Love Makes Us

“God, loving what is not yet and putting faith in us, continually begets us, since love is what begets.” — Carlo Carretto

If love is what makes us, then we all, at least in the infinite mind of God, are fully made because God so loved the world. Why then do we often feel undone, incomplete, empty and unfinished? Why do we struggle to perceive God’s love and also to demonstrate it to others? Aren’t Christians supposed to have that issue resolved – to be assured of his love – to have that God-shaped vacuum in us fully filled, satiated, overflowing, satisfied and also to be channels of love for his people?

As a young girl growing up in the midst of alcoholism, divorce and depression, I launched into life seeking completion in relationships, learning, work and even a newly minted relationship with Christ. At that point, Jesus was in a nice, neat little category by himself, just like everything else. It’s the way I coped with an unhappy home life – keeping it all separate. I had a box on my shelf for everything, including my relationship with God. In each box were my ideas about how to succeed – work hard and save money, study much and go to college, don’t rock the boat at home and hope for one sober, happy evening, read my Bible and try to be perfect.

That changed in 1985 as I lay in bed ready to die from depression. I had failed at doing my best to never fail. Deep inside I heard him whisper, “I love you.” That revelation was pivotal. I’d read it in my Bible and heard it from the pulpit. It wasn’t new information, but somehow it was newly perceived. That knowledge touched a part of me that had never been touched before and was an absolute gift from the Holy Spirit. From that day forward I quit searching anywhere else but in Christ for completion. I knew in my knower that it was with him. I still know it.

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Let’s Discuss…Baptism

Baptism of Christ, Bondone

By Chaplain Mike

This past Sunday we had a baptism in our Lutheran church. Four small children received the sacrament and were introduced to the congregation as members of God’s family. This led to a discussion after worship among members of our family who have been in churches that practice only believer’s baptism.

At the risk of starting a bar fight, I thought it would be a good time to have a discussion on Internet Monk about the various views of baptism which our readers hold. In order to give us some solid material as a basis for discussion, I am including statements from some of the major traditions that set forth their position on the sacrament (or ordinance).

I ask that you remain civil and respectful in the discussion. You may be passionate about your viewpoint, and that’s ok. But let’s not be questioning another’s salvation or casting stones of judgment. This is a discussion, and I hope it will be among friends.

Photo courtesy of Don Danz, DanzFamily.com

ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEW (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

977 Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”521 Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that “we too might walk in newness of life.”522

978 “When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them. . . . Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On the contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence that never cease leading us into evil “523

979 In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of sin? “If the Church has the power to forgive sins, then Baptism cannot be her only means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus Christ. The Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even if they should sin until the last moment of their lives.”524

980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church: “Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers “a laborious kind of baptism.” This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn.”

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Happy 70th, Bob Dylan

By Chaplain Mike

Part way through my morning, I remembered it was Bob Dylan’s seventieth birthday. I scrolled through my iPod playlist and saw that I had a “Dylan Mix” there.

So, here are the 25 songs with which I celebrated Dylan today. There could have been a hundred more, but these 25 served just fine.

Comments welcome on all things Dylan today.

  • The Times They Are A-Changin’
  • Mr. Tambourine Man
  • Like A Rolling Stone
  • All Along The Watchtower
  • Lay Lady Lay
  • Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
  • Tangled Up In Blue
  • Hurricane
  • Forever Young
  • I Want You
  • It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
  • Just Like A Woman
  • Peggy Day
  • Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You
  • Slow Train
  • Gotta Serve Somebody
  • Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking
  • When You Gonna Wake Up
  • Jokerman
  • I And I
  • Everything Is Broken
  • Summer Days
  • Thunder On the Mountain
  • Nettie Moore
  • I Feel a Change Comin’ On

iMonk Classic: An Appetite for Fanaticism—Is There Something Wrong with Saying ‘You’ve Gone Too Far’?

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
Undated

Note from Chaplain Mike: The Harold Camping debacle over the weekend made it clear that many in our culture and in our Christian circles remain susceptible to fanaticism and the fervor that false teaching and imbalanced emphases often work up. I thought it would be a good time to review what Michael Spencer had to say about this tendency.

