I'm right - you are wrong!

Those of us who think about such things have had to trudge a long, hard intellectual road to reach our understanding of the Faith Once Delivered to the Saints. Because we worked so hard and were so careful, we became absolutely convinced that our understanding is definitive. A similar process takes place on an institutional level, also. Therefore, anyone who thinks differently must be (at best) misguided, or (at worst) a damned heretic. Often there is no gray area. However, some groups have sort of a lazy, daisy, practice of enforcement, so some deviance is allowed.

There are two major problems with this approach to doctrine.

• First, nowhere in Scripture is there a requirement for intellectual orthodoxy in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Heresy is man made!
  

• Second, Look at your own relationship with God and your own understanding of God. Has it changed in the past 20 years? Past 10 years? Past 5 years? The past year? Don't you now have a deeper and fuller understanding of God than you used to have?

• Of course you do!

All of our carefully and painfully worked theologies are merely the very best we could do at that time and in that place. That is not bad. It may, in fact, be outstandingly good, but it is still only the best we could do today.

If it is true of us, can it not also be true of others?

What do you mean when you say "Christian"

Rejoice! Our hurricane fizzled out!

I spent some time today on the site of The Barna Group http://www.barna.org. They are a Christian research organization. They survey Christians and others to obtain a picture of what people are saying and believing. Their methodology appears sound, and their conclusions are stated rationally. If you are looking for an excellent example of being Christian and being thoroughly professional The Barna Group is a good one.

In a recent survey they discuss how Americans see themselves. They contrast the responses of Born-again Christians with those who don't acknowledge that status. If you think you know what your community or congregation is thinking, reading the results of this survey may be enlightening. the closing paragraphs of each report disclose the criteria which were used in defining and reporting the results.

When you have finished reading the Research Details section of a report you will have a clear understanding of how The Barna Group defines Christian and Born-again and Evangelical. The meaning of their research will be clear. This can not be said about a lot of what is called Christian thought. They should be commended!

When you have finished reading the few paragraphs of Research Details ask yourself how well they apply to you. Would you have answered the questions the same way? Does the clear cut definition your reading describe you? A lot of us describe ourselves as Christian or Born-again or Evangelical or Charismatic or Pentecostal, but the criteria we use to define those terms are really quite sloppy.

What do you mean when you say "Christian"? How's your hermeneutic?

Self Image

We were talking today about the principles of developmental psychology. The discussion focused on the need to learn developmental tasks in the proper sequence. One well-known example of this principle is the need of adolescents to learn and gender interaction. Simply put: if you don't learn how to get along with girls in adolescence, you are going to have trouble all your life long.

Actually, we were talking about screwing up the same things over and over again. One of the things that frustrates most adults is repeating the same mistakes over and over again. We wonder on our good days why we do this. On our bad days we wonder how could we be so dumb?

It is all a matter of how we view ourselves; if you will, our personal hermeneutic. If you see yourself as a mature adult you will surely encounter numerous occasions to trip and fall flat on your face. If you think of yourself as immature you will lose yourself in continuing anxiety sessions. Paul, the Apostle, talks about not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought (Rom12:3). He implies that putting ourselves down is just as bad. The mean - real self honesty - is the answer.

So, if I am honest with myself today, I see a number of uncompleted developmental tasks. I see that I need to grow up! How about you?

A mighty, rushing wind

We sit here in Central Florida awaiting hurricane Ernesto. Ernesto has had definite developmental difficulties. He has gone from tropical storm with winds of 35 miles per hour to hurricane with winds over 75 mph and now is reported to be blowing at 40 mph. This definitely downgrades him from Mighty Rushing Wind to merely a Rushing Wind. His course, too, has changed. Instead of heading for New Orleans, or, later, Tampa, he currently is expected to roll up the east coast of Florida. Oh! How the might have fallen! Perhaps by the time he gets there he will be merely a tropical breeze.

I know we are talking about a hurricane, but doesn't this all sound familiar. Could it be your life or mine?

Most of us have developmental difficulties. We each face a set of tasks we must master in order to tackle the next more advanced set. Both our own efforts and external forces over which we have no control contribute to our development. For example, it you don't learn the alphabet you won't be able to learn to read. If we hear the alphabet song we are probably more likely to succeed than if we hear Peter and the Wolf. The example is crude, but you get the idea. Are you still wrestling with some basic concept you should have learned in kindergarten or first grade?

What difference does all this make? Considering it is good for our self-esteem or for our compassion!

Saturday - Rest or Labor

Even when we were both working, Saturday was the day for administrative chores. You know, chores like laundry, house cleaning, shopping, yard work, and the like. We both shared a world view in which Saturday was the fitting day for these activities. My wife still adheres to this view which she firmly believes is the orthodox one. I, on the other hand, have begun to think more of baseball games, and other spectator activities; recliner chair, feet in the air, beverage at hand, perhaps a few munchies.

This is clearly a heretical hermeneutic. Some weeks its manifestation is treated with scorn, on others with patience. Occasionally there is vigorous opposition and condemnation. Sometimes our great ideas and activities are opposed because they require change and people don't know how to change.

In this case, my answer is outsourcing - dry cleaners and laundry, cleaning crew, yardman, etc.

Would that it were always so easy!

And then there is Augustine

Love God and do as you please.

There's an hermeneutic for you!

The Elephant in the Room

You probably have heard the story of the five blind men who were taken to see an elephant. They were placed in oval around the beast and each tried to experience it. Later they were asked to describe the elephant.

• The first said, "It was like great snake hanging down from a tree and feeding itself.'
• The second disagreed, "No. It was like a huge bird, flapping its wings."
• The third said, "You are both wrong. It was like a forest. I could put my arms around the tree trunks."
• For the fourth it was even more different, "The elephant was like a large fly whisk, swing back and forth."
• And the fifth, "It was like a great wall. I could raise my hands and feel the height and width of it."

Of course, they were all right. One experienced the trunk, another the ears, the third the massive legs, the fourth the tail, and the fifth the sides of this huge animal. And, of course, they were all wrong because each of them had only experienced a part of the elephant.

It shouldn't surprise us to learn that we, too, are blind men. At best we only see a part of the problem. If what we see is too big for us to really understand, we chose our best understanding and call it definitive. The truth is that, individually or collectively, we are like the blind men. We can only proclaim as much as we have experienced and our best understanding of it.

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.

Sarum Primer, 1538.

PBPGINFWMY

This post actually started about a year ago, but was never finished because of ESRD. Thanks to the blessing of Peritoneal Dialysis, I am up and running again - just not as rapidly.

About thirty years ago I visited a church in Miami. At the door everyone was given a pin-on badge with the letters PBPGINFWMY. No explanation was given and we sat through the first part of the service wondering what was going on. With the sermon came the explanation:

Please Be Patient - God Is Not Finished With Me Yet

It was a good sermon about forgiveness of yourself and others. I still remember it. Think about it..... How many sermons do you remember?

Anyway, God s apparently not finished with me yet. Welcome to this blog.