Capitalism, Socialism & Materialism…What I Learned from Che…

It’s interesting to me that capitalists, socialists and communists all believe that a person’s life-status can best be determined by their wealth.  Basically they are all varying approaches to materialism.  Christians are (called to be) different.

Learning…

Over the past few days I’d entertained some thoughts about taking some classes at our local community college. My thoughts were sparked by a craving I’d entertained a few days earlier as I read a Concordia College events schedule. I felt a strong urge to be in a place where there were opportunities engage with others in deep thought and intellectual exploration. I’ve been downloading and enjoying lectures from iTunesU; I dreamed that I could take a class each day, even flex my work hours a bit to accommodate.

This evening I spent some time on local college’s website and discovered that there was not much that I was really interested in. It occurred to me that though I’ve no degree neither am I an undergraduate student. Then later as I drove about a bit I realized more fully that my other-driven educational days are over. The thought of spending $138.10 per credit hour nauseated me; especially when Reformed Theological Seminary, Stanford University and Yale (for Pete’s sake) are distributing free lecture via iTunes.

I spend 45 minutes a day commuting back and forth to work; in the next year I should be able to listen to courses in Theological Foundations, Intro to Pastoral and Theological Studies, Pastoral and Social Ethics, and a History of Philosophy and Christian Thought…all from Reformed Theological Seminary. This would all be preferable to the offerings of my local CC. I know that it’s not the same as actually taking those courses, but I am an audio learner and will gain a lot from listening each day.

Birth…

Five puppies (two girls and three boys) were born to our Shih-Tzu this morning. Our next ten fourteen weeks will be very busy.  We’ve taken many photographs.

Defining Sin…

I was listening to a podcast from Stanford University available on iTunes U; a speech by Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas. He quoted what his grandfather considered the “Seven Deadly Sins”:

• Wealth without Work
• Pleasure without Conscience
• Science without Humanity
• Knowledge without Character
• Politics without Principle
• Commerce without Morality
• Worship without Sacrifice

As a follower of Jesus I understand that I’m not the definer of sin. I would however propose these seven statements as rather profound descriptors of fallen human traits which destroy culture and community.

Defending Talk Therapy…

I’ve found myself in a position in which I am defending what we traditionally call ‘talk therapy’.  The first, simplist and sometimes seemingly only plan of attack for those suffering from depression and psychoses seems to be medication.  The medical model, at least in practice, seems to effectively dominate the world of service delivery.

Paradoxes of Community…

I’ve been concurrently reading Becoming Human and From Brokenness to Community, both by Jean Vanier. Jean Vanier is the founder of the L’Arche Communities; intentional communities focused on the care of the disabled. In From Brokenness to Community Vanier quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

He who loves community destroys community; he who loves the brethren builds community.

I hope I’ll never be dumb enough to try to improve on anything that Bonhoeffer has said; what I intend to do in this post is to confess conviction. This quotation caused myself to ask me the question; “Do you love your community more than the individuals in it?” My honest answer to self was; “Mostly.”

I realized that it’s much easier to have a relationship to an entity than an individual; whether the ‘entity’ be God, a company, a church or even abstract conceptual entities such as “family”, “country” or “fellow NASCAR fans”.

In Becoming Human Vanier convinced me that a deep barrier to personal belonging-ness lies in my own desire to be special, to compete, to be recognized as valuable and important. How can I belong if my belonging, by necessity, means something more important than everyone else’s belonging?

Walking with Christ is often paradoxical; it is a paradox that 1.) my own desire for community would become a block to realizing the same; and 2.) the tendency that I believe to make me attractive to others…my ’special-ness’…does in fact become a hindrance to experiencing community.

Tilting at Windmills…

About a year ago in the context of my work I saw a clip from Facing the Giants. In this clip a young man, a leader of his football team, was asked by his coach to stretch himself, to go much further than he thought he could. After viewing that clip a member of our team commented that the movie, though produced by Christians, would be unfairly receiving a “PG” rather than a “G” rating. I sort of laughed to myself at the time that we somehow suppose that we are so pure of motive that everything we do deserves a “G” rating; or even that a “G” rating was good…as if “PG”, for “Parental Guidance” – a concept we esteem highly, was a bad thing. I guess it’s somewhat normal to try to apply “value” to every scale.

Today we rented and saw the movie.

