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Religion and Morality
Morality is a great thing and it really helps society when people play by the rules – Good Rules, that is. However, the Gospel is not about morality (surprised?) it’s about marriage (perplexed?).
Most people think that religions, however they came about, are ways of getting people to live good lives – and, to a certain extent they’re right. However, the Gospel is not religion, if it were, it would be Bad News and not Good News. The world did not need another or a better moral system and Jesus (himself anti-Religion and anti-Establishment) did not come to establish a new religion but his teaching was to highlight, through extreme examples, what should have been plain to all people: Give people a better moral standard and they’ll just fail all the more miserably. Lower the standard (as we moderns do) and they’ll be happier for a while but society decays as values erod. Humans simply cannot be good enough to establish just societies and install peace on earth for very long as history shows.
Still, we foolishly hope that this New Technology or that Social Policy will change things. We say “We’re learning” and “To be human is to err” – but these are unfortunately not harmless errors and our failed ideologies and methods are the cause of our worlds dismal state. Are we really learning and progressing?
“Gospel” Means Good News
The Gospel really is Good News because it says that the peace and justice and love and beauty and morality we all crave – indeed everything Really Good, comes from a perfect, eternal being (God) who is the source of all of these things, and freely gives them without any payment or merit (that is, by Grace) to any and all who want them and would ask (that is, by Faith).
God freely offers lasting peace, eternal justification, final justice, unending and unconditional love, eternal beauty and freedom from sin to everyone, for free, paid in full by his own son.
That’s the Gospel you don’t hear so often but it’s the only one the Bible teaches. This perhaps explains why most church-goers look so unhappy – they’ve never heard or understood the Good News and are being preached moralism and religiosity. The ironic truth is that you don’t need to clean up your act to come to God (classical religion) but that you need to come to God to clean up your act.
The Futility of Self-Salvation
As anyone who has tried to clean up their act will confirm, you only get only so far on effort – perhaps far enough to ease your conscience, feel good or be more socially acceptable but never, on your own steam will you live up to God’s standard of perfection (Mat 5:48 – Sermon on the Mount) and the glory for which he made you, which was in his own image. All fall short (Rom 3:23) and God does not grade on a curve or accept 50% or higher (or even 90% or higher) as a pass rate. Sound unfair? Well, only if you think of Final Judgment as a kind of entrance exam into a leisure lounge of fluffy white clouds and free cocktails amid harp music. That’s NOT what the God of the Bible is offering for eternity. God doesn’t want a roommate, he wants a wife.
The Intimacy God Desires
The Old and New Testaments are filled with images of how God sees Man and the image is consistently that of a Husband and his (unfaithful) wife. The whole Bible is a love story of a Husband (God) trying to woo his lover (humanity) back to Him in faithfulness – not just back to him. The book of Hosea makes it particularly clear when God makes the prophet marry a whore in order to show him what He (God) feels like at Israel’s rebellion and unfaithfulness in idolatry. God promises to win his people back to himself in the Old Testament which documents his faithfulness and commitment and mankind’s rebellion and shocking ingratitude. Continuing into the New Testament, the body of believers (a.k.a. the Church) is portrayed as the fulfilment of this promise, it is described as a spotless bride presented to God for a happy-ever-after together. The ultimate dowry for this eternal bliss (Heaven) is paid when God Himself, in the person of Jesus, dies in order to win his lover’s heart back. God would die to be with us forever in love and did just that.
The Perfection God Demands
If it were the case that God was proposing sharing his home (as room mates) with us we might expect that he’d accept us warts and all – we could move in with some of our dirty laundry – but marriage, in God’s eyes, is different. Marriage, in God’s eyes is a union of the most intimate nature in which man and wife become one body (Gen 2, Mat 5). Sex is the ultimate physical expression of this unity and intimacy and the Bible even uses this imagery in driving home the point.
But God is holy and perfect and will not marry – that is, commit Himself to a union – with a sinful, rebellious wife, darting her eyes in every direction for another man (or idol). God, perfect and holy, cannot share his bed with a whore. Nevertheless, he is courting us which is what this life is all about. We were made by and for God and yet we are loving other things, making stuff into gods, replacing our true Love with cheap lovers.
