You are precious to us as long as you toe the line: you will always have our love and support as long as you conform; you are here to be who you were meant to be; try never to hurt another unless it is necessary in the Lord, and be willing to be hurt by us because it is the will of the Lord; your real self is sinful so don’t try to be yourself; when you fall and fail, we will express our love for you through discipline, and if you don’t comply you will no longer be welcomed, but that is your own doing; you are here to stay, but if you leave it is only if we send you out with a blessing to reproduce exactly what we have here; and if you go and follow your own path you are on your own and we will not be pleased until you return like the prodigal son (http://www.nakedpastor.com/2012/01/08/church-and-dysfunctional-family/).

OR

2. THE CHURCH OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

You are precious to us, you will always have our love and support; you are here to be who you are: try never to hurt one another, but never stop trying to become yourself as fully as you can; when you fall and fail, you are still loved by us, but are also free to leave us and go toward your own destiny without having to please us (http://www.nakedpastor.com/2012/01/08/church-and-dysfunctional-family/).

WHICH CHURCH DO YOU THINK  JESUS WANTS YOU TO BE?  WAS HIS LOVE CONDITIONAL OR UNCONDITIONAL? WHICH CHURCH IS YOUR CHURCH REALLY LIKE?

If Christians want to prove to the world that Christianity is real, if they want to prove that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, they need to put their Bibles away. They need to close down their houses of worship. They need to fire their pastors and tell them to get a real job. They need to start living like Christianity really mattered. They need to start with the sermon on the Mount and put it into practice in their day-to-day lives. (Bruce Gerencser; see http://fallenfromgrace.net/2010/06/21/)

Most churches require you to believe a whole heap of dogmas. Many have written statements of belief that adherents must subscribe to in order for them to become members. Those that don’t have such statements often have dogmas more rigid than those who do. Just transgress in a Fundamentalist/Evangelical church by verbally expressing disagreement with what are considered to be ”essential” dogmas and see what happens. All hell will break loose.

I am one who is still recovering from the abuses of Fundamentalism/Conservative Evangelicalism.  I now no longer believe in the following dogmas (some I have not believed in for some time, but now I am coming out fully  on others now and to “hell” with the consequences).

(1) The verbal inspiration and inerrancy of the bible in the original manuscripts.

(2) The bible is the Word of God and the words of the bible are God’s words.

(3) I do not hold to “creation science” but to theistic evolution.

(4) I do not hold to the literal ‘virgin birth’ of Jesus but see this story as “mythical”.

(5) I do not hold to a literal dogma of the “Trinity” but see it as a symbolic expression of the relationship between personhood and community. I also see God as a symbolic expression of all that is good, not a literal person intervening in human affairs.

(6) I do not hold that Jesus was God but rather that he was fully human and, in his humanity, he reflects what the character of “God” is like.

(7) I am not sure about the bodily resurrection of Jesus but kind of look to a spiritual resurrection.

(8) I do not believe in the penal, substitutionary theory of the atonement because of its implied violence.

(9) I do not believe in a literal hell and eternal, conscious torment in the “lake of fire”. This is a monstrous dogma.

(10) I do not believe in literal miracles, but rather see these stories as myth, saga and legend.

I now  reject all creedal dogmas . True theology is expressed in how we live. What we truly believe about God is shown by our praxis, not by our theological affirmations.

I see God as a symbol for compassion,mercy and loving-kindness. It is compassion that is able to make us whole and ‘save us’, not theological dogmas. If I go by reason alone, I tend towards agnosticism, but I practise meditation and contemplation and hence believe that ‘God’ exists.

I experience a peaceful, compassionate, joyful and wonderful presence when I wait upon ‘God’ in the silence and I call this presence ‘God’. Whether this beautiful and calming presence is something that occurs in my head only or also is One who exists independently of what is going on in my experience, I do not know. But let me tell you, that this wonderful presence reminds me of the love and compassion shown by Jesus in the Gospel story.

It is the Gospel story of God’s reign of shalom that I see in Jesus that inspires, uplifts and encourages me to persevere in the midst of the hatred shown by very many Fundamentalists/Conservative Evangelicals. I do not go to church these days and, although the church is meant to be God’s change agent in society, I do not see how this is possible without the Spirit of Jesus empowering us to walk in his way of compassion and in his way of peace and social justice.

I may be a ‘heretic’ who, in former ages, would have been burnt at the stake by those ‘loving’ dogmatic Christians who want power and control and who refuse to follow Jesus’ way of love. After all, they have their ’ticket to heaven’. They believe the ‘right’ dogmas , don’t they? They have ‘faith in Jesus Christ’ but where is their faithfulness to Jesus’ way?

