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The Gospel, The Ευαγγελιον in the Old Testament; The Reason for the Apostles Use of this Particular Special Theological Word

May 5, 2024

The truth is that we all want to hear good news. Some good news I saw today was the Green Wall of Africa. The United Nations with local populations south of the Sahara have started to make central Africa green again. This not only brings wealth to Africa but also community. The strange thing is though, when we look at most news sources it is usually bad news. So then in the world there different types of news, good and bad. It makes me feel happy to see hope of a better future filling Africa, I wish I could say the same thing about other parts of the world. In a sense then good news is also rather psychological. For good news to be good your have to ‘feel’ in your heart and in your mind that it is good news. One has to be convinced that the news is true, authentic and that it can change something in one’s life for the better.

The ancient people were no different to us. They also liked to hear good news. Perhaps there was a hunting expedition for food, and they were able to trap some meat to eat for a month, or that it was a great harvest so it was less likely that the villagers would go hungry next Winter. They had basic needs for survival and we are no different. It is sometimes easy to forget our basic needs of food, heat and warmth. This Winter was interesting in Finland. The temperatures in Southern Ostrobothnia dropped to about -32 c and we were running out of wood. In fact I went outside and chopped wood. The electric pump does not work that well at these temperatures. It was certainly good news that I had an axe!

So then whether you are religious or not, you must be curious what people thought two or three thousand years ago. Yes, the Bible has writings that old and even if you don’t accept it as Scripture, it does not mean it has no value to you. It is true that I see Scripture as God’s word to us, but I think if you find Shakespeare’s Macbeth interesting, something made up then; how much more valuable then might the Bible be?

At this point you have to make a choice; either you believe what I say, or you have a ‘better’ explanation. I respect your viewpoint, but I think I also have a valid point too.

Gospel in its most basic kernel means good tidings or good news. There are two things we want to discover:

The way ‘gospel’ was used in the Old Testament
How it is used and modified by the Apostles (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit)

Why did the Apostles choose the word Gospel (ευαγγελιον)?

I am taking a break this Week from the theology of the theologians and want to follow through and learn about the idea of the Gospel came from. Obviously, we need to do research in the Hebrew Old Testament and the LXX (the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament.)

Background of the word Gospel, euangelion see also bsr in the OT.

Twice it can mean ‘reward for bringing good news’ and in the piel (grammatically) it is represented in the lxx as ευαγγελιζω (to announce good news)

1 kings 1 42; While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a valiant man and bring good news.” 1 Kings 1:42

Explnation

There was some trouble in Jerusalem with planning and scheming for the throne of Judah and Israel. A conspiracy was going on to usurp King Solomon’s right to become king. Adonijah was expecting good news from Jonathan that he would be the next King and not Solomon.

‘Bring news’ here is in the piel grammatical form. Piel is intensive here showing the happy expectation of kingship for Adonijah. It did not turn out the way Adonijah had foreseen! The word ‘good’ is a modifier of the type of news that was expected.

Notes:

וְט֥וֹב = good

תְּבַשֵּֽׂר׃ = bring news (V‑Piel‑Imperf‑2ms)

Ευαγγελιζω is also a compounded word. The English word euthanasia which means a calm death has the same preposition ‘Eu’. Eu or Ευ means ‘good’. We find the second part in angels (messengers) who ‘announce’ the news.

Is Enrichment in Theology ever Possible?

April 26, 2024

Tags:bible, christianity, God, jesus, major religions, scientific discovery, theology
Posted in theology, Turkish Theology | Comments Off on Is Enrichment in Theology ever Possible?

Talk about God through the Theologians; A reflection on the late Professor Gunton’s book chapter 1

April 7, 2024

This Week I was looking at the first chapter of Theology of the theologians by the late Colin E. Gunton. Gunton raises the question of if it is feasible to think in terms of an English systematic theology. Hmm this is an interesting question but I prefer British theology as not a German Theology. At the end of the day I think the Europeans need the Brits as much as the Brits need the Europeans for theology. Then again Theology belongs to the whole gamut of humankind. Reading that first chapter reminded me of my days at King’s and how I miss those days listening to Colin Gunton teach us, especially about Barth and Irenaeus.

Even before reading the book, there were some photos of various theologian on the front cover. At the top section of the front cover, we have Edward Irving, Robert Willis Dale, John Owen and PT Forsyth.

On the bottom of the cover, we have Luther, Karl Barth and Coleridge.

In the English speaking world, they all had something to contribute to the Church. They had their flaws as we all do but they also had their ideas:

Edward Irving’s teachings were certainly a precursor to Azusa Street Pentecostal church. He also got kicked out of the Church of Scotland for the heresy that Jesus was born with sinful flesh.
Robert Willis Dale was instrumental in helping the poor and helpless in society in Birmingham and my idea is that he was a precursor to the welfare social systems we find around the world.
John Owen was a solid Bible teacher, who was also Oliver Cromwell’s personal minister.
PT Forsyth who by some is seen as a precursor to the ideas that Karl Barth came up with. He certainly saw the evils of WW1. It made him think about the incarnation and the atonement and God also put his money where his mouth was… That God was also willing to suffer for his creation…
Martin Luther is famous for Justification by faith alone and hatched the egg that Erasmus laid. In other words Erasmus made it obvious that there was corruption in the Church. Luther was responsible to start the Reformation and inadvertently the Roman Catholic Church had to look at itself with the counter Reformation.
Karl Barth is known for his Church Dogmatics, and he did strange things such as to make our Lord the subject and object of God’s Mercy and God’s Wrath.
Coleridge one of Gunton’s favourites, the one who set off the Romantic Period in the UK in his later life made significant moves into thinking about the Trinity and Culture

Rationalism

Rationalism according to the Oxford dictionary via Google search engine says:

the practice or principle of basing opinions and actions on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.

“scientific rationalism”

Philosophy

the theory that reason rather than experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge.

Theology

the practice of treating reason as the ultimate authority in religion.

Then we had the Counter Rationalist movement of Romanticism:

literary and artistic movement marked chiefly by an emphasis on the imagination and emotions.
the quality or state of being romantic. (From Merriam webster.com)

As can be seen some serious things have happened over the last couple of hundred years and the modern world, we live in is still dealing with these issues. We cannot escape culture and religion because it touches on what it really means to be a human. Hermann Bavinck had one of the coolest heads on these issues. If one over emphasizes rationality over against emotion or vice versa then we are missing the point. As human beings we have the power to think but also to feel. (From Reformed Dogmatics; pages 264-269; Herman Bavinck; edited by J Bolt)

Today the situation for humans has got even worse. We are no longer people but data! We all have our social security numbers and if we lose them, we cannot access necessary services for living. People who fall out of the system are in grave danger of being isolated or even being found dead under a bridge or perhaps frozen to death. This is a serious problem and charitable and religious organizations have stepped in such as the Salvation army. If a person is only data, then from one perspective, they are passively deemed not important and the innate importance of being human, created in the image of God becomes a problem. In Western society, as progress marches forward people are becoming less and less human to the point of becoming ghosts inside the system of progress. When officials contact people, they can hide behind the face of the computer.