The Choice We Will Make
God’s bride has to be won over, He will not force her into marriage and, as with any proposal, she has 2 options: accept or reject. A “maybe” is, eventually, the same as a “no”. Thus Jesus is right in saying there is only one way, through Him we become cleansed and righteous and worthy (not by our works, but by His!) of His presence and glory and inheritance. Jesus offers an eternal return to God, a reversal of the Fall, which we can accept or reject – there is no compromise and no way out. God is so good that an eternity with Him is, by definition, Heaven and without him, Hell.
The idea of a “multiverse” was proposed in order to explain why our universe is so intricately balanced and tuned for life. In answer to the Teleological Argument, naturalists said: “Well, our universe is just one of a multitude of universes and because there are so many, one of them at least had this great setup required to produced life by chance”.
The problem with this sort of argument is that it makes anything possible. Imagine you’re playing poker and your opponent wins 20 times in a row with 4 aces. You accuse him of cheating but he says “Hey, we just happen to live in a universe in which I got 4 aces 20 times in a row”. According to the multiverse theory, this is a reasonable response because with lots of universes the improbable becomes probable in one of those universes.
This however would put an end to all scientific enquiry as Jeff Zweerink argues. Whenever something did not make sense or when something needed explaining, a multiverse proponent could say: that’s just the way things are in our universe. Anything and everything becomes “possible”, even a universe exploding from nothing and producing human life by chance.
There are 3 factors which could explain our universe chance, law and design. Atheists cannot accept design and are reduced to claiming the laws arose by chance. John Piper once said he does not want to be in the room when an atheist explains this to God because: “He’s gonna laugh so hard it’s gonna hurt your ears!”.
Initial Misconceptions
The world is home to many strange ideas about the afterlife, reincarnation, heaven and hell. In particular the Christian vision has been twisted and caricatured through the ages with ideas of chubby cherubs and red devils commonplace. Most people believe God demands we earn points by doing good deeds, enough of which will outweigh our bad deeds and get us into heaven. Sadly, this belief is even held by millions of professing Christians and subtly preached from pulpits although it is anything but biblical!
Christians throughout the ages have affirmed that God is personal and knowable. They have affirmed that faith in Jesus is key to salvation. Sadly, human teaching has brought in the idea of good works leading to points earned in a mysterious counter where we cannot know how we are doing until we die. If you believe that Peter stands at the gates of heaven with scales to measure our sins and virtues then you need to open the Bible and find out what it really says about salvation (and Peter’s keys).
What Christians Believe
If salvation were dependant on points earned then it would indeed seem arrogant to say “I’ve got enough points, I’m saved”. Nevertheless, many Christians claim to be saved – are they arrogant or deluded? What is it then that gives some Christians this conviction that they are saved – an act which they imply is final and eternal? The answer is that people who believe they are saved do so not because of some internal self-evaluation but because of a promise made by a reliable and truthful person: Jesus.
Christians believe that through Jesus they are reconciled to God and adopted as his children. Thus we say “I am saved” and not “I will be saved” or “I hope I may be saved”. The fact is that saved people are new creations. We are not just people who just profess faith – we possess something eternal, irrevocable and real. Real conversion is not about memorising and reciting creeds and taking part in ritual – real conversion is the imputing of Christ’s eternal life in us so that we become new creatures spiritually although we remain in earthly bodies. The Bible talks of God replacing our hard hearts (of stone) with new hearts (Ezekiel 36) which are soft and sensitive to His will and upon which he writes His law. We are no longer under the Law of Moses written on stone tablets but become sons and daughters of God who live by and in Him.
What Does the Bible Say?
Most people understand correctly the Bible’s teaching that bad deeds (sins) condemn us. The Old Testament provides countless examples and laws to illustrate the principle but, strangely, gives no real solution except a prophecy that God will provide for us through the promised Messiah. However few people understand that neither the Old nor the New Testaments teach that good works save. Jesus own words and those of the apostles Paul and Peter are explicit – salvation is a gift given by God in grace, received by us in faith. Countless sayings of Jesus and other NT books affirm what is so clear in Ephesians 2:8
for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
God gives, we receive. It makes no sense but heaven is a choice, not a reward biblically.
