Faith

Better Than a Beating

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After you take the time to read this post today, I’d love to hear your feedback. I ask because I’m starting to think I’m crazy. Seems everywhere I go, I get the same response from people, so perhaps I’m the one who is wrong.

So fire away.

I’ve written a bit lately about the Internet’s ire. Everyone seems angry. Everyone is mad at some heretic, petty or otherwise. Plenty of talk of wolves. Plenty of hand wringing.

In all of this tension, a few positives go lacking. I talked about one, loving one’s foes. This post is about one of the others.

From the Bible:

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
—Acts 18:24-28

I love that passage. It’s a gentle, godly, pastoral one. I wish it were the model for how we raise up leaders in the Church.

Here’s this Jewish fellow Apollos who is preaching Jesus. He’s a great speaker; people listen to him. He’s got charisma. Knows a few things about Jesus and passes them on fairly well.

Priscilla and Aquila stumble across Apollos and think he’s got potential. He’s mostly there, but he could use some polishing and needs to understand just a few more things more accurately in order to have the Faith down right.

Priscilla and Aquila

Priscilla & Aquila

So rather than correct him in front of everyone, this godly couple takes Apollos aside and better explains the ways of God so as to overcome the young man’s theological deficiencies. They take time to help their charge work out the kinks. They introduce him to the right Church crowd. And Apollos goes on to become such a heavy hitter that the Apostle Paul must later address the tendency of some to say that they are “of Apollos.” (I guess there were fanboys even back then.)

I keep thinking that if this situation existed today, Apollos would be torn to shreds on the Internet or have some book written by a name pastor/teacher denouncing him for those things he said that were not deemed perfect. The court of Christian public opinion would trumpet to the world that Apollos had theological problems here and there. Plus, he knew only John’s baptism at the time. The horror. 😉

Instead, we get Priscilla and Aquila. Thank God for them. Because of them, and because of God’s great mercy, the story went in a far better direction.

Priscilla and Aquila seem like a couple I’d love to hang with. I’m sure they could teach me many things, especially about the grace needed to see raw giftings and know how to refine them with tenderness and love.

Now comes the crazy Dan part.

I’ve questioned in a few forums why it is so easy for Christians with a national pulpit or some name recognition to scold rather than to draw alongside those younger Christians who own a strong voice but who may not have all the particulars down. Actually, scold is too lax a word. Most of the time the better word is brutalize, as that’s the kind of verbal beating meted out.

Priscilla and Aquila seem long forgotten, as if they have nothing to model for older, established, respected pastors/teachers with a national voice—or you and me for that matter. Better that we defend the Faith than actually mold raw people and win them to a better position.

Here’s what really gets me: When I suggest that it would be great if one of these older, established, respected pastor/teachers calls up the “Apollos of the moment” and asks to chat or even sit down over a few meals to work out how things could be done with greater adherence to Scripture and the leading of the Spirit, the mere hint of this kind of pastoral compassion sends people into fits. Such an idea seems like anathema to some, especially the fans of those respected pastor/teachers. They’ve already piled the wood and found a suitable stake.

I’m not stupid enough to believe that all of these almost-but-not-quite-there modern Apolloses are going to wind up corrected and perfect. Yet at the same time, why do I almost never hear of any of these older, established, respected pastor/teachers with a national pulpit reaching out as Priscilla and Aquila did to people they think are slightly off? Instead, out comes the nuclear option, and the public gets to see how much supposed Christians can really hate.

I wonder sometimes if all this constant clashing is only driving the bystanders to cross Christianity off their list of viable sources of truth.

Yes, sometimes we must wipe our feet of the dust of people who will not listen. But at the same time, I see a whole lot of dust-wipers and not a whole lot of Priscillas and Aquilas.

The Perfect Church

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Sainte-Chapelle church stained glassWith passion week arriving soon, we will begin to experience the high holy days of the Christian Church. We will also experience the dividing lines along which most Christian churches fall.

You see, you can tell a great deal about a church by what aspect of those days it glorifies:  Christ’s earthly ministry, His cross, His resurrection, or Pentecost.

Churches that ally themselves most with the earthly ministry identify with Christ’s love for the weak and broken people of the world and His relentless service to them.

Churches that ally themselves most with the cross identify with a lost individual’s status as a sinner, Christ’s sufferings on our behalf, and the wondrous freedom from sin purchased by Him.