So then because of these reasons I have given, we need to return to look at how to become human again. Being human includes rationality but also feeling. We cannot over emphasize one over the other. This is why Gunton’s work is so important… Gunton had done a lot of the dirty spade work in finding out why our Western cultures are in melt down. His book, The One the Three and the Many gives us direction and it shouldn’t be read just by theologians; it should be read by all Christians, atheists, agnostics and by other religious and non-religious traditions who have an ability to bring about social change for the better. If we could put the bit in the mouth of the Western cultural horse and somehow turn the beast in the right direction so that we can find our humanity again. To learn to love our Trinitarian God and our neighbour again.

Theology through the theologians

Gunton starts where Karl Barth also started, in the 19^th century. The picture of theology and history in general in some ways looked rather bleak. Everything in the 19^th century was in turmoil and the French Revolution sent shivers throughout Europe. In this period, we had two great movements of thought within Europe; Rationalism with Kant who caused a break between thinking and doing, then the counter movement of Romanticism that emphasized feeling over against pure reason.

John Henry Newman

Obviously when we are looking at God it has also something to say about human nature and culture. Even not saying anything about God is saying something about God. I was also rather taken aback when I read the following on page 9:

“For Newman, talk of the oneness of God is one thing, the product of philosophical reflection, while the threeness is a matter of authoritative revelation. Speculation about the relation of the one and the three is forbidden:“…the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity is mere juxtaposition of separate truths, , which to our minds involves inconsistency, when viewed together; nothing more being attempted by theologians, for nothing more is told us.”

If Newman really did say “Trinity is a mere juxtaposition of separate truths” then this is very serious and is an act of irrationality of the highest order. I know that Roman Catholic theology uses Aquinas’ theology, and he would never close his mind to this type of thing. It seems to me some sort of defensive position for the Trinity.

Juxtaposition means: ‘the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect’ (From merriam-webster.com).

In the advance of the onslaught of modern rationality and pantheism this by John Henry Newman was a copout (Hiding behind the walls of authority). In fact, Newman was wrong and as Gunton said, if Newman had read a little more perhaps, he may have come to another view.

What Gunton had said earlier on in this book is that we need to see examples from our tradition such as Anselm and Irenaeus as people who thought outside the box and did not allow philosophy to contain theological ideas. Not allowing philosophy to run on parallel line to theology. Rather being able to see the bigger picture of reality. Being systematic in thought does not necessarily mean that one has to give in to being over systematized.

“…Why is it that I wish to recommend the odd figure of Coleridge as a model for an English systematic theology? (From page 10) … Yet Coleridge’s quest for truth was not one which divorced it from practical concerns. Far from it, for in many ways a moral concern was very much at the centre, as we shall see. One form the quest for truth took was in his engagement with the thought of that prince of modernity, Immanuel Kant. Kant, as we are often reminded, stands at the watershed of modern thought, as is revealed above all else in the breach he engineered between the truth of being and the truth of doing. Coleridge took up his moral thought, and developed from it the possibility of a unified — and theological — view of reality. Of course, there was an element of wish-fulfilment in his assertion that he could not believe Kant really meant what he said about the impossibility of metaphysics. But Kant served as a first step, as a liberator from the mechanistic view of reality that threatened to sweep all human values off the face of the earth. Freedom, human freedom, was Coleridge’s concern, as it was Kant’s. But rather than assert it against the blank wall of the empty universe — as the Kantian Sartre was later to do — he used it as a starting—point in a search for a universe containing the possibility of personal truth.” (pages 10-11)

For Gunton Coleridge in his later life was someone who evolved into having a more mature theology of the Trinity. In fact, Coleridge was in some way looking for the truth of God and sometimes he went down the wrong tracks. He got himself addicted to opium, he was highly influenced earlier on with Pantheism and Unitarianism. Somehow though he was able to break out of this straight jacket that led him nowhere. Gunton says the following about Coleridge:

I can see why Gunton found Coleridge very interesting… Coleridge was able to breakthrough the many walls of culture and find the importance of the Trinity. Coleridge is not hiding behind any wall of authority to make a point about the Trinity.

Gunton finishes this chapter off by looking at the present reality and if it is a possibility to have a home grown (British) Systematic theology with the ability to converse with other traditions.

Reflection

The way we do theology is important because what we believe to be true affects what we think it is to be human. At the moment in the various Western societies people are not being treated fully as social beings but as commodities. Rabbi Sacks book on Morality is a correction for this situation, but also, we need to think through how to do theology because there has to be a balance between the created order and the infinite. Many times, this balance is broken, and it has led to catastrophes in the real world.

I think what the late professor Gunton wants us to do is to step outside of our laurels and take the doctrine of God seriously. The Trinity is an enormous subject that affects our world view about everything and the whole of reality. Sin has indeed entered our world through the Fall and even these theologians we are talking about had their own idiosyncrasies, but these faults spurred them on to go deeper. Coleridge for example had a great mind but got hooked on drugs. By faith he was able to move forward and find God and became a fully fledged Christian. Because of his experiences we are able to critique those who would want to put God on a side burner.

Going on a Tangent

I also found it fascinating that Coleridge was also affected by the French Revolution negatively. It was a very big thing that happened and even Herman Bavinck took this very seriously. For me when thinking about political systems. The French Revolution was all about human endeavour and purely secular. God was written out of the constitution. There are flaws with this system because as Rabbi Sacks says:

“…If we continue to adopt the French model of rights and stop believing in the existence of a significant arena of individual responsibility, we will lose the sense of common morality that finds its natural home in families and communities. We will be left only with the market and the state. The market cannot deliver distributive justice. The state cannot deliver dignity and resilience, civility and responsibility, for and in its citizens. The state can deliver much: health, welfare, education, defence and the rule of law. But it cannot deliver the active citizenship that creates, daily, in myriad local contexts, the face-to-face care and compassion that constitute the good society. Remove the moral matrix of civil society and eventually you get populist politics and the death of freedom in the name of freedom. It is the wrong road to take.” (From Morality; pages 128-129 Rabbi Sacks: )

The British system is quite unique but the authority in the crown is placed before God as the ultimate authority. This is why the British system works. The questions about God and the state are very real thus eventually the French system may lead to more suffering as it is based on purely secular grounds.

Returning to the Trinity

In this chapter Gunton raised questions about the nature of systematic theology and if it is at all possible. We looked at this through some theologians. In the next chapter we will look at the nature of Dogmatic theology looking at it through the eyes of Professor Gunton.

I also stepped outside of the remit of ‘theology through the theologians’ as well because more work needs to be done across all religious tradition for the benefit of humanity. Obviously work starts in our own back yard but it needs to take the whole world into consideration so that together we become more human; faithful to God, faithful to each other, loving, caring, reaching out to others when they are impoverished… God created this world and he created us, and there is a relationship between the two lets continue reflecting on what this might entail.

Tags:bible, christianity, church, God, moral beings, theology
Posted in Turkish Theology | Leave a Comment »

Lent 6: Palm Sunday; Are you a Slave or a Master?

