Tag: #theology

The God I Don’t Believe In

Published by mhelbert on January 30, 2020

Over the millennia people have tried to figure out what God is like.
They argue about this attribute or that word in order to prove that their personal idea of Divinity is the most correct in the Whole Wide World.
Systems have been contrived and erected for the sole purpose of explaining the inexplicable.
Perhaps the greatest error of all is to think that we can glean reality from ancient texts that have no foundation in our own reality. (I’m looking at you Fundagelicals!)
If God cannot be envisioned and understood within that context of our lived existence, then what good is it to even seek to know anything about this God?
It seems an exercise in self-aggrandizement.
Perhaps, it’s more appropriate to try to understand the Divine through a process of negation.
What is God NOT like?
What are NOT divine attributes?
At the end of that exercise we may have, instead of a God-In-The-Box of our own thinking, a God who has infinite possibilities to Be and Exist in an ever more complex Cosmos.

With that said…

God is NOT sitting in front of God’s computer with a finger hovering over the “Smite” key.
In other words, God does not kill. Period. God does not cause earthquakes, famines, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, or any other natural disaster. They’re called NATURAL disasters! They are not called SUPER-Natural disasters. What may have appeared as a divine intervention 2,500 years ago has been proven to be the result of conditions that appear in our natural world. Plate tectonics, weather systems interacting with oceans and heat from our Sun, and other phenomena are the cause. Not some kind of Divine anger.

God is NOT the cause of diseases and plagues that sicken and kill people. Again, something that our ancient forebears credited to God, or the gods, has been proven to be caused by natural agents. It is called “Evolution.” Viruses and bacteria have evolved over hundreds of millions of years to attach themselves to other living organisms in order to survive. The results are usually benign and symbiotic. Sometimes, however, they are not and illnesses result. Perfectly natural. God’s not sitting on some Cosmic throne saying, “Take that, you sinful humans!” No, if anything, God is Present to comfort and heal those afflicted by these diseases.

God is NOT a Cosmic Killjoy. God doesn’t get the Divine rocks off by decreeing that everything that could possibly be pleasurable is a Sin that God is only too happy to punish. People who find pleasure in being human, who enjoy life and love with one another, cause God to be pleased as well. For those who hold the position that God somehow cracked the code to become Incarnate, this should be no surprise. In the life of Jesus God experienced Being Human. Church people don’t discuss this too much. They’re usually too worried about maintaining control over people’s minds and bodies. But, it only makes sense that God learned about the human condition by Becoming Human. You know that fear that you experience? Jesus experienced fear. God gets it. The pleasure of human affection and touch is part of God’s own Felt Reality. Anger? Yep, God understands. Hurt, sickness, hunger and thirst are all things that God experienced through the life of Jesus from Nazareth. And, like the writer of Genesis recorded, “And, God saw that it was Very Good.”

God does NOT play favorites. This is really basic. God doesn’t care whether you are Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Jain, or none of the above. All are loved and welcomed. This is the part that sectarian folks don’t want you to know, however. All are welcomed, JUST AS THEY ARE! There is no reason to change our basic selves or beliefs in order to be part of Team God. God seems to desire that we become more ‘divine’ in how we relate with one another and the Cosmos around us.

We all like to think that we are on the winning team. So, we erect boundaries to define who we are in opposition to those who are Not Us. It’s only natural, then, that we use this same idea of separation and exclusion to define God.
The problem with that is, God won’t play along with us.
God seems to be more interested in our relationships with each other, the planet, and ALL who we might consider “Other.”
Perhaps we are all part of God’s process of Creation in some way.
Perhaps we’ve got to be active in our pursuit of a World where we accept who and what we are.
We are Natural and we share in all things Natural.
In a way, we are also Divine. I think that God has somehow been wired into our DNA in such a way that we can truly be called Made in the Image of God, or Ikons of God.

Is there a new step in our evolution waiting at the door?
Are we destined to become something more like Homo Empathicus?

I don’t know.

But, I hope som

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Diversity is Not a Dirty Word

Published by mhelbert on January 9, 2020

The first entry in Merriam-Webster defines Diversity as, “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : VARIETY especially : the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.“

In today’s American culture wars diversity is considered by many people to be something evil that should be avoided at all costs. After all, if we achieve true diversity then White-Protestant hegemony would end. We can’t have that.

