of the spirit (5-11-07)

Thoughts and words about the Holy Spirit can go in many different directions. One can try to present their view by way of many different paths, and from many different angles - and I believe many of these paths/angles would be biblical...

To try and promote unity and clarity, I'd like to address a few ideas about spirit/spirituality/the holy spirit/etc., that I think need sharpening... Along the way, I hope the 'personality' of the Spirit will become more obvious...

Dualism must die...
Greek philosophers of old, looked at the world and decided that reality was split in two - the 'unseen', 'spiritual' realm; and the 'seen', 'physical' realm. The 'unseen' realm was perfect, pure and un-changing. The 'seen' realm was corrupt, faulty and change-able. The relationship between the spirit and matter, then was - no surprise - a strained one.

The Jewish perspective saw reality differently. God was in 'heaven'; Humans were on 'earth'; yet God could still 'dwell with' His people and His creation. It wasn't just that spirit could mix with physical, but more that the two 'realms' were always mixing. It wasn't so much a question of if they mixed, but more how they mixed. In other words, the real question was which spirit was mixing in a given physical place/person?

In the Greek view, you assume a huge gap between the 'spiritual' and the 'physical'. So, you have to do all kinds of things (the right prayers, sacrifices, rituals) to make it 'just right' - right enough for the spirit to mix with the physical. That's a general picture, but it gives you the idea.

In the Jewish view, the two realms relate easily. In the Scriptures, there are many 'spirits' mentioned - some on the 'good' side (i.e. a 'spirit of wisdom', etc.), some on the 'evil' side (i.e. a 'spirit of jealousy', etc.). The entire world is 'bubbling' with spiritual potential.

The word 'supernatural' isn't very helpful at times...
You may not have thought of it this way before, but our understanding of the word 'supernatural' is, of course, only as good as our understanding of the word 'natural.' It seems odd - to me, at least - to say that God is the one who establishes the 'laws of nature' and then breaks them from time to time (and that is precisely how the 'supernatural' is defined).

We need to see the world differently, I think. The Scriptures don't give us a 'laws of nature' which God must violate in order to do something 'supernatural'. Instead, they give us a picture of a God who - as the powerful creator of all things - acts within His creation. It's not a question of when He is acting, but rather when He is not acting.

In this light, we need not call miracles 'supernatural', so to speak. Rather than see them as 'supernatural' events that 'happen', I think we should see them as powerful actions of the God who is Lord of Heaven and Earth. Remember, the Scriptures insist that God is always active within His good creation (yes, even after the tragic 'fall' in Genesis 3), and sometimes... just sometimes... He is active in miraculous and powerful ways that surprise and shock us.

Me, Myself and... Everyone else
Literally everything in our Western, affluent culture suggests that life is all about you getting what you want/'need'. It's ALL about the individual. I observe and sense much of the same trends in our all-too-individualistic perspective on spirituality. Much is said about 'me' having a great experience; 'my' spiritual gift; 'my' church; 'my' testimony; 'my' prayer life; etc. I love this quote:

"Despite what you might think from some excitement in the previous generation about new spiritual experiences, God doesn’t give people the Holy Spirit in order to let them enjoy the spiritual equivalent of a day at Disneyland." - Tom Wright, 'Simply Christian'

It's true. It's not about you. More specifically, it is about others. In the Scriptures and in my own (dare I use the word) experience, the Spirit moves powerfully in community; not in isolation from others. One of my favourite examples of this is when the Apostles got together to discuss 'what to do about those gosh darn Gentiles' in Acts 15 (it's often called 'the Jerusalem Council'). They get together; talk things over seriously; share perspectives - and emerge with a unified decision, saying 'It seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit...'

When was the last time you heard any pastor/preacher/speaker talk like that? I wish we would hear much more of it. If the Apostles (who wrote the majority of the New Testament) were helped in their spiritual discernment processes by getting together and discussing things, then surely we will be!

But the point, of course, is not comparing us to the Apostles, but realising that the same Holy Spirit that guided them is the same Holy Spirit that will guide us - and I am suggesting that He (the Holy Spirit) can do so better in community than He can do in isolation. Am I limiting Him to meetings? Of course not! God is certainly personal and is able to do reveal Himself to us individually. But I insist that we all need to surround ourselves with other people to help us discern and decide; people who (with the Apostle Paul) can say, '...and I, too, think I have the Holy Spirit...'

Towards a better spiritual ethic...
I think unity and clarity will come when we are able to focus on the main and plain things of the Spirit. We must remember that the Holy Spirit is God. He is not an 'it'. He is not an impersonal 'force'. He is not a drug on which to get 'high' on. He is the Spirit of Jesus. He is the Spirit of God. His first and foremost task is to remake (and continue remaking) us into the likeness (character) of Jesus. All of us. Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength.

Call me crazy, un-biblical, un-spiritual or a stick in the mud, but I think this kind of spirituality has very little to do with what happens during a church service or in a prayer closet, and has almost everything to do with what happens outside those places. It may ruffle your Christian feathers, but I think God is more excited with lives of mercy and justice than moments of celebration...

Let's see all of our lives, all of our priorities, all of our choices, all of our time, all of our money, all of our relationships, all of our possessions, all of our everything - as spiritual. May we see the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, self-control...) in all these areas and more.

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feelings on theology (3-18-07)

Everyone is a theologian.