March 21, 2024

‘Service’ is something a lot of people nowadays do not understand. We live in a time of world history where each person thinks; “What will I get out of it for myself?” I suppose it is human nature to think about one self but it is also human nature to think about others. This Week we will be looking at Palm Sunday and if the Gospels were made into a play this event would be the last act, last part of the story of the incarnation of Christ. Usually in a country, any country the mark of the ascendancy to the throne of anyone would be a great celebration. Only the so called most important people in society would be invited to the festival. It is interesting that our Lord Jesus also was hailed as king. The king of the Jews and the gentiles. There were no important people at our Lord’s Coronation of Coronations. Sometimes there are people who really decided to serve:

“I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” (Taken from; royal.uk/21st-birthday-speech-21-april-1947)

This is what the late Elizabeth 2^ndSaid on here 21^st Birthday. She said she would ‘serve the people’. A lot of people focus on how wealthy she was, but few realize that she made a promise. This promise in effect made her a servant. As a human being she made mistakes a long the way, but she loved the Lord Jesus. Wealth was not the driving force.

What is the driving force in your life and have you ever thought about it?

We now turn to the story of Palm Sunday. A good place to start is to read it.

The Triumphal Entry
¹ When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
⁵ “SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,
‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,
GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,
EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’”
⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, ⁷ and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. ⁹ The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Hosanna in the highest!”
¹⁰ When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:1-11 NASB

Background Information

According to William Barclay there were over two and a half million people getting ready for the Passover. It is very interesting that our Lord chose to ride into Jerusalem this way. Our Lord was not the first Royal person to ride into Jerusalem this way. In the Apocrypha before the Roman era we read that the Temple was desecrated by Greek soldiers. Antiochus Epiphanes about 175 B.C had sacrificed pigs on the Holy alter in the Temple. The Greeks were eventually overthrown and the people celebrated.

Barclay writes about this event:

“Therefore, they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto Him that had given them good success in cleansing His place.” On that day the people carried the palm branches and sung their psalms; it is an almost exact description of the actions of the crowd who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem.” (From dannychesnut.com/Bible)

This is kind of interesting and also the fact that Barclay mentions Judgement starts at the sanctuary Ezekiel 9:6.

When reading the story of Palm Sunday I also think we need to keep it in it’s theological context Philippians 2. 1-11 fits the bill but we will look at this later.

For now, we can say that our Lord Came into Jerusalem on the back of two animals. John Calvin says that this signified that our Lord was sending the message that he was king over the whole world. King over both the Jews and the Gentiles. Matthew is very precise to the prophecy:

⁵ “SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,
‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,
GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,
EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’” Matthew 21:5

The other two Gospels only mention the colt. It is also very interesting that our Lord was not riding a Stallion or some powerful horse of war. A colt by definition is only between one year and four years of age. This prophecy shows that our Lord did not come as a warrior into Jerusalem as a king that was to wage war against literal physical armies.

The crowds all two and a half million of them would have been quite a site for the High Festival of the Jewish nation as our Lord rode into Jerusalem having coats and palm branches laid in front of him as he entered the Holy City. Matthew goes on to write:

⁹ The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:9 NASB

The crowds new they needed help from God. For the crowds that day our Lord was their saviour, their Messiah, their King! A few days later they would be chanting ‘crucify Him’.

The crowd were on fire, they were excited about their Messiah:

^“When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” Matthew 21:10 NASB

They knew who Jesus was:

^“And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:11

Perhaps William Barclay was right that perhaps the people of Israel looking at their history remembered their earlier deliverance from the Greeks. Perhaps this is one reason they had an image of our Lord defeating the Romans.

The means by which Jesus entered Jerusalem was as a king of peace. Riding a donkey and a colt which ever way represented peace to the Jews and the Gentiles. The crowds must have seen something odd about our Lord not riding a royal war horse.

Calvin also mentions a little bit more about this story from:

³⁸ shouting:
“BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke 19:38 NASB

“Luke adds a few words, Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest; in which there would be no obscurity, were it not that they do not correspond to the song of the angels, (Luke 2:14;) for there the angels ascribe to God glory in heaven, and to men peace on earth; while here both peace and glory are ascribed to God. But there is no contradiction in the meaning; for, though the angels state more distinctly the reason why we ought to sing, Glory to God ― namely, because through his mercy men enjoy peace in this world ― yet the meaning is the same with what is now declared by the multitude, that there is peace in heaven; for we know that there is no other way in which wretched souls find rest in the world, than by God reconciling himself to them out of heaven. Matthew 21:9”

The whole tenor of this story shows that our Lord was about bringing peace to humanity from heaven. The rationale and the summing up of what has been said about the incarnation life of Christ is found in Philippians 2. 1-11.

Be Like Christ
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ² make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. ³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus,

⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,

and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him,

and bestowed on Him the name, which is above every name,

¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW,

of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:1-11

Reflection

Queen Elizabeth certainly understood the ramifications of Kingship. It is a life of service. Palm Sunday was about our Lord being the servant of God. The one who would serve the people. A service that also mean that a few days later he would be crucified. The people did not understand the relationship of peace and war. What is your understanding of service?

Are you in a position of authority for yourself or are you there because you feel that this is your duty. Is your view of Jesus as a great conqueror who will walk all over the nations or is it that In Christ the barrier that separated us from a relationship with God has been broken and peace has been established.

As our Lord taught us in the Beatitudes we need to do some soul searching and start to put others needs in front of our own selfish needs, and ambitions.

Tags:faith, God, holy-week, hosanna, jesus, palm-sunday
Posted in Easter, Lent | Leave a Comment »

Lent 5: The Tangent of Tangents; When Heaven Touches Earth

March 13, 2024

The Infinite God breaks into our space and time in Jesus; God becomes a man and lives a life completely devoted to God, to the point that the command of God would lead our Saviour to a Cross and to die on it. Three days later he takes his life back, according to the will of God the Father and our Saviour lives now and for ever as Fully God and Fully man. The Trinitarian mystery that promises that at the resurrection real human life continuation in the fulfillment of the divine epochs known as the Eschaton (end times). This is really interesting stuff, but I want to start from our mundane understanding of time.

Time is a serious subject and it impacts our lives on a daily basis. When I think about time, I have come to the conclusion that 70 years is really a very short period to be alive. What can be achieved in 70 years. Not a lot but as a general rule of thumb which doesn’t fit everyone’s experience:

We are born and grow up
We get a job
We may get married
We raise children
We become grandparents
We die.

These movements are known as the stages of life and it doesn’t make much of a difference where we live. Although there are worldly sweet spots such as Japan in which you might even make it to a 100 years of age.

In human innovation great strides have been made in measuring what we call time. The world has its time zones and it is now possible to know what time it is anywhere in the world. We can even radio carbon objects to know when they were created. So then in human culture we can say that there is time. In human culture or science I suppose that time has to have a beginning and an end.

What do you think time is?

Do you agree with what I said?

Or have you got your own ideas about time?

Your point of view is also important as it may in someways differ to my ideas of time.

Whatever the case might be, I’m moving on this premise that time has a beginning and an end. Theological time takes this into account but we now need to think in terms of timelessness. To think about a time when there was no time and there will be time with no end. These are important questions and I know that theses have been written on this. I’m not going down that road, but I am going down a road. The road of faith.

