Enough!

This is our next Bible Study, "Enough, discovering the joy through simplicity and generosity" by Adam Hamilton.  I read the first part of the book and I'm guilty as charged!   Getting caught up by the "American Dream" - the pursuit of immediate material pleasures.  Consuming, acquiring, buying - is what the American dream has come to mean or shall we say American nightmare! 
There are two dis-eases that impact us both socially and spiritually:

1. Affluenza which is the constant need for more and bigger and better stuff, as well as that this need has on us.  Definition by a program on the Public Broadcasting Station
1. the bloated, sluggish, and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 
2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste, and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream.
3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 
2. Credit-itis - that goes along with affluenza.  It's the opportunity for us to buy now and pay later that feeds our desire for instant gratification!  "Unfortunately, it has exploited our lack of discipline and allowed us to feed our affluenza, wreaking havoc in our personal and national finances."

There is a spiritual issue that lies beneath the surface of affluenza and credit-itis - our inner brokenness, we are meant to desire God but we have turned that desire toward possessions.  We are meant to find security in God but we find it in amassing wealth.  We are meant to love people but instead we compete with them.  We are meant to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, but we busy ourselves with pursuing money and things.  We are meant to be generous and to hare with those in need, but we selfishly hoard our resources for ourselves.  There is a sin nature within us.

The Myth of Redemptive Violence

I was looking at our music book and struck by one of the phrases, "the ransom has been paid".  The chapter 11of "Living the Questions - The Myth of Redemptive Violence" challenges this ransom theory.

• the myth of redemptive violence is at the heart of the Babylonian Creation epic called the Enuma Elish.  It tells how the order of the universe is established through "god on god" violence - defeated female deity being dismembered and her corpse strewn about to create various elements of the cosmos.
• as opposed to Biblical witness of Yahweh creating human beings from the dust of the earth and animating them with the very breath of God. 
• the god Marduk from the Babylonian epic executes a fellow god to use his blood to create human beings to become their servants.  A divine hierarchy order was established based on violence and the threat of violence.
• Wink calls it the "original religion of the status quo" - it legitimates power and privilege and hence perpetuates the value of ideas like peace through war, security through strength, and the idea that fear can only overcome through domination.
• this myth has infiltrated our culture, that even our language is overwhelmed with a continual drum-beat of violence, phrases like"shoot me an email" to the "war on poverty" to "he's the bomb" and even "fight for peace" are simply to "die for"; expressions like "to beat a dead horse" by definition is to convey futility that implies if the horse was alive, violence would lead to success.
• St. Augustine out of his sense of guilt and self understanding he began idea of "Original Sin" in the 4th & 5th centuries.  He seek absolution for his early uninhibited sex life and it's not a surprise he would connect sex as the primal transmission of sin from one generation to the next!  That means that the sin is passed on to every generation - surprisingly enough this notion of original sin is not found in the Bible!
• But to make his point, Augustine looked at Roman 5, where Paul set up the argument that Adam's sin necessitated Jesus' sacrifice in order to appease God.  Our inherent sinfulness was so great that God could only be appeased by the violent spilling of blood.
• Paul's efforts have left a lot of room for multiple theories to emerge:
• Satisfaction Theory - derived from ancient Jewish ritual practices (including the Day of Atonement) where animals were sacrificed to satisfy God's need for blood.  The Canaanite religions were not the only ones to sacrifice their children to appease Baal and other gods.  There are number of Biblical examples of Judean Kings and leaders who also ritually sacrificed their children, much to Yahweh's displeasure.  This is popular amongst the Campus Crusade's "Four spiritual laws", the Roman Catholics' sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the altar, and the hymns of American Protestanism : "there is a fountain filled with blood", "Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?" "What can washed away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus".
• Substitution Theory - The death of Jesus was not a sacrifice but a pay-off to God.  Human beings are so sinful that we deserve a horrible and bloody death but Jesus loves us so much that he was willing to step in and be our substitute.  Anselm of Canterbury, monk, philosopher, archbishop, exile and saint, 1097 created this substitutionary atonement or vicarious satisfaction.  His theory is based on the feudal society in his time where feudal lords were unable to forgive so someone has to pay.  It's incorrect on levels extending from cross-cultural anthropology to ordinary everyday language.  The problem is not the words atonement or satisfaction but with the words substitutionary and vicarious.  The death of Jesus was not a divine substitution for punishment due to all of us. It's bad theology and history!
• Ransom Theory - God has to pay off Satan, through Jesus' death,  in order to win our freedom from the devil's sinful 'turf'.
• Victory Theory - not a payment to the devil (which is equivalent of giving in to terrorists), but a defeat in principle of the power of the evil.  Through Jesus' "obedience unto death" he showed he cold take anything that the devil could dish out.
• Moral Theory - Embraces the idea that the real point of Jesus' obedience and death was to provide an example for humanity to follow - to stay faithful to one's convictions even in the face of injustice, brutality, and ignorance.  The universe is structured to deal with consequences - and consequences are not punishment, they're just consequences.  Jesus had to deal with the consequences of his actions and so do we.