What Does Jesus Say?
All uniquely Christian belief is traceable back to the life and work of Jesus. Ultimately and teaching which nullifies his teaching cannot be called Christian. Jesus taught that He himself provides atonement, reconciliation and salvation, available to all. More importantly, Jesus said we can know we are saved! He said, so many times, that we are saved when we believe in Him. When he does this he does not say “we think we may be” or “hope we will be” he uses present tense as for example in John 5:24:
Most assuredly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life.
Thus it is good and right for a Christian to say I know I am saved. This is not arrogance but humility in recognising and respecting Jesus’ authority and truth. To say we cannot know is to make Jesus a liar.
Salvation Based on Works
If salvation were based on our works, or even on a secret blend of faith plus works (Catholic teaching), we would be in trouble and confused. How can we know that we’ve got enough faith plus enough works minus too many sins to make the grade? Can a priest confirm our virtue? Are we in the top 50% who make it to heaven? What about those who are just under the mark? Does the 49% (and under) club go to hell? Can we get St. Peter on our side somehow with his bunch of keys? Do we have to wait, worry and see? This is worldly thinking but God has not left us in the dark. We can be assured of our salvation if we have Jesus and say with confidence: “I have confidence of my salvation. When I die, I’m going to be with Jesus forever!”
Conclusion
Jesus, Paul, Peter all talk about salvation as something believers have. Future tense is always reserved for that which is to come (Jesus’ return, heaven and heavenly rewards) but our salvation is repeatedly assured in the present tense and we must not minimise the word ‘hope’ for to hope in a ‘maybe’ is to have nothing but Jesus says we have eternal life.
How can this be? Surely we can’t already have our “ticket to heaven” and wouldn’t this mean we could live as we pleased and sin from morning till night? Paul answers this emphatically in Romans 6. “Of course not!” he says in effect: “How can we who have died to Sin still be slaves to sin?”. To experience a true conversion is to know God personally and to have certainty that He is and he rewards (Hebrews 11:6) those who seek to know him.
Ironically, it would be arrogant, in the face of such promises of grace, to deny His words and say “we cannot be certain” where He who raised the dead and calmed the storm has said “Most assuredly I tell you…”. You can know you are saved and that nothing can tear you out of this promise (Romans 8:38).
Is Anything Real?
As a starting point let us consider the nature of the universe, the external world. What we see around us, that which is independent of our minds we westerners call reality. We assume it’s real but eastern religions would disagree. The question is thus: is the external world we perceive real?
- No, it’s an illusion, my private dream
- Yes, it’s real, independent of us
In Buddhism and Hinduism nothing we see is real. There is no you, no me, no pain, just illusion and, at the end of the day, we all get absorbed into an undifferentiated oneness called Nirvana. I find this absurd, illogical, unlivable and unverifiable. Anyone can say that I and my perceptions are unreal or illusory but no one could prove it. I could easily retort: “that which you call an illusion, I call reality” and we could fight about definitions and names. Or, I could lean on Descartes and say “Cogito, ergo sum” – Because I think, I exist. Even if what I see is an illusion, I still must exist in order to perceive the illusion AND something else probably exists to provide the illusion (I cannot be the deceived, deceiver and the deception).
I think the successes of science in predicting our external reality’s operation as well as common sense do away with any religion or philosophy which rejects ultimate mind-independent reality. I also think the fact that Buddhists look both ways before crossing the street speaks for an external, non-debateable reality ;-)
Is the External Physical World All of Reality?
All other religions have the basic, reasonable assumption that the universe is real and exists. Here we have another major branch based on the following question.
Is the world we can sense all there is?
- Naturalism: Yes, the material world is all there is. Matter, energy that’s it.
- Supernaturalism: No, there is more: spirit, God, eternity.
