Reading Paul in a Postmodern Context

In the face of a disconnected world
    where home is a domain in cyberspace
    where neighbourhood is a chat room
    where public space is a shopping mall
    where information technology promises
    a tuned in, reconnected world
        all things hold together in Christ
        the creation is a deeply personal cosmos
            all cohering and interconnected in Jesus

...just a small cut n' paste from Brian J. Walsh in an a remixing of the epistle of Colossians from the apostle Paul.

...i don't know if this is how Paul would say it today, but it does touch a nerve at least on my present despair... i thought it an interesting note also that at the top of the booklist from the leading post-modern Christian spokesman is Walker Percy's non-fiction, Message in a Bottle. it's a book on semiotics and communications and finding meaning with others through the mystery of words. (it's an ok read and interesting... just strange to find it here... hmmmmmmm what's the connection?.... i continually find myself reading the sign-posts in life - looking for clues.... oddly enough, they seem to pop up with some kind of synchronicity.)

...incidently, the full title is The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do With the Other by Walker Percy

Christian Anarchist

...maybe I should be a Christian anarchist like this Jesus. I could dig hanging out with Tolstoy, Thoreau and Kierkegaard as a bonus, too.

Post Modern Christians vs. Fundamentalist Christians ?

...amazing.

... there is a serious little feud going on in Christianity that i didn't even know about... Emerging Church VS. traditional Evangelicals... pretty interesting too....

...a good start for me was reading an open letter by Brian McLaren to Chuck Colson (former Nixon "hatchet man" and founder of a born-again prison ministries) in response to an article in Christianity Today condemning the "emerging church."

...then Chuck Colson writes back.

(...good but heady intros into both fields of thought)

Can I be completely honest with myself and still be a Christian? VI

Yeah. I can..

...and i don't mean Yes! or Hell Yes! nor do i mean yeah just kind a.... i just mean yeah... just yeah.

I'm doing it now. I am completely honest with myself and yet somehow i'm still a Christian.

I've been doing it a long time.

...hmmmmm...

I'd like to say this is the end of these doubts and struggles, but it's not. This thirsty quest never ends. It just seems to pause now and then.

Christianity in a Post Modern Culture?

...before I go off on my study/tirade of stuff Jesus said, i've gotta point out this new flow of churchianity called the "emergent chuch." the chief criticism of it of late has come a baptist theologian here. Responses are now being made by what this theologian has tagged as the leaders of this emergent church. ...and just as i'm starting to learn that there is an emerging church they're thinking about changing the name.

...in reality it seems to be a movement trying to be inline with the emerging post-modern culture that we find ourselves in along with the technobabble "now-this" culture that goes with it... (huff huff... pant.. pant... i can't hardly keep up.)

...anyway, i don't even think i'll go round and around again in my mind of what Jesus said and did... i don't understand it. I don't understand Him... i try... i just don't ... what's the Kingdom of God? ...where is it? is it literal? is it just within me? is it yet to come? i've had answers on these things before, but i don't think i do now... but i think i can still answer my primary question... Can I be completely honest with myself and still be a Christian?

...if by "being a Christian" i mean being a follower and believer of what is the historical Jesus Christ and not being a member of some complex socio-cultural value-laden mostly protestant predominantly pop-cultured Americanish consumer society, then i can answer my long-blogging question to myself. Yes, i think i can. But it's still a movement of faith beyond the simply rationale. I can't explain it, but i don't feel intellectually compromised.

... i just believe, damn it! ...can't you just accept that?!

...and i'm not stupid!

(sorry - got a little hostile there)

:)

Can I be completely honest with myself and still be a Christian? - part V

So I have to take some time off to go and study what this Christ said. (Like I haven't done this a zillion times already, yet here I am again still. Geesh!)

But I can make some preamble discussion points that I’ve already discovered from past research that I just can't hardly question any further. These basically are as follows:

Jesus the Jew was not an urban myth.

The Jesus of Nazareth tale is not a hoax. Nor is it an ex post facto fabrication of a group of fishermen turned religious zealots. Nor was it a simple exaggeration into the miraculous of common day events. He did exist in history and he did walk the course of miles and miles from one town to the next and back again in the Galilee region around 30 A.D. preaching revolutionary ideas and performing what appeared to be miracles to the crowds that followed him.

