Making God in our Image

If you’ve been following my facebook or tweets, you know that I have been viewing a small group curriculum called the Truth Project. This is a 12 session dvd-based curriculum to defend a “Christian worldview”. Like any curriculum, it has its ups and downs. Being published by Focus on the Family should tell you a lot about its agenda. Primarily, that only conservative (esp. politically) Christians have a true Christian worldview. If you aren’t with them, you are against them. Sadly, the curriculum does little to dialog with postmodernism in general, postmodern Christianity in particular. In fact, postmodernism is only referred to negatively by the primary speaker.

I could live with all of this. In fact, I expected as much when I opened the package. One major problem with the Truth Project, though, is that the speaker, Del Tackett, claims to be speaking un-assumptively. That is, he claims that debating with presuppositions is invalid (never mind that he himself does it the entire time). As a result, the program comes off as a group of Christians attacking the culture rather than critically engaging with the postmodern world with gentleness and respect.

So I thought it was ok. That is, until Dr. Del (whose doctorate is a D.M. [management] in Homeland Security) chose to remake the Trinity in his image to support his entire argument for a certain style of social systems.

You see, he uses this diagram to explain the relationship of the Trinity while allegedly maintaining the nicene position of each member being an ontological (in their essence) unity:

So what’s the big deal? Primarily, this diagram leads the reader to believe that God the Father is somehow the bossman over the other two. God the Son is the boss of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has nothing to contribute to the equation logistically. If we believe that somehow the individual persons of the Trinity are ontologically subordinate, we destroy the idea that each member is of one essence. In a modern relationship, can we claim that a worker is essentially equal to his boss (at his workplace) if we diagram the relationship thusly? no.

This diagram implies inequality.

It is true that the Trinity submits to itself, but that must also include the Father and Son submitting to the Spirit when necessary (think of Jesus’ miracles, he didn’t do them, the Spirit did). Further, the Godhead can choose to be functionally subordinate to each member (that is, in how they act they submit to each other’s will, which is one unified will), but functional submission is not the same as ontological inequality.

Del needs this view, though, because otherwise his whole view of social systems is ruined.

here’s his view of the family. Clearly he doesn’t expect the children to be equal with the husband and wife, as his only Scriptures relating to children are those that say children should obey. Should the Holy Spirit just obey? become the prisoner of the other two? This diagram also demonstrates the wife as subordinate to the husband. But what about the structure of the church (sorry for cutting off the image)?

Here it is. With this diagram, Dr. Del plays rhetorical pinball, bouncing from one verse to another to support his argument, completely denying any historical context (of course he did that with the above charts too, but this is the most blatant). He substitutes placeholder for placeholder misusing verses until it fits his paradigm. The only problem is that in so doing, his substitution tactic, when taken to its logical conclusion, makes every member of the church ontologically and functionally equal to the Godhead even though Del rejects the New Age notion of becoming God.

Now this could all be fixed by claiming that the first chart is one of functional subordination rather than ontological position. But then, children would have to be equal to their parents, the flock ontologically equal to Jesus, and the state and her leaders ontologically equal to each one of these positions (via substitution). And the very next lesson he argues that there can be no bleedover between spheres of influence.

On the other hand, The Shack, which is a fictional book (rife with its own errors, but fictional) and is incredibly controversial for evangelicals, is far more accurate in depicting the relational aspects of the Trinity in my opinion.

The Trinity is a perfectly equal set of relationships where each member lovingly submits to each other member. Sometimes this causes a functional subordination (i.e. Jesus gave up his divine attributes to become human, or pericoresis) for a specific task. There is not inequality, nor can there be, because

God is like Aquafresh.
One substance, three persons.
Though made of the same God stuff,
Individuals don’t bleed into one goo,
They each have their place.
White red and blue.

Pogo nip

Thanks L.L. Barkat:

"On Belleview Avenue"

Serpentine tree,
Japanese, I suspect,
as in split maple, as in
it takes a hundred years to
snake these arms to such breadth;
anyway, it seems everything
must have been leading to this juncture—
droughts, floods, springs coming
too late and winters too early,
everything conspired towards this:
snow, like white butterflies, laid
over old curves, dead leaves, intersections,
now ready to soft wing the
empty night.

Here are some (bad quality phone) pictures of this morning's pogo nip. unfortunately, I didn't have my real camera handy. I love how nature invades our technological world in the winter months.

Sanctity of life (continued)

Jesuscreed is having a discussion on stem cell research. Led by a Christian scientist, it is an interesting conversation. The big question I have always had on this topic:

how do identical twins factor as evidence for or against the beginning of life?

If we argue (either side) about the time of life beginning, we must recognize that having twins creates two lives out of the same raw material (genetically). They create complexity in the debate for several reasons:

1) They are the same genetic material as each other, yet entirely distinct. Even to the point of having different fingerprints, twins are more than just copies of each other. Clearly there is more to humanity than simple genetic material.

2) Identical twins are not formed until after the egg has been fertilized. Two separate lives are eventually created, but not until a few days into conception. Some pro-lifers argue for conception being the start of life, but I’m not sure that argument holds a lot of water given the exceptionality of twin studies. What do you think?

In fact, twins throw a major wrench into the gears of all philosophical discussion about the nature of humanity (especially discussions of how the physicality of humanity interacts with the non-physical attributes of humanity).

I believe that all life is sacred. It is clearly wrong to dispose of human life through abortion as a means of personal convenience. Some situations are stickier than that, though (danger to the mother, for example). I pray that I never have to make a sticky decision.

Stem cell research should be viewed as a completely different question in my opinion, with a different series of conversations about the different nuances to life. Any answers to these questions must deal with all the evidence.