The Time of Lent

The time of lent is a good time to remember that God loves you. God is your Creator and if you are from a Faith Tradition such as a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu Sikh, Zoroastrian et al, then you know that life is a gift. From this universal standpoint I can see the image of God in every human being and in John’s Gospel it says:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

This fact fits perfectly with the account of the creation of Man and Woman at the beginning of out time on earth. Although Man and Woman had a good start, we know that a little bit later into the story, evil, corruption, sin, pride, lust also enters into Man. God’s perfect world was not perfect anymore and we all find ourselves with the effects of selfish greed in which Man fell into temptation and wanted to be ‘like God’. Adam was already like God and without sin. The problem was that he wanted to be ‘The Man’. The Man in control of his own destiny without God. From reliance to independence.

This is why God had a plan. Man was his own worst enemy and he became a slave of his own incompetence. Many people value material things, fast cars, a nice partner or partners, money, wealth, power over others. They become worse than rats in the rat race and will walk over anyone to get their way. The truth is that such people are not independent, but they are slaves of sin. They are trapped in these 70 -100 years of life before death takes them. As billionaires they cannot take their billions with them, and I too will one day die and not blog anymore.

We now turn to Karl Barth. Karl Barth wrote his Church Dogmatics and I think there are over one and a half million words. When I looked at the Index of the Church Dogmatics, he had given the faithful preacher tools for preaching at Lent time and the following section will my reflection of what he said about time, so please continue reading and I hope you find it uplifting and challenging. The Bottom line is that God loves His Church. Whether you are in a church or not makes no difference to me as there many Christians who cannot go to a church because it cam be dangerous. Perhaps you are from a part of the world where you could lose your life, or that you could end up in prison for your faith in Jesus:

Karl Barth Chose to quote John 8. 46 – 59. This section is basically about Revelation and the Identity of Jesus. He was accused of being demon possessed and all sorts of things. There certainly is a dimension of theological time here:

⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷ He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
⁴⁸ The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. ⁵⁰ But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” ⁵² The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ ⁵³ Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ⁵⁵ and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” ⁵⁹ Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. John 8:46-59

“As Karl Barth says Irenaeus had no problem of seeing Christ in the Old Testament:

One of the most outspoken representatives of recognition of the identity of the Old Testament and the New Testament, i.e., of the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament also, is Irenaeus, who especially in the fourth book of his chief work is never tired of speaking as follows . . . From the beginning there were those who recognised God and prophesied the coming of Christ, and if they did so, it was because they received revelation from the Son Himself (C.o.h. 7, 2) . . . Abraham’s rejoicing (v. 56), so to speak, descended to his posterity, who really saw Christ and believed in Him—but again the rejoicing ascended to Abraham, who once desired tosee the day of Christ (7, I). (I, 2, p. 74 f. The Time of Revelation.)” (Taken from CD, INDEX, page 363, (Irenaeus fragments of Payrus, All photos taken from wikipeadia)

All I am trying at this point is to show you that in the Christian tradition, prophecy in the Old Testament was taken very seriously. When it came to Christ; He is the Centre and the Reason of Revelation. Our Lord Jesus Christ is pre- temporal as Barth would say. Before the creation of the world there was no human time. We did not exist. A lot of decisions were made in God’s Trinitarian infinite timeless time.

Barth Continues to say:

“God is pre—temporal . . . It may sound trivial to say that God was before we were, and before all the presuppositions and conditions of our existence. Yet in its unqualified, literal sense it is profound and decisive. God was in the beginning which precedes all other beginnings. He was in the beginning in which we and all things did not yet exist. He was in the beginning which does not look back on any other beginning presupposed by this beginning itself . . . We are not from eternity, and neither is our world. There was a time when we and the world did not exist. This was the “ pre-time,” the eternity of God In this time God wrote His decrees and books, in which everything is marked down that is to be and occur, including every name and the great and small events of the bearer of every name . . . This pre-time is the pure time of the Father and the Son in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit . . . If we understand eternity as pre-time—and we must understand it in this way too—we have to recognise that eternity itself bears the name of Jesus Christ (v. 58; Eph. I“; I Pet. 11“). Note how in all these and similar passages the eternal presence of God over and in time is established by reference to a pre-time in which time, and with it the existence of man and its renewal, is foreseen and determined. What is to be said about time and its relation to eternity derives from the fact that eternity is also before time. (II, 1, pp. 621—623. The Eternity and Glory of God.) (Taken from CD, IBID, continued)

Reflection

So my friends ‘we have traveled a long way in time(no pun intended’ 😊). As I said at the beginning our Timeless God in the Person of Jesus Christ came into the world, into our space and time to set us free from sin and death. In this 5^th Sunday of Lent let us meditate on God’s time that Jesus died on the cross to save you and me and to bring us into fellowship with himself. We do not become gods but we find the joys of heaven touch our circle of life.

If you are not a Christian, the door is always open for you. In prayer by faith ask Our lord to come into your life. It means putting the old life away and taking on the new life by the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirits guidance we can grow in the beautiful knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

If you are a Christian, I hope and pray that you reflect on the timelessness of our Trinitarian God and you are brought into a deeper knowledge of what it means to follow Christ.

If you are from another religion, then I can say God loves you as he created you in his own image. I hope and pray that at least even if you do not agree with Christianity that you could be more sympathetic to Christians. That even despite the times Christians do not show the love they ought to do. The golden rule is found in all religions in some form God has called the human race to love one another. War, murder in all its forms is a betrayal of this.

Tags:bible, christianity, faith, God, theology
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Lent 4: Where is the Centre and Focus of Our reliance?

March 10, 2024

All good things come to us through the gift of our Creator and we ought to remember and be thankful for what he has done for us. On the one level as human beings we rely on God to make the crops to grow and for the water that we drink. These are basic necessities. Our Lord Jesus spoke to us through the basic necessities to look beyond the literal food we eat and to come closer to the Giver of life. Upto this point Muslims Jews and Christians would agree with the goodness of God for his creation.

The differences start to come when we look at the identity of Jesus. Many Jews but not all Jews would want to disown Jesus as their Messiah and Muslims see him only as a Prophet. Christians on the other hand see in Christ’s identity that he is Fully God and Fully man , the second Person of the Holy Trinity. This last view is my view. Intellectually everyone in the world must make their minds up of who Jesus is. Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Atheist, Agnostic, Communist, Democrat, Republican et al.

This story that we start with is the Feeding of the Five thousand not including women and children who were probably there too. This story is a sign, it is a road sign to something very significant. The people who were fed saw Jesus as the Messiah and the King of Israel. Questions are however raised:

What kind of King would Jesus be?

Ultimately where should our reliance for life be put?

Five Thousand Fed
¹ After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵ Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” ⁶ This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. ⁷ Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” ⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, ⁹ “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise, also of the fish as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were filled, He *said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Jesus Walks on the Water
¹⁵ So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. NASB John 6:1-15

The feeding of the five thousand was close to the time of the Passover. There were many who were sick and this crowd followed our Lord up the side of a mountain. A sign was about to take place. John prefers to use the word signs rather than miracle thus in these signs John has something very important to teach us about the Lord Jesus. There are many lessons to be learned here.