Non-violence seeks to ”win” not by destroying or even by humiliating the adversary, but by convincing him that there is a higher and more certain good than can be attained by bombs and blood. Non-violence, ideally speaking, does not try to overcome the adversary by winning over him, but to turn him from an adversary into a collaborator by winning him over. (Thomas Merton: Faith and Violence)

God is love. He is unconditional, others-centred, self-giving, community-forming, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness. His love is from everlasting to everlasting.

This God of boundless love is a personal, relational and social being. The Scriptures speak of God the Father and the Son as persons and the Holy Spirit is spoken of in personal terms. Clark Pinnock pointed out that it is “appropriate to speak of God as a community of persons”. God is One yet there is inter-personal and social communion within God’s self (The Openness of God, p.108).

Pinnock makes the point that

This doctrine [ i.e. the Trinity] is relevant to the openness of God because the social triunity is an open and dynamic structure. It does not portray God as a solitary, dominating individual but as the essence of loving community (The Openness of God, p.108).

2. Heaven is where God is present

The God of compassion and free and overflowing kindness is present everywhere throughout the universe. If we are connected to the beautiful presence of God, we will be connected to the presence of compassion, and our hearts will be renewed and uplifted as we respond to such kindness. We will develop and empathy for those who are suffering and seek to relieve such suffering and distress, when and where we are able.

Heaven is not an other worldly reality, but a this-worldly reality. Anabaptist theologian, Ted Grimsrud,  states the biblical vision of heaven thus

“Heaven”, biblically is best understood as the spiritual element of the world. Heaven is where God is known to be present.It is an element of historical reality, part of this world. Heaven is not atemporal, the realm of eternity in contrast to the finitude of everyday life. (http://peacetheology.net/doctrine/) (Scroll down to the topic Eschatology and you will find Ted’s whole post on this.)

So God is present with us, in this life. But we choose to be separated from a connection with God’s presence when we fail to love God with our whole being, through loving the one in need. We fail to be connected with God’s presence when we refuse to love our enemies, when we support injustice and oppression (either openly or implicitly), and when  we deny others their human rights.

3. God created the world freely, by his grace out of his overflowing love

Clark Pinnock pointed out that

God created the world out of love and with the goal of acquiring a people who would, like a bride, freely participate in his love. … He could have created pre-programmed creatures to love him, but instead he created them with liberty to choose to love him freely. Love was the goal and freedom the means to the goal. Humankind has been granted real freedom, i.e. a capacity to respond, if we were to be able voluntarily to enter loving personal relationships with God. He values freedom, not so much as an end in itself, but as an instrument to make possible what he really longs for, love. God gives us real freedom because of his desire for loving relationships. God is inviting us to join in his ongoing trinitarian communion and conversation. He wants us to join in and share the intimacy of his own divine life.  God is committed to lead us to glory, even if it proves costly to himself. It is a mark of divine wholeness. The more ‘whole’ God is, the more perfectly God can suffer with and for others. God’s weakness demonstrates how strong he is. God is Lord precisely in becoming a servant. His love is more than necessary. The Trinity expresses itself by creating new partners for the dance. God is emphatically interested in how we respond to his overtures (Most Moved Mover, p.126).

4. The reign of heaven is within you and among you

Jesus said that the “kingdom of heaven is within (or among) you”. In this statement, Jesus was referring to the community of disciples that he had called together to follow him. The kingdom is not in some far off distant future, though heaven’s reign will only be fully realised in the future.

Jesus has called his new community to follow Jesus’ way of compassion and peace by following his servant model in a lifestyle of radical discipleship. Jesus has called us to  practise the jubilee, voluntarily.

We are called to champion the rights of the poor and the needy. We are called to bring the light of liberation from personal, social, economic, religious and political bondage. We are called to announce the good news of the reign of the God of compassion in the here and now, not just at some future distant date.

We are called to be his peacemakers by living a nonviolent lifestyle, by resisting oppression and injustice, and by promoting human rights. This may be called active nonresistance or nonviolent resistance to the forces of oppression and injustice.

We are called to be a loving, warm, welcome and open community of disciples. We are meant to be a community that welcomes sinners and outcasts, in particular the outcasts  in our own broader communities. The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners. We are all flawed human beings but we are called to treat others with dignity, respect and honour, no matter what their status or social position in society is.

The community of disciples is meant to embody a Jesus based lifestyle in its life together as a sign and witness to the principalities and powers of what human relationships are meant to be like.

The mystical Anabaptist, Hans Denck, pointed out that no-one can know Jesus unless they follow him in life, and no-one can follow him unless they know him.

You might say that all this is impossible. Just look at church history. Look at all the violence and  oppression performed  by the churches from time to time. e.g. the crusades, the violence perpetrated against the Anabaptists, the spiritual reformers and the early Quakers.

But does this have to be? Of course, if we are Jesus’ disciples we can expect persecution, including religious persecution, because the religious institutions are part of the principalities and powers and have been affected by the ‘fall’.

