Questions for 2011

I haven't done a lot of blogging in 2010, and probably won't in 2011 in all honesty.  But let's pretend that I will make a New Year's resolution and stick with it.  So here's the questions that are vexing me right now that I am promising myself that I will take on in 2011:

1.  The relationship between science and scripture, especially concerning the book of Genesis.  I have my own hints for where this will go with Genesis 1, but it still leaves a lot of other questions open.  Supposing that there is a good resolution for the issue of what Genesis 1 says about creation and what modern science says about creation, what does that mean for the rest of the book?  How about all the other crazy stuff in the first 11 chapters?  When (if ever) does scripture stop being ancient near eastern myth stories, and start being something more akin to a history textbook?  Nevermind.  I guess that's a stupid question.  But I'm going to work on phrasing it better and answering it anyway.

2.  Judgement and Hell.  Can we have one without the other?  Are either real?  Should I go to hell for even asking this question?  Just how far does God's grace extend?  Who gets excluded, and on what grounds?

3.  The relationship between Christianity and other religions.  If Christianity is true, does that make everything else false?  Are adherents of other religions brothers and sisters in a common cause, or dreadfully misled worshippers of demons?  Or, are they just fellow delusionists who need to wake from our common mythological dreamland?  What do I do with the good that I see in other religions and beliefs?

After solving these problems in 2011, I'm not sure that there will be much to cover in 2012.  But I guess the world is ending then so it probably won't matter too much.  So... before the world ends, look forward to the solving of those 3 issues.

Apparently Bobby is dead.

Or at least I think he is.  A new Facebook friend told me he was, but it's kind of hard to believe because it happened over two years ago.  I guess it happened in a motorcycle accident.  Maybe it makes sense for Bobby.  He always was kind of impulsive, even to the extent of being reckless.  But not die-at-the-tender-young-age-of-35 reckless.

I had a lot of fun with Bobby growing up.  We were in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts together, and went to the same middle school and high school.  We may have been on some sports teams together too, but I can't really remember.  He was a great guy and a lot of fun and will be missed.  If he is dead.  But I think he must be?  It's kind of hard to tell right now.

The gospel for Billy

I work a lot with youth in my job, and I spend a lot of time with them outside of the public school setting.  Recently, a few middle school students have been coming across the street to our church to hang out after school.  I don't know if this sounds cool or glamorous at all - kids who normally wouldn't have anything to do with church coming to hang out after school - but it's not always all that great.  I love that they feel welcome, that they feel comfortable with me, and that they consider the church a safe and fun place to hang out.  But they also act wild, disrespect me and the building, take stuff for granted, and basically act like they should be able to act as crazy as they want and take as much stuff as they want.

From time to time they share with me stuff that's going on in their lives.  One of them (we'll call him Billy) can be particularly destructive.  Sometimes he just likes to throw or break stuff just for the fun of it.  Anyway, he told me the other day that he was going to have to move to another state to live with his mom.  Apparently, his dad is in jail for a year for a hunting-related crime.  Though Billy protests his dad's innocence, the news story Billy showed me detailed a long history of Billy's dad committing the same crime over and over again, and now he has to go to jail to pay for it.  For Billy, this initially meant that he would live with his dad's girlfriend, but she ended up moving out of the state herself.  This left Billy to briefly live with the leftover roomate who used to live with Billy's dad and the dad's girlfriend.

During this few days when he lived with the roomate, Billy would stop by the church for hours at a time.  He was nearly homeless.  The final solution of sending him to live with his mom is not a great one either.  To the best of my knowledge, she doesn't want him.  She already has Billy's older brother living with her, but it looks to me that she is really more interested in her current husband and their new baby.  I can't imagine that wild Billy with all of his problems will be all that welcome there, especially since he doesn't get along with his mom's husband.

