But How About "Since Then"?

"In the beginning was the Word" says the first letter of John in the Christian New Testament.  But how about since then?  How about since the beginning?

I wonder if faith is only a little about "words" and a lot about behavior.  I wonder if behavior should flow from words, and outvote words a thousand to one.  For instance, the words of Jesus:  "Love your neighbor as yourself" presumes that you have agape for yourself, and that you would extend that same profound, compassionate respect to your neighbor.  So . . .

You have read, and maybe repeated, the words of Jesus.  Can you manage to behave in a profoundly compassionately respectful way to the people you encounter each day?

If you are exercising the Muslim faith, and you routinely mumble the word "salaam", can you act in an actively peaceful manner toward people you meet each day?

Or, is it all words, empty, "full of sound and fury" as the playwright wrote?

What do you think?  What about all the words used in the typical worship service, and the amount of congruent behavior that flows from those words?  Leave a comment and let us know.

The Ghost of God - 1

I wonder how many of us worship only the ghost of our god.  The book of Genesis insists that humans, male and female, are created in the image of God.  (That's scary, given how we are, but that is another topic.)  I speak, however, of the image we have of God, or god, in our mind as opposed to the reality of our creator.

C.S. Lewis wrote once that most people pray to that "blob up in the corner of their room".  They thought they were praying to God, but they had no understanding of the God who chose to reveal himself to humans.  The ghost of god to whom they addressed their prayers was not real to them.  An amorphous blob.  No sharp edges, no hard surfaces, nothing to distinguish it from a vapor. 

So here is a person who lives only for self, praying only that she/he will do well, be successful, have a good life or whatever, and ignores the aged, the poor, the invisible people around her/him.  What god hears that prayer?  Only a ghost of god, not the god who commanded agape' for others (enemies, neighbors, fellow followers of Jesus, etc.).  That God, who chose to reveal at least a little of God-self, is ignored.  She/he prays to a god-ghost, which doesn't actually exist.  This ghost doesn't really exist in her/his imagination. 

I assume that the Old and New testaments volumes help us get an accurate description of God as God is.  Jesus reveals God better as God is.  Not just the parts of Jesus we want to notice, but the whole of Jesus.  

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Faith is Better that Superstition

I remember when his child was sick - very sick - and he began praying softly in "tongues".  I understood his anxiety, his love for his child, his desire for the child to be well again.  I hope you understand it, too.

In retrospect, however, I wonder at his lack of faith.  He had called himself a Christian for decades.  He had taught, he had led others, he had paid a price.  "Why", I wonder, "did he lack faith in God and turn instead to magical thinking?"

Jesus of Nazareth was utterly clear:  God loves you, God hears you, you do not need to badger God..   'Vain repetition' is not only unnecessary, it implies that God does not hear you or love you. 

But, you say, what if God doesn't dance to my tune?  What if God doesn't heal my child?  What if God has other plans?

Superstition and magical thinking responds:  if I do something right, I can make god do what I want.  I can coerce god.  I can command god.

Maybe I coerce god by praying in tongues.  Perhaps I command god by getting two or three others to "agree" with me in prayer.  It could be that I make god do it my way by holding the correct doctrine.

I give up faith and take up superstition.  I embrace magical thinking.  Oh, and I avoid stepping on a crack.  Wouldn't want to break my mother's back, now would I?

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Farce or Force?

The smiling salesman who sells you a used car claiming it has been inspected, claiming it is in great condition, claiming good thins about it knows that there is no oil in the differential case and that it will seize up in a hundred miles or less -- is he a hypocrite?  He claims to be an honest man, but is not. 

I think he can be described as a hypocrite.  What do you think?

The person with a serious drinking problem who is working to stay sober -- is she or he a hypocrite?  This person attends meetings, takes one moment at a time, and sometimes takes as drink.  But she or he is trying a new role, a new identity, and new persona.  When is a person a hypocrite, and when is a person someone who is trying to change?

Jesus of Nazareth is quoted in Luke 12:1 as saying, "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."  He uses the metaphor of "yeast" to signify hypocrisy as something alive, self-promoting, self-generating.  Given the ease with which the lying salesperson gets better and better at deceit, and given the difficult path of the changing person with a drinking problem, I think the salesperson deserves the description of "hypocrite", and the person struggling to be sober does not. 

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.