Table of Contents
Editors Essay
Photo Essay-Chaos into Beauty
Makelings Report
Yum Drops
Missionary Report
Story: Life in a Kaleidoscope: Chapter 4
Why I Believe in Baptizing Infants: Part 1
Around the Web
Photo Essay-Chaos into Beauty
Makelings Report
Yum Drops
Missionary Report
Story: Life in a Kaleidoscope: Chapter 4
Why I Believe in Baptizing Infants: Part 1
Around the Web
Ignorance is bliss, so the saying goes, but ignorance with serious responsibility is tragic. A young child will believe that marshmallows grow in marshmallow fields. It's a naivety that is sweet and cute, and it’s one of the reasons why we love kids. But that kind of ignorance is hardly adorable from a forty year old man. The same is true for our faith. The "milk" of immature faith, as the writer of Hebrews says, is not enough. We need more. We need the solid foods that come by having "the powers of discernment trained by constant practice to dinstinguish good from evil"(Heb 5:14). Spiritual marshmallow fields can be all too believable for far too many Christians. The problem is that there are so many well credentialed Christians peddling distorted Christian teaching that it can feel overwhelming, maybe even impossible, to discern real from spin, right from wrong, truth from error.
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? An author or speaker has a strong following. Their books are full of recommendations from well known Christian leaders, their words are eloquent, they even back up their claims with Bible, and yet other Christians may warn that their teaching is not only wrong but dangerous. Who should you believe? Or you bring a problem to your friend who you consider a faithful Christian. They listen, pray with you, read some verses, and yet the counsel they give unsettles you. Is the problem with their counsel or with you? Or a Christian friend is excited about a new book they have read. They are buying up copies and giving them to everyone they know. You read the book and find that the teaching in it would require a complete overhaul of your life. Should you listen to your friend and the book? Or is this just another short-lived Christian fad enhanced with a short-lived placebo effect? Discerning truth is a skill that takes much hard work, and there are no short cuts. Nevertheless, here is a short list of principles to aid you:
1) There are no silver bullets. According to the Christian faith, the problems of the world are the evil powers over the world, the evil in the world, and the evil inside of you. That’s a huge web of complex evil that has no quick and easy solution. You should always be very wary of quick fixes and one size fits all solutions. The formula goes like this: The problem today is "x" and so you really need to do "y," and if you do "y" all your dreams will come true. It’s never as explicit as that, but you get the idea. Here is an example. The problem with your marriage is that you don’t have the time for one another that you once did. What you need is a date night. Here are a bunch of stories of couples who started having dates nights and now they are super happy. You see, you can be happy too by having a date night. Or, America has lost it’s spiritual bearings. Once upon a time a bunch of Christians prayed a lot and revival came to America. Revival is what we need, so if we just pray really hard for revival it will happen. Now I’m not opposed to date nights (I love them) or to a spiritual awakening (I pray for this), but things are never that easy. Not in marriage, or in the Spirit of God moving on a nation, or in anything else involving human beings. The Son of God didn’t come into the world to solve problems that could easily be cured with date nights and prayer meetings.
2) It isn’t all slant. It’s getting all too frequent to hear people, Christians included, assume that basically everything that doesn’t agree with them is slanted and untrue. For example, there is a whole conspiracy about whether President Obama was ever born in America even though there are documents, people, and frankly a boat load of evidence proving he was and zero evidence suggesting he wasn’t. The response is something like, “Well, of course. What would you expect from a mass media-wide cover up. Destroy all the real evidence and replace it with made up evidence.” Or there is the whole gender bathroom issue. When someone argues that predators or highly hormonal boys will use the new green light as an opportunity to victimize women, which seems at least like a suggestion worth some consideration, they are dismissed as narrow and bigoted. Everything that CNN says is slant. Everything that Fox says is slant. Everything the conservative talk show host says is sland. Everhting the liberal talk show hose is slant. Or so the pundits tell us. But everything can’t be slant. Sure, we all bias information to our advantage, but that doesn't mean there are no facts at all. Secular postmodernists have been saying for years that there is no such thing as truth. Just slant, opinions, and power plays, and now we seem to be all too ready to prove them true.