Naturalism has the following problems:
- Time cannot be explained in terms of matter and energy and yet, according to Einstein it is real and, according to Big Bang, it had a beginning
- Physical laws, like gravity, are clearly real (not mind tricks) and yet, they are neither matter nor energy. In modern times we have begun to see that Information also falls into this category of being non-physical and yet essential for explaining the universe.
- Naturalism cannot explain itself. We know that the universe had a beginning but we know that matter and energy cannot be produced from nothing – only transformed.
We thus have a philosophy which cannot explain itself and offers only a partial, albeit useful, perspective and description of the world.
Inferring the Supernatural
The word “supernatural” conjures up ideas of UFOs, magic and other esoteric “powers”. However, all it means is that there are real things which are not physical. We call them supernatural not because they are somehow unnatural but because they transcend the material world we call Nature consisting of matter and energy. A spirit has no mass or volume, exists not in time nor can be measured by physical instruments.
How do we know that anything other than Nature exists?
- Nature and natural laws had a beginning approximately 14 billion years ago yet cannot have started themselves – Natural laws and entities cannot create themselves (The Law of Energy Conservation).
- We see a progression in the universe’s history from disorder and simplicity to the order and complexity of life today. This goes against the nature of matter and energy which tends to become more orderly (The Law of Entropy).
- We discern within ourselves something which is more than chemicals and atoms, something with a will and consciousness which cannot be simulated or created with any amount of technology nor be explained or predicted. We are spiritual beings with minds and wills which are housed in but not dependant on our bodies (The Spirit).
We have therefore, good reason to suspect something else exists other than the measurable material world. Atheists and Materialists may say that we cannot measure or investigate the afterlife and thus it does not exist but this is also a mistake: we cannot assume something does not exist just because we can’t measure it. In fact, it’s impossible to prove that something does not exist since we are not all-knowing. On the contrary, all we know points to something more than nature!
Starting from scratch the odds of an afterlife are perhaps 50/50. The odds that something supernatural started what we call “nature” are, as I have argued, very high if not 100% certain. Science tells us that nature cannot cause nature and thus we have good cause to invoke supernaturalism.
God: Personal or Non-Personal
Although we’ve not yet used the word “God” that’s where we are now: everything we know has a cause and was created and if we trace them all back through the eons we must arrive at a First Cause. This creative force we call “God” even if, as the deists content, it is just a force and not a personal being.
One might reasonably ask: why should this force not just be a power or gas. What makes us think God is the grey-bearded bully we read about in the Bible or other holy books? What makes us think this amazing creative force should be interested in what we do, think or eat? This is a good question.
I agree that to say God is a person like us is probably incorrect – but the solution is not to make him impersonal – to take him down a notch. We know personality is more complex, advanced and progressive than impersonal stuff like rocks and to make God impersonal is to imply that we persons are above him. The God I know and believe in is more than personal: a person yet transcending the personalities we know in each other.
Describing God
I think therefore we have good reason to believe that nature is not all that there is, that God started all we see and that he is personal. We cannot see him because he is spirit, we cannot find a single simple common religion (description of God) because he is personal and complex just as we cannot find a single simple common description of Abraham Lincoln. We can say true things about God (eternal, creator) just as we can say true things about Abe Lincoln (16th president of the US) but we cannot completely describe this person God because our encounter with him is sublime and personal.
Related Posts
It has been said that there are as many religions, as many gods, as there are people. Obviously atheists and other non-religious folk would disagree but the point is plain:
- There are lots of religions
- Even within religions, conceptions of God differ
We thus ask ourselves: why should this be and what does it mean. I see 3 clear reasons why religious concepts abound:
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Religions are complex ideas
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Religions are descriptive
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Religions describe the intangible
Religions are complex ideas
Unlike simple concepts like arithmetic we cannot describe a religion’s premise in one sentence and devise an experiment to test it.
Religions are descriptive
Religions are rarely hypothetical theories but descriptions of God and the supernatural. Humans hardly ever agree on descriptions of things. Try describing your best friend Peter to someone and see how another person would describe them – there will be some overlap (he is a 27 year old Male) but not 100% consensus. There may even be disagreement and contradiction (IS Peter a funny guy?).