First of all, our Lord always had compassion for the sick even here at the nth hour of his incarnation with death about to face him around the corner.
Then our Lord was teaching the disciples that the great provider is in heaven even in the most difficult situations.
Thirdly through this sign we see that Christ is indeed the King of Kings (But what kind of King would he be?)
Obviously, it wasn’t the kind of king that the people wanted as they had the intention of taking him prisoner to make him king.

What does Kingship really mean for the Christian?

John here shows us a sign that is amazing. Our Lord fed thousands of people with some fish and bread. Not every one can do this. Only God can do this, as it necessitates creating something as in this case from something very small. Different people interpreted this miracle in various ways:

Our Lords intention
The disciples trust.
The people’s interpretation of Kingship.

Our Lords Intention

⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵ Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” ⁶ This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.

It doesn’t say but I think possibly our Lord felt compassion for the crowd and this was going to be a test to the disciples. Our Lord says:

“Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?”

This was a loaded question as there are no shops on the top or side of a mountain!

The time was coming closer to the last Passover meal our Lord was going to eat and this was a precursor to this great event. I sometimes wonder how these two events are linked. One thing I do know is that feeding the fives thousand with a few loaves is an unsurmountable situation. This event needs total reliance on our Lord.

The disciples trust.

The Apostles had now been with our Lord for almost three years, and they had seen at firsthand what our Lord Jesus could do. They followed through with his instructions. They showed complete trust here. It does not mean that they still didn’t argue because they did. Especially with Satan working in the heart of Judas Iscariot later on, in the passion narratives.

Our Lord gave thanks for the food. This is a very important lesson that all good things come from God. All bad things don’t come from God. Because of the Fall bad things can come from the world, from our own pride selfish desires or from Satanic influences. No Our Lord as the Second Person of the Trinity in his human form as a real human being thanked God the Father for what was about to take place.

The peoples interpretation of the sign of fish and bread

The people came to a correct assumption that our Lord was the Prophet, The Messiah. They became aware of Who he was. He is the Messiah the Son of God. They got excited but the crwds got the function of Kingship very wrong. They saw in the Son of God someone who could liberate them from the Romans. From a natural perspective as a human being I cannot really blame them. The Romans used to crucify many Jews who fell out of favour with the authorities this includes simple things such as stealing. The crowds could not see beyond their basic needs. They missed the point that all good things come from God including our daily food physically and spiritually. We need both to survive.

Anyhow they got our Lord’s identity correct, but they read into the situation that Jesus was to be an all-conquering King who would destroy the Romans. Our Lord did not come to destroy people because the fact is that God’s judgement already rested on every human being because of the Fall. No, our Lord came to set us free from sin. They were going to force our Lord to be a king by force. This happened before with another king in Jewish history, King Saul. According to the story the people got what they wanted but this was not God’s choice. Here in this story our Lord escaped because his kingdom is a kingdom of peace that sets people free from sin.

Karl Barth said in the preaching section of the Church Dogmatics index:

“ROMANs 51-11 (IIb)

“We have peace with God . . . ” (v. 1). Many serious and penetrating things result from this peace, as emerges in Rom. 5—8. But they result from the fact that we have this peace. Only half-serious and superficially penetrating things can result from a lack of peace with God, or from a supposed peace that we have or think we have in some other way than “ through our Lord Jesus Christ. ” The Christmas message is: “ Peace on earth to men of (God’s) goodwill. ” And what is meant is the peace with God which is included for all the children of men in the child who was born there and then. (IV, 2, p. 273. The Direction of the Son.)

Jesus Christ fought His enemies, the enemies of God—as we all are (v. IO; Col. 121)—no, He loved His enemies, by identifying Himself with them. Compared with that, what is the bit of forebearance or patience or humour or readiness to help or even intercession that we are willing and ready to bring and offer by way of loving our enemies? But obviously when we look at what Jesus Christ became and was for us, we cannot leave out some little love for our enemies as a sign of our recognition and understanding that this is how He treated us His enemies. It is indeed a very clear commandment of God which points us in this direction from the cross of shame. (IV, I, p. 244. The Judge Judged in Our Place.)

It is God first Who is for man, and then and for that reason man is for God. God precedes therefore and sets man in the movement in which he follows. He says Yes to him when man says No, and thus silences the No of man and lays a Yes in his heart and on his lips. He loves man even though he is an enemy (v. 10) and thus makes him the friend who loves Him in return. (IV, 2, p. 580. The Awakening to Conversion.)” (Taken from the Church Dogmaics, Index, page 361, 1988 version, Karl Barth)

Barth is correct here in his estimation that it is God who made the first move to save us from the clutches of evil. We talk about ‘free will’ but my view is that without the Holy Spirit breathing life into us spiritually somehow, we would continue to walk around ‘thinking we are free’. Human beings tend to put money, career, fame, fortune and power et al, as the more desirable things. We then forget our Creator, our family, other human beings, animals, nature and so on.

Reflection

Complete reliance on God entails obedience. This is only possible through our Economic Trinitarian God; The Trinity is a mystery no one actually understands fully but by faith we can confess Jesus as our lord. By believing in our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus died for us on the cross, and relying on His victory over death, we too as sinful human beings, in Christ can be brought before the throne of God in the New Jerusalem, the City of Our God.

God is indeed for us, and we need to start taking stock of our souls of what is important and not important. Our Lord gives us freedom and this freedom comes through complete reliance on Him by the Holy Spirit. If you put money, career, fame, fortune and power et al, as the most important things, I can prophecy that at the end of ones life, can be full of regret.

Tags:bible, faith, God, jesus, jesus-christ
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Lent 3: The New Covenant and the Hope of Christ’s Second coming in Glory

March 2, 2024

The Lord’s Supper Instituted

This Weeks reading is about the First Holy Communion, the first Eucharistic meal instituted, For Roman Catholics the First Mass Instituted. Different Churches understand this in various ways, but this blog isn’t about finding fault or to try to put any other tradition down. I am only interested in saying that Christ loves his Church. He loved his Church so much that he died for us and through his resurrection by faith we too can have eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins. Our Lord in the Christmas story was born by humble means, and this was the beginning of all the things he would do in His Incarnation. Then at the Easter story in the closing scene of the Incarnation, he paid our dept to God the Father so that we could in Christ come boldly before the throne of Grace. Within the story of the Last Supper, we also have a glimpse of the future when Christ will come back as the king of Kings:

The scene in the book of Revelations show Christ as the king of Glory. Christ in Matthew 26:28 is speaking about this day:

How Jesus as King is described in Revelations

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; ¹³ and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴ His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

Our lord Jesus, The Son of God shows John the Apostle His power over everything:

¹⁷ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. ¹⁹ Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Revelation 1:12-20

From our point of view Holy Communion points to that great day of hope. As finite beings we have an infinite future in Christ. John the Apostle however is taken into Heaven itself and he sees this beautiful picture of Christ out Lord.

