Two Types of Idolatry

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God, idolatry

This is very much a work in progress… I’d love to hear what you think…

I see two types of idolatry:

1.   Treat something else like God.

1. Faith – place our confidence or trust in something else to do what only God can do or has promised to do.
2. Love – offer our service or devotion (time, energy, work, sacrifice) to some group, principle, practice, or ideal.

2.   Treat God like something else.

1. Narcissism – turn God into a bigger version of us: looks like us, inhabits our territory, stands for our ideas or ideals, etc.
2. Magic – turn God into a means to get us what we want: power, security, food, pleasure, comfort, wealth, image, success, wisdom, etc.

If Jesus is the only way… (4 of 4)

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american, american culture, apologetics, culture, politics, salvation, truth, world religions

As the finale to this mini-series on the question If Jesus is the only way, what about people of other faiths and those who never hear the gospel? I’m going to look at some common objections to the idea that any one path to God is the “true” or “only” one.

Let me say first of all that I sympathize with anyone who takes seriously the challenge that multi-cultural awareness poses to our beliefs. The answers I offer below may come across dry and uncaring (especially to those of you who don’t know me), but please know that’s not my heart. These questions represent for many a complex journey of learning how to believe in Jesus without appearing hateful towards large groups of people. Nevertheless, we must think clearly and that’s what I’m trying to do here.

1. But this is arrogant and exclusive and no longer works in our diverse world.

(1) Religious diversity and pluralism are not new. Globalization and consumerism have changed things, but this question has always been around. (2) All truth claims are equally “arrogant” and “exclusive.” We make truth claims. So do they: the idea that no religion is 100% right and true is a truth claim. Neither belief system is obvious; both require faith. Both are equally arrogant (I’m right, you’re wrong) and exclusive (I’m right, you’re wrong). (3) Technically, I’d say arrogance is a characteristic of people – even and perhaps especially religious people – but it is not a property of belief systems. I suppose if less people were arrogant (intellectually and otherwise), this would be easier to see. (4) We are conditioned to remove “religion” from the realm of “truth.” Our world is divided into the public realm of (scientific) facts and the private world of personal beliefs/opinions/values. We think religion is a private matter, but this idea of “religion” is unbiblical and intolerant toward most world religions. It is itself based in another “religion.”

2. But all religions are basically the same.

If Jesus is the only way… (3 of 4)

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apologetics, gospel, grace, jesus, missions, new testament, obedience, old testament, salvation, world religions

Thanks for some great discussion on part two of If Jesus is the only way, what about people of other faiths and those who never hear the gospel? The question we’re dealing with is who can be saved and how that happens. Specifically, is it possible for people to be saved apart from Jesus? If not, is it possible for people to be saved through Jesus even if they don’t know he’s the one saving them? More than ever after the discussion on the last entry, I’m convinced that this whole debate gets muddied up because we’re unclear on what “being saved” actually means. I include myself in this, and I admit that whatever answer I offer now probably suffers a bit from this lack of understanding or clarity. Nevertheless, here’s how I’d answer the question:

I do believe that no one can or will be “saved” apart from Jesus. I think he alone broke the stranglehold of sin under which we were all enslaved. But does God save people apart from conscious faith in Jesus? Even if no one can be saved apart from Jesus, can they be saved apart from knowing they are saved by Jesus? I don’t know that God has told us this will happen, so I can’t say yes with great confidence. But based on what God has revealed in Scripture (as laid out in part 2, including some of the comments), I do believe it might happen. I’d even say I think it will happen (IMHO!). I do not think it would contradict the character and ways of God revealed in Scripture’s witness to Jesus Christ.

So does God save people apart from explicit faith in Jesus? We don’t know, but we don’t know for sure that he doesn’t and we wouldn’t be shocked if he did. Most importantly, we believe that God has come to all of us in Jesus, offering salvation in both the next life and this one. Our task is to faithfully respond to what we believe God has revealed.