Quiz!

I was at the Stewardship workshop today and we were given a quiz!  Although I didn't like the idea but I got to appreciate stewardship.  It's our response to God's grace (conversion experience) which becomes a way of life, a holistic approach that includes both the spiritual and the material lives.  We give of our time, talent and treasure to demonstrate our gratitude for all the gifts God has blessed us with. 

Do you think it's appropriate for the pastor to mention the financial needs of the church?
I believe so!  Let's face reality but it has to be done in an appropriate way and time!  I'm sure you don't want your pastor to talk about this every Sunday!

A recommended book:  "We are an EASTER PEOPLE.  The Triumph of God's Love in Our Lives, A Group Process."  by John and Adrienne Carr

I would like to hear your thought(s) on Stewardship.

Prayer: Intimacy with God

From our "Living the Questions" Bible Study

• many people approach prayer in a way that makes God into a cosmic vending machine: insert prayer into slot, make your selection, and if you're good, Viola!
• many people perceive the Divine to be in the reward and punishment business, when prayers are not answered, people beat themselves up with guilt because they're obviously not good enough or faithful enough for God to answer in the affirmative.
• prayer is deeper than a "conversation" with the Divine, perhaps best understood as simply being open to the Divine.
• prayer is the testimony to humanity's striving toward a relationship with that unknowable yet inescapable sense of "the more".
• Pray as if everything depended on God, pray as if everything depended on you

Invitation to prayer:

• cut out two news articles and secure them in an area where you will see them often or near where you can carve out time for prayer.
• when praying with this news, pray only these two questions
• God of love, what would you have me learn?
• Merciful God, how can I offer you compassion? 

The Crowd and the Crucifixion

What a great day - the sun is finally out after the rain! I'm now able to blog and jot down my ideas for everyone to read! I will find time to blog and see how this will enable me to continue writing instead of watching TV! Ok, just kidding.

Bible Study: First Light, Jesus and the Kingdom, participant reader by John Dominic Crossan (DVD based)

Today we discussed chapter 10: The Crowd & The Crucifixion

"Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified." Josephus, Jewish Anitquities 18.63-64

"Christus ... had undergone the death penalty in the region of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus." Tacitus, Annals 15.44

Jesus was protected by the crowd from the high priests (who accused Jesus) from Sunday through Wednesday.  The high priests almost gave up because they couldn't get Jesus out of the crowd due to fear of riots.  But Judas came along and made it possible for them to find Jesus away from the crowd.

The crowd on Friday that came to support Barabbas was always believed as the same crowd that followed Jesus.  However, this is a different crowd of about 6 - 12 people who came to Pilate to request  the release of Barabbas.  It is like having few senators going into the President's office, no more than 20!  This is based on Mark's Gospel because it's the earliest in all the Gospels, but in Mathew, Luke & John the crowd becomes crowds and increased in numbers depending on their respective contexts.

Jesus was non violent yet a threat to the Roman Empire and its high priests collaborators and the very reason for them to find ways to execute Jesus.  The execution of Jesus by Pilate was a public statement to the rest of the followers not to become threats to Imperial Rome and religious collaborators.

Interesting to note that Crossan watched the Oberammergau Passion Play in 1960 for the second time and realized that there were two different crowds - one who followed Jesus and the one that requested the release of Barabbas.  Hitler on the other hand watched this play in the '30 & 40s and admired the Roman Empire and hence despised the Jews and we know from history that's what happened.  He became the "Roman Empire" and executed the Jews.

Crossan wants to set history right to prevent antisemitism and those who take the biblical messages literally like Hitler!