Let us now look at what Matthew 26. 26-28 teaches us

²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Matthew 26:26

My translation would be:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread and having blessed it, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Matthew 26:26

I am not using ‘some’ because it only became ‘some’ when our Lord broke it. As believers we all belong to the same loaf, the same Church. The Lord commanded by saying ‘Take eat!’. In the Greek both ‘take’ and ‘eat’ are in the imperative mood. It is a command. I would assume because this is a Passover meal that the bread would be broken rather than torn. Unleavened bread is brittle therefore it would be broken. The text does not say Jesus tore some bread and gave it. In the original story of the Passover the people were in a rush hence they took it within the range of fastest cooking. When we also read this story of the Passion of Christ things happened very rapidly. The betrayal happened, the Apostles were going to be scattered, Christ was going to be killed. The events are speeding up. Yet this Passover meal was given the fulfillment of the meaning. The Church has seen this story as Christ being the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. The book of Hebrews spells this out.

Verse 27

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; ²⁸ for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 26:28

So, on the eve of our Lord’s sacrifice, Christ gives us the second part of this institution. In the original context of the Passover, God’s people painted blood on the door of their houses so that the Angel of Death would Passover the house, so that no harm would befall that particular house. This Exodus was prophetically pointing to the Christ, the Lamb of God who takes the sins of the world away. When God the Father sees his Son’s blood, the Angel of Death would Passover us and we would not see this spiritual death of being separated from God for all eternity.

Here in verse 27 Christ gives a command ‘Drink it’. Christ the who came as a servant will not drink this again before he comes again in the End Times (the Eschaton). However the next time he comes, he will not come as a servant or slave but as the King of Kings. In his second coming every knee will bow to him willingly or unwillingly such as we find in the book of Revelations.

Verse 28

In verse 28 we can see the details of what this cup actually means. As I already said this cup which reminds us of the shedding of Christ’s blood is a reminder that the second and greater covenant is for the forgiveness of sins.

This is then the last time that our Lord would drink this cup of wine on earth as a servant. Next time Our Lord drinks this cup will be as the King of Kings, The Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

Verse 29

²⁹ But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Matthew 26:29

Reflection

Christ loved us so much that he came from heaven to save us. By the gift of faith and with our promised Helper the Third Persons of the Holy Trinity a way has been made for the Church by which we can enter heaven itself by Christ as an eternal gift to God the Father. Forever sharing in the love of the Eternal Trinity. It is a mystery and I do not understand all the details but this is our hope and inheritance in Christ Jesus through faith and obedience. So then let us bow our knee and hearts to Christ who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Let us follow his example of obedience which we learned in his Incarnation and let us wipe our tears of sorrow away in the expectation of His second coming. Glory and Honour belongs to the Trinity from Generation to generation amen:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

who, although He existed in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,

and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him

the name which is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW,

of those who are in heaven

and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

Notes

Verse 26

‘While they were eating’ (present active participle )

‘Jesus’ (Our Lord with his name in the Greek has a nominative definite article)

He took (2^nd aorist participle masculine singular)

After is not in the Greek

Blessed has been used for ‘Having given thanks ’ (Verb, Aorist, Active, Participle, Nominative, Singular, Masculine ) But that is in the Textus reseptus A K W Γ Δ Matthew 26:26

Blessed εὐλογέω (aor act ptcp nom sg masc) Blessed has stronger witnesses txt 𝔓45 א‎ B C D L Z Θ Matthew 26:26

For ‘having given thanks Alexandrinus is 5^th century’ and then later centuries

For ‘having blessed ’ P45 is 3^rd century then 4^th century, 5^th century and so on.

Tags:bible, christianity, communion, faith, God, jesus, passover, religion
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What is Religion?

January 1, 2024

What is Religion?

The following article is mainly etymologically based rather than theological or religious. It has been written from the point of view of showing that all humans are religious according to the basic meanings of ‘religion’. There are however people who claim not to be religious and there are others that claim to be religious. My exploratory question is about the nature of religion. The first section therefore is an exploration of various definitions from dictionaries and so forth. This will give us a beginning to our search. After this I will explore the idea that all humans by nature are religious somehow which may require a wider definition but still fits in with the definitions we have looked at.

The Definitions

The following is taken from (etymonline.com/word/religion):

“religion (n.)

c. 1200, religioun, “state of life bound by monastic vows,” also “action or conduct indicating a belief in a divine power and reverence for and desire to please it,” from Anglo-French religiun (11c.), Old French religion, relegion “piety, devotion; religious community,” and directly from Latin religionem (nominative religio) “respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods; conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation; fear of the gods; divine service, religious observance; a religion, a faith, a mode of worship, cult; sanctity, holiness,” in Late Latin “monastic life” (5c.).

This noun of action was derived by Cicero from relegere “go through again” (in reading or in thought), from re- “again” (see re-) + legere “read” (see lecture (n.)). However, popular etymology among the later ancients (Servius, Lactantius, Augustine) and the interpretation of many modern writers connects it with religare “to bind fast” (see rely), via the notion of “place an obligation on,” or “bond between humans and gods.” In that case, the re- would be intensive. Another possible origin is religiens “careful,” opposite of negligens.

In English, the meaning “particular system of faith in the worship of a divine being or beings” is by c. 1300; the sense of “recognition of and allegiance in manner of life (perceived as justly due) to a higher, unseen power or powers” is from 1530s.”

So then from these root definitions

Cicero; ‘to Read again’ (re+ legere = again + to read)
Servius, Lactantius, Augustine; ‘to bind fast’ (bond between humans and gods, re therefore being intensive in meaning)

The above is interesting because in the first bullet point, we can see the use of tradition, actions that happen over and over again. In this tradition there being a strong bond between the One being worshipped and the worshipper that is very spiritual.

Obviously, time has now moved on for hundreds of years but this basic idea is still found in the term religion. Reading therefore James’ use of ‘religion’ will not mean much different to a first century reader or a 21^st century reader. It is however incumbent (necessary) on us to look at some more definitions. The following is taken from (merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion)

“: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

(1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural

(2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

Etc.”

So then from this definition we can see religions can be:

Personal
Institutional

We also learn it can be:

Theological in content
Human experiential in content

This means that theists, atheists, agnostics, polytheists cannot escape the notion of being religious somehow. Bruce Lee once said about ‘no way becoming the way’. Perhaps I could say simpler ‘No road as the road’. All human beings are on a road whether they understand it or not and, on this road, we make choices; good and bad. The atheist has his/her road or way, or the Socialist has his/her road. The boxer has his/her road. In this sense religion therefore permeates the whole of human action including thought.

Therefore, I disagree with the following:

“Religion is probably the greatest example of rigid dogmatic belief. Many say the etymology of religion lies with the Latin word religare, which means “to tie, to bind.” Being bound to a rigid set of unquestioned ideas is an important way of controlling people and has been responsible for immeasurable human suffering in history.” (From; medium.com/@gammarat33/the-philosophy-of-bruce-lee-using-no-way-as-a-way-having-no-limitation-as-limitation-8429796b82a9)

Just because a religion can be rigid does not mean ‘suffering’. Religion can be liberating and gives many people a healthy and happy family lifestyle.

What does this mean to us?

It means that we all carry presuppositions therefore this road (religious) can be used personally as well as institutionally. This means a person who goes to a football match or is involved in politics or chooses not to believe in God and live as though there is no god is as religious as the person who goes to Church everyday Monday to Friday.

What road have you chosen?

