Group Think | Do not conform to the pattern of this world. (God and guns part 1)

In the past year or two, I've found myself completely change positions on what became a hot-button issue after the Sandy Hook shootings in December.

I never have really enjoyed shooting guns--I do have a BB gun for trying to kill the gophers in my backyard, but I don't have that "Wow, this is so cool!!" feeling that a lot of other men (and women) get when shooting something more powerful.

However, I used to be really supportive of people who owned guns, and wanted to defend their viewpoint.  Here's why:

I used to be a pretty conservative Republican (today I'm a moderate independent).  Why? Because I'm an evangelical Christian raised in the 1980s and 90s, and that meant you were a Republican.  I used to be in favor of people owning guns because I was a Republican.

Even after I became a political independent, I was still in favor of people owning guns because most vocal American Christians are Republicans, and thus support gun rights.  I know that's a little over-simplified, but hang on with me, and I'll try to demonstrate causation.

My default way of thinking was "guns are fine. Self-defense is fine. Pre-emptive use of drones or snipers is fine if the person is really a threat to society."

I thought so because the people around me thought so.

On the internet, sometimes people talk about "group-think."  Group-think is when everyone on a message board has the same opinion regarding an issue because everyone on that message board has the same opinion (kind of circular logic).  In the outside world, there could be a much better opinion being discussed, but because of the bubble of that message board, the whole group has the same opinion.

My old views on guns, weapons, and such was group-think--group-think of my friends, the religious right, whatever.

What the internet refers to as "group-think" the apostle Paul refers to as "conforming to the pattern of this world" (Romans 12:2).

In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrased Romans 12:2 "Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking."

When I first heard that sentence, it blew me away.  I think it's my favorite verse in The Message.  I had always assumed that I could stop conforming to the pattern of "this world" by avoiding things like sexual sin, anger, lying, bribery--you know, those clear-cut sins we love to talk about in America.

When I heard The Message, and thought about the word "culture," I realized how much of what I believe is based on how I fit into the group-think of those around me without even thinking.

What shapes your culture?  Your parents, family, childhood friends and experiences, religious background, ethnicity, social status, schooling, finances, TV, movies, songs, current friends and experiences, work environment...

The most overlooked way Christians fit into culture without thinking is by fitting into the group-think of the church.  Look, the church is made up of flawed people who are often deceived or distracted simply because they are people.  

I know (now) that not every evangelical Christian had the same view on guns that I did, but the majority of the people I knew in the church at that time had pretty similar opinions on this issue.

Just because everyone else thinks it doesn't mean it's right--even if they're Christians.

There are so many things that each of us believe because of group-think.  I'm going to dedicate a couple of blog posts to unpacking how to get out of group-think and stop fitting into culture as we are commanded to do in light of Romans 12:1-2.  Then, I'm going to spend some time looking at the issue of guns/weapons as an example of how I have applied Romans 12 to my own life and seen myself faced with the reality that my old way of thinking was rooted in group-think and often countered the very teachings of Scripture.  

Grace and Disgrace part 1

I often think about the meanings of words that include "grace."  Usually when we talk about grace in English, we're talking about doing something gracefully (with style, ease, and beauty).   The theological meaning of "grace" is quite different.  So, I will sometimes think about how the English words including "grace" are related to the biblical meaning of the word.

Grace means to receive something good that you didn't earn.

All of us are sinners.  Our sin nature is what makes us unworthy of God, and our sinful actions (trespasses/transgressions) are symptoms and signs of our guilt (Romans 1).  It is not our sinful actions that make us unworthy of knowing God; we are already unworthy by our sin nature.

God, in his radical love for us, gives us grace--an undeserved gift:  he pays the price for our sin, making us innocent, which we call justification.  The second thing God promises is to remove the consequences of our sin: death (spiritual and physical).  We call this removal of consequences "salvation."  In other words, we have been declared innocent, and our sentence has been commuted.

God shows us extreme forgiveness, and we call it grace.  We, on the other hand, tend to treat people quite differently.

