About 150 years ago, Soren Kierkegaard wrote these words:
The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand it we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?
Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming to close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.
The issues haven't really changed. We are continually being challenged to live a radical, counter-cultural life. We are being challenged to act as if we have truly been born anew. I have tried to do a dirty job while wearing clean clothes (all the while attempting to keep my clean clothes clean). I hate working like that! It is so much better when I finally free myself to get dirty. It is then that I can truly give myself to the task at hand.
I think we are capable of supporting each other toward radical living, freeing one another to be disciples of Jesus Christ. What do you think?
If we don't--what do we do besides?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
That continual calling
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10 comments:
Say 'radical living' and 'counter cultural' and you have my attention! :-)
We are called to live extraordinary, supernatural lives... after all we believe in the same God as those in biblical times!
God bless
Maria in the UK
www.inhishands.co.uk
I couldn't agree with you more, Maria. We are having a hard time embracing this truth, letting the real impact of this sink-in. We have been raised-up within a Christian-cultural mindset that is informed by a dispensational hermenuetic.
What that means is that we have relegated the extraordinary and supernatural power of God to ages gone by, possibly to re-emerge in an age to come. That leaves us in the middle, sitting on our thumbs, unable to believe that God would do something wonderful in US, right now!
If the tenets of this dispensational hermeneutic were laid out before us, it would not be hard to poke a few holes in it. Very few people are willing to think on this level, not because they lack intellect, but because they lack motivation.
Why such lack of motivation? I think we now come back full circle to the words Kierkegaard and the Church's defense from the Bible.
That is a great movie. I hope everyone will go see it.
What you said about going around be good people is key. Somehow, we must realize that Jesus did not die on a cross for us to be good people while we await our death. Our lives are far more significant than that. We need to earnestly pray that God will clue us in to His on-going work, to the the in-breaking of His kingdom in the world, and to our role in this great mission.
This is a great post Jason... great comments as well.
I have often felt as though we have padded ourselves against the message of the word, especially when it calls me to be different --even uncomfortable at times.
I really like the quote... and I believe it's "right on" also. I believe that at times those in “position” as “religious leaders” have been guilty of promoting that you need to be super intellectual or super spiritual in order to approach or understand God. My intention is not to accuse anyone – I just believe that God is clearly approachable by all – and that his message is pretty simple and clear.
WOW! High brow when you start pulling from the "father of existentialism". Kierkegaard was one cool dude, he called a spade a spade and didn't pull too many punches. He was a truely talented writer/poet.
What a powerful thought, living as the bible or New Testament calls us to. His words "we know very well that the minute we understand it we are obliged to act accordingly" can be overwhelming if you do not commit yourself as a Christian. But what is missing is that promise of a true wonderful life when you have the faith to live as the bible has called us to live. Kierkegaard was challenging the scholars on this one, but I think the door swings both ways. If you have the faith to live an excellent life in God, then God has the ability to work excellent things in all our lives. Do we have the faith to this calling of a counter-cultural life of God?
Cool thoughts Jason.
Sorry to comment again, but I felt like I was in Philosophy class again and remembered a couple quotes from Soren that I liked. I did cheat and looked them up, because I could not recall the exact quote from memory and I did not want to misquote.
"Once you label me you negate me"
"The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays."
Doc – I really appreciate you looking up the quotes… there’s a lot of truth here.
I’m sure we’ve all suffered from what these quotes are speaking of at one time or another.
Aaron hit on one the ideas I was thinking about when writing the response to your "Black & White" posting below.
"Once you label me you negate me."
This quote is directly related to our conversation about creating a "safe" environment, and can have tremendous implications for dealing with sin in our lives, and becoming the "radical" christian God desires each of us to become.
Welcome Peter,
Funny you should mention prophets. I been giving much thought to what a modern-day prophet might look like.
Landon Saunders said, There is something about the gospel that incites men to kill...and men haven't changed!"
Seeing how no one has tried to kill me lately, maybe the problem is in the gospel - the gospel I'm preaching.
Maybe this is a different direction so sorry if it is completely off. I think this kind of relates to how we are when it comes to commitment to the church. What I mean is sometimes we are called to do a work in the church yet we are afraid to put our "John Hancock" on it because we are worried that would put us being involved or comitted to it for the long haul. The same thing with scripture. Maybe we do not want to take to it because that then commits us to it.
If we are comitted to the LORD it is not half-heartedly but a full comittment. We are not given the ability to pick and choose. So if we are comitted to the LORD, then essentially we are comitted to his work in the church. Maybe those lists at church should not be half filled up but overflowing with us wanting to do what we can to serve.
Hope that makes sense.
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