There's just been too much serious serious research effort and studies done walking and tracing the paths that Jesus of Nazareth walked. I've read about half of Edersheim's Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah published in 1885 and this is a monumental publication of known research efforts. It’s totally amazing to me how every step and saying has been ad infinitum compared to the culture and geography of the time and mapped out over and over again. To make a cheap argument that Jesus never existed is intellectually lazy and intentionally self-deceptive at best -even when presented from pseudo-experts in a pseudo-documentary.

The documentation we have about Jesus Christ is reliable.

Again, there's just too much research that's been done on this. (I don't even begin to have to energy to go and try to disprove or prove any of the New Testament starting from myself.)

I can at least go back and read the biographies (gospels) written by Matthew and Mark and Luke and John and be satisfied that I am reading the words that this special guy named Jesus actually said to these people at the time.

Again, ultimately I could be wrong. I could always be wrong. But I think I can be at peace enough, given the studies done by others, that I don't have to keep going back to the fundamental questions of "how do you know Jesus even existed?" and "how do you know the writing we have of him aren’t frauds?"

I think I can safely study the words of Jesus to see what he said.

I'd much rather all this be obvious. But it's not.

I'd much rather also that I could "know for sure" when I conclude things, but unfortunately, I must admit, that I will always be open to the idea that I may be wrong - whatever a viewpoint I take. That sucks.

But I didn't create this situation. I'm only a creature within it - standing upon a desert isle looking around to see what I can find.

Can I be completely honest with myself and still be a Christian? - part IV

And so, I am lost.

I stand upon a desert isle looking around trying to find out how i got here and is Anyone ELSE out THERE.

I don't know. I can stand around and speculate. I look around and see what i can find. I can ask other people and see what they think and what they've found. But they are no better off than me. Everyone else seems also to be standing alone on an isle in need of an answer.

I can conclude. Yep. This is all there is. I don't see another Grand-One controlling things. I don't see a father figure, all-knowing, all-powerful Being ruling this grand universe or my tiny floating rock island. No one else is out there. Yep. I am alone - just you and me - and this rock island - and the few other things i see growing and crawling around.

But i can start studying. I can look around.

It wouldn't be right for me to just stand here and complain that the universe hasn't blatantly revealed itself to me. And God, if he exists, he should've just been obvious. Maybe i have to work to find out. Maybe i have to struggle through this exploration of the world (science) to find what i can find. Maybe to conclude that He is not there, because He's not made himself obvious to me is just plain stupid and arrogant on my part. Who the heck do i really think i am. Maybe (just maybe), it's not all about me. Or you.

[But I've already concluded that God can't be discovered through the obvious or through scientific instruments that extend the obvious. So now I'm just going in circles.]

....hmmmm... maybe it ain't about me ... i'm still tempted to complain though.... i'm kind of whiny and expecting and needy by nature... but that's just me... i'm a whiny-baby.

Waaaaahhhhhhhhhh !!!

Help! Somebody give me answer!

Crap. Nobody's out there. Or he's not listening. Or he's mad at me. Or he just don't care. Or he's a deaf-mute. Or he's just not there. Or He's there, but my preferred means of communication and way of knowing isn't His way of communication and knowing. Maybe i am in some kind of strange problematic fix of space and time that makes me this hampered creature that i am. Maybe i am some kind of remnant genetic adaptation that's just plain fucked up.

But... as hard as i try... i can't pretend i don't know this other story... this one i keep trying to forget. I keep trying to disbelieve. One i desperately don't want to believe, but at the same time can't deny that i've heard.

This crappy guy named Jesus Christ. Yes. He screws everything up. If you listen to him (or actually the words his students CLAIMED he said), he messes up everything. If he hadn't come along, or if i hadn't heard his story and his words, i'd be a simple scientific atheist asshole (not that atheists are assholes, but I would be definitely.)

Thanks Jesus. Thanks for screwing it all up. Why did you come and say all you said and die and then all you dang diciples who claimed he came back from the dead and walked around and revealed other things and said all this stuff about God. Then these dang disciples had to go and actually BELIEVE all that they said and all that they saw and then say all that they said they saw! What the heck?! You guys were making all that up, right? Then why'd you take it all the way to your graves? This story should've died on the vine. Or faded into another myth.