One day this last week, Billy's day consisted of skipping school and watching porn in the morning, walking to the dollar store and stealing stuff, showing up at school for a while, and then coming to hang out at church after school.  So, in all this, I wonder what my role should be?  In my previous roles in evangelical churches, I think it was pretty clear: get Billy to make a decision to ask Christ into his heart, and then encourage Billy (with Christ's help) to live a more moral life.  To me, this rings pretty hollow for Billy.  Everyone in his life has essentially abandoned him, or doesn't want him, and I'm supposed to do my best to get him to pray a prayer for Jesus to forgive him of his sins?  Why does Billy care about his sins?  Is Billy's problem that he's a bad guy, or that God sees him as a bad guy unless he asks Jesus to take care of his sins?  It seems like Billy's problem is more that there aren't very many people (if any) who really love him.  His dad probably does.  I don't know about his mom - she sure doesn't act like it.  I don't know if his dad's girlfriend does.  Should she really be expected to raise this wild kid who is not her own on her own?

So, I wonder, what is my role with Billy if it is not to get him to say a prayer and then come to church and live a more moral life?  I think it is first of all doing what I tried to do: be the best adult friend that I could for Billy.  That means that I didn't pretend that I was a kid like him, I didn't try to be his dad or teacher, and I wasn't the cops either.  I listened to him, spent time with him, gave him stuff to eat and drink, and put up with all of his crap.  But I still wonder, what does it matter that I work at a church?  Shouldn't a say something spiritual to him, or want something God-related for him?  What should that be?

My best guess is that it is to tell him good news about Jesus, but not in a way that is all about him making some kind of decision for Jesus or asking him to get his act together.  So, what is the gospel (God's good news) for Billy?  I'm not sure.  But it probably has something to do with God's unconditional love and acceptance for Billy, and that He will not abandon Billy.  There's probably more to it too, but I'm kind of fuzzy on that.  I also don't know how to tell that to Billy in a way that doesn't make it like I'm putting conditions on our relationship.  I'd like it to be authentic, but I don't know how to do that yet.

Tomorrow, Billy will leave for another state, but he will probably be back.  It seems like in these situations the kid bounces around from place to place, and I think Billy likes it here a lot better than in the other state with his mom.  We will see.  Maybe by then I will have figured out whatever God's good news is for Billy.

Keeping your religion (or lack thereof) to yourself

A good acquaintance of mine recently "converted" to atheism.  Having grown up in the church, he apparently decided that it wasn't for him.  I have to admit that it has been fairly painful for me.  It's not so much that I fear for his eternal salvation or anything like that - I think God is big enough to handle all of that and my friend's questioning and rejecting his faith.  It's more that I mourn the loss of relationship with him.  We weren't the best of friends; we knew each other through attending the same church.  But what (de-)conversion to atheism has meant for this person is no longer going to church and mostly abandoning his old Christian friends.  I know he has a least one good friend who also is an atheist, so perhaps that played a role in his (de-)conversion.

It strikes me that this guy is now an atheist in the way that I hope no one is a Christian.  He is disrespectful and dismissive of Christian beliefs and the idea of God.  Perhaps I read too much into it, but it strikes me as being disrespectful and dismissive to his Christian friends as well.  He is also somewhat evangelistic (though I'm not sure that it is "good news" that he has to share).  He hopes that others are also (de-)converted to atheism and is forming a club to promote atheist views.

In my less charitable moments, I wonder if this attitude is part and parcel with atheism.  It pretty much is by definition more about what you are against (theism) than what you are for.  It's in the name itself.  Christians, at least, have some positive content to their faith that they can share for the good of the world.  I'm sure that's the case with atheists too, but sometimes I wonder.  Maybe they can focus on promoting their particular views of epistemology, science, and reason, and less on demeaning the faiths of their neighbors.

One painful thing about my friend's (de-)conversion has been seeing similarities between the way he has acted and the way some Christians act when they are newly converted as well.  Does becoming a Christian (or atheist) mean abandoning your old friends, dismissing and belittling their beliefs, and aggressively trying to promote your religion (or lack thereof)?  I hope not.  I don't want to abandon the idea of evangelism, but if it looks like this, I'd rather that everyone kept their beliefs to themselves.

Professional Christians

I love this quote, it's from a book by Frank Shaeffer.