Religions describe the intangible
Religions deal mainly with subjects which cannot be contained in a laboratory and tested. We’re dealing with the meaning and purpose of life, the nature of humanity, the afterlife, morality and the nature of God. We can’t test these things once and for all and resolve differing views.
Thus, because religions are complex, descriptive and (mostly) unverifiable we can expect many differing views. (Atheists and agnostics would prefer we be silent on such issues and are irritated that religions proclaim with certainty what is, in the agnostics eyes, pure speculation.)
What Does All This Mean?
Now, what shall we conclude concerning the multiplicity of religions:
- All are equally true (Pluralism)
- All are equally false (Classic Atheism)
- All are equally indeterminate (Agnosticism)
- Each should be analysed logically and evidentially
My (potentially unpopular) answer would be 4: we need to look at religions individually. Only laziness or ignorance could answer otherwise. It may not be easy but all other answers have serious problems:
- The religions cannot all be true because they contradict each other. Christianity says that Jesus was crucified and Islam denies this. Buddhism says (in effect) that God does not exist or is impersonal, Islam says he is One and impersonal and Christianity says he is personal and triune (three persons, one being). They can’t all be right.
- The religions cannot all be false because the evidence for the theism as opposed to atheism is overwhelming (admittedly not all religions are theistic). I am not aware of any new evidence in favour of the no-God hypothesis except that it’s trendy and considered “intellectual” to be an atheist. To KNOW that there is no God you’d have to know everything about everything. The folks who say all religions are false cannot have analysed all religions due to the sheer number. The “all are false” conclusion is rash, arrogant and ignorant.
- The agnostic stance is untenable in my opinion because it results not from careful consideration but from ignorance and laziness. It also seems illogical to say “I KNOW that WE CANNOT (or do not) know”.
I believe we can and should consider each religion on it’s merits, group similar ones to keep the workload down and use common sense to find likely candidates. We should not let the multiplicity of ideas force us to assume all are right or wrong just as we should not assume the millions of numbers mean that 1 + 1 cannot be solved. Some things, like reality, are either true or false and not a matter of taste.
Related Posts
God made us for Himself. He loves each of us and wants to win our love. That’s what life is all about. He revealed Himself in creation (Natural Beauty and Laws) and in our human nature. We are self-centered and rebellious to authority and seek our own way. If we are honest we will find that our way leads to destruction – just looking at history tells us this. Life should point us to our dependance on a higher power and give us a desire for paradise with God.
Heaven is a choice, not a reward. You don’t get there because you are pretty good but, if you so desire, you get made perfect so that you can go there. Life with God, the source of all Beauty Truth and Goodness forever is what heaven is all about. Not having this is Hell.
Perry Marshall has a new email series going at coffeehousetheology.com. It’s based around 7 perceived lies promulgated by insitutional religion:
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If you live a moral life, deny yourself pleasure, follow the prescribed rituals and give us enough money, you’ll have a decent shot at being accepted by God.
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God is huge and unapproachable, and He wants you to labor, struggle and live in guilt.
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You are not smart enough or good enough to think for yourself. We will do your thinking for you.
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Women are spiritually inferior and must submit to the authority of men.
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There is no single truth. Everyone needs to explore and find a truth that works for them.
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The Bible is out of date, inaccurate and over-rated. People in the 21st century are way too smart for that.
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If God was really powerful and good, he wouldn’t allow so much evil and suffering to go on.
I can confirm that items 1 to 4 are preached in all the Catholic Churches I’ve ever been to over 20 years. Item 5 “there is no single truth” seems to be more the post modern pluralism which is very politically correct but I’ve not seen this preached in any church except in some ecumenical services and articles where Muslims and Catholics pray to a generic “God”.