But, that’s a topic for another post.

This morning in the quiet hour before I had to get ready to go to work I considered diversity as it relates to our various faith communities. The reality of Euro-American dominance in the world raised its head and looked at me with its blood-red eyes.
I have written about this as it relates to world missions before.
The predominantly white North Atlantic Church has arrogantly forced its own cultural brand of Christianity on a world that neither wanted nor needed that. Yet, that Church still considers itself to be the Only Real True Church. Even today we send groups out into other cultures in order to form the people who are indigenous to those cultures into little versions of ourselves. Because we know best.

Well, we actually don’t.

We have lenses that color our vision. We only see what we want to see. People who are lacking. People who are missing out. People that We. Need. To. Save!

I think that there’s a better way.

I had the pleasure of studying under the Director of Black Church Studies at Ashland Theological Seminary, Dr. William H. Myers. Besides New Testament classes that I had with Dr. Myers, I also had the opportunity to study Womanist Hermeneutics with him. That is a way to read and understand the Scriptures taken from the point of view of African-American women.
That class stretched me. I was the only white person in that class. So, it was a total immersion experience for me.

And, it was uncomfortable.

Not because of who I was. But, because of the lives of the women I met in that course. Women who lived as slaves in the U.S. South. Women who survived that hell only to find themselves buried neck deep in Jim Crow America. Women who raised families.

Women who found peace and solace in the White man’s Jesus.

How they did that was an amazing feat of faith and trust in God.
They learned that God was not the provenance of the dominant culture. They learned that God sets captives free and leads those who love God to the Promised Land.
They learned that God was above the status quo.
They learned that God loved them.

Diversity.

I also learned about a man named Randy Woodley. He is descended from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee. Dr. Woodley has spent his life discovering the Creator God of all people. He is also a follower of Jesus who is learning how to understand the God of the Colonizers in a way that those who were colonized can love.
He, and other Native Americans, work to, as Dr. Richard Twiss, himself a Native American, “Rescue the Gospel from the Cowboys.”
These faithful followers of Christ have found that Jesus isn’t White and doesn’t wear a clerical collar.

Diversity.

I mention these things for one reason.

The Church needs these voices.
We will die from inbreeding if we don’t listen to them.
They have truth that the hearts and minds of the dominant culture simply don’t have.
If we want to have life, and that abundantly, we must push back against those small minded culture warriors who think that there is only One Way to Live.
Their way.

That’s a lie from the pit of hell.
There are as many ways to live as there are people and cultures.
And, there are just as many ways to follow Jesus.

Diversity.

Not a dirty word.

It is Grace and Life.

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Enlightenment, Spirituality, and the Breath of God

Published by mhelbert on December 19, 2019

Spirituality is something that is embedded deep in my bones.
I have no idea why this is so. Lord knows I’ve tried my best to leave it all behind. The toxic theology that pawns itself off as Real True Christian almost fried me. I could no longer agree with that worldview that states all thing human are totally depraved. The idea that there is no redeeming characteristic AT ALL in the Cosmos is a fatal flaw in that closed, religious mindset.

I turned my mind to think critically about religion, theology, Holy Writ, and what some call spirituality, (whatever that means). I saw the inconsistencies and contradictions that seem omnipresent in all of those things. So, I tried to leave it behind as a relic of a bygone era before what was considered Supernatural became routine science. I began to listen to the voices of the Enlightenment. The collected voices of those people were raised up in a chorus that sounded out the harmony of the Human family. The striking melody of Human Reason cut through the Cosmos. We were on our way to Perfection at last! The Mind was lifted up on a pedestal where all could see it and bow before its magnificence. A whole universe of possibility opened up before us.
Of course, two world wars and the real possibility of nuclear annihilation tempered that idea a bit.

I noticed that a version of this had birthed itself out of the Christian faith. It was named Progressive Christianity. “Wow!” I said. “Rationalism married spirituality and Poof! Look at what came out!”
I was excited. Things were looking up. A theology of the Kingdom of God developed that stated that we, the Church, are the Body of Christ. We are to work for the same things that Jesus did. We are tasked with welcoming the ‘Other’ and caring for the widow, orphan, and stranger. And, eventually, we will see the realization of God’s reign on Earth! Yay!!!