In our churches this kind of thinking can be tragic as church members stop actually searching for the truth of Christ because there isn’t any such truth. There is just what those Calvinsts say or those Catholics say or that one preacher says. But Christ is not opinion. He is hard, solid, objective fact. His ways are not up for debate. They are real, knowable, and unslanted. Just remember, if you always dismiss what you disagree with because it is just someone else’s opinion, then you are dismissing yourself as well. And more, you are dismissing THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. So don’t be lazy and swallow everything “your side” feeds you and/or reject everything “the other side” says. Do your homework. Find out the facts because there are such things as facts. Study the issue thoughtfully and prayerfully. And if you don’t have time to do so, than you probably need to wait to have an opinion.
3) Never believe in fear. The easiest way to motivate people to action is to give them something to fear. But, as John says, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . . and whoever fears has not been perfected in love”(1 John 4:18). If your primary motive is fear, you will be irrational, unstable, and selfish. Fear is about you. It’s about protecting you and your feelings. The fact that our Savior is the one dangling, bloodied from a cross should say something about what he thinks of such motivation. Whenever a preacher, politician, author, or even friend prompts you to action with what ifs and slippery slope arguments and woe is us appeals, at the very least you should realize this person is not grounded in love but is living by fear. And it’s an easy sell because there is nothing in us that is more powerful, no button that is easier to push, than fear. Tap into someone’s fear and you tap into their energy. All those conspiracy emails you get. All those Facebook posts in all caps or links to articles with the subtle encouragement: “EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS TO READ THIS!!!!” Yeah, that’s fear mongering. It’s probably best to just delete.
4) Believe in love. I just said that nothing is more powerful in us than fear. Well, there is one exception. “Perfect love casts out fear.” The power of Christ in you that drives out your fear is love. The degree to which love is at work in you is the degree to which you are not controlled by fear. Fear and love are not friends. They will war against each other, and one will win. There is no person living by his fears and really loving people and God at the same time. But there are plenty of Christians growing in their love slowly finding strength to overcome their fears, and those are the people we want to be. To love God, your neighbor, friend, spouse, children, the local church, the poor, the elderly, the foreigner, the single mothers, and even your enemies are good things. These are where the heart of Christ is found. To champion a cause that revels in divisiveness, celebrates pride, belittles others, and discourages grace is never of Christ.
5) Believe in God’s love. Of course, perfect love is not easy to come by and it cannot be self-manufactured. There are no meditation classes, new diets, or a set of books that will make you love more. “We love,” John says, “because he first loved us.” The starting point of love is not you but God. This is crucial. It is impossible to discern truth from error when you don’t believe in God’s love. If you operate from day to day with the sinking sense that God is not happy with you, that God is against you, then you have no recourse but to live by fear. And fear is the enemy of truth. But if you live knowing that God has sent Christ for you, that he died for you, that he has covered you and all your failure with his sacrifice, then you walk upright knowing that God wants to teach you, that he wants you to understand, that he is protecting you so you don’t have to be afraid.
Christian teaching that downplays the love and grace of God isn’t just bad teaching. It isn’t Christian teaching at all. It’s man made fear mongering white washed with Jesus. A God that loads you up with impossible standards and expectations and leaves you there to wallow in your misery does not exist. A God who wants you to pay for your mistakes does not exist. The cross of Christ is the ultimate revelation of God, and the cross cries out that there are no limits to how far God will go to save you from your own sin. Nothing shows us just how much God wants to suffer with us, come to us, and wash us from the filth we have made of our lives than the cross. Those who know Christ cannot stop singing of his love and grace. Follow that song and you will find the Singer whose only song is Truth.