Imagine a hypothetical friend.  If they have some shortcomings, it's easy to look past them by remembering your friend's positive traits.  However, if that person does something really wrong (a grievous sin) or really annoying (a "sin" against you), you tend to notice all the little bad things about them.

Personally, I tend to think back on my relationship history with the person and question everything that they did that I previously viewed positively or neutrally.  All their past actions instantly seem suspicious.  I tend to suddenly go from supporting my friend to judging them based on the broken trust caused by their one action (a severe sin, or a sin against me).

We tend to be impacted by that one misstep our friends make.  I was trying to think of a word that describes the one action that taints the whole history of a person in my mind, and I thought of one:

Disgrace.

We usually refer to a person as a disgrace, but the word has other meanings, which can refer to actions.

Dictionary.com defines "disgrace" as:
1. the loss of respect, honor, or esteem; ignominy; shame.

3. the state of being out of favor; exclusion from favor, confidence, or trust.

Simply put, disgrace happens when one thing reflects negatively on a larger situation.

When our friend does something wrong or annoying, we often allow the disgraceful act to rule our opinion of and attitude toward our (former) friend.  

When someone does one bad thing, we view all their good in light of the one bad thing. On the contrary, when God looks at us, he views all of our bad things in light of the one good thing His Son did for us on the cross.

We show others judgment, based on disgrace.  God shows us love, based on His grace.

We'll explore this issue more in the next blog.

Answers to Jehovah's Witnesses -part 2-

A few posts ago, I wrote briefly about the Jehovah's Witnesses. This led to a few comments, which I'm responding to here and in the previous post. The second comment on my blog (two posts ago) said this:

jessica said...

What about Jw's message do you find harmful and misleading?

It's unfortunate that you feel that way, but we can be grateful to Jehovah God for the gift of free will which enables you to think on your own.

I'd be curious to know if its because we teach the resurrection hope, the fact that dead loved ones will come to life in the near future - Acts 24:15 and John 5:28,29

or that God's Kingdom (that Jesus told us to pray for) will soon bring untold blessings to faithful mankind- Matt 6:9, 10

or lastly because we don't engage in politics or fight against our fellow man in wars because Isiah 2:2-4 prophesied about true Christian's beating their swords into plowshares and spears into shears

Feel free to review our beliefs at www.watchtower.org along with your copy of the bible.

Let me say this last thing if your conscious really bothers you as you print those materials why don't you take a stand for what you in believe in. Because of our faith in Jehovah and Jesus Christ and God's word the Bible, we certainly do!

I quickly discussed my main beef with Jehovah's Witness theology (doctrine, really), in the last post.

But, let me address each of these ideas briefly.

First, regarding the idea that we can each think on our own. I fully agree with this idea. God gave each of us a mind to use. We shouldn't just accept things without carefully considering them. And once we do accept them, it is important to revisit them from time to time and ask "Why do I believe what I believe?"

Unfortunately, every single one of us is gullible. To varying degrees, we just believe stuff without investigating it. It is so easy for many Christians to point the finger at Jehovah's Witnesses, but in fact, most Christians do the same thing.

Let me address each camp:
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus and Michael (the archangel) are the same guy, and that he is the only archangel.

Daniel 10:13 says, "Then Michael, one of the chief princes..." This obviously means there are at least 2 beings on the same level as Michael. He is not on his own level of importance.

No one who just picked up a Bible on their own and read it from start to finish would come up with the idea that Jesus and Michael are the same guy. Why? Because Michael has others at the same level as Him, whereas Jesus is on his own. In Philippians 2:9, the Father "gave him (Jesus) the name that is above every name."

That is just a quick example of Jehovah's Witnesses not using their free-thinking minds, and accepting what has been spoon fed them.

Now, Christians (especially American Evangelicals, like myself) do exactly the same thing. We're told that we can be perfect little middle-class suburbanites, entitled to our nice house, gym memberships, a couple of cars, etc. On the other hand, the way Jesus lived was quite different. I write about this all the time on my blog.