You all sure did make a big splash in this human drama. For just one guy and 12 followers, you set the world on fire.

Jesus - you said things that make all the difference in the world. I've got to reconsider everything now.

What? You don't even know what all he's said? You bum! You lazy bum! You're as whiny as me - almost.

(gee.... have i gone schizo now? maybe. but at least i'm moving. it gets tiring just standing in a corner beating myself all the time... geez, haven't i been this route before.... it looks familiar... how'd i get all the way back to the starting block? ... i forget things soooooooooo easily.... [sigh!]...[grooooan!].... [sigh some more.])

Can I be completely honest with myself and still be a Christian? - part III

It's not obvious whether there's a God or not... that makes me mad.

This definitely leans in favor of those who figure He doesn't exist. If it were my druthers, I'd have him hovering over a temple somewhere, maybe in the Middle East or Africa or Utah. We could all travel (like to Mecca) and talk to Him there and ask Him questions and plead with him to do us favors or heck - maybe just worship him or something... maybe even bring him gifts, or thank him for life or ask him to heal our sick children... you know.... basic things like that.

...but maybe that's a time to come.... maybe we aren't in the know because of some kind of time-span we're in where God and man are just separated and aren't able to know each other... maybe he's just decided to abandon us... maybe he has.

...more than likely, I'll have to admit, God just isn't there. He's not obvious because He doesn't exist. He is only a mythological outcropping of our imaginations. That seems very reasonable.

If I were cast onto a desert isle and found myself awake but with amnesia, after a certain amount of time, I think I would start calling out to the sky, and hope that some great big something/someone/other could hear me and maybe even come to rescue me and give me help and answers to questions I might have.

I might even start imagining that I could sense or tell when His invisible presence was watching me or not. If I had a wife and other people on the isle with me and I beat her and then felt bad about it (because I could relate that, "geez, I myself wouldn't want to be beaten") I might even want my bad deed to be wiped out and forgotten by this unseen omnipotent God that I was imagining. I might even create some kind of system where for every bad thing I did, I would give up some good thing (chop off my finger, sacrifice a goat, etc.) to make things even again with the universe (my mind, and my God.) I could even become a secret representative of my God and tell others that they have to do what I tell them or I'll get my God angry and after them. But if they pay me money (or goats or sex or something good) I could then appease this God for them and everyone would be happy.

Geez... this all sounds about like how I would expect a society to develop. If Lord of the Flies had a part two, it would've developed into something like this (had the Adults of course not stepped into the course of their history - calling the whole thing off.)

The Bible (actually a "prophet" named Isaiah claiming to speak for the god of the Jews) quotes God as saying, "My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thougts... my ways (and thoughts) are higher than your ways and thoughts"... meaning God has it figured out and is doing it different than how I think he should.

Again, some of the oldest text in existence cites a dilemma where the fellow named Job had a series of super rotten events happen in his life and then claims to talk to God face to face (so he could throw up into His face and say, "What the heck? this ain't fair! Why'd you let all these bad things happen to me." And God is quoted as simply rebuking him with, "Where were you when I created this whole universe anyway?" ... as in "you are a small puny human that i created and you don't have the right to question the things i do."

...so it could be that I just have no right to ask or maybe even know anything about God ...but then why do I imagine Him? ...why do I even ask if He's there or not?

Am I made with some kind of aching in my being (heart/soul/mind/spirit/brainwaves) that wants to know and maybe even like Mulder in the X-files WANTS to believe? Maybe.

But it's easy to see this as some kind of emotional, cultural, pre-conceived need and notion that's easily fabricated in society and the mind. That's pretty easy to believe actually. But it still leaves me feeling kind of empty and alone.

But truthfully, I'd rather feel empty and alone, than to be fooling myself. (I think?)

The bad news again now is ... whatever I believe.... I may be wrong.

Crap! This ain't good at all.

Can I be completely honest with myself and still be a Christian? - part II

...well if i can conclude that God is not obvious, then i have at least a few personal implications from this:

How can i be held accountable by a God that is not obvious?

I'm assuming here that "God" as well as carrying some implied all-powerfulness, carries also a responsibility for judgement (hopefully justice) and an ultimate intervention into the human condition.