So, then my friend what road have you chosen? We all make decisions every day and each choice has an effect on our future destiny. Not only is the Mathematical idea of the butterfly effect scientific but it also has things to say about our own destinies. With our decisions today our future has already been decided (in some ways). What could some of these choices be?

Heaven ≠ no heaven
God ≠ no god

When we make these sort of choices it becomes a way of life and the tradition being religious or not religious becomes your road. This is as far as I can take you on your spiritual journey.

The next step for me is a deeply personal one. For me God is the Prime Mover. God moved first and opened the way to Heaven. Thus, I am closer to Luther than to Erasmus.

Erasmus on free will:

“Erasmus argued against the belief that God’s foreknowledge of events caused those events, and he held that the doctrines of repentance, baptism, and conversion depended on the existence of free will. He likewise contended that divine grace first called, led, and assisted humans in coming to the knowledge of God, and then supported them as they then used their free will to make choices between good and evil, and enabled them to act on their choices for repentance and good, which in turn could lead to salvation through the atonement of Jesus Christ (Synergism).”

Luther on Free Will (No Free Will)

“Luther’s response was to reason that original sin incapacitates human beings from working out their own salvation, and that they are completely incapable of bringing themselves to God. As such, there is no free will for humanity, as far as salvation is concerned, because any will they might have is overwhelmed by the influence of sin.[3]

“If Satan rides, it (the will) goes where Satan wills. If God rides, it goes where God wills. In either case there is no ‘free choice’.

— Martin Luther, On the Bondage of the Will[4]: 281

Luther concluded that unredeemed human beings are dominated by obstructions; Satan, as the prince of the mortal world, never lets go of what he considers his own unless he is overpowered by a stronger power, i.e. God. When God redeems a person, he redeems the entire person, including the will, which then is liberated to serve God.” (This and the Erasmus quotation has been taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Bondage_of_the_Will)

Thus when I said I can only take you so far on the road it meant that we hit a wall of

Universals
particulars

Universals are what we all hold to and agree. From that point of view love is a universal because it seeks out the good of another human being.

Particulars are different; When I say Jesus is Lord this is a particular because a Muslim, Hindu or Jew may not be able to say this.

Reflection

The way of religion is walked by everyone conscious of it or not. When we walk this road there are ideas that all religions can agree with such as Justice and love. When it comes to particular beliefs such as the cross and the resurrection of Christ, we go our separate ways:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

Here in the above verse from John’s Gospel we have a universal (perhaps) and a particular. The universal that God loved the world and at the same time the particular, the ‘means’ of this love was through God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We all have our various paths, but our Lord Jesus told us that in the end there are only two roads, two gates two ways, two directions.

Tags:agnostic, atheist, Bruce Lee, christianity, erasmus, faith, God, jesus, Luther, major religions, moral beings, religion, spirituality, theist
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The Nature of Joy: Beyond Emotion and a State of Being

December 17, 2023

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of joy in many parts of the world. There are too many wars and too much death and destruction. The Christian says God is love and his Church therefore ought to show love to others. Not only this Advent but everyday of the year. Unfortunately, selfish people get into power and make decisions based on greed no matter what the consequences. On the news we see:

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

Buildings and homes bombed including hospitals and schools.
Children maimed or dead.
Families wiped out.
People made homeless.
Et al

Joy as an emotion can be fleeting. For these people in the middle of war where can happiness come from? There is an answer to this question but before we move into this area perhaps we should begin at the start:

What does Joy mean to you?

The third Week of Advent is about joy. Before we look at what the Bible says let us find a definition from a common English dictionary:

(These ideas were taken from merriam-webster.com)

joy

“The emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires:

delight
the expression or exhibition of such emotion: gaiety
a state of happiness or felicity: bliss
a source or cause of delight

intransitive verb

to experience great pleasure or delight: rejoice

transitive verb

archaic: gladden.
archaic: enjoy.

Synonyms

Noun: beatitude, blessedness, bliss, blissfulness, felicity, gladness, happiness, warm, fuzzies.

Verb: Crow, delight, exuberate, exult, glory, jubilate, kvell, rejoice, triumph.”

(from: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joy)

Scenario of Joy

The wife was watching television at home and all of a sudden, she realized it was time to go to hospital to have a baby. The husband is at work 30km away, so an ambulance came to pick her up. The mum talked to her neighbour who was also her best friend and was asked to take care of the children because obviously she couldn’t make it to the school. Her husband goes directly to the prenatal ward and gets there just in time within half an hour the baby comes into the world and there is happiness and joy in the air.

In this joy we see an emotion at work, and it will last for a while, but it may be that when that child has grown up and become a teenager, he/she may rebel against the parents, take drugs, go stealing and end up in a gang fight and bring much sorrow to the parents.

Joy as an emotion is fleeting but perhaps there is a deeper joy that touches the soul, and it becomes ever present no matter what sufferings might be around the corner. The question: Where can we start to answer such a question?

My own opinion is to think about what people in the world have said about joy over thousands of years from the various continents. This discussion is still general, but it will show that in human culture and religion around the world there is a hearkening after a joy that is eternal and infinite.

In this section now then we are going to look at what other religions say about joy. I haven’t written these two pages because sometimes I think they can say it better than I can. The quotations are from (WORLD SCRIPTURE; A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts; A PROJECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION; pages 246-247)

SOME CONCEPTION OF HEAVEN AND HELL is found universally among the religions of the world. Descriptions of these abodes are often full of graphic and fanciful imagery, conveying in metaphor a reality that can hardly be part of the ordinary experience of mortals. Are these realms objectively real? The scriptures are unanimous in affirming they are. Yet they do not have any physical location: “up” or “down” is a matter of spiritual geography, not of astronomy or geology. The View found in some texts, that Heaven or hell is derived from one’s state of mind,1 does not make it any less real. For the attitudes and desires of people’s hearts, which may be hidden by the external features of mortal life, are the equivalent of material reality in the realms of spirit.

A number of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist passages speak of Yama, the Indic god of the dead. Yama is not comparable to the devil or Satan who, in Christian belief, is the author of evil. In the Vedas, he presides over the bright realms and is the object of offerings and supplications for the benefit of the departed. As the lord of hell in Buddhism, his acts are strictly in accordance with divine law, meting out punishments according to people’s karma, and in one Taoist text reprinted here he even gives an object lesson to turn people away from evil.

Some ambiguity plagues the descriptions of Heaven and hell in the scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which can be interpreted either to describe the state of the soul upon death or what will be after the future Resurrection. The qur’anic passages collected here whichdescribe the opening of Paradise and hell are a few of many which refer to the Last Judgment.

Most Muslims, therefore, regard the dead to be sleeping in the grave awaiting that momentous event. Yet other passages, such as the hadith describing Muhammad’s Night Journey,Z point to the present reality of Heaven as the dwelling place for the souls of the righteous. The biblical vision of Heaven from the Revelation and the passage from the same book about the lake of fire are visions of a future recompense after the tribulations of the Last Judgment. Those Christians who hold to a literal interpretation of these verses concur with their Muslim brothers and sisters that the souls of the dead are asleep in the grave, awaiting the future opening of Heaven and hell. But another strand of the Christian tradition, supported by biblical descriptions of the Sheol in Job 3.17—19, the heavenly Jerusalem in Hebrews 12.22—24, and the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16.193 1, teaches that upon death each person immediately enters his appointed place in Heaven or hell. The visions in Revelation are often interpreted in this way, and have spawned such classic descriptions as Dante’s Divine Comedy. The concept of the World to Come in Jewish writings is similarly ambiguous: the World to Come may be a present heaven or describe a future redemption on earth.