Based upon the theological principles presented in the movie I learned two things; the first about me and the second about the Christology of American Evangelicals (at least as presented in the film):

The film’s main character, Grant Taylor and I have infertility in common. Well, the film never came right out and mentioned the S-word, but it was easy enough to put the pieces together that his doctor’s assessment was that Grant was not doing his part in the baby-creation department. What I learned (sarcasm alert) was that I have not yet turned over to Christ all that I should; Grant did and got his wife pregnant. If I was as good a Christian as Grant is my wife would be pregnant too – not just once but twice.

I also learned a lot about the nature of Jesus – His heavenly kingdom is really sort of a merit-based materials distribution system. When we do the right thing we get stuff, better stuff and more stuff.

In summation; the message of this film is that being ‘blessed’ means ‘getting stuff’ and that earthly ‘blessing’ is based upon earthly merit.

As a visual artist and as a follower of Jesus I’m appalled at the lack of devotion to craft, to quality and depth; as a mere Christian I’m appalled at the lack of sensitivity, the immature, selfish and materialistic theology demonstrated in this film.

Affirmation of Faith (12)

Twelvth in my point-by-point series on the BGC Affirmation of Faith: 

12. The Last Things
We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.

This is a great affirmation to review right after reading The Great Divorce, that was a lame attempt at humor.

Frankly, I’m grateful that the affirmation dealing with eschatology does not drill down to a theology that demands neither millenial nor rapture theories.  I don’t have a well worked-out end times theory, but I’m pretty much of the opinion that most of the popular theories are more theatrically than biblically based.

These points I do know; 1.) I don’t wish that anyone would go to hell, therefore I would prefer to believe in universalism.  Please note that I did not say that I believe in universalism, I said that I’d prefer to believe in universalism.  2.) I am strongly influenced in my end-times thinking by the Biblical Hebrew Calendar.  3.) I’m not a Lotus Eater, my hope for eternity is that there is a lot to do.  4.) N.T. Wright has a lot to say about heaven and I enjoy listening to him, he seems to make a lot of sense.

Affirmation of Faith (11)

Eleventh in my point-by-point series on the BGC Affirmation of Faith:

11. Church Cooperation
We believe that local churches can best promote the cause of Jesus Christ by cooperating with one another in a denominational organization. Such an organization, whether it is the Conference or a district conference, exists and functions by the will of the churches. Cooperation in a conference is voluntary and may be terminated at any time. Churches may likewise cooperate with interdenominational fellowships on a voluntary independent basis.

Denomination = Cooperation works for me; Denomination = Control does not.  I’d probably advocate for a different word than “denomination” were I part of forming an affirmation such as this; and in an attempt to find another word that better defines my thinking I’d probably arrive back at the word I was trying to reject in the first place.  This often happens to me, I find that a careful examination of the definition of a word helps me to cleanse inappropriate connotations that I’ve been dragging along.

Inappropriate connotations is an appropriate term to describe my initial mindset to most things denominational.  I struggle with the idea of denominational distinctives and often assume that the motivation behind distinctives and denominationalism is division/divisiveness…or pride.

The denomination that I grew up in communicated to me the impression that we were right; others were not.  I’ve also met others through the years, from other denominational backgrounds, who impressed me in the same way.  My corrective is: “Denominations aren’t bad, but some responses to them sure are.”  Mine included.

This affirmation Fully Accepted. 

Affirmation of Faith (10)

Tenth in my point-by-point series on the BGC Affirmation of Faith:

10. Religious Liberty
We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority; that therefore Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation or patronage of the other.

I would have assumed that the separation of church and state was an exclusively American doctrine…but it is not. There are claims being made in American evangelical circles that such separation is not good and there are calls for returns to theocracy, and a whole school of thinking called theonomy that seems to suppose that it is the rightful place of Christians to be in charge of things.

It does seem that large and powerful religious systems shy away from separation and that smaller, less powerful religious systems cling tightly to this understanding. From history I would interpret that theocracies have tended toward abuse; but this is not a universal truth. I would not be comfortable being governed by those I’ve interacted with that support either theonomy or theocracratic methods of governance. I agree with Martin Luther’s statement (traditional attribution) that “It’s better to be ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian”.

Church autonomy or congregationalism is also a positive in my book. There can be abuses as in all freedoms, but increased control is not the balance of freedom, it is the enemy of freedom. The Episcopal Church in America is undergoing great strife today and a sort of mini-reformation that I believe is largely due to the abuses and disconnection of the episcopal form of church government. I don’t read within the New Testament a strong hierarchy of Church governance.

Fully Accepted.