But, even this seemed to lack. It looked like the same view that came out of the Enlightenment. That somehow or other, the trajectory of the Universe is bent toward justice.
That’s a really nice thought. I do like that idea. A Lot.

But, my eyes tell me a different story.
All over the world I see war, hate, distrust, greed, death.
There seems to be something innate in the human character that simply drives us to the most abhorrent actions that we can imagine.
And, no, it doesn’t look like things are improving.

There MUST be another way, I thought.

So, I sat.
In silence.
Listening.
For hours and days.

Slowly, I noticed changes in the way I looked at things.
I no longer saw things in a closed system like those Real True Christians seemed to love. Life, and God, cannot be reduced to black and white. There is a whole rainbow of colors that lie between those poles.
I found that God is a really, really Big God Who cannot be stuffed into those decorator boxes that Real True Christians carry around.

I also found that the Progressives miss the mark as well. Their idea of the Kingdom of God opening up before us as we do the work lacks the Spark of Life that actually identifies the Kingdom.
To simply reduce God’s purposes to humans continuing the outward work of Jesus is just as anemic as the RTC view of God-In-A-Box.

So, what other possibilities are there?

“In the beginning the Cosmos was empty. And Ruach Elohim hovered over the waters.”

Ruach Elohim. The Breath of God.
Hovering.
Seeding God’s Good Grace into the waters.
Order growing out of Chaos.

That is the missing piece.
Yes, the human heart is capable of creating horrible things.
We all know it. We all see it every. single. day.
And, no change of philosophy or theology that pits human will against the darkness in that heart will change it.
Not possible.
Been there; done that.
But, when the Breath of God blows, chaos is calmed. Life germinates and flourishes.
Hope pushes up through the fertile soil of the soul and metamorphosis is possible.

I do think that we all are capable of feeling the gentle breeze of God’s Breath as it hovers above the chaos. I have hope that God will one day fulfill the promises made so many years ago. Promises of peace, justice, life, and Love.
But, it won’t come through human effort alone. Yeah, there must be effort on our part. We must be willing to be open to transformation.
Most importantly, though, we must be open to the voice of the Breath of God.

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A Response by Dr. Pete Enns

Published by mhelbert on September 25, 2019

Recently, I’ve spent considerable time and energy investigating the reality of Emotion and Passion. These have been sorely neglected and misunderstood by me, and I might add, especially the theological tradition that I spent so many years immersed in.

While looking at these things, I have neglected one of the things that some of you have enjoyed over the years. That one thing is looking at the Bible and what it may, or may not, actually say, mean, or how it impacts us.

This morning I want to share an essay by Dr. Pete Enns. Those of you who have followed me know that Dr. Enns and I share many common points of inquiry when it comes to the Scripture and Evangelical tradition.

The essay is fairly long. It is also geared more toward an academic response to an Evangelical opinion. So, take that for what it’s worth. Dr. Enns is responding to a review of his book, How the Bible Actually Works, that was written by Evangelical pastor and writer, Geoff Holsclaw. I hope that you find it instructive. And, may it help you to Break the Chains that Bind.

Please click on this link to read, “How the Bible Actually Works” Works; A Response to Geoff Holsclaw (And Likely Others).

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Is There Truly Only “One Way”?

Published by mhelbert on December 10, 2018

If you have known me long enough, then you know that I question pretty much everything. Yesterday at church the Priest stated that he was a “good little rule follower.” As I sat in the pew I thought, “Oh, you poor, poor man.” You see, I’ve never met a rule that didn’t really, really want someone to come along and push against it. I know, it’s a tough job. But, someone’s gotta do it.

So, it’s know surprise when I push back against theologies that claim to be “the only, true way.” To be honest, most religious sects do make those claims. But, I’m only really familiar with neo-Calvinism. I was well-steeped in a theology that made/makes truth claims that, well, simply cannot be sustained. There are other ways to look at “Truth.” I have provided a link to a podcast with Pete Enns. Pete is a kindred spirit and someone whom I respect as a scholar. Pete’s guest in this episode is someone who came out o neo-Calvinism and landed in Eastern Orthodoxy. I’d encourage you to take 42 minutes to give this a listen.

Here is the link to “The Bible and Orthodox Faith”

Again, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. And, click on ‘Subscribe’ in the sidebar if you would like to receive notifications from this blog.

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