overturned?  Which is more important, the destruction of a city or the destruction of wickedness and idolatry.

If we try to make God follow our formulas, then we are treating him like an idol.  Idols don’t work and they always disappoint.

I would rather serve a sovereign God who desires repentance rather than destruction, and would much rather dispense Grace than wrath.

It’s not my job to tell God that he has destroy cities or people.  It’s not my job to be angry when what I think is justice on the wicked is not delivered.  My job is to tell the truth about God that he has revealed through the Bible and through the leading of the Holy Spirit, and then let God do the rest.

I want God to be free to forgive, to love, to show mercy and grace.  I know how much grace and mercy I have received from God so for me to not be willing to let God give that to others is selfishness and worse it’s idolatry.

thoughts?

The GOSPEL

30 Mar

This is a great 5 minute presentation of the Gospel.  Creatively presented and compelling.

 

The Gospel should always be compelling.  Unfortunately we spend so much time in the minutae that I think we lose sight of what the Gospel is really all about.  We debate over atonement theories, and soteriology, almost like we need to tell God how to do his job, because it’s really important to Him that we understand all that he does.

It is important to study theology.  It is important to know what we believe and why.  But we should never lose sight of these truths:

  • The Gospel is the greatest story that was ever told.
  • God’s love is really big
  • We are the problem with this world
  • God provided the solution through Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection

Do we really need to know how it all works?  Do we really need to foot note those truths that we find in the Bible with the words of theologians who lived thousands of years after the event?

Whenever I read the Gospel accounts I find that Jesus is way more compelling than our Theology or Christology or Soteriology makes him out to be.

So in all the debates about salvation that are going around the internet and in churches, let us not lose sight that the Gospel is an amazing story of God’s love for us.  And let us not lose sight of the fact that we need to tell people about Jesus.  And let us not lose sight that we are to continue the work that Jesus started, through the power of the Holy Spirit!

We have a mission before us.  Stop fighting, and tell the good news.  Our hope should be that all will accept God’s story of rescuing his people! That should be our motivation.  Our motivation should not be that our side is right and their side is wrong.  Stop!  Tell the Gospel story.

I should stop before I get angry.

(thanks to Josh Hebert for the heads up on this video)

Fear God, not the world

9 Feb

I received Church Dogmatics for Christmas, and when I have a few moments I like to read a bit.  Also, I can only digest a little bit at a time.  Today I read this and I was encouraged and challenged.

The Church should fear God and not fear the world.  But only if an as it fears God need it cease to fear the world.  If it does not fear God, then it is not helped at all but genuinely endangered if it fears the world, listens to its opposition, considers its attitude, and accepts all kinds of responsibilities towards it, no matter how necessary and justified may be the criticism it receives from this quarter.

The Church’s biggest responsibility is to Fear God with awe and reverence, and not to fear the world.  Fear of the world is what drives the church away from the Gospel.  But if the church rightly fears God, then the Gospel work will continue.

 

Adam and Eve and Creation from N.T. Wright

30 Nov

Interesting thoughts on the historicity of Adam and Eve from N.T. Wright.  I’m not endorsing his view but I think he is right when he says that we in America have politicized these texts too much.

thoughts?

Nouwen on Leadership and Theological Reflection

28 Oct

Without solid theological reflection, future leaders will be little more than pseudo-psychologists, pseudo-sociologist, pseudo social workers.  They will think of themselves as enablers, facilitators, role models, father or mother figures, big brothers or big sisters, and so on, and thus join the countless men and women who make a living by trying to help their fellow human beings cope with the stresses and strains of everyday living.

But that has little to do with Christian leadership because the Christian leader things, speaks, and acts in the name of Jesus, who came to free humanity form the power of death and open the way to eternal life.  To be such a leader, it is essential to be able to discern from moment to moment how God acts in human history and how the personal, communal, national and international events that occur during our lives can make us more and more sensitive to the ways in which we are led to the cross and through the cross to the resurrection.

The task of Christian leaders isn not to make a little contribution to the solution of the pains and tribulations of their time, but to identify and announce the ways in which Jesus is leading God’s people out of slavery, through the desert to the new land of Freedom.

. . .

THe Christian leaders of the future have to be theologians, persons who know the heart of God and are trained — through prayer, study, and careful analysis — to manifest the divine event of God’s saving work in the midst of many seemingly random events of their time.

Theological reflection is reflecting on the painful and joyful realities of every day with the mind of Jesus and thereby raising human consciousness to the knowledge of God’s guidance.

Henri Nowen In The Name of Jesus: Reflections of Christian Leadership. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Co, 1989. pp 86-88

Do you hear God speaking in all of creation?

16 Sep

Does God speak through all of creation?  Or does he only speak through accepted forms of revelation?  This is part of the question that I have to answer for my research thesis for my Masters Degree.  I came across this video and I thought it was interesting.  I would love to here your thoughts on it.

I personally think that God can use anything he wants to reveal truth.  I am doing my thesis on Humor as a Prophetic tool.  I think God uses humor in the Bible and today to surprise us with truth.  Often though we (christians) ignore truth tellers because they are not coming through the accepted channels.  Also I think this pastor is on to something when he says that, to truly see God’s truth in all creation we would need to always be in our Bible.

I don’t think we can remove the Bible from the conversation.  I think the Bible provides direction and clarity to our search for God.  But he’s can use anything else to get our attention.  SO it could be an Arcade Fire song, it could be Fight Club, it could be George Carlin talking about the power of words and censorship of words that only have power because censors give them power.  All of those are examples that have been aha moments for me.