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? An author or speaker has a strong following. Their books are full of recommendations from well known Christian leaders, their words are eloquent, they even back up their claims with Bible, and yet other Christians may warn that their teaching is not only wrong but dangerous. Who should you believe? Or you bring a problem to your friend who you consider a faithful Christian. They listen, pray with you, read some verses, and yet the counsel they give unsettles you. Is the problem with their counsel or with you? Or a Christian friend is excited about a new book they have read. They are buying up copies and giving them to everyone they know. You read the book and find that the teaching in it would require a complete overhaul of your life. Should you listen to your friend and the book? Or is this just another short-lived Christian fad enhanced with a short-lived placebo effect? Discerning truth is a skill that takes much hard work, and there are no short cuts. Nevertheless, here is a short list of principles to aid you:
1) There are no silver bullets. According to the Christian faith, the problems of the world are the evil powers over the world, the evil in the world, and the evil inside of you. That’s a huge web of complex evil that has no quick and easy solution. You should always be very wary of quick fixes and one size fits all solutions. The formula goes like this: The problem today is "x" and so you really need to do "y," and if you do "y" all your dreams will come true. It’s never as explicit as that, but you get the idea. Here is an example. The problem with your marriage is that you don’t have the time for one another that you once did. What you need is a date night. Here are a bunch of stories of couples who started having dates nights and now they are super happy. You see, you can be happy too by having a date night. Or, America has lost it’s spiritual bearings. Once upon a time a bunch of Christians prayed a lot and revival came to America. Revival is what we need, so if we just pray really hard for revival it will happen. Now I’m not opposed to date nights (I love them) or to a spiritual awakening (I pray for this), but things are never that easy. Not in marriage, or in the Spirit of God moving on a nation, or in anything else involving human beings. The Son of God didn’t come into the world to solve problems that could easily be cured with date nights and prayer meetings.
2) It isn’t all slant. It’s getting all too frequent to hear people, Christians included, assume that basically everything that doesn’t agree with them is slanted and untrue. For example, there is a whole conspiracy about whether President Obama was ever born in America even though there are documents, people, and frankly a boat load of evidence proving he was and zero evidence suggesting he wasn’t. The response is something like, “Well, of course. What would you expect from a mass media-wide cover up. Destroy all the real evidence and replace it with made up evidence.” Or there is the whole gender bathroom issue. When someone argues that predators or highly hormonal boys will use the new green light as an opportunity to victimize women, which seems at least like a suggestion worth some consideration, they are dismissed as narrow and bigoted. Everything that CNN says is slant. Everything that Fox says is slant. Everything the conservative talk show host says is sland. Everhting the liberal talk show hose is slant. Or so the pundits tell us. But everything can’t be slant. Sure, we all bias information to our advantage, but that doesn't mean there are no facts at all. Secular postmodernists have been saying for years that there is no such thing as truth. Just slant, opinions, and power plays, and now we seem to be all too ready to prove them true.
In our churches this kind of thinking can be tragic as church members stop actually searching for the truth of Christ because there isn’t any such truth. There is just what those Calvinsts say or those Catholics say or that one preacher says. But Christ is not opinion. He is hard, solid, objective fact. His ways are not up for debate. They are real, knowable, and unslanted. Just remember, if you always dismiss what you disagree with because it is just someone else’s opinion, then you are dismissing yourself as well. And more, you are dismissing THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. So don’t be lazy and swallow everything “your side” feeds you and/or reject everything “the other side” says. Do your homework. Find out the facts because there are such things as facts. Study the issue thoughtfully and prayerfully. And if you don’t have time to do so, than you probably need to wait to have an opinion.
3) Never believe in fear. The easiest way to motivate people to action is to give them something to fear. But, as John says, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . . and whoever fears has not been perfected in love”(1 John 4:18). If your primary motive is fear, you will be irrational, unstable, and selfish. Fear is about you. It’s about protecting you and your feelings. The fact that our Savior is the one dangling, bloodied from a cross should say something about what he thinks of such motivation. Whenever a preacher, politician, author, or even friend prompts you to action with what ifs and slippery slope arguments and woe is us appeals, at the very least you should realize this person is not grounded in love but is living by fear. And it’s an easy sell because there is nothing in us that is more powerful, no button that is easier to push, than fear. Tap into someone’s fear and you tap into their energy. All those conspiracy emails you get. All those Facebook posts in all caps or links to articles with the subtle encouragement: “EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS TO READ THIS!!!!” Yeah, that’s fear mongering. It’s probably best to just delete.