Let me address the other things Jessica wrote. I do believe in the resurrection. I do believe that those who believe in the sacrifice that Jesus (who is fully God) made, will be raised to live with Him forever. However, I don't think we will care much that our loved ones are with us (cf. Matthew 22:23-30), when we are in the midst of a glorious God. So, I have to disagree with the emphasis that both the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons put on the resurrection being about family. It's more about our relationship as a single bride with our groom (Jesus) (Rev. 21:9, 22:17).

Next, Jessica mentioned the JW belief that God's Kingdom will bring untold blessing to faithful mankind, and we are to pray for it. I agree with that one. Jesus said we should pray to our Father that His Kingdom would come. And I have to compliment the Jehovah's Witnesses for doing a great job in displaying glimmers of what the Kingdom of God looks like when they go into impoverished places and commune with the poor, who have a special place in God's heart, as we see throughout the whole Bible. However, it is only a glimmer of the Kingdom, because it comes laden with false teaching.

Lastly, Jessica wrote that Jehovah's Witnesses do not engage in politics or wars, because "true Christians" will beat their swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:2-4).

If you read my blog frequently, you know that I recently wrote a blog called, "Christians Should Be Politically Independent." However, Christians should engage in politics. Jesus said we are to be "the salt of the earth" (Mt. 5:13), and salt works its way throughout food. When we read about the prophet Daniel, we see that he not only loved God's Kingdom, but served his nation as well. I wrote another blog a couple months ago called "Don't love the USA, just serve it." Unfortunately, the predominance of the religious right has confused many people, who think that all Christians believe in the Republican Party Platform. I do not (well, I do in some areas, but not most). I also don't believe in the Democratic Party Platform in most areas.

As for war...The Bible doesn't talk about "true Christians" beating their swords into plowshares. Isaiah is writing about "the day of the Lord (Yahweh)." This is usually understood to mean the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God upon the Earth. He is saying that at that point, there will be no more war. Now, I personally believe that war should be the exception, and not the rule. I would call myself a most-of-the-time-pacifist.

However, check out Jesus' encounter with the Centurion in Matthew 8. He says, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith" (Mt. 8:10). Perhaps he's calling the Centurion a "true Christian." Or consider Paul's encounter with Cornelius (Acts 10). Cornelius is undoubtedly a "true Christian." God appeared to Him. And nothing was said of leaving his career as a soldier.

Yes, peace is always best. But I do believe in just wars. Romans 13, when taken in context, explains that while it is not appropriate for us as individuals to take vengeance, it is the role of the government to do so. That firmly establishes a biblical justification for war. However, most Christians should not be soldiers, but there is definitely biblical basis for there to be exceptions.

As for the phrase at the end of Jessica's comment about taking a stand for what I believe in, I have thought this through quite a bit. Perhaps I will post it another time when there is more space. I'll put the tag "ethics" in there to make it easier to find.

On Grace and Gnosticism Part 4

Part 4 in an ongoing series on the similarities and differences between “typical” Christianity, Gnosticism, and true Christianity

In the last blog in this series, we looked at how we can make the error of treating God as merely a paradigm, product, or program, instead of treating Him as a person. Both typical Christianity and Gnosticism tend to take the personality & person-ness out of Jesus.

God is not a force. He is a person. We need to treat him as such. Let him rule and decide. But, God is not merely a person. He is infinitely wiser, more powerful, and different than us.

If we focus so much on God’s immanence (living in and among us), we can easily forget to remember the opposite pole of the paradox—his transcendence. If we start being lopsided, we lose the mystery of God, and turn him into a logical construct, a philosophy. We must seek him, but also realize he exceeds our logic and understanding. God is in us and far above us. He is intimate, but at the same time, we will never fully grasp Him. No one preposition can fully capture our relationship to God.

Americans already treat God as our “cosmic buddy,”(Philip Yancey’s term) so if we focus on Grace, we must put it in the context of our great God. God doesn’t dwell in us only because he loves us. Everything is done for his glory.

