A Manifesto by Ryanne- Part 2

This is the second part of my notes/comments on Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden.

 

            After a long excursus on the Israelites suffering in slavery in Egypt, the authors begin discussing Jesus. On page 68, the authors write, “And so central to the vision of the future, and the identity of the needed leader of the new exodus, was that this leader would be a son of David, but a new son of David who used power purely and properly. No violence.” Then later on page 88, they write,

“The only way to break that cycle is for someone to absorb it. A true leader of a new exodus would have to resist ever using power in the form of violence against another human being. Isaiah called the one to come a suffering servant [Isa. 52:13-15]. Someone would have to have the courage to put away the sword, forever, regardless of the consequences for his own security. No matter how tempting it is to pick it up and start swinging, someone would have to say, ‘Forgive them, Father, because they just don’t get it.”

The descriptions of Jesus given here make him sound like a passive, peace-loving hippie. Which he was not and is not. In Matthew 10, Jesus warns his disciples of what is to come. He tells them that they will be persecuted, that they will be hated. And in verse 34, Jesus says, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

The passage in Isaiah that the authors quote is a prophecy about Jesus coming as a servant who suffers greatly for our sin—which is very true. But I would like to point out that this is the same God who is spoken of just a few chapters later in Isaiah in a very different way. “I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered on my garments, and I stained all my clothing” (Isa. 63:3b). In fact, throughout the Bible, the wrath of God is spoken of nearly 200 times—often in very violent terms. Isaiah 13:9 says, “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And he will exterminate its sinners from it.”

This is not needless violence (like in slasher movies); this is a righteous violence against those who reject Jesus as their Savior and substitute for our deserved punishment. Paul asks if we should say that “God is unjust in bringing his wrath upon us”? And he promptly answers, “Certainly not!” (Rom. 3:5-6)

            I would also like to briefly point out that while Jesus did come to earth the first time to suffer and die, when he returns again, it will be a very different story. Jesus does not “put away the sword forever.”

Rev. 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robed dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He reads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS’.”

The Jesus described here will not be pushed around. He is a warrior. And his wrath will be satisfied.

            Later in the Manifesto, the authors write: “When people are manipulated with guilt and fear, when they are told that if they don’t do certain things they’ll be illegitimate, judged, condemned, sent to hell forever—that’s violence” (105).

I have issues with this statement. I believe that people must submit their lives to Christ. And if they don’t, they will be sent to hell—forever. And, honestly, I do not believe it’s violence to tell people that. God’s righteous wrath against us in our sins was satisfied by Jesus on the cross. However, this only applies to those who accept Jesus as their sacrifice. Accepting Jesus’ atonement for your sins is something you must do to avoid condemnation. Period.

A Manifesto by Ryanne-Part 1

A look at some of the statements made in the new book Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden

 

            I would like to begin this with an explanation for why I am doing what I am doing. As believers, we are called “to test the spirits” (1Jn. 4:1) and “examine everything carefully” (1Th. 5:21). John tells us to “make sure no one deceives you” (1Jn 3:7). This is the basis for my study and critique. To do anything less would be (in my opinion) a failure to respond to the call in Jude 3—“to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”

 

At the beginning of this book, the authors go through the story of Moses leading his people out of slavery in Egypt. They go on to discuss when God talks to the people at Sinai.

“It’s believed that this is the only faith tradition in human history that has as its central event a god speaking to a group of people all at one time” (page 29-emphasis added).

Later in the book, the authors talk about the Eucharist:

“What the Eucharist does is particularize the exodus story in time and space. Exodus is the ultimate picture of salvation” (page 161 emphasis added).

I would first like to say that the central event of my faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:2 command us to fix “our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” Faith is about Jesus, not Moses. It was on Mt. Sinai, that God gave the ten commandments—the basis of the old covenant. Hebrews 8:13 says, “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He made the first obsolete.” I am in no way saying that the Old Testament or the law is not important, but it is certainly not the central event of a faith in Jesus Christ.

The ultimate picture of my salvation is not the exodus, but a God who sent His only son to die for someone completely unworthy of his grace. It is Jesus, hanging on a cross that was intended for me.

 

On page 179 of the Manifesto, the authors write, “Jesus wants to save us from shrinking the gospel down to a transaction about the removal of sin and not about every single particle of creation being reconciled to its maker.” This passage points directly at Colossians 1:20, “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” I looked up the Greek word for “all things” used in this verse. The word is pas and it is used over 1200 times in the New Testament. This is what I found interesting. The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon says this of pas:

“The words ‘world’ and ‘all’ are used in some seven or eight senses in Scripture, and it is very rarely the ‘all’ means all persons… the words are generally used to signify that Christ has redeemed some of all sorts—some Jews, some Gentiles, some rich, some poor, and has not restricted His redemption to either Jew or Gentile.”

This does not point to God reconciling “every single particle of creation” to Himself.

On page 168 of the Manifesto, the authors say, “It is the way to a universal religion adequate to the challenge of saving human community and the ultimate renewal of all things.”

The Bible is clear that not everyone will be saved [reconciled to Him]. Those who do not put their faith in Jesus and accept His redemption will be condemned to eternal punishment (Mt. 25:41). Likewise, “The heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). God is not going to restore the present earth; He is going to create a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1).

            There are more points I would like to make, but I will save those for another note…

Brian McLaren–the songwriter?