I also promised to deal with objections to this position (technically called inclusivism), first from Christians and then from non-Christians. There are three primary objections that I’ve heard from Christians against the possibility that God might save people who never identify themselves as Christians in this life.

Liberated Imagination

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discipleship, gospel, kingdom of God, politics

From Walsh and Middleton’s Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be:

It is only when we can imagine the world to be different than the way it is that we can be empowered to embody this alternative reality which is God’s kingdom and resist this present nightmare of brokenness, disorientation and confusion.

…

A liberated imagination is a prerequisite for facing the future.

…

If we cannot have such a liberated imagination and cannot countenance such radical dreams, then the story remains closed for us and we have no hope.

Top 10 Books of 2008

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books

I’m thinking about posting monthly book summaries for a while so I thought I’d kick things off by posting my favorite books from 2008 (in the order I read them). I don’t presume that many of you care, but I love to hear what other people love to read so I’m going for it.

1. Prophetic Imagination – Walter Brueggemann
2. 1984 – George Orwell
3. The Social Construction of Reality – Berger & Luckmann
4. Beyond Foundationalism – Stanley Grenz & John Franke
5. Myths America Lives By – Richard Hughes
6. Christ and Violence – Ron Sider
7. A Tale of Three Kings – Gene Edwards
8. Resurrection and the Son of God – N. T. Wright
9. Theopolitical Imagination – William Cavanaugh
10. Jesus and Community – Gerhard Lohfink

You?

If Jesus is the only way… (2 of 4)

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apologetics, gospel, grace, hell, jesus, new testament, old testament, salvation, world religions

If Jesus is the only way… what about people of other faiths and those who never hear the gospel? (read part one here)

The Bible witnesses to God’s universal love (Jn 3.16; 1 Tim 2.4; 2 Pet 3.9) as well as a particular path to salvation. How do we resolve this tension? Scripture teaches that this particular path comes to a head in Jesus. But is this unfair to those who never hear of Jesus, or only receive an unfaithful witness, or grow up in a different faith system? What about them?

In part one I shared some preliminary points. Today I’ll offer ten “theses” and follow it up later (today or tomorrow) with a summary conclusion. Enjoy.

1. This debate often rests on and feeds an unbiblical portrait of salvation. See more on this in the last post here.

2. “Judgment” on this level is God’s call and God can be trusted to do the right thing. It’s not our job to figure out who will “go where” at history’s end. It is God’s, and whatever God does will be loving, gracious, and just.

If Jesus is the only way… (1 of 4)

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apologetics, gospel, grace, jesus, salvation, theology, world religion

For the rest of the week I’ll be blogging on a very important question: If Jesus is the only way, what about people of other faiths and those who never hear the gospel? In our world the claims of Christianity seem very exclusive and arrogant. Are they? More importantly, what exactly has God revealed about these issues? I’ll be sharing my thoughts in four posts. For now, two preliminary points:

(1) Salvation is about more than what happens to us after we die.

Our question assumes that God is most concerned about getting individuals into heaven when they die. But is this really biblical? Two quick points: First, salvation is God’s plan for the entire universe – not just human beings. Salvation is about all of God’s creation being rescued from the disastrous effects of sin. Second, even from a human perspective, salvation isn’t just about “where we go” in the end. That is obviously important, but salvation is about freedom from the power of sin and death right here and now. Please understand, I’m not trying to deny the importance of the future, but I am trying to remind us that asking whether a person is “saved” has as much to do with how free they are from sinful ways of thinking and living as it does where they’ll go when they die. As my friend Tyler puts it, “Following Jesus isn’t about getting out of hell and into heaven. It is about joining God in his project to reclaim of all of creation for his kingdom.” This whole debate is fairly thoroughly infused with an unbiblical portrait of salvation. Just keep this in mind.

(2) We must all ask ourselves if we’re willing to submit to God’s authority and trust the witness of Scripture.