My Reflection on this

The major religions of the world including Buddhism have a place for permanent joy that will last forever. This means that in any human experience there is a place for an infinite joy and infinite bliss.

We can now continue on the next page (ibid):

“The world’s scriptures describe Heaven as a place of rest, or as an exalted spiritual state, full of divine splendor and communion with the Absolute. There are also descriptions using more graphic and materialistic imagery: gardens of delights, with riches and pleasures abounding. A number of texts describe it as a place of fellowship with the spirits of the departed or a fellowship of saints.

We conclude with visions or tours of Heaven: the Buddhist description of the Pure Land, the vision of throngs surrounding the divine throne in the Book of Revelation, and Muhammad’s

Night Journey.”

And those Foremost [in faith] will be Foremost

[in the Hereafter].

These will be those nearest to God;

In Gardens of Bliss;

A number of people from those of old,

And a few from those of later times.

They will be on thrones encrusted, reclining

on them, facing each other.

Round about them will serve youths of perpetual freshness,

With goblets, shining beakers, and cups filled

out of clear—flowing fountains;

No after—ache will they receive there from, nor

will they suffer intoxication;

And with fruits, any that they may select,

And the flesh of fowls, any that they may

desire.

And there will be companions with beautiful,

big and lustrous eyes,

Like unto pearls well—guarded:

A reward for the deeds of their past life.

No frivolity will they hear therein, nor any

taint of ill,

Only the saying “Peace! Peace!”

Islam. Qur’an 56.10—27

Chuang Tzu said, “Were I to prevail upon God

to allow your body to be born again, and your

bones and flesh to be renewed, so that you

could return to your parents, to your wife, and

to the friends of your youth, would you be willing?”

At this, the skull opened its eyes wide and

knitted its brows and said, “How should I cast

aside happiness greater than that of a king, and

mingle once again in the toils and troubles of

mortality?”

Taoism. Chuang Tzu 18

Make me immortal in the realm

where the son of Vivasvat [Yama] reigns,

where lies heaven’s secret shrine, where

are those waters that are ever young.

For Indra, flow thou on, Indu!

Make me immortal in that realm

where movement is accordant to wish,

in the third region, the third heaven of heavens,

where the worlds are resplendent.

For Indra, flow thou on, Indu!

Make me immortal in that realm

where all wishes and longings go,

where spreads the Radiant One’s region,

where holy bliss is, and happiness.

For Indra, flow thou on, Indu!

Make me immortal in that realm

where beatitude and joy and cheer

and transports of delight abound,

where the highest desires have been filled.

For Indra, flow thou on, lndu!

Hinduism. Rig Veda 9.113.8—11

In the World of religions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, there is room to discuss permanent joy. In these scenarios joy becomes an ultimate question that cannot be reached in our time and space without the Infinite (God) reaching out to us. When we talk about finitude we mean our history and our time. To cross this boundary of the Now and History there has to be a first move from the Eternal. The concept of eternal joy however has moved great people to do great deeds.

Reflection

Martin Luther King once said,” “So even though we face difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” (From inspirekindness.com/blog/martin-luther-king-jr-kindness-quotes)

Joy as an Ultimate Question a question that cannot be answered today can be a hope driver.

As Bruce Lee once said, “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” (From sofoarchon.com/31-life-changing-bruce-lee-quotes-happiness-love-god-truth-failure-death/)

So then my friends in the end we come to the conclusion that in the Faith life, joy is not only an ultimate question rather it is also an Ultimate Path that we must walk.

Advent and the Ultimate Joy Question

Joy therefore is not only an ultimate question but part of our being, in every human who has ever lived, desires a lasting joy. Theist, atheist, agnostic no matter who we are, we cry out for joy and in a lot of situations we look in the wrong places.

For me Christmas is the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of joy. As Paul one wrote in the Book of Philippians:

Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name, which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

So essentially Jesus as the Eternal Logos (God the Son) became a human being this in itself is a mystery that we will never fathom but it fills the Christian with Joy. This unspeakable joy is guaranteed by the seal of the Holy Spirit for the Church:

“In Him (In Christ), you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13”

A true understanding of the Beatitudes of the teachings of Christ and the life, death and resurrection of Christ is the ultimate answer to the joy question. So then in that case meditating on aspects of the Christmas story can therefore deepen our joy as we come closer to our master in remembrance of His goal for our lives that we can be richly blessed with heavenly gifts that this world cannot touch.

Within the Birth Narrative of our Lord Luke tells us about the experience of some Shepherds and the Angel:

^“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”” Luke 2:8-14

The angel declares that a Saviour would be born. Our Lord and Master indeed throughout his life was working for us and for our salvation. The Hebrew form of Jesus, Yeshuah is made of the shortened personal name of God (from the tetragrammaton) + saves. Its meaning the Lord who saves. The question had been; What does the Messiah save us from?

Military Occupation of the Romans or another superpower
Saving us by making our relationship with God right and hence eternal salvation.

The Messiah did not come to wage war and set up a kingdom in Palestine Israel. It is not a political and militaristic takeover. The messiah came into the world so that we could be brought into a right relationship with our Trinitarian God in order to give us lasting joy, a joy that in the present age cannot be attained but will take place in its fullness in the Eschaton.

Tags:christianity, God, heaven, jesus, joy
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The limits of power and the problem of atheism.

October 22, 2014

Atheism which literally means ‘no god’ has the notion that God doesn’t exist.

With this notion comes other reasons that the moral stance loses its limits. So from a political stand point why cannot the atheist and the religious agree.? Quite simply, there is no balance of scripture tradition and reason. There is only reason.

Some say that scripture is antiquated because it was written too far in the past. My answer to that is human nature doesn’t change from generaton to generation. In fact in the 21st century bad things happen on a bigger scale than they did in the past.

My contention is this, the religous community have a history, have a tradition and the reasoning of some of the greatest minds the world has ever had.

For the religious, God is and there is a reason for life… For the atheist; What is the reason for life or is it no reason? What do you think?

Tags:atheism, Christian, God, major religions, moral beings, politics, scientific discovery, theism
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Weaver1has's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘God’

The Gospel, The Ευαγγελιον in the Old Testament; The Reason for the Apostles Use of this Particular Special Theological Word

Is Enrichment in Theology ever Possible?

Talk about God through the Theologians; A reflection on the late Professor Gunton’s book chapter 1

Lent 6: Palm Sunday; Are you a Slave or a Master?

Lent 5: The Tangent of Tangents; When Heaven Touches Earth

Lent 4: Where is the Centre and Focus of Our reliance?

Lent 3: The New Covenant and the Hope of Christ’s Second coming in Glory

What is Religion?

The Nature of Joy: Beyond Emotion and a State of Being

The limits of power and the problem of atheism.

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