Yet, Jesus did not leave us as orphans. He set the Holy Spirit to empower the community of disciples to live in the light of the coming reign of God, in the here and now. It will take a genuine renewal and empowerment by the Spirit, wind of breath of Jesus to change the churches from the disastrous path we have been following. We need to stop doctrinal conflicts and actually begin to follow Jesus’ way revealed in the Sermon on the Mount.

5. May God’s kingdom come, may his will be done on earth as in heaven

Jesus taught his disciples to pray. “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth is it is in heaven.”

As we are guided and lead by the God of infinite compassion and healing mercy, we will begin, or continue to be, God’s instrument of peace and healing love in the midst of a broken and hurting world. Although we regularly fail, let us not give up. Let us not grow weary in well-doing,  but look to Jesus the pioneer and completer of our faithfulness, who is capable of doing far above all we think, expect or ask.

Too often, it is some non Christians who lead the way for peace and human rights while we are often squabbling with one another and lag far behind. Let us remember that Jesus said:

I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was stranger [refugee] and you welcomed me; I was naked and you clothed me;  I was sick and you came to me; I was in prison and you visited me.   …   Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me.

Such compassion is what the God of Jesus desires of us all. May we be inspired, uplifted and encouraged by the all compassionate One to be his instruments of healing in the world. May compassion reign on earth as it does in heaven.

Why do Christians behave in such ways, without common courtesy? Why is correct theological dogma so important to them that they think it gives them the right to denigrate their theological opponents?

Why are so many of them so certain that they have the only correct interpretation of the bible? Some of them write under pseudonyms and they think that this gives them the right to treat others without dignity and respect as people created in the image or likeness of the God of love. But they do not reflect on what kind of image their hostile language produces and how it reflects on Christianity.

Healthy and respectful debate is okay but hostility is not. Personal attacks on those with different theological views are uncalled for.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies in the Sermon on the Mount . As far as I can tell, he does not advocate violence in the Gospels  and this sermon is a manifesto of what living under the reign of the God of peace and compassion calls disciples to practice. There are some passages in the gospels where Jesus seems to see God as violent but I believe in interpreting those passages  in the light of the bulk of the material which sees God as nonviolent, and not the other way round.

Unless the church actually gets back to the Sermon on the Mount and a peace and justice centred praxis, I see little future for it. The world needs more compassion, mercy, kindness and peace. It needs to see more of it displayed in the lives of people. Waring over theology will not solve the problem and only exacerbates it.

People are leaving the churches in droves because they see little reality of the compassion and peace of Christ displayed among its members. The see churches where there is pedophilia being sometimes committed and covered up. They see some pastors and priests involved in adulterous relationships. They see too many churches concerned about money and they see a Christianity too pre-occupied with the consumerist culture. They see too many fundamentalists taking a position of superiority and treating atheists, agnostics and liberal Christians with disdain. In addition, those who read Christian blogs see far too much animosity on them.

I hate to think that the church will be non-existent within the western world within the next 50 years, but it does not deserve to exist unless many more of its churches become compassionate peace churches and follow Jesus’ way of healing mercy.

Fundamentalism deserves to die. The church needs to be re-empowered by the compassionate and caring Holy Spirit to carry Jesus’ message of shalom into the world. We need to focus our minds and hearts on how to be God’s compassionate and peaceful ambassadors. Unless we do, I cannot see any future for us.

May the God of all compassion, joy and peace be with you all this Christmas! May tomorrow be a wonderful day for you all! May the generosity of the living and loving God, revealed in Jesus the lowly Nazarene, inspire, uplift and encourage you on your daily walk and may next year bring forth much joy and many fulfilled expectations.

May you have a wonderful time with your families and friends. For those who are separated from their families or who are lonely or sick or feel rejected, may  God who loves you wrap his loving arms around you, comforting you, befriending you, and healing you. For those who are wounded, know that our loving saviour is alongside you to heal your wounds and hurts.

To those of other religions, know that God loves you . All who walk in the way of compassion and kindness walk in his ways. Be a loving friend to all. May God be with you.

To all atheists and agnostics, may compassion be your guide and may you always walk in this way. Thank you for all the times that you have acted like the good Samaritan and unknowingly walked in the way of Jesus.

As we celebrate this Christmas, may we all be uplifted. May we act tenderly to others and have an open and welcoming heart to all whom we meet on our life’s journey.

God bless you all, whether you believe in the God of love or not. Have a wonderful Christmas everybody! May peace be with you all!

John Arthur

William Estep makes the following point

As both Wenger and Oosterbaan have abundantly demonstrated, Menno’s theology was biblical theology interpreted Christologically. The center and circumference of his theological system was the living Word of God, God incarnate, Jesus the Christ.

