Tag: diversity

The challenge of the church

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

The Challenge of the church

[Bible references: 2 Corinthians 11:1-15; Galatians 2:7; Colossians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:4-15; 1 Timothy 2:14-26; 6:11-21; 2 Timothy 1:12-14; 2:16; 3:14-16]

Mysteries and distinctives

There is an impossible task set before the believers through the world who comprise what some call the invisible, universal church: Differences have arisen which have caused different local congregations to have some disagreements about what the correct theology is. We will call these differences, distinctives. It is from these distinctives that local congregations divide from one another with some finding themselves aligned into different groups that we call denominations or associations, and some not formally aligning themselves with any other congregation at all.

Although while trying to understand God, we may find that although some things are incomprehensible, other things are knowable. The knowable things make it possible to construct a limited theological framework, despite the tensions cited in Chapter 2 that require us to hold some things in tension.

When distinctives become heresies

Trying to understand a complex, incomprehensible and paradoxical God leads naturally to some diversity of thought. The problem is trying to detect when diversity leads to heresies, ideas that are identifiably contrary to the Biblical message and ought to be rejected by all the major bodies in the church. Heresies typically develop when biblical verses are taken out of context, or when attempts are made to mesh non-Christian ideas with biblical ideas.

The following is a list of some of the most prevalent heresies. For a more comprehensive list of some of the heresies and the terms used for them, read “Appendix F – Partial Listing of Heresies”.:

  • Matter is inherently evil and only the spiritual is good,
  • being saved by grace allows us to ignore any laws or norms,
  • rejection of the Old Testament,
  • rejection of the Trinity,
  • only the Father is God,
  • Gentiles need to be circumcised and follow the Jewish laws,
  • the validity of sacraments depends on the moral character of the person administering the sacraments,
  • those guilty of grave sin are permanently excluded from the church,
  • we can choose to be good apart from God’s grace,
  • Christ is not fully human and fully divine,
  • prophets who claim that they supersede the apostles,
  • all truth and knowledge of God is accessible by the human mind.,
  • all people will be saved.

Even within our limited framework, it is possible to find that sometimes someone’s theology seems so wrong that it must be corrected and dealt with more strongly. In those cases, the church must determine when some of our distinctives have crossed over from being a ‘distinctive’ to being a ‘heresy,’ teachings that are not just different but cause fundamental theological problems in the teachings of the church. The task of identifying and correcting heresies is a job that must be done but these days is complicated by the divisions within the church. This is one area where we need to recognize Dynamic Tension at work: balancing the need to deal with doctrine and practices that are deemed to be heretical with the need to, as much as possible, retain whatever unity is possible in the church.

There was a time that it was more possible to call together representatives from all parts of the church to discuss difficult issues and come to a common agreement, but that is no longer possible. Between AD325 and AD757 there were seven ecumenical councils[1], councils that were called by the Roman emperor which tried to resolve various questions, at least within the empire, which were dividing the church.

“all the doctrinal definitions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils (councils which have always, and still do, receive the unqualified acceptance of both East and West) … An Ecumenical Synod may be defined as a synod the decrees of which have found acceptance by the Church in the whole world”[2]

One of the most essential products of the councils were increasingly detailed creeds[3] for the church, statements written in response to perceived heresies that were being taught, clarifying what the orthodox teaching of the church ought to be.

Because of the complexities of the different viewpoints, the increasingly detailed creeds were never able to entirely resolve the differences between the Latin speaking and the Greek speaking parts of the church leaving the church with very intense divisions in the aftermath of each of the councils. After the seven Ecumenical Councils, the divisions in the church had become irreconcilable and it is no longer possible to call a council in which all sections of the church would be able to have an agreement on critical theological issues. There have been various ecumenical efforts through the years, including the creation of the World Council of Churches, but such efforts have not been able to overcome those disagreements on critical issues.

This division has complicated the issue of when theological differences become heresies. The inability of the visible church to resolve such issues forces us acknowledge our dependence on Christ; that the Gospel is the good news about our salvation to be found in the grace of Christ – and not in His still fractured church. In the meanwhile, despite the visible fracturing of the visible church, we need to humbly acknowledge the mystery of the unity of the church in Christ.