It occurred to me this week, while observing a group of religious fanatics putting on a public demonstration of embarrassing, excessive religious behavior, that I would be considered way out of line if I told the fanatics to cut it out and calm down. Such is the equation of fanaticism with the genuine work of God, that I would be proving to my peers that I was totally insensitive to the Holy Spirit if I questioned the behavior of fanatics in any way.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a fanatic as a person motivated by an extreme, unreasoning, enthusiasm for a cause. The original latin root had religious connotations referring to orgiastic temple rites and ceremonies. Today, the word “fanatic” is used generously in everything from sports to hobbies to religion. Americans are, generally, quite tolerant of fanatics, whether they be grown men dressed as Jedi Knights or football fans colored and tatooed like some kind of visitor from the islands of New Guinea. Unvarnished, undiluted enthusiasm is considered a good thing, even if it borders on the excessive.

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Harold Camping, Plowboys, and the Peril of Jouissance

By Chaplain Mike

One of the books I am currently reading is David Fitch’s The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission: Towards an Evangelical Political Theology.

(See Scot McKnight’s recent series reviewing this book.)

One of the concepts from Fitch’s book that rang true to me was that of jouissance. Jouissance is a French word with sexual connotations that has the broader meaning of a rather over-the-top sense of pleasure or enjoyment, especially the joy of being proved right over against an adversary. I have often heard and used the word “triumphalism” in a sense similar to this. Using the work of political theorist Slajov Žižek as a template for understanding the ideology of evangelicalism, Fitch says that much can be learned by paying attention to its jouissance.

Though we assert that our faith is defined by positive truths and values that lie at its core (for Christians, this is the person of Christ himself), our practice is often more shaped by what (or whom) we are against. The word “Protestant” is explicit testimony to this. In more recent times, fundamentalism was formed in reaction to higher criticism and the “social gospel.” Then, evangelicalism arose to correct anti-intellectual and world-denying practices in fundamentalism. Conservative evangelicalism in the past few decades arose in contradistinction to the decline of mainline denominations while also reflecting an increasing polarization in American society. Last fall we did a series showing how the “young, restless, and reformed,” along with “emerging” churches and “ancient-future” movements have flowed out of church-growth and culture war dominated evangelicalism as reactions to its deficiencies.

We often let what we are not and what we are against define us. And when we feel ourselves proved “right” over against the “enemy,” we feel jouissance, a triumphalistic sense of vindication. We stand with our foot on the enemy’s neck. We raise our flag and sing a song of victory. We mock the inadequacy of the enemy’s forces. We experience a burst of self-satisfaction that “proves” to us that we are right.

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A New Missions Field

Have you ever thought you might have a calling to missions?  I have a suggestion for you.

I won’t try to convince you that this new field is more deserving or better or more desperate than a hundred others.  All mission fields are important.  People might get competitive about missions, but how can God compete with himself?  He calls different people to different jobs, and it could be that one of you might find your calling here.

“Here” is in rural and small-town America.  But don’t come to do vacation Bible school or build a picnic shelter or even start a church.

Most small towns have a church and VBS, and we can build our own picnic shelter.  What we need is a grocery store.  A doctor’s office.  A hardware store.  A co-op to package and sell locally grown produce.  We need the necessities of life and meaningful employment in a place that feels like home.

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Easter V

By Chaplain Mike

Today’s Gospel: John 14:1-14

when in the dimness of an upper room
my troubled heart fears an ending
an abandoning, a bereaving i cannot bear
the world that i have known changing
the one whom i have followed departing
the path that i have walked ending
my hope, so solid, dissipating
the friends with whom i’ve traveled falling
the words in which i’ve trusted failing
my confidence flagging
my concentration lagging
i hear you speak but cannot hear

i am sure that we will leave this place
singing a hymn
but in the garden i will sleep
for fear of what night will bring.

A Way Forward for Eschatology

Christus Victor, Ravenna

By Chaplain Mike

Two years ago, Scot McKnight did a five-part series called “The Future of Christian Eschatology” on his Jesus Creed blog. We have all had this subject on our mind this week, thanks to the looney predictions of Harold Camping and all the press they received.

Today, I offer a summary from one of Scot’s posts that I think points in a fruitful direction for our continuing consideration of the Bible’s eschatological message.

Take some time to read and meditate on his thoughts. I think you will see the fruits of his own specialty in NT studies—the Gospels—as well as the influence of contemporary Jesus scholarship such as that of N.T. Wright.

I like what Scot says here. It brings the Jewish context and events in the days of Jesus into prominence in the discussion in a way that is not always considered. So many crazy things have been said about the end times that it’s almost as though pastors and teachers are talking about science fiction. Indeed, I think “science fiction” pictures are what many people actually have in their minds when they imagine Christ’s return.