4) Believe in love. I just said that nothing is more powerful in us than fear. Well, there is one exception. “Perfect love casts out fear.” The power of Christ in you that drives out your fear is love. The degree to which love is at work in you is the degree to which you are not controlled by fear. Fear and love are not friends. They will war against each other, and one will win. There is no person living by his fears and really loving people and God at the same time. But there are plenty of Christians growing in their love slowly finding strength to overcome their fears, and those are the people we want to be. To love God, your neighbor, friend, spouse, children, the local church, the poor, the elderly, the foreigner, the single mothers, and even your enemies are good things. These are where the heart of Christ is found. To champion a cause that revels in divisiveness, celebrates pride, belittles others, and discourages grace is never of Christ.
5) Believe in God’s love. Of course, perfect love is not easy to come by and it cannot be self-manufactured. There are no meditation classes, new diets, or a set of books that will make you love more. “We love,” John says, “because he first loved us.” The starting point of love is not you but God. This is crucial. It is impossible to discern truth from error when you don’t believe in God’s love. If you operate from day to day with the sinking sense that God is not happy with you, that God is against you, then you have no recourse but to live by fear. And fear is the enemy of truth. But if you live knowing that God has sent Christ for you, that he died for you, that he has covered you and all your failure with his sacrifice, then you walk upright knowing that God wants to teach you, that he wants you to understand, that he is protecting you so you don’t have to be afraid.
Christian teaching that downplays the love and grace of God isn’t just bad teaching. It isn’t Christian teaching at all. It’s man made fear mongering white washed with Jesus. A God that loads you up with impossible standards and expectations and leaves you there to wallow in your misery does not exist. A God who wants you to pay for your mistakes does not exist. The cross of Christ is the ultimate revelation of God, and the cross cries out that there are no limits to how far God will go to save you from your own sin. Nothing shows us just how much God wants to suffer with us, come to us, and wash us from the filth we have made of our lives than the cross. Those who know Christ cannot stop singing of his love and grace. Follow that song and you will find the Singer whose only song is Truth.
LBB Life
Photo Essay: Chaos into Beauty
During some of our recent lessons in Chi Rho, we looked at the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis and God’s power to turn chaos into beauty and death into hope and life. We noted such actions weren’t just something God did occasionally on a whim or when it was really needed, but that it is his character. What he is always doing. His consistent pattern that he even weaved into the fabric of creation. We went to see the world through new eyes, and what we found was a world full of redemption and resurrection; chaos transforming into beauty, death shaping into life. Here are some examples from typical, mundane life.
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The chaos of tree deconstruction is one of the most beautiful sights of the year. The Fall of beauty making way for new growth, decomposing to feed new life.
A dandelion is dying, hundreds of new dandelions are about to rise.
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Makelings - November
Makelings this time around:
Victoria showed us how to make cool yarn creations. She had everything from a bag of Gondor to Toothless the Dragon.
Jake played us some blues, explained what makes blues music, and talked about how the sound, style, and emotion of the blues connected with his faith.
Fall food galore! Here is just some of the bounty. Hot apple cider, pumpkin man with candy stick hair, and delicious pumpkin rolls.
As part of Maklings Kiaros Productions premiered a new comedy short. Everyone seemed to enjoy it....could be that they were just being nice. Regardless....it was extremely epic. - Sean
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Yum Drops
Yum Drops is our monthly attempt to promote what we feel is really at the heart of our church . . . food! Where there is good food, there is community. In promoting good food, we promote togetherness. Here are a few fall recipes. Enjoy!
