Dear Friends,

With the help of Bob Costis and NBC, the Olympics confirmed the probability that China will be, if not already, the superpower of the 21st century. Not only did they have more Gold medals than everyone else, they are out producing, out growing, out educating and apparently out polluting everyone else too.  Most people guess this means the west and the east will at least have to become more cooperative, while some think it spells disaster.  They fear a communist, Maoist, Buddhist, Confucianist, Taoist nation of a billion and a half people will subdue all that is good about the west.

I’m less apocalyptic but I still feel the anxiety.  However, it could be that something good could come from it.  Like it or not, the Eastern mind set can teach us a thing or two about the collective good, while we can teach them about the genius of American individualism.  I suspect we need both (yin and yang) in order to evolve to a new place globally.  Surprisingly, China can also teach us something else.  A large number of their people can teach us about the power of Christianity in the face of hardship. Without necessarily wanting to, China serves as a witness to the strength of Christianity in the face of political and cultural oppression.  This was the environment in which the early church thrived.  One of the great historical phenomena of the twentieth century is that the oppressive Communist states of Russia and China could not eradicate the Christian church in their land.  The more they tried, the stronger it grew.  Huston Smith tells of visiting China twenty years ago, before the present day liberalization, and being taken to a “secret church” in order to worship.  When he arrived he found the church so packed,  people gathered outside by the hundreds; Christians wanting to worship occupied several blocks.  He was amazed at the passion and determination of those persecuted Christians and found this to be true all over China.

It begs the question.  Do we in our country, in order to become more committed, need a similar experience? Well, guess what, we already have it. While not as obvious, our present westernized Hollywood culture of, sports idolatry, scientism, and individual spirituality without any commitment or community or common story, makes going to church on Sunday one of the most radical and counter-cultural acts we can commit.  Get the family in the car and drive to church and watch your neighbor’s response;  tell your child’s soccer coach that “she does not practice or play on Sunday morning and preferably not Sunday at all” and see what kind of reaction you’ll get.  Since Rally Day was on a recent Sunday, why not do something radical?  Commit to being a consistent part of Riverside Church in worship, education and mission.  It’s the best thing we can do for ourselves and our families, especially these days when being a Christian takes some work in a culture that doesn’t seem to know its head from a dragon’s tail.

Peace,

Steve

In response to the last post. I’m not sure it is that God changes, although God may do so if God wishes, but the revelation of God changes, that we discover God in new ways as our history and culture changes and as God makes new revelations. So the God we have in the Old Testament reveals something of the nature of God but limited. Then when Jesus becomes incarnate, as The Revelation of God, the Word of God made Flesh, we can then read all that came before through the lens of his life and teaching. In other words our revelation is a process through time. Still is… There are indeed consequences in the Word and world Jesus gave witness too, however they are consequences brought on by ourselves if we choose to stay out of communion with God and neighbor. All the while God waits, like the father waiting for the prodigal son, for us to come home. Choosing to forgo wrath for forgiveness and reconciliation. This is what the cross gives proof to, and Jesus last words, “Father Forgive them” The consequence comes as well when we discover what it is we need be forgiven for. Of course this is all conjecture. They mystery of God cannot be encapsulated by pandering of this often misguided theologian. Steve

I’m not sure who Mel Dahl is, someone on the web I suppose, but he/she states the old orthodox position especially since Anselem:

if God is a God of forgiveness and mercy rather than wrath then Jesus death was meaningless, why didn’t God just forgive us without sending his Son as a sacrifice?

Certainly God being God, he/she could do whatever he/she wants. Again, it is not God but humanity that needs satisfaction- it is we keep score, demand a pound of flesh, and it is we who need assurance and proof that we have been reconciled. Proof of this comes by the constant support substitutionary atonement theory continues to draw.

It’s obvious that Marc learned more in his short internship at Riverside than I ever imagined. I wish I could take credit. Actually, this is the kind of theological conversation Columbia Seminary teaches it’s students to have.

On Sunday I expressed that if I only had the orthodox version of substitutionary atonement to believe in it would be hard for me to be a Christian. This doctrine states that since Adam and Eve we have all fallen from God. Since God is a God of justice and wrath and his honor has been assaulted, he demands payback. Since we are so sinful and cannot provide enough sacrifice to reconcile the books, God sends his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us instead.

I hoped to refute this doctrine, claiming that God is not a God of wrath but a God of love and forgiveness as expressed in Jesus Christ, God’s Word made flesh. The attributes of God are no different than those of Jesus who said, “you’ve heard it said, and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say… forgive 7 times 70.

I also questioned the orthodox view that the Adam and Eve story is about a fall. While the orthodox Christian church claims it so, the Hebrews didn’t seem to see it as such and since they wrote the story maybe we ought to pay attention to them. I suggested that maybe the story was about the existential condition of all humans, who have been created with an insatiable appetite. Could it be that our insatiable soul is not a bad thing as it drives us to evolve and grow and mature. It becomes a bad thing when we devour every thing in our path in order to feed it, harming our planet, our neighbors our selves and disobeying God in the process, but the appetite is not the problem, our refusal to live with some hunger pains, and with uncertainty is the problem. Maybe the story of Adam and Eve and their exile from the garden is really a gift as it forces us to grow up and leave the perfect world of certainty and protection. Anyway this was the jist of the sermon. Any comments?