[1] Orthodox Church of America. “The Councils” Volume I – Doctrine and Scripture, Sources of Christian Doctrine, The Councils www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/doctrine-scripture/sources-of-christian-doctrine/the-councils; Keating, Karl. “The 21 Ecumenical Councils” Catholic Answers www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-21-ecumenical-councils. Protestants and Eastern Orthodox regard only 7 ecumenical council, while the Roman Catholic regards 21 ecumenical councils because the Roman Catholic Church regards Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Churches as “separated brethren”.

[2] Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) (Editor) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, “A select library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Second Series. Volume XIV. The Seven Ecumenical Councils. For a summary of the seven ecumenical Councils, See Appendix H

[3] See Appendix I – Creeds of the Church

Observe

Read 2 Corinthians 11:1-15; 1 Timothy 4:1-4; 6:1-10; 2 Timothy 2: 14-26. What are the warning signs of “false teachers?”

Guardians of the truth

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 12 – Launching the church

Guardians of truth

[Bible references: Psalm 25:2; 45:4; 145:18; Proverbs 12:19; 22:21; Isaiah 45:19; 59:15; Jeremiah 5:1; Zechariah 8:16-19; John 1:14-17; 4:23-24; 8:44-45; 14:6; 16:13; Acts 20:30; Romans 1:18-25; 2:1-20; I Corinthians 11:18-19; 1 Timothy 4:6; 2 timothy 2:14-29; 1 John 2:20-21; 3 John 1:1-12]

God is always in part incomprehensible, mysterious, and paradoxical, which leads to an inevitable diversity of ideas about Him. And yet He has left us with a challenge, He has declared Himself to be the Truth and He has charged the church to be His instrument in making disciples, therefore making us the guardians of that truth. This means that when the church goes about its business of growing in the knowledge of God and developing doctrines about the One who always mysterious, there will be an inevitable tension of trying to discern when the developing diversity of ideas about the Truth will lead to ideas that oppose the gospel or lead to the revealed knowledge of God.

Observe

Read 2 Timothy 2:14-19. What lies are Timothy told to be concerned about?

Guarding the faith

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 12 – Launching the church

Guarding the faith

[Bible references: Matthew 5:11-12; Romans 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 11:29-31; 13:7; Ephesians 6:10-18; Philippians 1:10; 1 Timothy 4:16; 2 Timothy 2:10-12; 4:5; Hebrews 10: 36; James 1:2-12; 3:2-12; Revelation 2:3]

The church was launched in a world that was opposed to it. Jesus made it very clear that following him was in invitation to suffer. There would be enemies both within and outside the church, enemies that were sometimes not so apparent and therefore requiring discernment by the faithful. The opposition takes many forms but behind all the opposition are the spiritual forces in heavenly realms.

The real enemy is not so much the individual people we see but the spiritual forces of darkness acting around us manifesting as deceivers, scoffers, false apostles, divisions in the church, idolatry, or immorality – all either around us or within us. The challenge of fighting against those forces requires us to put on the full armor of God: truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Spirit, and the Word. We are called to be alert, to always pray, to learn discernment, to endure and persevere.

By both his life and his death, Jesus offered reconciliation to all cultures. By his teaching Christ called Jew and Gentile together; both were offered a place in God’s kingdom, with the ethnicity of the Jews giving them no advantage whatsoever. While Jesus modeled this reconciliation in his own life and ministry, it took his followers some time to put this aspect of his message into effect. When they did, however, the results were revolutionary. The Jewish disciples of Jesus were taught to reach out with love and acceptance to the Gentiles, whom they had come to think of as beasts. The Gentiles were invited into fellowship with the Jewish disciples without having to become Jewish. … multiculturalism means fostering a genuine respect for diverse cultural expressions such as music, art, literature, and dance, and diverse cultural traditions in such matters as education, the family, and work. Such respect does not mean ignoring moral or spiritual failings reflected in these cultural expressions and traditions (since these can be found in any culture, including European). It does mean recognizing that certain constants of human life — love, growth, need, aspiration, suffering, hope — find expression in all cultures. [1]

As we engage with other cultures, we can celebrate God’s imprint on his image-bearers which has produced many creative, diverse, and multicultural ways to display God’s goodness. As we do, we should take care to recognize that all the world’s cultures are also subject to corruption. In our role as God’s ambassadors, we can recognize the good displayed in each culture and also reach out to offer God desire to reconcile all people to himself.