Theology is simply the 'logic' (thought, ideas, study) of 'theos' (god), and everyone does this. Even atheists, who claim to be quite certain that the idea of god is silly, spend much time, energy and thought trying to demonstrate this - and therefore, I suggest, they engage in theology.

Anyway, some people put theology on a spectrum with something else - like theology on one end and emotions on the other (as if the 'goal' was to stay in the safe 'middle-ground' between the two). This is making less and less sense to me. Are not emotions present in all that we do; and - is not even simple reflection about god at least some form of theology?

Emotions matter. Ideas about god matter. We don't need 50% of each - we need 100% of both.

Having said that, let me be quite clear: I am convinced that emotions (though we need them 100%) cannot be trusted. Sure, feelings are god-given and must not be rejected or disregarded, but were never meant to be relied upon. They are more a 'thermometer' to life than a road-map...

Now, the 'road-map' of theology can also be trusted too much. We can delude ourselves into thinking we have got it all sorted and sussed. If the apostle Paul can say that 'we know in part' (1 Cor. 13) then I think that goes for all of us. But there are certain things (assurance of salvation in Christ alone, the will[desire] of God, etc.) that we can know.

Just as God has given some people more sensitive emotions and feelings, he has given others more critical and thinking minds - and neither is more 'spiritual'! Both must continually strive to use these things for God's glory - because it all matters!

We get this messed up all the time. Some christian communities value feelings/emotions so much that critical thought and discernment goes out the window, while others value theology/'truth' so much that any sign of life or vibrancy is absent.

We must work hard to not be emotion-less or emotional-istic. And we must work hard at theology - because it matters. How we feel and what we think can cause us to do and believe some very interesting (and possibly tragic) things (i.e. - belief that national Israel has to go back into 'the land' and restore the 'temple' before Christ can return can result in indifference to the atrocious militant actions of the nation of Israel against Palestine that seem to clearly go aganst God's will[desire]).

Don't mock people whose emotions are more vibrant than yours. And - don't think for a moment that theology gets in the way of 'real' worship. Instead, love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength... together.

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heat v. light (2-7-07)

(WARNING: Some may not agree with me on this one...)

I am no longer excited by music simply because it is wears a 'christian' label, but there are a few bands that I like. I saw one of these bands play recently at a Christian event. They were sounding awesome. And then...

The lead singer began a rant in which he told people to have 'faith' that God was going to 'do' something that night, and that they needed to have 'faith' that it would happen. The crowd was told to get rid of 'cynicism' or anything else that would keep them from having this faith. He then invited them to 'receive' the healing (physical) power of God. Moments later he whispered into the microphone, speaking something that wasn't english (or any other language, I suspect).

Regardless of what you believe concerning physical, miraculous healing or speaking in 'tongues' (in my view, the 'tongues' in Scripture are the 'other languages' of the Gentiles), my concern was not so much that the lead singer had a different view than me, but rather the effect his words could have on others.

It is no secret that the body of Christ is not in agreement on these issues. The crowd he was speaking to would have been largely divided on them. Doing what he did was disrespectful to the plethora of views in the crowd. Not only this, I think it was greatly unhelpful (perhaps even harmful) to new Christians who can be easily persuaded.

I'm sure that people who agree with him were very excited by what he did (given the scattered "woo-hoo's" that I heard), but I was thinking about a different group of people... namely, those that didn't agree. He was quite blatantly de-valuing their belief as not being as good or spiritual as his. Particularly, I felt for the new, un-grounded, insecure Christians who were likely to be left feeling that they must not be very 'spiritual'.

I know this sounds like the very cynacism that the lead singer told the crowd to get rid of, but honestly, my main concern is for these easily mis-led Christians.

There is ground that we all stand on as Christians (the death/burial/resurrection/divinity of Christ to name a few), but these secondary issues need to be dealt with more carefully. All too often, we mis-handle them in at least two main ways.

1) We NEVER talk about them. This is bad, because it prevents us from sharpening each other. It only solidifies us in our own opinion, and allows pride to fester. It is only in respectful debate and dialogue that we will be able to learn from one another and have our beliefs both challenged AND strengthened. True, disrespectful arguments are a waste of time, but much can be gained from healthy debate.

2) We talk about them in in inappropriate contexts. This can be unhelpful in several ways, but the above example was particularly unhelpful because not only was it a context in which people weren't permitted (nor encouraged) to disagree, but they were instead presented with a bully-like attitude if they didn't. The underlying feeling was, 'If you don't agree, then you're just not spiritual.'

Which brings me to my main and final point. We need to be discerning as Christians. Indeed, 'discernment' is seen by others as 'cynicism'. We need to be able to discern between (as one Christian author puts it) between 'heat and light'.

Light is characterised by love. Love is the ultimate expression of Spirituality. Indeed, the Spirit can express Himself in many ways, but He will stay true to His personality as described in Scripture (perhaps the best example of the Personality of the Spirit is seen in Pauls abbreviated list in Galatians 5:22-23).

Discernment is needed to distinguish between that which is light and that which is simply 'heat.' Many things are thought of and/or said to be 'spiritual', but can sometimes be simply lights, smoke, mirrors, emotions or some combination of them. Don't be bullied by people (including me, of course) who insist you must believe what they do (especially if it isn't a basic Christian doctrine).

The light of love is un-mistakable. It is light against the darkness. It is love against hatred. It is justice against injustice. It is peace against fighting. It is protection against attack. It is honesty against dishonesty. It is reconciliation against separation. It is provision against poverty.

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