If you ever want time to think, come get a job at the fruit orchard. Out there, there's nothing but time to think--time to think and peach fuzz. So I was out there thinking, and somehow my cerebral sauntering took me to the phrase: "Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It came to me with the whole "ye" attached and everything. And the first thing I thought of was people on street corners with signs. Then I started thinking (dangerous): I've always felt like that verse is about judgement and I guess it is. But the kingdom of heaven is wonderful. The verse does not explicitly say "Repent ye for the judgement of the wicked is at hand" though that seems to be implied. Repentance though, is preparation for the everlasting party. It's not death that comes over the next hill but life out of death.
Re: Scripture tells us what's going on. « Result #2 on May 22, 2007, 2:37am »
God's word is the story of his redemptive work in the world--what he is doing in the world. That is what is "going on." And his story of redemption is a story about his chosen people. We are his chosen people through Jesus and so, by grace, God has made us the story of his redemptive work. We are the body of Christ. With that in view we are compelled to participate in redemption. In learning "what is going on," by default Christians learn "what to do": Be redemptive in Jesus our Lord.
Chaos Fallness and the Illusion of Autonomy « Result #3 on May 22, 2007, 2:21am »
I can tell you from personal experience that I am an unmanageable entity. I often feel as though I am an utterly chaotic compilation of urges and petty pains. What I want today I forget tomorrow. What I think I know now, the next moment I reject (if it is my own thought--though whether something can really be my thought and mine alone I‘m not sure). I am unmanageable as far as I cannot manage myself. It is conceivable that God could manage me (when I say conceivable I don’t mean that I am able to conceive of this really but only that I believe Jesus is my Shepard). What then is my responsibility? Humans (some more than others, but all in one way or another) seem to compartmentalize everything. Here are two, not mutually exclusive, possible explanations: 1.We are logical creatures who create categories because we are image bearers of God, who is logical. 2.We create categories for the express purpose of managing God’s world through his power. Now, I am not one of the humans who is more inclined to create categories (in fact I derive a certain pleasure from annihilating categories--which is a dangerous activity though sometimes I think necessary), however, I recognize that I still create categories. I compartmentalize. Work Home School These are different categories, or: Restoration Friends Family Professors These are some examples of categories that I maintain in order to accomplish…something. I am logical, and so developing appropriate responses in different contexts according to logically defined relationships seems appropriate. But if I define these relationships (as a changing and chaotic person) how can I be sure that they are good categories? Should I annihilate all categories and give up on managing? Is that the nature of authenticity--a kind of social anarchy (I do not intend here for anarchy to have any political implications, or negative connotations)? Perhaps the fallen nature of my perceived activity looks something like this: 1. We are logical fallen creatures who create categories because we are image bearers of God, who is logical,
proceeding from the false premise that…
2. We are able, apart from God, to manage our world logically.
After reading this, I’m sure that at least my statement that I am a chaotic entity will go unchallenged. But I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the seemingly ever expanding compartmentalization in our culture and how this relates to falleness or the illusion of autonomy.
Re: Scripture tells us what's going on. « Result #4 on May 8, 2007, 9:31pm »
The "what we should do" mindset makes the Bible out to be an instruction manuel of the type where you believe every step you take throughout the day is detailed in the Bible. it kinda reminds me of the people who will open the Bible at random, pick a verse that pops out at them and believe that that is God's instruction for that day. Then, of course, they get the verses that say "And then Judas hanged himself" or "then Saul relieved himself in the cave!" When you read the Bible with the "what's going on" mindset, however, it changes the way you view the world and interpret what you see. You get the big picture and recognize that it's not all about you--it's all about Him.
You didn't miss the boat « Result #5 on May 5, 2007, 4:22pm »
I don't think you are missing the boat, in fact I think what you point out is a proper and valuable leveling of what may have been a presentation that was too biased in the "postmodern" direction. I do believe that what we are advocating is that faithfulness to a meta-narrative as a witness to its truth and correspondence to reality.
I suppose what we are advocating (although possibly not clearly enough) is that the leading edge of our witness be reversed in our current context. Rather than, as has been the tradition for some time, to attempt to prove with reason which story is worth living faithfully to, we are purposing that living faithfully to a narrative may be the only why to advocate to a cynical and relative world that it is reasonable, and corresponds to reality.
Ultimately every story needs to prove itself to be a viable explanation of "what's going on" in the world and untrue stories (the philosophies of cults, secular hedonism, and false religions to name a few) will come to a cross roads where they are unable to deal with or explain reality in a way that satisfies our human hearts (the end of the world didn’t come, sexual gratification didn’t fulfill, d**ning facts come to light about Joseph Smith, or a Muslim cleric). It is at these cross roads that faithful believers will have to opportunity to speak and live in those situations with humility and faithfulness to biblical truth (thus offering a different story to believe...a true one). This is essentially exactly what you have advocated in saying: we presume and proclaim that the metanarrative presented in scripture corresponds to reality?
Living faithfully to a story that is untrue is dangerous (Nazism),(Jim Jones)…the cool thing about believing a true explanation of the world (the gospel)is that even our unfaithfulness sometimes gives credence to the story we claim (ie the ramifications of sin in our lives show that God and his precepts are the source of life, refusing to forgive debt even in an economic sense is a true source of bondage and slavery, beauty and creation are not just useful if they produce, but are valuable because they reflect God’s character, etc.)
Scripture tells us what's going on. « Result #7 on May 5, 2007, 4:13pm »
H.R. Niebuhr argued that, only when we know. “what’s going on,” do we know “what we should do,” and Christians believe that we learn most decisively “what is going on” in the cross and resurrection of Christ through the context of scripture. How does believing that scripture is an explanation of “what’s going on” rather than “what we should do” change the way we live in the world as Christians?
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