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:  Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:20-23, NIV)

In our discerning of the good and the bad in the cultures around us, we should be discerning of our own cultures and behaviors, not just the good and the bad, but the universal and cultural expressions of the gospel.

[1] Bible.org “Christ and Cultures: Multiculturalism and the Gospel of Christ” Bible.org bible.org/seriespage/12-christ-and-cultures-multiculturalism-and-gospel-christ.

Read Ephesians 6:10-18; James 3:2-12. What does it take to survive as a fruitful Christian?

Playful and orderly

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 2 – The God who created

[Bible references: Genesis 1; 3:6; Job 26:7-14; Psalm 102:25-28; 104:26; Proverbs 8:30-31; Jeremiah 9:24; Zechariah 8:4; Romans 1:18-32; 5:12-20]

It would be more conventional to title this section, “Creative and Orderly,” but creativity is just a part of broader category of play. Although many experts disagree on how to define play[1], we may think of play as activity which is typically not productive and is done only because one wants to do it and is usually a fun activity involving other people and will typically help people bond together.

When it comes to the Creation, God did not have to create anything. God did not need the universe or anything in it – not the planets, nor the stars, nor the creatures. God created the heavens and the earth for the delight of it, and He did it because He wanted to share heaven and earth with his image-bearers. This spirit of playfulness is reflected in many of God’s creatures[2] including Leviathan and humans. God’s playfulness also shows up in other interesting places in the Bible.

When Job complains about the difficulties he is going through, God seems to admonish him by “putting Job in his place” and citing all the ways in which God’s ways are higher than Job’s ways. But God does not follow through with any discipline of Job but rather begins the process of restoring Job’s fortunes. In response, Job confesses, “I spoke of things I did not understand … I retract my words and I repent in dust and ashes.” … And yet, Job changes an interesting behavior – he no longer rose early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of his children, worrying that “perhaps they have sinned.” Job seems to have understood what Shams-ud-din Muhammed wrote later on:

the difference between our life and a saint’s is that the saint knows that the spiritual path is like a chess game with God and that God has made such a fantastic move that the saint trips over joy in surrender whereas we think we have a thousand serious moves.[3]

Another instance of playing occurs in Mark 6, when Jesus takes a late-night walk on a very windy lake, walking as if to go by his disciples. Of course, they were initially terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost. But he got in the boat and the waters calmed down. He could have calmed the waters down before the disciples started to go on the lake. He could have chosen another way to make his point … but he decided to do it that way.

God’s creativity can be seen within the created world in the extremely diverse types of plants and animals: differences in colors and shapes; different ways of digesting food; different ways of moving and observing the environment to name a few. The creativity we see is awesome. From out of nothingness, from no previous model, God created a whole system of particles and energy fields that interact with each other to form the building blocks of subatomic particles which are used to form atoms, which are used to form molecules of all sorts of complexity, which are then used to form planets and stars (actually, the fusion reaction in stars is used to create larger molecules from smaller ones). And at least one planet was used to create living things like plants and animals in all their complexity and then those living things were used to create communities (ecosystems) that allowed living things to thrive and flourish.

Yet, within the overwhelming creativity displayed within all the diversity of living things there is an order that is imposed by natural processes, sometimes called scientific laws. Christians, like Francis Bacon, pursued these laws as an extension of God’s moral laws in the universe, which then led to the development of modern science.[4] It is within science that we examine orderly processes at work that we call the natural laws which describe how all physical things behave: like the forces of gravity, electrical forces, etc.