Items 6 and 7 seem to come directly from postmodern atheism – not sure where Marshall get’s the idea that that’s organised religion…
Item 6 is widely believed but rarely by people who have actually read the Bible. 99% of people who don’t believe the Bible, scoff at it because it’s hip and modern to do so, not because they’ve actually researched it. It’s funny, but those who research it end up Christians! ;-)
Item 7 is, in my opinion the hardest question Christians face: The Problem of Evil.
I’m tring to understand why Christian’s use the words “Bible” and “God’s Word” synonymously. It’s not done in the Bible and I find it makes no sense because the Bible teaches nothing of the sort but teaches that God’s Word is living and powerful and it’s called Jesus.
I’m really not questioning authority or origin here; I find 2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:20 and other passages make it clear that all Scripture is inspired and from God.
Nevertheless, as an experiment, I searched for the words “God” and “Word” in all Paul’s Epistles and extracted the passages where “God’s Word” or “The Word of God” are meant. As far as I can see “God’s Word” can have 2 clear uses:
- clearly Jesus
- the Gospel
Other uses are unclear (e.g. Ephesians 6:17) but none are clearly referring to Scripture!
Clearly Jesus
For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12
Jesus, not a book, is living and active and able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.
For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, – Hebrews 6:4-5
If they were partakers of the Spirit they belonged to Christ and were not just tasters (readers) of the Bible. They had “tasted the good word of God” – Jesus!
By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3
Through Jesus, all was made (John 1:3)
to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God’s word may not be blasphemed. – Titus 2:5
Only God can be blasphemed. God’s Word is Jesus who is God (John 1) and thus here, Jesus is meant.
For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer. – 1 Timothy 4:5
Things are sanctified through Jesus, God’s Word.
The Gospel
of which I was made a servant, according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints, – Colossians 1:25-26
God’s Word was hidden? Paul must mean his Gospel or Jesus himself (see also Titus 1:2-3).
in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before eternal times; but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior; – Titus 1:2-3
Again, God’s word was revealed later and that means it is Jesus and/or the Gospel.
Blaspheming the Word: A Contradiction?
For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe. – 1 Thessalonians 2:13
The word of God is NOT the word of men and thus if the Bible is both God’s Word and men’s word, we have a contradiction with Paul’s statement here.
Unclear
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the spoken word of God; – Ephesians 6:17
The spoken word of God is the sword of the Spirit.
Can anyone tell me when and why the Church started calling the Bible God’s Word?
While I can agree with most of the <a href=”http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chicago_Statement_on_Biblical_Inerrancy”>declarations</a> and accept that the word “inerrancy” is potentially controversial, I take real issue with these parts which I find unclear or just plain incorrect:
I: WE AFFIRM that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God.
What the heck does “Word of God” mean when applied to a book?
III: WE AFFIRM that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.
What about mundane or peripheral sayings. Is revelation necessary for Paul to greet Timothy or to say that something mundane happened such as the sun rising?
VI: WE AFFIRM that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration. (see also VIII “God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He chose,”)
Really? So it was dictated to men by God? Why the different writing styles and languages?
XII: …We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.
So what we see and measure (science) cannot contradict what we think the Bible teaches (Theology)? What if it does? Who do we ignore? In truth the Bible is just not clear enough on matters of creation and the flood to compare it with scientific evidence and we should be adapting our interpretations.
WE AFFIRM that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the Bible XV: about inspiration.
How do we get from “inspired portions” (2 Peter 1:20-21) to “inerrant whole”?
XVI: WE AFFIRM that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church’s faith throughout its history.
OK, when did it arise? It’s not in the NT – see above (XV) and here.
XVII: WE AFFIRM that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God’s written Word.
OK, but how do truthfulness and inerrancy relate? Why don’t we just say “it’s truthful”?
XVIII: WE DENY the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship.
So women should be silent in church and cover their heads or else be shaved? It’s not about relativising or rejecting so much as contextualising!
XIX: WE AFFIRM that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ.
How does the actual person of Christ come into all this? I would have thought Christ and the Holy Spirit in us is vital and that the good book is helpful for teaching, reproving etc. (2 Tim 3:16). How does the belief in the inerrancy of the Bible help one conform to Christ’s image?