Like all hot-button issues, many of us come to this question with our minds already made up. And if they’re not made up, we at least know what we want the answer to be. Some of us sense our culture’s negativity toward “evangelism” (or our own distaste for it) so we look for excuses not to have to share our faith. This is not okay. Others of us feel that Christianity is under attack and we have adopted a posture of defensiveness and closed-mindedness. This is not good either. We will all be tempted to make Scripture say what we want it to say (or set it aside altogether). This is no less true of me than anyone else. Let’s keep this in mind too.

Tomorrow I’ll post ten theses about this topic as well as a summary conclusion. Then I’ll post answers to objections from those who think my position is too strict, and after that I’ll post answers to objections from those who think it’s too loose. Feel free to share any and all thoughts at any point in the discussion. Even disagreement is welcome, but be kind.

Theocapitalism and the Quest for Prosperity

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american culture, brian mclaren, capitalism, church, consumerism, discipleship, money, politics, sin, tom beaudoin

We want so badly to prosper (or at least have fun!) that we’ve turned wealth into a god and consumer capitalism into a religion. This is a religion complete with MTV and QVC as religious broadcasting, Oprah and Adam Smith as spiritual directors, malls as cathedrals, shopping as discipleship, commercial jingos as hymns and slogans as Scripture, amazon.com as online church, thrift stores as monasteries, bankruptcy as penance, amusement parks as shrines of holy pilgrimage, CEOs as apostles and bishops, celebrities and stars as saints, priests, and idols. “TV becomes an altar before which we don’t kneel but rather recline – entranced, enraptured, open-eyed and open-mouthed in speechless wonder, on pews called couches, eating our communion bread of potato chips and ice cream and sipping our holy wine or beer or Pepsi.” (Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change, 190).

Tom Beaudoin helps us understand how this system functions just like a religion (paraphrased at length from Everything Must Change 190-1):

Why was Abraham circumcised?

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abraham, circumcision, faith, old testament

There’s certainly no delicate way to ask that question, is there! My little sister Cassandra sent me a text today asking what was the significance of circumcision in the Bible. I’m sure she’s not the only one who’s asked that, so I thought I’d share my thoughts…

So far as I know, no one really knows for sure what circumcision was originally all about. But there are two parts to my best guess, and I think they’re both pretty legit.

First, God’s promise to Abraham – many descendants – certainly required the full functioning of his “object of circumcision.” So when God told him to take a knife to it, I’m sure it was a serious test of faith. God was calling Abraham to potentially jeopardize the mechanism of God’s promise being fulfilled. It’s similar to when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. God was making sure Abraham believed that nothing could stop God from being faithful to his promise. So firstly, it was a test of faith.

Second, it’s possible that circumcision was practiced by pagan religions in Abraham’s world as a profession of faith in pagan fertility gods. For Abraham to obey Yahweh’s (note the intentional anachronism in Genesis) command to be circumcised showed that Abraham’s faith was only in this God, the One revealing himself as the True God of All. It’s almost certain that when God called Abraham, Abraham believed in and worshiped many gods. That’s how it worked back then – worship the god of rain to get rain, the god of wheat to get wheat, the god of sex to get babies, etc. God had to teach Abraham that he was to look only to God for all of his needs.

So basically both of them boil down to the shaping and refining of Abraham’s faith. This would make sense in context because it comes right after Abraham and Sarah try to fulfill God’s part of the covenant in their own creative way (through Hagar).

Sometimes the process of learning to trust God is quite painful, I suppose.

Distortions of the Gospel

A friend of mine recently emailed me (and others) with a question. He’s putting together a series on Galatians, a letter in which Paul attacks a serious distortion of the gospel. My friend’s question: What do you think are the most dangerous or widespread distortions of the gospel in our time? My answers are below, but first think about how you’d answer it. Basically, how have we jacked up the message of/about Jesus in our day? If you’re feeling brave, share your answers in the comments below. They can be as short or long as you want. (And don’t compare your answers to anyone else’s!) Here are mine: