Bonhoeffer is Everywhere

Everything I read has a Bonhoeffer quote. He really nails it here:

We have listened to the Sermon on the Mount and
perhaps have understood it. But who has heard it
aright? Jesus gives the answer at the end (Matt. 7:24–
29). He does not allow his hearers to go away and make
of his sayings what they will, picking and choosing
from them whatever they find helpful and testing them
to see if they work. He does not give them free rein to
misuse his word with their mercenary hands, but gives
it to them on condition that it retains exclusive power
over them.
Humanly speaking, we could understand and
interpret the Sermon on the Mount in a thousand
different ways. Jesus knows only one possibility:
simple surrender and obedience, not interpreting it or
applying it, but doing and obeying it. That is the only
way to hear his word. He does not mean that it is to be
discussed as an ideal; he really means us to get on with
it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

More Salt and Light

Eberhard Arnold lived in the Bruderhof Community in Germany in the 30's. Their group was a small minority opposing the Nazi's. Which should teach us a lesson lest we confuse nationalism with Christianity. Some people try to blur the line, then when the line is blurred, activities by our country that are against Christian principles are supported by Christians. The church leaders in Germany went on along with Hitler because he protected their tax exempt status and let them keep their power as long as they left him alone. So do we rejoice in the fact that our nation is considered a Christian nation or do we step back and question if the label is accurate or has it been co-opted for other goals? Our Nation cannot be "salt" only the Church.

The Church has always been more effective as "salt" as Arnold says, salt as salt alone does not taste well and is unhealthy. But salt used as it should be adds flavor, takes what is there and makes it better.

"The nature of salt is salt, or it is nothing. The essence of salt is its action. By itself it has no purpose. Salt is there for the sake of the whole."-Arnold

"Salt can have power only as long as it is different from the surrounding mass and does not fall into decay itself. If it becomes tasteless, it must be spat out. The salt of the earth is where God is, where the justice of the future kingdom is lived out and the powers of the coming order promote organic life and growth."- E.A.

Check out the entire article below, really think about it and where we are today as "salt".
Salt and Light

Salt and Light

Excerpts from "Salt and Light" by Eberhard Arnold

There are people who, in spite of earnest efforts to put Christian beliefs into practice, are not yet overwhelmed by the spirit of Jesus Christ. These do not - it is a painful fact - belong to his community, for the only things they are concerned about is trying to love other people more, and seeing to their own salvation.

Those who truly belong to God’s kingdom and Christ’s community have, by God’s grace, been given a spirit that is wholly different. This spirit does not strive for personal holiness, personal salvation; it does not try to become good or seem good. It is the spirit that recognizes and honors God and his demands.

With the exception of the Sermon on the Mount, in which he clearly told us what counts, Jesus expressed this mystery in parables. The Sermon on the Mount can be compared to a tree that God himself has planted, a sap that our blood cannot produce, a salt that we cannot manufacture – its nature is given by God. It represents a light that we cannot kindle, an essence that comes to us alone from the fount of God’s being.
-E. Arnold
Sounds a lot like Willard to me, written decades before, when Arnold was being persecuted by the Nazi's in the 30's. How beneficial would his writings have been for evangelicals from the 50's and today, if we had only known about him.

Is Obesity a moral issue?

I have got to check out "Supersize Me", a documentary on the health problems caused by fast food. Morgan Spurlock really messed himself up with a diet of fast food for 30 days. He gained 24 pounds and consumed 30 lbs of sugar and 12 lbs of fat.

A study released last September indicates that nearly 40 million American adults are obese, meaning that one in five grown-ups in this country have become grown-outs by adding a third more tonnage to our weight. An additional 6 million are considered "superobese," weighing about 100 pounds more than they should, and more than half of us (56.4 percent) are overweight.

The costs of this epidemic are overwhelming. Each year nearly 300,000 Americans die as a result of obesity (making this the No. 2 killer of American adults), and the nation's annual health care bill for obesity runs about $280 billion, not counting the $33 billion we spend on diets and weight-loss programs. Grossly overweight people are four times as likely to die young as those of normal weight, and severely obese children as young as 6 are now dying of heart attacks caused by their weight. The number of cases of adult diabetes in this country has climbed from 9 to 15 million since 1991. "If we continue on this course for the next decade," notes Jeffrey P. Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "the public health implications in terms of both disease and health care costs will be staggering."

If Obesity is the #2 killer in our country of adults, then shouldn't there be an outcry from Christians? I think we have strong biblical ground to stand on. Numerous statements against gluttony and excess are found through out the entire Bible. Why are we silent on an issue that affects so many more folks than, just for an example, homosexuality? Why is it that we are anxious to tell people how their body is a temple and they should not smoke,(or marry someone of the same sex) but are oblivious to the health dangers we are passing to our children, with our sorry diets? Yeah, I know it would be hard, think of all the hurt feelings if we did not do it in love, and some people are more prone to weight gain than others. (emphasis on SOME). But it should always be addressed when we talk about moderation in drinking. In fact I think most of the time that Scripture intends moderation in both eating and drinking. Spending, sleeping, working, pretty much every thing should be done in moderation, lest it become an idol. I guess we just like to select our favorite behaviors to preach against and hold on to behaviors that are killing us.

Check out the DVD. Maybe we should show that movie in Church sometime.

Why All the Fuss?

Well actually I know why some are upset at the people responsible for the TNIV. In 1978 they were heros, today the same people have according to some.....

Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the translators went beyond trying to clarify meaning.

"They have an agenda – to attempt to force egalitarian and even feminist perspectives on readers in the name of translation," he said.

"This is spin city if I ever saw it. Many evangelical scholars do not buy it for a moment."

But the people who gave us the NIV, our pew Bible at our church say:

Dr. Kenneth Barker, a member of the TNIV translation team, said evangelicals looking for a feminist agenda in the new Bible are misguided. Using standard Greek-Hebrew lexicons and dictionaries, his team changed passages only where the text meant to include both men and women, he said. Guidelines used for the TNIV are the same as used by the American Bible Society and Wycliffe Bible Translators.

I was reading a passage last night but in the "footnotes" I found that what was written was probably not what was intended by the original author?! So one could draw a different conclusion than what was meant to be communicated.That is how some of the offended want to handle alleged discrepancies, in the footnotes. Who has the agenda?

I say the closer we can get to the original Greek the better, while at the same time being more easily understood by today's readers. I also heard some preacher trying to say how the KJV says this and the TNIV says something different. For my money I would trust the TNIV any day over the KJV, now those guys had an agenda.

Looking Back For the Right Reasons

In my previous post I talked about the Eastern Orthodox and how there is a renewed interest in their traditions. I did not mean to imply that I think we should go back to the way Church was back in Paul's day. There were several problems in the early churches (As our pastor so eloquently stated once or twice) and our goal should be to pattern ourselves after Christ and not a Church.

I think that there are things to be learned from several Christian faiths or traditions or denominations. The reverant beauty of a liturgical service in an orthodox (or Catholic or Anglican). The emotional fervor in a charasmatic service. Even beautiful accapella music in some denominations can draw us uniquely closer to God. Isn't that what it is all about anyway? Worshipping and glorifying God. There are many ways to do that. Through service to our fellow man, giving of tithes, singing hymns or praise songs, with guitars or organs, accappella or full blown orchestra, our God desires us to praise Him.

So I am not arrogant enough to believe that my way is the best way or only way to worship. I really do not know how they did it back in the day, but we should try to do Church like Jesus wants us to do it, not just the way they did it "in the good old days".

Looking East: The Impact of Orthodoxy

A good article at The Christian Century
Quotes:
This vision of the church and theology affects Orthodox interaction with Western Christians at a basic level. An advertisement for an Orthodox church in a rural American town full of self-proclaimed Bible-believing churches invites people to come to “a church that knows the Bible because it wrote the Bible!” Top that if you can. This is how Orthodox believers view their dynamic continuity with the ancient church and scripture.


Many English-speaking theologians have encountered Orthodoxy through the ecumenical movement. The Orthodox joined the movement early on—much earlier than the official Roman Catholic involvement. Ancient orthodoxy has provided a starting point on which all parties in the ecumenical conversation could agree, and current Orthodoxy ( of the Orthodox churches ) has presented an incarnation of the ancient church from which all parties could learn. Further, the liturgical renewal of the past half-century has made Protestant worship more similar in form and in spirit to the ancient liturgy that the Orthodox champion and purport to continue uninterrupted.

And Orthodoxy can also be embraced as a refuge for alienated conservatives; it offers a place where no one is going to be calling God “she.”