Churches that ally themselves most with the resurrection identify with redemption, the new birth, and an eternity spent with God in heaven.

Churches that ally themselves most with Pentecost identify with the empowering of the new Church by the Holy Spirit to fearlessly go forth as saints to spread the Kingdom with signs and wonders accompanying.

I’ve see a lot of churches in America, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen the perfect church—one that ably allies itself with all four of the above in balance. I don’t know why that is so hard, and yet it is. We seem to like our one or two identifications, and that is about all we can manage.

I keep praying, though.

The Question of Hell

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Hell signIf you’re a Christian who regularly peruses the Web, it’s impossible to have missed the recent brouhaha over a book that talks about hell. The author of the book says he wrote it to address the questions of people regarding hell and the afterlife. Most every review of the book mentions that the book raises more questions than it answers and that its few answers aren’t all that great.

And the battle rages…

A lot of Christians don’t want to talk about their questions about the Bible and their faith. To have the standard theology handed to us and to be left with questions afterward makes Christians uncomfortable. It makes people doubt their faith or question their church or denomination. So people clam up and bury their questions.

I’ve been a Christian for nearly 35 years. In that time, I’ve read countless books on various topics within the Christian faith. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that discussed the issue of hell in a way that didn’t leave me with more questions than answers. I don’t believe I’m alone.

That said, I do hew to the standard of belief that hell is a real place. People will go to hell, which is the worst place imaginable and reflects separation from God. Hell is meant for beings who rebel against God. Jesus Christ is the answer to the question of hell. He is the path that leads away from hell. His death and resurrection made it possible that people who are found in Him will not go to hell.

That may sound simplistic. If it does, I apologize in advance. But I think that when we look at the whole of Christian theology since the passing of the apostles, that brief paragraph adequately covers the majority of what scholars have gleaned from the Bible about hell. On many of the nuances, especially concerning what was left out of that paragraph, you will find considerable questions or disagreements.

One of the struggles I have with understanding hell is that that the two major streams of thought on salvation from hell have some articulation issues that only lead to further questions.

Most Christians believe that God created mankind for His own pleasure. Most believe that mankind sinned by rebelling against God. Questions of justice and love now lead us to ask what happens to the rebels.

Some Christians believe that God sends His Spirit to some people He has selected and that these people will become believers in Jesus and thus avoid hell. They have been chosen by God.

But there is the question of what to do with those God didn’t select. They didn’t ask to be born. They didn’t ask to be in the group that didn’t get chosen. They ended up there by default with no opportunity of getting out of that group. If you’ve ever been passed over by the “team captain” when sides are chosen in a sport, you know what it’s like to be left out because of your deficiencies. Only being left off the team destined for heaven is far, far worse.

Some Christians believe that God sends His Spirit to all people and that people choose to believe in Jesus and thus avoid hell. They choose God.

But there is the question of what kind of choice this is. If I am given the choice of an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii for eternity or being doused with gasoline and set on fire (even for just a couple minutes), can it be said that I am making a real choice? And is it possible that a person can choose heaven just because it sounds like a great place but at the same time be indifferent to God?

Both positions leave open many, many questions. What about the person who lived in the jungles of South America in AD 500? What about the good person who acknowledges there is one God but doesn’t know about Jesus? Is the only opportunity to come to Jesus available in this life ? Jesus says a lot about people who call Him Lord but who do not do what He asks of them. What about those people?

Those who spend a great deal of time studying the Bible and are wise in interpreting it always caution us to be careful when we try to build entire theologies from a couple verses. Some of the questions in the previous paragraph are briefly addressed in the Bible, but those questions of the “good pagan” and “the spirits in prison” that Paul and Peter discuss respectively have been debated for generations.

I’ve been a Christian for a long time. I still have questions about these issues.

Some people would point to these questions and try to say something negative about the Bible and the Christian faith. That’s a foolish thing to do.

My question is this: What are you and I doing with the indisputable facts about Jesus, the rebellion of sin, and heaven and hell?

Anyone who has been a soldier in a war will tell you that the commands that come down from HQ will tell you all you need to know for the fight. Not every detail will be covered, and at times you’ll need another guide when events play out in battle in ways unanticipated or unique to the fight. Between the commands and the guide, the war is winnable.

Our faith works the same way.

The Bible tells us that hell is a real place. We know that sin exists. We know that Jesus is the answer to questions of both sin and hell.

Now what are we doing about those truths?