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup gluten free flour blend (I used Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon clove
2 large eggs
1 cup cooked pumpkin puree
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease 9x13-inch baking pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, spices and salt. Make a well in the center and add in the eggs, pumpkin, coconut oil and vanilla extract. Beat for two minutes until the batter becomes smooth and slightly sticky.
Scoop the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the center is firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.
Frost when cooled with Cream Cheese Icing, recipe follows.
Cream Cheese Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar, more if needed
1/2 cup cream cheese
2-3 teaspoons vanilla, as needed
Pour the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and add the cream cheese. Start beating to combine the cream cheese and sugar. Add the vanilla extract a teaspoon at a time, and beat until the icing is smooth. If the icing is too stiff add a teaspoon of milk. If the icing gets too thin, add more sugar and beat.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup gluten free flour blend (I used Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon clove
2 large eggs
1 cup cooked pumpkin puree
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease 9x13-inch baking pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, spices and salt. Make a well in the center and add in the eggs, pumpkin, coconut oil and vanilla extract. Beat for two minutes until the batter becomes smooth and slightly sticky.
Scoop the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the center is firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.
Frost when cooled with Cream Cheese Icing, recipe follows.
Cream Cheese Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar, more if needed
1/2 cup cream cheese
2-3 teaspoons vanilla, as needed
Pour the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and add the cream cheese. Start beating to combine the cream cheese and sugar. Add the vanilla extract a teaspoon at a time, and beat until the icing is smooth. If the icing is too stiff add a teaspoon of milk. If the icing gets too thin, add more sugar and beat.
Pumpkin Muffins
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
Directions-
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup oats, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Whisk pumpkin purée, 1 cup brown sugar, white sugar, vegetable oil, applesauce, eggs, an vanilla extract in a separate large bowl. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture; mix well. Fold in raisins.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
Directions-
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup oats, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Whisk pumpkin purée, 1 cup brown sugar, white sugar, vegetable oil, applesauce, eggs, an vanilla extract in a separate large bowl. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture; mix well. Fold in raisins.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes.
Missionary Report: Nico & Stacie Ticona (Peru)
by Adam Gordon
The Ticona’s Missionaries to Peru: Nico and Stacy are currently living in Chicago as they continue to raise money to return to Peru. Nico is working part time as a pastor to a hispanic church and watching his young boys. Stacy is teaching at a local school to help supplement their income. Their goal is to start a church in Ayacucho, the capital of the region and about an hour from Huanta. It is a university town and a strategic center to reach the region. They are hoping to get there by next summer and are focusing on raising support from individual donors rather than from churches.
The Kahlers Missionaries to Mexico: They have planted a church in Bocoyna, Chihuahua Mexico that for some time has been run by native pastors and leaders. They also train and send missionaries to other parts of Mexico. September was dedicated as missionary month at Mexico Baptist Ministries. During that time the church decided to send the Martinez family, Adriel, Jacqueline and their son Adrian, to Xalapa, Veracruz to start a new mission. They are looking for a facility in the prime location to start services.
Jake Molter: Jake is no longer a part of Campus Outreach. He is now pursuing ministry as a businessmen in downtown Indianapolis. He will still be stopping by from time to time to visit.
The Kahlers Missionaries to Mexico: They have planted a church in Bocoyna, Chihuahua Mexico that for some time has been run by native pastors and leaders. They also train and send missionaries to other parts of Mexico. September was dedicated as missionary month at Mexico Baptist Ministries. During that time the church decided to send the Martinez family, Adriel, Jacqueline and their son Adrian, to Xalapa, Veracruz to start a new mission. They are looking for a facility in the prime location to start services.
Jake Molter: Jake is no longer a part of Campus Outreach. He is now pursuing ministry as a businessmen in downtown Indianapolis. He will still be stopping by from time to time to visit.