I recently stumbled upon a site that informed me that Brian McLaren had recently created a cd of music that he had created in order to, inspire people of faith to live as agents of God’s love and justice in our world, in the way of Jesus. This cd is entitled Songs for a Revolution of Hope, Vol.1. (Meaning we have more fun to come with vol. 2) I, of course, decided to look at some of his lyrics, and have decided to share my comments on some his songs here on my humble blog. As a whole, his album reeks of emergentness, but I will limit my comments to individual songs.

In “11-57″ (a song that talks about our “suicidal system,”), McLaren says, It must be redirected and we must be retrained…to reclaim our true identity in harmony and care with saving love for everyone to free all creatures everywhere from the suicidal system. Hmm. Where to begin. First this implies, that we (as humans) have the power to make things right in the world (without God?). Saving love for everyone. If we could all just learn to love each other, that would solve every problem this world has ever had. To free all creatures. Like not just humans, but free the trees? and the squirrels? and the termites? Cause that doesn’t sound like panentheism at all. Also, in this song, McLaren rhymes defection…direction…reconnection…resurrection all in one line. And that just really bugs me.

Then there’s “Canticle of the Sun.” I’m just gonna let you read the words.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Sun,

Who brings the light of day;

He’s beautiful and radiant, like you!

Be praised, my lord, through Sister Moon,

Through all her sister stars

They’re luminous and wonderful, like you!

 

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Wind

And Sister Cloud and Storm,

They bring flowers from Mother Earth for you.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Bird,

You gave him wings to fly

He sings with joy and soars up high for you.

Through Sister Water, Lord, be praised,

She’s humble, useful, too

She’s precious, clear and pure, O Lord, like you.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

Whose beauty glows at night

He’s cheerful, powerful, and strong, like you.

 Creepy. It sounds very…naturey. Don’t get me wrong, God should be praised due to his amazing creation, but I’m not about to start calling Lake Michigan, Sister Water.

“Lets Confess It”– Now I’ll confess that I haven’t listened to this song, but there are enough words in it to be a rap song. Just to give you some comparison, I feel that hymns tend to be rather wordy. The word count of all 5 verses of “Be Thou My Vision” is 168 words. “Let’s Confess It” has 397 words. Perhaps he should learn to summarize.

“Chant”–I’d like to say that I’ve always found chants (as in the Gregorian type) to be kinda scary and not super pleasant to listen to. But, you know, whatever floats your boat. However, this “Chant” by McLaren comes with the following directions:

You can use this chant form by putting a passage of Scripture in singable lines. Any line that is printed or projected at the left margin is sung on a single tone until the last word, where melody goes down a full note and then back up to the original note. Any line that is printed or projected with indentation (or perhaps with a different color) is sung on a single tone, but then at the last word, the voices rise by a minor third interval and then back to the original note. Of course, there are many other forms of simple Scripture-singing too – and new forms waiting to be invented as well.

I get it now.

“Hymn of Remorse”–We covered your colorful earth with grey cement. We cut down trees and stripped the soil wherever we went. We scarred the hills for gold and coal… We paved paradise and put up a parking lot… The noise of traffic is drowning out the songbird’s song. Your voice within us telling us that we’ve gone wrong. Holy political agenda, Batman!

“Love and Justice”–The factories breathe acid/and leak into the stream. And every day the earth gets hotter/ who will stop it? Ooh, ooh, this one’s about global warming. When will we wake up from/this self-destructive scheme, So everything can change … God’s kingdom coming! Cause if we could just stop global warming from happening, we would usher in the kingdom.

“If We Don’t Have Love”– the chorus of this one is Hey-Hey, Ho-ho. We have nothing if we don’t have love. Hey-hey, Ho-ho. We have nothing if don’t have love. Can’t you just picture McLaren hip-hopping across the stage…

So in conclusion, I probably (make that definitely) won’t be buying this album. McLaren, don’t quit your day job. On second thought…

-Ry

Everything I learned from my rabbi I passed on to you…

I recently was going through a book entitled Velvet Elvis, with the intention to do as the author said I should: “Test it. Probe it….Don’t swallow it uncritically.”

And so I did.

I decided to focus my reading on Movement Five—Dust. In this section, Bell focuses on “Jesus, the Jewish rabbi. Bell gives some historical background on when Jewish children usually began their studies of the Torah and what they studied. The following is directly quoted from the text:

   “By the way, when Jesus’ parents found him in the temple area, how old was he? Twelve. Notice what the text says here: ‘They found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.’

    Jesus later says to his disciples, ‘Remember, everything I learned I passed on to you.’

    Did Jesus go to school and learn like the other Jewish kids his age?”

    So Bell seems to indicate that these verses lead to the conclusion that perhaps Jesus had learned from other rabbis. After the quotes, there were footnote numbers, so I looked these up. The footnote for the last quoted verse says, “See John 15:15.” So I grabbed my Bible and looked up the verse. This is what my NIV said, “For everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” I thought it was a little strange that the verses didn’t match up with what they were saying, so I looked in Velvet Elvis to see what translation the verses came from. It said the TNIV. So I looked up John 15:15 in this version. “For everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

It turns out that the verse in both translations emphasize: “everything I learned from my Father” and yet Bell forgot to put that phrase in his book. Maybe this is because the actual verse does not implicate that Jesus learned from the rabbis. What got me the most is that in Velvet Elvis, Bell has put this in his text as a quote—complete with quotation marks and everything. If I hadn’t taken the time to look up the footnote, and then the verse, I would have thought that John 15:15 said exactly what Bell quoted it to say.

But it doesn’t.