What do you think?  Does God still talk to us? How does God talk to us? Do you think this pastor is Crazy?  Do you think I’m crazy?

Groups Launch

8 Jul

We are getting set at Creekside to launch our fall groups. We have a goal of launching 40 groups this Fall. 40 groups is a lot of groups. This us what 40 groups would mean for Creekside:

-40 campuses. Churches are all buzzing about multiple-site ministry. If we are able to launch 40 grouse this fall then we will effectively have 40 campus, or venues, where people are engaged in our mission of helping people discover, trust and love Jesus Christ.

-40 pastors, group leaders may be the strongest examples of the priesthood of all believers. Instead of 400 people looking to a few “professionals” for pastoral support, the groups become the primary support structure, and group leaders are serving as pastors for that community.

- 40 missional communities. We used to believe that community groups were the end goal for Christian discipleship. We now believe that groups also serve as a front door to our larger Creekside community.

- Hundreds of lives impacted because of the relationships and discipleship that happens in the context of groups.

So this is what I need from Creekside people. I need group leaders. If you’ve been in a group you know the basic structure. We offer groups that focus ob the Sunday morning question, we offer groups that study books, we are looking to start groups that simply get together to play and have fun together, we will offer Financial Peace Groups, Divorce Care, etc.

I am looking for people who care about other people and are willing to have conversations and build relationships. I am not looking for experts. I am not looking for gurus.

If you are a Christian, you like people, and are willing to talk to others you already have a lot of the prerequisites for this role. We’d love to get the ball rolling for you if you are interested in Leading a group. We have a quick info meeting this Sunday 8/8/10 in Finch Hall at 10:30. I look forward to seeing you there.

Thursday Theology vol. 1 Salvation

10 Jun

Alright, I’m not a great theologian or anything, but I am a theology student. I believe that Theology is crucial for faithful christian living. You have to know what you believe. Yesterday I wrote some thoughts on the Bible. Today I want to share some thoughts on Salvation.

God is not a vengeful, spiteful being. God is a Creator, God is love, and God is a God who saves and rescues.

In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve sinned. God created humanity even though he knew that we would sin. And he knew that he had a plan to bring people back into relationship with him. IN the OT we see that God rescues Israel and gives them a law, which they were going to ghave to follow very closely, and every year they would have to make sacrifices for their sins. God knew that ultimately he was going to send the Son to be the final sacrifice for humanities sins. God knew that we could not pay for our sins our selves. On the Cross the Trinitarian God provided the ultimate means for our salvation. He paid the price that we could not pay on our own.

Sin is anything that separates us from God. Because of the Sin of Adam and Eve we are sinful by nature. We are selfish. We desire our own gratification. Left to ourselves we would end up destroying our lives or trying to become our own Gods. We try to save ourselves. But God always had a plan for us and he is redeeming us.

There are two terms that people use when they talk about the work of God in salvation.

Sanctification & Justification

Sanctification: the process of being made holy only through the merits and justification of Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Justification: is God’s act of declaring or making a sinner righteous before God. Justification is a singular act in which God declares an unrighteous individual to be righteous because of the work of Jesus. Justification is granted to all who have faith, but even that is viewed as a gift from God

Both of these things are a part of salvation. Justification happens at the moment where we surrender our lives to Jesus. It’s immediate and effective. We are not longer deemed sinners in God’s eyes.

The process of becoming more like Jesus in behavior and freedom from sinful activities is Sanctification. When Paul says work out your salvation this is what he means. Not work for your salvation, but work it out, become more like Jesus. This is the life long process of salvation.

Pastors who Hate

2 Sep

Sometimes I read the news and want to go smite people. Usually the smiting is directed at pastors who do dumb, horrible things or say ridiculous things and put Jesus’ name on their statements. It’s a good thing that I’m not God and don’t have any kind of smiting ability.

I get so frustrated when pastors preach things that are intentionally hate filled. I really doubt that Barak Obama is the anti-Christ and I’m not going to believe that this healthcare reform is leading to Nazi healthcare practices. And even if I’m wrong I’m going to trust Jesus through it all anyway because I read the end of his book and it says Jesus wins.

Pastors you have better things to do with your pulpit than to push a hateful message to the world. It’s distracting you from the gospel of reconcilliation and it’s making the rest of us look like idiots.

I wonder if God’s message against the false prophets in the Old Testamet are applicable to the pastors who are so easily distracted by politics and ‘Merican patriotism. Because the false prophets were used by the enemy to distract the people from the issue of their own sin. Pastors when you preach politics are you distracting your people from their own sin and projecting all sin and all evil on the democrats, liberals, or lefties? Jesus message was that everyone is a sinner and we all need to come to the cross for forgiveness and reconcilliation. Even pastors like you and me, we are the same level of sinner as Barak Obama, we both need the cross.

Jesus did not say that we would have elections for when the kingdom of God would crash into the kingdoms of this world. But he did send us out to proclaim that the Kingdom of God us coming and is even now here among us.

So pastors, please stick to preaching the gospel and not politics. Jesus wasn’t distracted by the politics of his age and neither should we. Please, I’m begging you. I’m tired of apologizing for you and your words. It’s distracting the rest of us.

Vote and vote your conscience and your convictions. But don’t be a jerk! I think that might be what Jesus meant when he said we should love God an love people. Don’t be a jerk. What you are doing is making us all look like jerks. You’re not helping the bigger cause of the gospel.

Thankfully aware of his need for forgiveness of his own sin,

Jason

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