If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
This is one of the most popular questions in beauty contests and, as every beauty queen knows, the right answer is an enthusiastic: “World Peace!”.
This always gets a cheer but when the clapping fades we realise that this is not really the answer but rather an ideal we desire which tells us that we need change – the questioner wants to know “How? How can we change the world to get something like global peace?” – “What must we change or invent?”. We know we need “World Peace” the question is “What is that?” and, of course, “Where/how can we get it?”.
A Global Peace Empire
The philosopher Epictetus once said:
While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief and envy. He cannot give peace of heart for which many yearn more than even for outward peace.
Although many developed nations today enjoy relative local peace, we are all painfully aware that even our strong emperors (governments) cannot export this peace to the entire world. Darfur, Tibet, Palestine, Myanmar, North Korea, Zimbabwe and many other regions are testimony to this. Historically, even the largest and most powerful empires could not extend their (form of) peace very far and it was constantly having to be defended on all fronts and internally. Since the Roman Empire almost 2000 years ago peace and unity has become more fragmented and elusive. Humans, it seems, are not able to install peace but we sure as anything desire it.
Resignation
U2 has a song called “Peace on Earth” which starts
Heaven on Earth, we need it now
I’m sick of all of this hanging around
Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain
I’m sick of hearing again and again
That there’s gonna be peace on Earth
Sounds resigned, are we resigned to suffering? I can’t even remember the last time I thought seriously about World Peace – could it be that we have given up on the notion of global peace as modern disillusioned realists?
A Perspective from the Psalms
That old book, the Bible, hasn’t. It’s optimistic and promising to the extreme. The Psalms are full of hope, joy and praise for life and God! Consider, for example, these extracts from Psalm 34 although the theme runs through the entire book:
… let the afflicted hear and rejoice. … I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears…. Those who look to him are radiant;… This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles…. Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him…. those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Incredible! The author is definitely high on something and he’s sure it’s God. But how can this be? We all have troubles, lack good things, have fears and very few of us consider ourselves radiant and joyful! What are we missing? Surely not an imaginary bully in the sky! Let’s hear the man out…
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;… The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
You knew there was a catch didn’t you! We have to be righteous before we get all that stuff – what a downer – God probably has a really high standard which we can never meet! Feeling overwhelmed? Let’s hear the end, don’t stop reading yet…
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;
So God is near and wants to help those who have given up hope! Those feeling overwhelmed und weak. If there are 7 steps to coming to God, I’d say we’ve covered steps 1 to 4 so far.
Step 1. Recognise our condition
Step 2. Desire and pursue the Good
Step 3. Realise we cannot make it
Step 4. Realise God can help
Here is where we need to finish reading the Psalm to proceed to step 5:
The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.
Step 5: Take refuge in God
We’re almost there, World Peace, Inner Peace, knowledge and reconciliation of God is within a hand’s grasp… but what does “take refuge in God” mean. What does it mean that the “LORD delivers” – I thought the LORD was the problem – he made this whole mess didn’t he? He set the righteous standard so high and made it so hard to follow and sin so attractive didn’t he?
Let’s not be discouraged when we’ve gotten so far: dare to believe that God is Good and only Goodness comes from Him. Dare to believe that he loves you personally, wants to help, to get involved and make it easy for you! Summon all your courage and consider your part and blame in the whole mess. Have faith in goodness and take the leap to step 6:
Step 6: Hear and receive the Good News of Jesus
What is the good news? It’s hardly ever on the cover of newspapers. It is simply this:
That you can be reconciled with God, once for all, by believing in his Son, Jesus, and accepting what he lived and died for: your salvation.
That’s it! That’s all you need. It’s like this massive present standing in your front Yard for 2000 years and you just needed to unpack it! What’s holding you back? Unpack it and you’ll be where you need to be and have your hearts desire: inner, lasting peace with God and goodwill to all men.
Step 7 (the destination): Fellowship and intimacy with God, the step into his Light.
The world will not be changed for a better, lasting peace, by powerful people, governments, technologies or better energy sources and resources. The world will be changed, one heart at a time.