If the very fact that his existence is indeed questionable (i.e. not obvious), then how can i be held accountable or responsible for the knowledge that He exists? I mean there may be some other way to find out about God, but if its not really obvious, should i be condemned for not discovering Him or pursuing a course of action that does discover Him?

And if He doesn't exist, then it is a waste of time pursuing a discovery of His existence (outside of other extra peripheral benefits such as self-discovery.)

...it would also be good to not get wrapped up into the religiousity of a faith with hopes of a life after death and judgement for all eternity of everything ever done right and wrong - all things that would have to be performed by some outside supreme Diety.

If He's not there (i'm avoiding the He/She/It thing for now if it's okay), then these grand-scheme events will never happen. ( yes, i'm throwing add-on attributes and events of a God not necessarily required, but hey, these things kind of go with the job of being Supreme Ruler.)

To reiterate:

God is not obivious. But, if He is there, then:
It would at least be harsh to hold myself accountable or to be held accountable by Him.

And, why be subtle or hidden? Why doesn't he just come out with it? Are we in some kind of dark planet scenario that's makes us incapable of seeing, hearing, (knowing?) God ala C.S. Lewis science fiction? Has he thrown us out of paradise ala "Garden of Eden" story? Is the hiddeness or subtleness a lack of my ability in nature? But by definition He would still have to be choosing to be "non-obvious" since by simply being God He could be making Himself known obviously to anyone or everyone at any given point in time!

God is not obivious. But, if He is NOT there, then:
The attempt to discover Him at best only produces side-effect benefits for myself or societal benefits for others. (He obviously won't be discovered if He does not exist. Right?)

And what a waste of effort and frustration to try and please some non-existing entity! The fabricated god that humans create in their minds is only a personal or societal reinforcer of norms and values. No actual entity that lives in the sky or on another planet or in another realm will ever judge us, rescue us, entreat us, hear us, or intervene into our ongoing history of people upon this planet. God is only a myth required perhaps by men to supplement their struggles for survival - justifying actions, keeping non-beneficial behaviors in check, and possibly satisfying mental and emotional needs for an ultimate parent figure. All these may be good things and good reasons to pretend or convince ourselves that there is a god, but of course it does not make it so. (I don't think.)

And finally (for now),

God is not obvious. And unless He/She/It (we're back) changes this non-obviousness, then wherever we fall on this issue, WE MIGHT BE WRONG.

You get that? Hey believer! Hey non-believer! Atheist! Non-atheist! You and i might be wrong!

You may think there is, but maybe there isn't a God.

You may think there isn't, but maybe there is a God.

...hmmmmm.

(can i buy into this much at least? i think so.)

Can I be completely honest with myself and still be a Christian?

Maybe. Maybe not. I'm willing to see.

For a starter, I have to establish this first logical conclusion below:

Let's face it. Nothing in this world shows us that there is a God. You can go outside, look at the sun, moon, and stars - and the trees, rocks and streams - nothing objectively allows one person to point and another person to see and say, "Ah, yes. There is a personality like mine but that is all-powerful. And He (She? It?) must be the maker of all this."

Because there IS a "thing", does not neccessarily mean some other "thing" made that thing. Some things just exist. And they change and move and alter chemical make-ups or are born and die and move through time.

I pick up a rock. Nobody made it. It just is. It came from other rocks that came from molten chemicals maybe from some other day and age from way back. Or maybe not. But wind and rain and myself and animals and pressure and dirt and air and other things have changed this rock from who knows how long back? I can't tell. But because this rock exists, I can not justifiably build a mental construction of a divine being that sits above me making these kinds of things. I mean I can construe this, but in all honesty that's not a fair conjecture. It's a conjecture of choice and more fairly, a conjecture of imagination and will. Or even faith.

So, (in contrast to what intelligent design advocates say) one cannot step out into the world and point and say to someone else "See. God exists." and logically and necessarily expect agreement.

[I am purposely using a semiotic triangle of pointing and communicating between two people in an intersubjective manner ala Walker Percy to avoid the purely subjective conclusion-making inferences that anyone can make about most anything to oneself. We're trying to stay in the realm of the rational and communicable]

Let's face it. This is the truth.

The opposite also is true.

You cannot step out into the world and point and see and say, "See. There is no God."