Culture Making
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File Type: |
Why I Believe in Baptizing Infants: Part 1
Tom Reynolds
In most of Christian theology there is a tension, a pulling seemingly in opposing directions, between Scripture’s guiding principles. This is to be expected if God, whose ways are far above our ways, is truly the author of all reality. Things shouldn’t quite fit our simplistic thinking. For example, there lies a tension between the doctrine of the oneness of God and the three persons of God, or the innate tension that lies between God’s sovereignty and human freedom. The true path lies in holding that tension and not resolving it. Unfortunately, our inherent desire leads us to relieve the tension one way or the other. Most heresies in the past have gone wrong in an honest attempt to simplify things, eliminate the tension, and as a result have swerved off the path to one side or the other. And like a person trying to correct a fishtailing car, many of the errors that have crept into the Church in the past have been as a result of an overreaction to these subtle shifts.
I believe that much of modern evangelical Christian theology (i.e. the theology that we have all inherited and take for granted) is just such an overreaction. One of the ways I think that the evangelical church went off the rails is the concept of creation and God's relationship to it. Once again there is a tension here between gnosticism (creation is bad) and idolatry (creation is god). The true path is that creation is inherently good, but fundamentally broken by the fall and in need of redemption. However, the ditches to either side of this path still call us to veer to one side or the other. We must take great pains therefore to make sure that our thinking is deliberate, not sloppy or reactionary.
Now we as Christians believe that something fundamental happened with certain historical events over 2000 years ago. That the process of the God’s redemption was started with these events. This is a spiritual reality, but it is not just a spiritual reality. With the incarnation of Christ, the divine invaded the physical world in a way that had not been seen since the Garden of Eden. With Christ's death and resurrection there was a marriage so to speak of heaven and earth. A union of physical and spiritual in a way that has not ever been, even in Eden. The two have become one in a sense. Not completely, that won't happen until the last days, but the process has begun. The sacred or divine has invaded the physical world, and begun the process of redeeming it. And we, the Church are the center and main tool of this redemption of all creation. That is why what we do with our lives is supremely important. Salvation is not merely an individualistic prospect, it is that, but it is also much more than that.
So historical orthodox Christianity teaches as one of its foundational principles that all creation, not just individuals, are in the process of being redeemed through the direct intervention of God the Father through the Son by way of the Spirit, which works itself out in this physical world through the Church. “That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:22). God uses the physical things of this world in order to further his redemption of it. Christ became physical flesh and blood. The Church Militant is the physical Body and Bride of Christ. And Christ has instituted for the Church the use of physical means to continue this work of redemption to all of creation.
Without going into the history of why this is the case, it is sufficient to note that much of Evangelicalism has missed this whole principle. It has veered into a ditch. Focusing solely on the spiritual salvation of the individual, it has diminished the importance of the physical world as a specific means, method and subject of salvation. It does this either by saying one of two things. The first way is to embrace the gnostic idea that heaven and spiritual things are over there and the world and physical things are over here. They rarely go so far as to say that one is good and the other bad, but the implication is that one is more important, eternal and desirable and the other less so. The other way in which the idea of the physical is effectively rejected is the thought that everything is somehow equally sacred. That one can worship while sitting alone in one's car equally as well as one can sitting with fellow believers on a Sunday morning. A pop song is as equally holy as an ancient hymn. That a piece of bread on the communion plate is no more sacred as the bit of bread we ate for lunch yesterday. We all fall to some degree into this type of thinking. Of course, if everything is equally sacred, then nothing is truly sacred. You define the concept out of existence. By either method it is implicitly denied that there are some things that have been uniquely set apart by God as special and redemptive tools.
Now we inherited this mess of modern thoughts and ideas that the ancient church didn't have to deal with. They of course had other issues, but dealing with modern thinking was not among them. They had no problem believing that some things in our midst were sacred and set apart and others simply were not. Or that God in His infinite grace created special ways and places where heaven quite literally broke through to the physical world and fundamentally changed in its essence the very thing that still looked and felt normal. Now you can chalk that up to being superstitious simpletons, but I rather believe that they and not we got it right. One must get this straight in one's head or little you read from the early church on the subject of baptism (or many other subjects for that matter) will make a whole lot of sense.