Book reviews (a long time coming, a short time reviewing)

About two months ago, Zondervan sent me some more books to review. Since I am addicted to reading books (no matter the quality as you soon will see), i accepted. Of course, there is a caveat. I am supposed to post my impressions of the books. Unfortunately, thus far, Zondervan has received more critical reviews than those celebrating the works from me. This last set of books is no different.

Grace Notes: by Philip Yancey
This book was decent. It is a collection of essays, readings, and excerpts of Yancey’s other books. I don’t have a big beef with any of the content I read, but the vast majority of the sections are de-contextualized. That is, some essays refer to previous chapters even though those chapters aren’t in the collection. For the Yancey fan, this is a decent buy, and I did greatly enjoy about 15% of the writings. About 70%% were mediochre to decent. 10% were so decontextualized as to remove all meaning from the reading, and the last 5% were wretched. All in all, this is a good toilet book/ devotional. And calling it a toilet book is not bad, just indicative of the amount of time it takes to read a section. 2.5 out of five stars

Learning my Name: by Peter Gall
This is one man’s personal story of encountering God and realizing God loves him, no matter how poorly Gall views himself. I understand the point, but thought the writing was pretty bad, overall. In attempting to be a poetic writer (and succeeding in being an apoetic writer), Gall ignores most every biblical basis for his thoughts/beliefs. Just one example: in describing God’s desire for intimacy with us, Gall writes that God desperately wants to run his little finger down our chest like a lover. Nevermind the fact the Bible never uses Erotic love to describe God’s love for us (unless you are one of those folks who believes Song of Solomon is only about us and God rather than a description of how our relationships with others ought to be). One out of five stars

The Best Idea in the World: by Mark Greene
This was the best of the books given to me. It was the only one that actually challenged me to think outside my preconceived notions of religion in general and Christianity in particular. The central premise is that relationships are the basis of meaningful life, especially life with God. Using the Jesus Creed: love God, love others, Greene argues that every decision we make in life, including which microwave to buy has profound influence on our relationships with others, which influences our relationship with God. It’s sort of a Christianized version of the butterfly effect. Great writing, excellent personal examples, and the first unique Christian literature I’ve read in some time. I strongly recommend this resource to those who realize there is something more to life than just following the rules, and are looking for a language to describe their internal predicament. Four stars.

The Return of the Prodigal Son: Henri Nouwen
This book was given to me as a gift by Shawna Smith, who first heard about it from her son, who needed it as required reading for a course. Henri Nouwen is a spiritual life guru, and a Catholic priest. Here is an example of just how much protestants can learn from our spiritual fore-runners. Like it our not, the Catholic church still has a corner on the market in spiritual formation imo. This book is a combination of reflections on the parable of the prodigal son, and Rembrandts depiction of said parable. Deeply personal (but not sexual like Gall’s book), incredibly insightful, and by far the most well-rounded approach to the prodigal son for the average reader. Another great book worthy of a read. Five stars.

Bible reliability

Got to speak again this sunday about the Bible. Such an easy subject to talk about. This week we dealt primarily with the reliability (based on internal, external, archaeological, and manuscript evidence) of the Bible. Sound levels might be silly since I don't know how to hold a mic.

download it here: http://bit.ly/4lH96B.

Stream it: http://bit.ly/3ixa8V

Busy bees

Well I haven't posted because apparently October gets included into the "insanely busy months" portion of my calendar. Godcry conference, Night of Light, two sermons made it a madhouse up in here.

Yesterday I had the privilege on teaching in church about the history of the Bible. You can get the sermon by following this link: http://bit.ly/3ixa8V

Coming soon: a melieu of advanced reading copy book reviews of mediochre christian literature (one good one). Some more of my personal thoughts when I have time to type them. Another sermon next week about the reliability of the Bible.

Guts, Glory, and the sanctity of life

Distance

I've recently come to realize my distance.  Distance from God and others, perviously camouflaged by the business of school and work.  At some point, without careful observation, the complexities of life simply overcome our ability to remain quietly close to God.  And so I am brought back to sabbath.  Sabbath from school (though not learning).  Sabbath from major projects (only two biggies in the next month, not starting anything new).  Sabbath with my visitor.  I expect to ponder on the blog more often, especially since I have a pile of advanced reading books from Zondervan to review.

Thoughts on Genesis 18:  The three visitors.

Read this story in parallel with the beginning of Luke.  Perhaps Luke is ushering in a new covenant by referring back to this story (as well as Samuel and Exodus)?  This really deserves its own post, chapter, or book.  None of which will occur this morning.

At what point does Abe believe this is God?  Partway through the story, the reference simply changes from lord to LORD.  It must be after Abraham practices hospitality.  By honoring the visitors, valuing their life and need for rest, Abraham recognizes God in his presence.  When was the last time we viewed hospitality as a privilege rather than a chore?

Abraham gets gutsy near the end of the stay.  As he has built rapport with his visitors, he gets courage to stand up for the sanctity of life.  Sure he is to be commended for showing good ole fashioned chuzpah, but when we focus on his argument, we forget the point.  Abraham finds value in the lives of all those who live in the cities about to be destroyed.  That's why he barters with God.  He believes that all life is sacred.

This makes me wonder.  If life is so sacred, why do we justify protecting babies but neglect the lives of immigrants?  Why is it ever okay to condemn a person to death by injection?  Is there a such thing as just war?  The needs of the many may outweigh the needs of the few or the one, but if everything is sacred how can we draw a line?  50? 45? 40? 30? 20? 10?  That's the question Abraham asks.  And the answer is silence.

Thoughts?