Instead, what if we were to imagine eschatology in terms of Jesus’ own socio-political context? N.T. Wright has helped us do this with regard to the mission of Jesus. Scot here summarizes an approach that does the same with Jesus’ eschatological message.

Let me now try to draw together some threads. The temporal indicators of Mark 13 and parallels suggest that Jesus envisioned everything therein described as occurring within one generation. Roughly speaking, he sees things occurring in about 40 years. History shows that the Romans sacked Jerusalem brutally and banished them from the City, and this event largely confirms what Jesus predicted. …Furthermore, we have seen plausible reasons, some more compelling than others, for seeing the language of Mark 13:24 27/Matt 24:29-31 as metaphorical descriptions of Jesus’ vindication and reception of power in the event of Jerusalem’s destruction. When Jerusalem went down, Jesus went up — down in ignominy and up in vindication.

Jerusalem’s destruction was proof that Jesus was right. In addition, this event marks and shapes the focus of Jesus’ ministry and message: his mission was to call Israel to repentance (and that meant to live a life of love and justice and peace) before the final bell rang. If Israel responds, the destruction can be averted; if it does not, the destruction will establish him as Messiah. What Jesus saw beyond this is, in my mind, a mystery. I think he saw connected to this event the resurrection, the final judgment, and the establishment of the Age to Come. He tied them together, the destruction and these “eternal things” because, as a prophet who relied upon God’s revelation for knowledge of the future, this is how prophets worked all along. The next event on God’s calendar was the End Event — and when it did not occur literally on earth, no one was bothered because prophetic knowledge about the future is like that. It trades in metaphor and metaphor is capable of various interpretations. What Jesus was referring to was Israel’s destruction; it had ultimate significance to him. And he got it right.

…The implication of what I have said about Jesus’ eschatology is this: before Jesus’ message is brought into our world, and he needs to be, Jesus has to be understood in his world. And that means as a Jew, as a Jewish prophet, a prophet who spoke to his people, Israel, who spoke to his people about Israel about the need to repent and live in light of the Kingdom before it is too late, and that “too late” is to be understood temporally for Jesus as before A.D. 70 when God would wreak vengeance on the nation for its waywardness (as God had done with both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms at the hands of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans). In other words, Jesus’ eschatology was fully immersed in his day and was about his day — he spoke to the political disaster about to fall upon the Land.

This Jewish prophet Jesus, however, is also the Messiah of the Endtime who was destined to come to lead Israel into the “fortunes of Israel”. Those fortunes have not yet been completely fulfilled.

 

iMonk Classic: Three Questions about a “Secret Rapture”

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
From Feb 7, 2006

Advocates of the rapture make much of the texts in Luke and Matthew that speak of “one taken, one left.”—“I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” (Luke 17:34-35)

When discussing texts that supposedly teach the secret rapture, it is important to have the advocate of this belief answer several questions.

1. What exactly do you mean by the rapture?

If the advocate means that when Christ returns, those who are alive will meet him in the air, that is not, in and of itself, the problematic doctrine. Scripture clearly says this.

The full dispensational teaching, however, is this:

Christ will return twice. Once secretly, with the saints, in the air to retrieve the church (both living and bodies in the grave;) and again, publicly, to judge the earth following a seven-year tribulation period.

If the advocate simply means that Christ will return once, and separate the church and the world at his appearing, and then proceed to judge and establish his kingdom, then even those of us who may have issues with the specifics of that eschatology would probably have little interest in debating the Biblical merits of the rapture.

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Saturday Ramblings 5.21.11

Welcome to the Judgment Day edition of Saturday Ramblings. You’ll want to read quickly today—it wouldn’t do to not be finished with the Ramblings before 6 p.m. Pacific today, would it? Of course, those on the east coast have time for dinner and a movie before we’re all … uh, what is it we’re all supposed to do again? Oh yeah—before we all ramble. Are you ready?

Everything I know I learned from Doonesbury. I know, I know—I’m a heathen for liking such a strip, aren’t I? Well, Garry Trudeau got it absolutely right this week. Start here and work your way forward to see just how Zonker handles the news of the rapture. Or just read yesterday’s strip:

There is a new test being offered in England that will test your blood to see how much longer you have to live. Well, this test is not going to be much good, is it?  I mean, with today being Judgment Day, and the world coming to an end for good in October, do you want to spend $400 just to know you have, at best, five months to live?

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