The world itself is a big floating rock ...with growth and life and chemical reactions and things happening upon it over time. We are people upon this rock. We are aware of ourselves. We are aware we came from somewhere or something or someone. We do not know for sure what or where or who that someone or something is. We do not even know for sure that there is a someone or something out there. We may just be chemical processes that have gelled together and formed some sort of awareness and self-awareness as an anomaly to this bio-chemical world of animals and plants and growth and cycles of events that can occur upon a rock floating in space over time.

We really don't know and we really can't tell by standing up and looking around and trying to find the obvious.

It is not obvious.

Let's face it.

It is not obvious.

We do not know.

From this angle, starting from and with ourselves and our senses and the obvious world around us, it is not obvious where or how we came to be here. We do not know that there is a being with consciousness, and knowledge and forethought and creation-ability power that has made us who and what we are as beings and placed us upon this rock planet that we who speak English call earth.

It's just not obvious.

This is a big hurdle for me and a major stopping and starting point that I have to swallow hard several times before I can keep it down.

I'm still swallowing it ... so give me some time. But I am convinced that any intelligent, thoughtful, honest person has to agree with me on this point.

Any nay-sayers? If not then, I'll go on....

crap about iraq nobody cares about

...my son is a bit left, but he has been in Iraq for over a year now and swears that the situation is not good at all. He sent me an article with the following precursor:

hey dad,
i was looking for a good article about how things are here that matched up with some of the things i see. there's alot of hyped up writings about how bad things are doing than (not nearly as much lying garbage about how things are getting better i imagine) this one i thought is nice and to the point, free of sensational hooplah and last but not least: accurate. i doubt they report much in the states about how things really are doing so this is like a quick overview for you to read while your bored at work. something about bush's latest speech outlining our planning in Iraq just really irked me. so many blatant lies it's just ridiculous. enjoy.

... i asked him, "Really? are you sure this is a non-biased and a realistic view of how it is there? and can i publish this?" He replied:

sure and yes.
so much of this rings true like you wouldn't believe. especially when dealing with the contract world and seeing all the private companies that are out here using indian, pakistani, philipinno, and central american labor. and the term 'haji' is something i've used every day all the time without even thinking of how it's completely racist. i think every guy here uses that term well before iraqi or 'LN' local national, the PC term. after reading this i can see all these reflections of what it's talking about in the big picture in my every day little picture. it really opened my eyes.

...who am i to argue since he's there and i'm here?

Faith, Doubt and an Atheist Exposed

So is this how dumb our Christian stance sounds all the time? I hope not, but sadly, I know it probably does.

I heard a line recently. Someone talking about some beautiful paradise said, "It's better than heaven. There's no Christians there."

A friend of mine (I'm pretty sure he's a Christian, too) has a bumper sticker that says, "Lord, save me from your followers."

I understand these thoughts. Christians annoy me too (and I am one). Maybe it's just a certain type of Christian though that does. My faith isn't diminished I don't think, but I do feel different from these people. I love 'em and all still. I just feel like they're kind of retarded or hypnotized in a non-obvious cult-like daze.

On the other hand, Paul the Apostle talks about how God has chosen the foolish things in the world to confound the wise (Jesus' crucifixion being primary.)

There's always some kind of grand paradox that the universe seems to be playing. I'm sure if I ever became an atheist, I'd die and find out I was wrong. But as a Christian, I also have nagging doubts that this could all be some kind of grand historical mistake.

Its kind of like buying stocks. I'm almost always wrong. If I buy 'em I was wrong. If I don't buy 'em I was wrong.

Maybe I should be a Taoist.

I'm curious about the claims this atheist lady makes as to being able to sleep at night and be at peace with herself. That's along the lines of the same sales pitches Christian theology used to offer.

Funny... I don't feel at peace. Never have really. Is that really a side-effect of either Christianity or atheism? Or is it just a result of ceasing to argue with yourself?

Actually, most of the old testament prophets were pretty miserable. Elijah prayed to die. Jeremiah was a famous moaner-groaner. Most of them were isolated pessimists that everyone else hated. Only after they were long dead and gone were they praised or revered by anybody.

Except for Job. He actually got a bunch of material rewards again before he died. (But he did go through hell before that.)