God is full of himself. (see anything by John Piper). He is full of his glory. We should be full of his glory because of that. Not because we want to feel better or be healed (physically or emotionally). Our motivation for being filled with Jesus is key.

The whole reason that God chose us to be filled with him is found in Romans 1:5. “Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace.” Pretty straight-forward. God gave us grace “for his name’s sake.” Throughout the Bible, there is a phrase, “For my name’s sake,” that shows that the whole reason God does stuff is to show off. He wants people to know how great he is. Why? Because God is the best. He is better than everything in the universe. And he’s not stupid, so he knows he’s the best. And he’s not a liar, so he has to tell everyone else that he’s the best.

An added benefit of doing things for his name’s sake, is that God advertises himself. When he takes a broken person and transforms them by giving them his grace, he shows the other people that person knows that he is the best way to live. So, people come to know that Jesus wants them.

We embrace the mystery of an infinite God dwelling within finite human beings because he tells us that’s how the universe operates. If he says it’s truth, then it is truth. There need not be the word “absolute” to make it truth. It is God’s truth, and therefore we should live in it. We don’t live in it merely to know that we can have a good self-image because Jesus is within us. We don’t live in the fact that we are royal heirs of God because that enables us to carry ourselves with dignity. Rather, we live in the truth of the grace of God—the truth that his infinite breadth dwells in us—because it puts him on display for the universe around us.

It is important to discuss Grace and all theological ideas with the right terms, because only then do we live life in a way that is correct in that it glorifies God. We need to respect Jesus as the perfect man, and as the many other things he is, far above even that. To treat God as merely a product or a way of life does not give him the praise he deserves. It is an utter shame to speak of God less highly than we should—as a transcendent God who dwells within us.

On Grace and Gnosticsim Part 1

In the past year, many people in my life have discussed the idea of grace and the concept of sanctification.

Essentially, true Christianity teaches that humans are incapable of pleasing God, and it is only when we realize our own insufficiency and surrender to God’s grace that we can live the Christian life.

Only Jesus is capable of living the Christian life, but each Christian knows that Jesus lives through them. A great deal of writing on this topic is found in Romans.

As I’ve discussed grace with friends (particularly Josh Mello), we’ve found a few instances when the truth about grace sounds awfully close to Gnosticism. 

So, I want to start examining the similarities and differences between 3 ways of thought:

1. A “typical” view of Christianity (without enough emphasis on Grace)

2. Gnosticism

3.A correct view of Christianity (with Grace)

First off, Gnosticism needs to be defined. Gnosticism is one of the earliest Christian heresies. In fact, many of its beliefs may predate the time of Christ on the Earth. Essentially, Gnosticism is the belief that salvation is through some knowledge . This is clear from the etymology of the word (gnosis "knowledge", gnostikos, "good at knowing"). (source)

Gnosticism teaches that all matter is evil, and it is only through the secret knowledge that the soul can be freed from its slavery to matter.

The first issue to look at is the relationship between the natural and supernatural.

Typical Christianity tends to focus too much on the natural world. We think we are capable of living the Christian life. We believe we are capable of attaining holiness through our own will power and effort. This way of living neglects the supernatural empowering of the Holy Spirit and the fact that Christ lives in us. It also leaves the Cross at the moment of salvation, while in reality, we need to be constantly relying on the Cross throughout our lives—at the moment of salvation and beyond.

Gnosticism, on the other hand, rejects the natural world, and focuses solely on the supernatural. Gnostics taught that the whole point of life was to escape our trapping to the material realm. Really, this worldview is an awful lot like Hinduism/Buddhism. Both of those religions teach that beings are perpetually trapped in a variety of bodies, and it is only through Maya (Hindusim) or Nirvana (Buddhism) that the soul can be freed from its material prison.

Gnostics believe that once a secret knowledge is found, people can be freed from the material realm. Now, this sounds similar to Romans 7-8, where the flesh is talked about in great length. Essentially Paul is discussing the fact that our flesh (or as the NIV calls it “sinful nature”) still leads us to make bad decisions, despite the fact that we have died and Christ lives within us.