Now I just made the accusation that modern evangelicalism has for various reasons largely rejected and abandoned the ancient belief in the concept of the sacred; however, that is not entirely the case. Curiously enough there is at least one area where we evangelicals have retained this idea of sacredness from the early church and done so even in the face of the modern onslaught against such things that has swept up even the mainline protestant churches. And it will help me illustrate further what I mean by sacred. That example is the Bible itself. We call it the Holy Bible or Sacred Scripture. We believe that even though this book looks like any other book on its surface, it is more than just a book of words on a page. We believe that it is a marriage of the various human authors and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit which in the end creates something special. It has become in a unique sense the very breath of God. The divine has broken through to our world by way of something as ordinary as the written word. So this concept of the sacred is not only biblical, it is the Bible. It is foundational for our belief, as it is the very reason we believe that the Bible itself has any power to convey true Truth.
Another way we can illustrate this concept of the sacred is by way of the Church. While we are each individual sinners, Christ has redeemed us and the Scriptures now name us collectively His Body and His Bride. We are more than what we seem. We have been made holy and set apart, in a real way that is different then those around us. This concept of holiness or sacredness is seen throughout Scripture. Moses when approaching the burning bush is told that the very ground that he is walking on is holy. The temple was holy. Somehow in and some way these simple physical things were and are infused with divine power, and up until recently the Church had always believed it. However when we modern Evangelicals talk about the sacred power of the stuff of earth, we wave it off. We have simply gotten too old for that kind of childish talk.
My proposition to you is that there are still certain physical things that have been blessed by God to be a help to us in our redemption into the people we are called to be and we are claimed to be. Therefore when I claim that the early church believed that the rites and rituals, which Christ commanded the Church to partake in as part of the life of this one holy Church, are holy as well, it should surprise no one. These rites were called sacraments, and they were called that because they were believed to be infused by the power of God and because of this they where in fact made holy, set apart, sacred.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
I believe that much of modern evangelical Christian theology (i.e. the theology that we have all inherited and take for granted) is just such an overreaction. One of the ways I think that the evangelical church went off the rails is the concept of creation and God's relationship to it. Once again there is a tension here between gnosticism (creation is bad) and idolatry (creation is god). The true path is that creation is inherently good, but fundamentally broken by the fall and in need of redemption. However, the ditches to either side of this path still call us to veer to one side or the other. We must take great pains therefore to make sure that our thinking is deliberate, not sloppy or reactionary.
Now we as Christians believe that something fundamental happened with certain historical events over 2000 years ago. That the process of the God’s redemption was started with these events. This is a spiritual reality, but it is not just a spiritual reality. With the incarnation of Christ, the divine invaded the physical world in a way that had not been seen since the Garden of Eden. With Christ's death and resurrection there was a marriage so to speak of heaven and earth. A union of physical and spiritual in a way that has not ever been, even in Eden. The two have become one in a sense. Not completely, that won't happen until the last days, but the process has begun. The sacred or divine has invaded the physical world, and begun the process of redeeming it. And we, the Church are the center and main tool of this redemption of all creation. That is why what we do with our lives is supremely important. Salvation is not merely an individualistic prospect, it is that, but it is also much more than that.
So historical orthodox Christianity teaches as one of its foundational principles that all creation, not just individuals, are in the process of being redeemed through the direct intervention of God the Father through the Son by way of the Spirit, which works itself out in this physical world through the Church. “That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:22). God uses the physical things of this world in order to further his redemption of it. Christ became physical flesh and blood. The Church Militant is the physical Body and Bride of Christ. And Christ has instituted for the Church the use of physical means to continue this work of redemption to all of creation.