" by Jason Byassee

Perhaps that is why I sense a move toward Orthodoxy among some Christians. Both as a response against indivualizing our God and of attacks against tradition, whether warranted or not. I wondered why Baptist call Sacraments, ordinances? Did this reflect a marginalization of these acts or contribute to the marginalization of these acts? We do have to balance our view of tradition with consideration of the society today, to make sure we don't just do tradition for traditions sake, but take what is instituted by God and continue to worship in a spirit of Communion.(with God and our fellow believers)

Coffee House Theology

The term cheap grace gets thrown around alot. Usually at consumer Christians who are mainly concerned about themselves and not others. Are these the only partakers in this "cheap grace"?

I am not trying to criticize because I know I am certainly guilty of relying on cheap grace. But to me it seems like it could take many forms. Would I be guilty of cheap grace if I said it does not matter what I do or say, but only what I feel in my heart? Or it does not matter what I do or say as long as I care about poor people?

It is hard to tell Christians from pagans these days. Some people think that is a good thing. I think, maybe I am wrong, that we should live our lives where someone might be tempted to ask us;"what is different about you?"

So whether we think part of the Bible is outdated and does not apply or we claim the Bible to be the literal Word of God, but apply nothing of it to our lives, we could all be guilty of cheap grace.

I realize some of us have families to raise, so we don't give a lot of thought about solving the world's problems. I also realize some of us don't have families or even jobs, but lots of time to solve the world's problems. It isn't really fair to criticize one camp or the other. We are all guilty of cheap grace at one time or another.

I guess what I am trying to say is that whether we get our coffee at Starbuck's or the local bait/convenience store, we could all use a little self examination once in a while, which is why I like Lent season. Sort of humbling when I consider Christ's suffering and I equate giving up a food item to what He went through. Then maybe we or more specifically I, would be a little more considerate of those who are too busy raising a family or those who have way too much time on their hands and realize that we can all be consumers of cheap grace. ( For how to not be guilty of this, see Willard or Bonhoeffer )

Saving the World

I found this on an Orthodox blog I like to read
Saving the World

I eventually grew to become a really socially conscious Christian. I adored Ron Sider and can still to this day remember reading "Rich Christians..." for the first time. Whereas before, saving the world meant getting everyone on the planet to say the “sinner’s prayer” (AND MEAN IT!), after my enlightenment it seemed to me that it was equally important to make sure that everyone was well fed and had a nice house to live in. Later, when I realized that I could not remain on track toward ordination in the Assemblies of God I was, in no small way, adrift…not knowing how to fulfill the Great Commission.

But still wanting to “save the world” I starting studying medical lab science in the hopes of taking any skills I might learn to third world countries – or something along those lines. I’m really not sure where my hopes (we used to say “calling”) for ordination went. Anyway, my newfound membership in the ECUSA fully supported my quest for fulfilling the gospel of social action.

But, like my quest for ordination, my aspirations of being a new Mother Theresa were postponed (or dissolved?) because I fell in love and married my wife. Then, kids started mysteriously arriving. Next thing I know, my social conscience is being ministered to by “advancing knowledge and saving lives” at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Not precisely what I had envisioned.

But the other night I was sitting and doing nothing in my easy chair. I began to ponder my occassional heartfelt deisre to “save the world” and “make a difference.” As I did, a little voice asked, “Daddy, can I have a drink of water?”

I smile now as I write, for you see in reality, I have in my care not one world to save, not one difference to be made – but FOUR! Man, talk about not seeing the forest through the trees, that small voice was a whirlwind out of which a much louder and more powerful voice revealed my pride, my stupidity, and my potential. No, not mine…their potential. I was sinning by squinting and looking out across the oceans for a way to satisfy my social conscience, while all along, playing at my feet were four amazing lives that needed more attention from that very same social conscience.

Parenthood is THE single most powerful discipleship and charity “program” on the planet. It’s time that I get that through my thick skull and start taking that responsibility seriously. I may not be a priest or a Mother Theresa, but I am a Dad and everyday I can chose to be a terrible, mediocre, or an amazing one - a life changing one!

...offered by James Ferrenberg, a sinner and extremist Paradosis

Their Silence is Deafening

"Billionaire Bush-basher George Soros and left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore were among critics of the administration's Iraq policy who had no comment after millions of Iraqis went to the polls in their nation's first free elections in decades."

And,

Asked whether the Carter Center had a comment on the election, spokeswoman Kay Torrance said: "We wouldn't have any 'yea' or 'nay' statement on Iraq."

The subject of Iraq is noticeably absent from the leftist blog sites. Why do they listen to their mom's now? You know when she said, " If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."