Even though there are differing emphases among the various Anabaptist writers in regard to the Scriptures and their use, there are significant areas of agreement. For all Anabaptists the Bible was the only rule of faith and practice for discipleship and the church. Biblical revelation was held to be progressive. The Old Testament was preparatory and partial , whereas the New Testament was final and complete. All of the Scriptures, they insisted, must be interpreted Christologically, that is, through the mind of Christ. The Holy Spirit alone can illumine the letter of the Bible and give it convicting power in the life of the seeker. The Bible is the Word of God, that is, the written Word which brings to us the living Word, who alone can give us new life in the power of the Spirit (The Anabaptist Story, p.144)

Jesus Christ is the only foundation on which the community of God’s people should build its life together.  It is  the bible that bears witness to him, its centre and purpose. For Menno, Jesus, the eternal Word made flesh, was Lord over all creation and it is to him alone that we owe our allegiance.

For Menno, Jesus was the suffering servant  Lord who espoused nonviolence.  The community of God’s people, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is called to follow their master in a life and lifestyle of nonviolence, loving their enemies as Jesus loved his.

A couple of quotes from Menno are

The regenerated do not go to war nor engage in strife. They are children of peace who have beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning forks, and know no war. (http://prayerfoundation.org/menno_simons_mennonite_leader.htm).

We who were formerly no people at all, and who knew no peace, are now called to be a church … of peace. True Christians do not know vengeance. They are children of peace. Their hearts overflow with peace. Their mouths speak peace, and they walk in the way of peace. (http://prayerfoundation.org/menno_simons_mennonite_leader.htm)

The Word of God, Jesus Christ, is the word of peace. He alone is the prince of peace, the One promised by the OT prophets. As we approach this Christmas, let us celebrate the One who is the peacemaker by becoming, or continuing to be, his agents of peace and reconciliation in a hurting and wounded  world.

Jesus Christ as attested in Holy Scripture is the one Word of God whom we must hear and to whom we must trust and obey in life and in death (Church Dogmatics, IV/3, p.3)

So the Word was in the beginning, and Christ’s name is called, the Word of God, but Christ is neither called the scriptures nor writings, for scriptures signify writings. (http://www.hallvworthington.com/George_Fox_Selections/foxprinciples.html#s39).

So the scriptures of truth, I say, were given forth to be believed, read, fulfilled and practiced, and the things enjoyed they speak of, that is, Christ Jesus the substance.

The scriptures of truth, are the words of God, which were learned of God the Father of truth, and they cannot be broken, but must be fulfilled; and he that does fulfill, is Christ, by whom all things were made and created, who is called the Word of God. (http://www.hallvworthington.com/George_Fox_Selections/foxprinciples.html#s10).

George Fox distinguished between the Word of God and the scriptures. His attitude to the bible was not the same as that of modern fundamentalists, yet he did have very high regard for the scriptures.

Jesus is the eternal Word of God and the Light that enlightens every human being. It is Jesus who has come to teach his people, himself. He sent the Holy Spirit from on high to empower and illumine the scriptures to us. Without the Holy Spirit, the scriptures are like dead words to us.

God speaks to us through the Spirit anointed preaching of Jesus, through waiting in the silence for God to speak to our hearts and through the Holy Scriptures when they are read through the redemptive eyes of the love and peace of Jesus, as well as through the loving praxis of others who reflect the love and peace of God.

Fox points out that the scriptures are the words of God but Jesus is the Word of God. It is the bible that witnesses to Jesus who is its centre, meaning and fulfilment.The same Holy Spirit who inspired the bible is the one who opens it up to us. He enables to see Jesus and gives us the power to follow Jesus in a life of radical and costly discipleship.

The Pharisees read their scriptures (The Hebrew bible) because in them they thought that they would find eternal life, but Jesus said that these are they which bear witness to me, and they would not come to him that they might find life.

The early Quakers did not see the bible as a set of doctrines to be imposed on people but as a book pointing to Jesus whom they were called to follow. They challenged the religious and political powers of their day through their nonviolent lifestyle and suffered much persecution at the hands of the political and religious authorities.

They practiced simplicity, peace,  integrity, in community with equality. The believed that God is love and that we must love one another, including all human beings. Jesus was the peacemaker, the prince of peace promised by the OT prophets and who came to bring God’s good news of shalom.

God’s will is peace, healing, harmony , wholeness and social justice for all. May his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May the Word of God be uplifted everywhere.

The post conservative evangelical theologian Derek Flood has an article published in the  January 2012 issue of the Sojourners Magazine in which he examines some violent passages in the OT and argues that Paul reinterprets them  in the light of Jesus’ way of grace and peace.

This article may be found at http://www.sojo.net/magazine/. Derek blogs at the Rebel God and he has many posts on how to interpret the texts of violence in the light of Jesus’ way of peace.I hope you enjoy this article and his many blog posts on this topic and find them very helpful in the way he interprets the bible.

Shalom,

John Arthur