There is no disobeying these natural laws. If you think that you can try to violate them, you’d be wrong. For instance, if you are on earth and stand on the top of a table and then jump off with the assumption that you will not be subject to gravity but rather float around without falling to the floor, you’d be wrong. You can’t violate gravity. You can try to set up circumstances that will cause other forces to come into play – such as airplanes do when they use aerodynamic forces that counteract gravity – but you simply can’t violate gravity, and there will be consequences if you try.

By observing the laws of the created order, we can ascertain some aspects of the character of God. The natural laws that govern how things are supposed to behave reveals a God who expects things to behave, and that violations are not tolerated. But when image-bearers were brought into the world there was a new level of complexity added to this physical model constrained by natural, physical laws. Because image-bearers were created to reflect God’s transcendence, those image bearers were given moral freedom, the ability to accept or reject God’s rule, the ability to choose to be good or not good. And just like attempts to violate physical laws have consequences, so do attempts to violate moral laws. However, the framework that provides order is also the scaffolding for creativity and play. The order that allows us to study God’s ordered creation also allows us to observe the activity of the living God when He does the unexpected.

[1] Edgar, Brian. “The God Who Plays: A Playful Approach to Theology and Spirituality” Chapter 5: Theology: Ludic(rous) Thinking, Theories of Play Cascade Books 2017 (e-book)

[2] Yu, Alan. “Which animals play, and why?” WHYY 15 Aug 2019 whyy.org/segments/which-animals-play-and-why/

[3] Hafiz (or Shams-ud-din Muhammad Tripping over Joy (translated by Daniel Ladinsky) (c. 1320-1389) wrote about God as his Friend, the Beloved, the Beautiful One. from reference by Edgar, Brian “The God Who Plays: A Playful Approach to Theology and Spirituality” Chapter 4: Spirituality: Playing with friends, Competing with God

[4] Harrison, Peter, “Christianity and the rise of western science” ABC Religion and Ethics, 8 May 2012, www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/05/08/3498202.htm; Armstrong, David, “Christianity Crucial to the origin of science,” Patheos, 18 Oct 2015, www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2015/10/christianity-crucial-to-the-origin-of-science.html; Hannam, James. “How Christianity Led to the Rise of Modern Science” Christian Research Institute www.equip.org/articles/christianity-led-rise-modern-science/

Observe

Read Romans 1:18-32.  Reflect on how natural laws reflect the character of God. Based just on natural laws, what kind of character does that reveal about God?

Playful and Orderly

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom, Chapter 2 – The God who created

[Bible references: Genesis 1; 3:6; 51:6; Job 26:7-14; Psalm 102:25-28; 104:26; Proverbs 8:30-31; Jeremiah 9:24; Zechariah 8:4; Romans 1:20; 5:12-20]

It would be more conventional to title this section, “Creative and Orderly,” but the creativity is just a part of broader category of play. Although many experts disagree on how to define play[1], we may think of play as activity which is typically not productive and is done only because one wants to do it and is usually a fun activity involving other people and will typically help people bond together.

When it comes to the Creation, God did not have to create anything. God did not need the universe or anything in it – not the planets, nor the stars, nor the creatures. God created the heavens and the earth for the delight of it, and He did it because He wanted to share heaven and earth with his image-bearers. This spirit of playfulness is reflected in many of God’s creatures[2] including Leviathan and humans. God’s playfulness also shows up in other interesting places in the Bible.

When Job complains about the difficulties he is going through, God seems to admonish him by “putting Job in his place” and citing all the ways in which God’s ways are higher than Job’s ways. But God does not follow through with any discipline of Job but rather begins the process of restoring Job’s fortunes. In response, Job confesses, “I spoke of things I did not understand … I retract my words and I repent in dust and ashes.” … And yet, Job changes an interesting behavior – he no longer rose early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of his children, worrying that “perhaps they have sinned.” Job seems to have understood what Shams-ud-din Muhammed wrote later on:

the difference between our life and a saint’s is that the saint knows that the spiritual path is like a chess game with God and that God has made such a fantastic move that the saint trips over joy in surrender whereas we think we have a thousand serious moves.[3]

Another instance of playing occurs in Mark 6, when Jesus takes a late-night walk on a very windy lake, walking as if to go by his disciples. Of course, they were initially terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost. But he got in the boat and the waters calmed down. He could have calmed the waters down before the disciples started to go on the lake. He could have chosen another way to make his point … but he decided to do it that way.