Without going into the history of why this is the case, it is sufficient to note that much of Evangelicalism has missed this whole principle. It has veered into a ditch. Focusing solely on the spiritual salvation of the individual, it has diminished the importance of the physical world as a specific means, method and subject of salvation. It does this either by saying one of two things. The first way is to embrace the gnostic idea that heaven and spiritual things are over there and the world and physical things are over here. They rarely go so far as to say that one is good and the other bad, but the implication is that one is more important, eternal and desirable and the other less so. The other way in which the idea of the physical is effectively rejected is the thought that everything is somehow equally sacred. That one can worship while sitting alone in one's car equally as well as one can sitting with fellow believers on a Sunday morning. A pop song is as equally holy as an ancient hymn. That a piece of bread on the communion plate is no more sacred as the bit of bread we ate for lunch yesterday. We all fall to some degree into this type of thinking. Of course, if everything is equally sacred, then nothing is truly sacred. You define the concept out of existence. By either method it is implicitly denied that there are some things that have been uniquely set apart by God as special and redemptive tools.
Now we inherited this mess of modern thoughts and ideas that the ancient church didn't have to deal with. They of course had other issues, but dealing with modern thinking was not among them. They had no problem believing that some things in our midst were sacred and set apart and others simply were not. Or that God in His infinite grace created special ways and places where heaven quite literally broke through to the physical world and fundamentally changed in its essence the very thing that still looked and felt normal. Now you can chalk that up to being superstitious simpletons, but I rather believe that they and not we got it right. One must get this straight in one's head or little you read from the early church on the subject of baptism (or many other subjects for that matter) will make a whole lot of sense.
Now I just made the accusation that modern evangelicalism has for various reasons largely rejected and abandoned the ancient belief in the concept of the sacred; however, that is not entirely the case. Curiously enough there is at least one area where we evangelicals have retained this idea of sacredness from the early church and done so even in the face of the modern onslaught against such things that has swept up even the mainline protestant churches. And it will help me illustrate further what I mean by sacred. That example is the Bible itself. We call it the Holy Bible or Sacred Scripture. We believe that even though this book looks like any other book on its surface, it is more than just a book of words on a page. We believe that it is a marriage of the various human authors and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit which in the end creates something special. It has become in a unique sense the very breath of God. The divine has broken through to our world by way of something as ordinary as the written word. So this concept of the sacred is not only biblical, it is the Bible. It is foundational for our belief, as it is the very reason we believe that the Bible itself has any power to convey true Truth.
Another way we can illustrate this concept of the sacred is by way of the Church. While we are each individual sinners, Christ has redeemed us and the Scriptures now name us collectively His Body and His Bride. We are more than what we seem. We have been made holy and set apart, in a real way that is different then those around us. This concept of holiness or sacredness is seen throughout Scripture. Moses when approaching the burning bush is told that the very ground that he is walking on is holy. The temple was holy. Somehow in and some way these simple physical things were and are infused with divine power, and up until recently the Church had always believed it. However when we modern Evangelicals talk about the sacred power of the stuff of earth, we wave it off. We have simply gotten too old for that kind of childish talk.
My proposition to you is that there are still certain physical things that have been blessed by God to be a help to us in our redemption into the people we are called to be and we are claimed to be. Therefore when I claim that the early church believed that the rites and rituals, which Christ commanded the Church to partake in as part of the life of this one holy Church, are holy as well, it should surprise no one. These rites were called sacraments, and they were called that because they were believed to be infused by the power of God and because of this they where in fact made holy, set apart, sacred.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Aroud the Web
"Feasing As an Act of War" - A great article to consider this time year. Our feasting might just be spiritual warfare.
"Election is Over: Now Let's Get Political" - A helpful article on how we can live out our faith in Christ post election.
"Election is Over: Now Let's Get Political" - A helpful article on how we can live out our faith in Christ post election.
ESPN E:60 on Ernie Johnson Jr. - If you don't know who he is, Ernie Johnson Jr. is the host of TNT's "Inside the NBA" and really the face of Turner Sports. He is also a strong Christian man. And while his faith only comes up a litte in this episode, you can see the effects. Most notably he and his wife decision to adopt a special needs child. You might want to grab some kleenox before you hit play. (Note: parents there is some mild swearing from the other NBA hosts at the beginning of the show.)
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