Again, Satan has taken a truth and twisted it. And unless we are aware of what Satan has done, we may end up falling into such a belief.

True Christianity believes that the natural and supernatural are both real and both good. You see, God says matter—the physical, natural realm—is good. Read Genesis 1. Five times he talks about physical things as good, and once as very good. Yes, we are fallen and so is the entire created order, but God has a desire to save it. Check out Romans 8:21, God desires to liberate creation, not to throw it away and start over.

Notably, this passage is found in the middle of Paul’s discourse on Grace.

So, Paul is making a point. Yes, our flesh leads us to sin, but matter is not evil. It too will be redeemed. When it is redeemed, death and decay will be done away with.

So, we live in a paradox. The doctrine of grace teaches that we used to have a sin nature. We used to be inherently sinful, but through our baptism into Christ, we now have Christ living within us. His grace permeates our being, and now our sin nature is dead. On the opposite pole, our flesh (sinful nature*) still exists, and has a tendency to lead us to sin (Romans 8:5). However, this flesh is not inherently evil, but just is an entity that is subject to decay as a result of the Fall. Eventually, we will not succumb to the desires of the flesh, and our bodies will be resurrected (Romans 8:11). The material realm will not be done away with. It will be redeemed in whole (Romans 8:21).

I believe we have a responsibility to redeem the world as much as we can. God can’t redeem the whole of material existence until the world is re-made, but for now we bear a responsibility to redeem as much as we encounter. Why? Because the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21).

*The NIV uses the term "sinful nature" where most translations use "flesh." There is a difference in the Greek word between "sin nature" and "sinful nature"/"flesh." Our "Sin Nature" is dead when we choose to live in Christ, while our flesh/"Sinful nature" still exists.

MySpace blog: Biblical Evidence for a "new" perspective

Romans 1:18-23 and 2:17-28 speak a lot about revelation, worship, and sin. I don't want to talk about revelation, because that is a huge topic that myspace is insufficient for. I would have to write a chapter, not just a blog to explain that. I would love to dive into this with further with some of you (who think along the same lines as me), and I have/will let you know who you are. For the others, sorry.

I'll just give you a part of this that is not tied to revelation as much.

First off, would you not agree that honor and dishonor both say how much we value things? That is what a statement of worth is.

Read Romans 2:23. Dishonor is tied to sin. Dishonor is a statement of God's worth. That means that dishonor is a kind of worship (a negative statement of worth).

Really my whole issue still comes down to our misuse of the word worship. We should use words like magnify, glorify, praise, or exalt, because "worship" is vague. I cannot magnify, glorify, praise, or exalt God through sin. My sin is the opposite of all those things. However, sin is worship, but is opposite of those other words, which are also worship.

Re-enter the coin analogy. One side of the coin is called "heads," and the other "tails." But, the whole thing is called "coin."

The problem with the modern, Western Church, is that we call what is just the heads side "coin," but that is a misnomer. "Coin" refers to both the heads side and the tails side.

The problem with the modern, Western church is that we call what is just the glorify/magnify/praise side "worship," but that is a misnomer. "Worship" refers to both the glorify/magnify/praise side and the sin side.

Now, this is the key issue that God has been showing me through my head. However, He has been speaking it through Scripture for nearly 2,000 years. We must at least agree that sin dishonors God, and that God is the primary reason we should not sin.

My personal vendetta against the meaning of the word "worship" in the American Church should not pollute your understanding of sin as dishonoring to God. If it does, I apologize. Just ignore my words and continue to honor God. I know that for many of you, my explanation and way of thought was helpful, and because it was, I feel like all these hours and words have been worth it.

I know I'm not going to stop thinking about my new approach, because it opens up so many new doors for me (and some of you). I have a lot more going on in this head of mine regarding all the issues opened up by the tie-in with revelation, but I will never write about those on myspace. If I ever write a book on worship, you can bet they'll be in there.