I can’t prove this, but I think that any person who remains a “professional Christian” in the evangelical/fundamentalist world for a lifetime, especially any pastor, risks becoming an atheist and/or a liar. Such individuals put on an act of certainty. Sooner or later they become flakes faking it, or quit. Worse yet, some just stop asking questions. The very fact that a preacher can fool others when he or she has so many doubts makes the self-appointed mediator of faith the deepest cynic of all if, that is, he or she doesn’t embrace paradox.

You can find the context of it here. I couldn't say it any better myself. The world is not the black and white, flat world that many evangelicals paint it to be. It's complex, grey, and multi-textured. Either you find a way to live in tension with paradoxes and things that don't make sense, or you end up faking it and living a sham.

Can a Christian be a good American?

This poor neglected blog :(

I got an email from someone asking if a Muslim can be a good American. It's a pretty awful caricature of Islam, so I thought I'd write my own response. Here's the email I received:

In light of the murders at Ft. Hood by a Muslim Officer (who had sworn to defend the people, our Constitution and the United States ) this article becomes more timely and real than ever;

Can a good Muslim be a good American?

I sent that question to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years.

The following is his reply:

Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia .

Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam.

Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran (Koran).

Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca , to which he turns in prayer five times a day.

Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.

Politically - no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and Destruction of America , the great Satan.

Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him.

Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.

Philosophically - no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran's 99 excellent names.

Therefore after much study and deliberation....perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both "good" Muslims and good Americans.

Call it what you wish....it's still the truth.

If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future.

Pass it on Fellow Americans. The religious war is bigger than we know or understand.

So, here's my response:

On the other hand it makes you wonder, can a Christian be a good American?

Theologically – no. Because his or her allegiance is to the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and worldwide body of believers, not to the U.S. nation.

Scripturally – no. Because Christians are told that they are a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), not that their country is a holy nation.

Geographically – no. Because Christians claim no ground as more holy than any other, and owe responsibility to the whole world, not just one nation.

Socially – no. Because Christians are called to love their enemies, whether they reside in their own nation or any other.

Politically – no. Because Christians do not owe allegiance to any political party, but are called first to submit themselves to Christ and one another.

Domestically – no. Because Christians are called to live by higher standards than U.S. law asks.

Intellectually – no. Because Christians must look critically at the Constitution as a document based on Enlightenment thinking.

Philosophically – no. Christians are not bound to believe that democracy and capitalism are the best systems to live by. These philosophical ideas and their applications must be subject to the critique of scripture and Christian community.

Spiritually – no. Because Christians cannot be content to live with a nominal civil religion that proclaims “one nation under God” or “in God we trust.”

Therefore, after much study and deliberation… perhaps we should be suspicious of ALL CHRISTIANS in this country. They obviously can’t be both “good” Christians and “good” Americans.

Call it what you wish, it’s still the truth.

Pass it on fellow Americans. “Good” Christians shouldn’t be trusted!

More facts and values

This hearkens way back to the old facts and values post in May. I just can't let go of the topic! Here is a link to a great article published by Newsweek that explains research by atheist Sam Harris that shows that "facts" and "opinions" are processed the same way in the brain. In other words, our brains essentially don't do much distinguishing between the two. The author of the article quotes Harris as saying, "belief is belief is belief."

This is a big deal for Harris because he wants to dispute the idea that religious belief is something special and different from other ways of believing. Ironically, I would love to cede him that point, if only to make another of my own. I think this research helps to prove, more importantly, the point I was trying to make a while ago about the accepted divide between facts and values: it simply should not exist!

"Facts" don't belong in a special category of their own, as uninterpreted or unmediated statements. Everything is filtered through the unique belief system of the individual, whether it is a statement like "the sky is blue" or one like "Jesus has risen from the dead." So, the perhaps unintended effect of Harris' research is to continue to dethrone the place of epistemological privilege for science. "Science" as a system that rests on bare, uninterpreted facts, is a falsehood. Atheists like Harris now must descend to the same level as believers in any other belief system. As he said: "belief is belief is belief," whether that belief is in pink unicorns, Jesus rising from the dead, or the red-shift of light from far away stars. Welcome to the level playing field!