God’s creativity can be seen within the created world in the extremely diverse types of plants and animals: differences in colors and shapes; different ways of digesting food; different ways of moving and observing the environment to name a few. The creativity we see is awesome. From out of nothingness, from no previous model, God created a whole system of particles and energy fields that interact with each other to form the building blocks of subatomic particles which are used to form atoms, which are used to form molecules of all sorts of complexity, which are then used to form planets and stars (actually, the fusion reaction in stars is used to create larger molecules from smaller ones). And at least one planet was used to create living things like plants and animals in all their complexity and then those living things were used to create communities (ecosystems) that allowed living things to thrive and flourish.

Yet, within the overwhelming creativity displayed within all the diversity of living things there is an order that is controlled by a set of ordered processes, some of which we call scientific (natural) laws. Christians, like Francis Bacon, pursued these laws as an extension of God’s moral laws in the universe, which then led to the development of modern science.[4] It is within science that we examine orderly processes at work that we call the natural laws which describe how all physical things behave: like the forces of gravity, electrical forces, etc.

There is no disobeying these natural laws. If you think that you can try to violate them, you’d be wrong. For instance, if you are on earth and stand on the top of a table and then jump off with the assumption that you will not be subject to gravity but rather float around without falling to the floor, you’d be wrong. You can’t violate gravity. You can try to set up circumstances that will cause other forces to come into play – such as airplanes do when they use aerodynamic forces that counteract gravity – but you simply can’t violate gravity, and there will be consequences if you try.

By observing the laws of the created order, we can ascertain some aspects of the character of God. The natural laws that govern how things are supposed to behave reveals a God who expects things to behave, and that violations are not tolerated. But when image-bearers were brought into the world there was a new level of complexity added to this physical model constrained by natural, physical laws.

On the one hand, we image-bearers are physical creatures and are therefore subject to the natural laws, but on the other hand we image-bearers were created to reflect God’s transcendence and were even given dominion over the creation into which God had placed us. Within that capacity, we image-bearers were given a moral freedom, the freedom to choose between good and evil. This freedom could not be given without some risk, because in order for image-bearers to be able to reflect God’s character of being good and choosing to do good there must be the possibility for the image-bearers to be able to choose to not be good.

And just as there are natural, physical laws that govern how physical things behave with consequences for trying to violate those laws, God has also imposed spiritual, moral laws to govern how the image-bearers ought to behave in the good universe He created with consequences for violating those moral laws. Sometimes the sin of one generation is passed down to the next. But regardless of whether a particular sin is passed to from one generation to another, the penalty for sin is physical and spiritual death.

[1] Edgar, Brian. “The God Who Plays: A Playful Approach to Theology and Spirituality” Chapter 5: Theology: Ludic(rous) Thinking, Theories of Play

[2] Yu, Alan. “Which animals play, and why?” WHYY 15 Aug 2019 whyy.org/segments/which-animals-play-and-why/

[3] Hafiz (or Shams-ud-din Muhammad Tripping over Joy from reference Edgar, Brian “The God Who Plays: A Playful Approach to Theology and Spirituality” Chapter 4: Spirituality: Playing with friends, Competing with God

[4] Harrison, Peter, “Christianity and the rise of western science” ABC Religion and Ethics, 8 May 2012, www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/05/08/3498202.htm; Armstrong, David, “Christianity Crucial to the origin of science,” Patheos, 18 Oct 2015, www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2015/10/christianity-crucial-to-the-origin-of-science.html; Hannam, James. “How Christianity Led to the Rise of Modern Science” Equip.Org, 17 Jan 2017, http://www.equip.org/article/christianity-led-rise-modern-science

Reflect

As you view the world, what seems more apparent to you, creativity or order?

Observe

Read Romans 1:18-32.  Reflect on how natural laws reflect the character of God. Based just on natural laws, what kind of character does that reveal about God?