This is a personal update. I like to usually keep my posts close to my heart, which are not personal stories, per se, but a testimony towards the proclamation of the gospel, lived and embodied in the universal church of Jesus Christ. Amen.
With that said, I simply want to say that being at Fuller has transformed not just my thinking, but the expression of what I think. We don't usually have to tell people they need to live out what they preach or think, because we do it so naturally. If we live in fear, then we will act in fear. If we live in love, then we will act in love, it is the natural outworking of either the Spirit of God or as Jesus said, "Being of this world".
Fear is the antithesis of faith, and is probably the greatest contributing factor of why I blog. I believe that fear drives people to do horrendously evil things. I am guilty of evil and have lived in much fear for most of my adult life. I see a lot of the reasons are because I believed that Christianity is only an inner war, raging in my own heart, pulling me one way, when I deeply want to go another. As if God were neurotic like humans. We then say, "Well, it is all grace anyways", as if grace somehow enables humans to sin, when in all actuality grace enables humans NOT to sin.
I am reading another Miroslav Volf book called, The End of Memory and I will incorporate his three books; Free of Charge, Exclusion and Embrace, and this book into a paper that I will be writing entitled; Forgiveness as an Ethical, Social Movement. Volf writes that in order to forgive we must remember rightly, which means that we must allow the perpetrators of violence to speak, because only through their words, may we understand that they too are/were victims of violence. Forgiveness can also then bring redemption and healing to their lives, because one day we as Christians do believe God is going to set the world right, which means violence, will be truly known for what it is, and we do not want to be on the side of violence.
Volf says that we can live "active peacemaking" in this life, because we believe that God is a God of justice and vengeance, which is why God is a God of love. God sees things for what they truly are, we see things one dimensionally. This is why as Volf says, "we seek the truth, but do not possess the truth", because Jesus himself is the truth. I hope everyone has a chance to read Volf, it is truly life changing.
6 comments:
I would be interested to know what you think Jesus meant when he said that all that was written in the law, prophets and Psalms is written about Him? And when i say i want to know what you think...i really want to know! I have thought about this very subject before and what it means for us as Christians in 2007. When Jesus said that He came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it, what does He mean about passages like the abominations that are written about in Leviticus? I know what Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery but does that mean that He abolishes the death penalty and at the same time "fulfills" the law? What do you think?
Thanks for the comment. Good post here. I could tell when I spoke with you on my visit to CA that you've grown much in your walk with God since going to Fuller.
Hey - please tell Kelly to check her email when she gets the chance. I sent her an Evite to my Pampered Chef party on 8/20 at 6pm. Hopefully you guys are in CT by then. I'd invite you too but guys don't usually dig Pampered Chef parties... ;)
God Bless. Keep the posts coming. I learn a lot from your writings. :) Tell Kelly I said "hey" and "hope the job is treating you well!"
Janet
Troy, that is a huge question. Of which I have studied and thought about much. I do not have a definitive answer, but I do believe it needs to be seen within the socio-historical context of the 1st century, because then we will be able to understand how it relates to our century.
Most scholars agree that the translation of Torah, which means instruction into the word "law" does Torah a grave injustice. We have a legal standard of what we understand as law, mainly the Enlightenments "laws of reason", which is what our penal codes in this country are based upon.
That is not necessarily the same as what they understood Torah to mean in the 1st century.
Read what the abominations are in Leviticus, because if one is an abomination, then they all are, right? Then how does that relate to Jesus' life? I am only asking the question.
Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God in the earth, not in the way that Israel's previous kings did, through violence, but by taking the violence upon himself. N.T. Wright says that God established Israel to bring knowledge of sin, through the Torah, then instead of judging Israel, judged Jesus, the "true Israel". Look at what Jeremiah says, it mirrors what Jesus is saying. Jesus is the "true prophet". Jesus is the Word of God, and the Word created all things, so what does this mean concerning the O.T. As Paul says in Romans, Jesus is the starting point, per se, not Adam, so that we are now, "new creation". That is the reason Jesus treated women the same as men, and gave the poor the almost better treatment than the rich. It is what God always intended for the world, but people did not know it. "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God." (Those are Luke's words) Also, what do you see the covenant to mean, which God made with humanity. All the covenants, Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Davidic, in what way do these covenants have anything to do with Jesus?
I will enjoy more discussion.
Hey Janet, thanks for the post. Also, thank you for the complement. Being at Fuller has stretched me, in so many different ways. I think that God desires to stretch all of us, calling us to go and do things which seem impossible, because it will enable a greater reliance upon God. That is why I love N.T. Wright so much, because he places a huge emphasis upon the "faithfulness of Christ", which enables our faithfulness, not our faithfulness, saving us. Anyways, I will tell Kelly to check her e-mail, but we won't be home until Aug. 21st. Hope your summer is going well. Talk soon.
Paul, great thoughts, man. I really do appreciate Volf's idea of allowing the perpetrators to speak. I saw how powerful that is in my practicum work last year.
Thanks for the blog comment. I'm settling in here, and trying to get work started. No clients, yet, but there's not a huge rush - it takes a bit longer to get things up to speed than I had anticipated. I am also missing Pasadena and all my CA friends (plus, it's 102 degrees here!).
I'll be in Pasadena the weekend of October 6 - mark your calendar!
Bernie, thanks for the post. I miss our discussions over at the Coffee Company, which by the way we never went to before everyone left. I am glad to hear that the transition has been smooth, relatively smooth at least. :)
Looking forward to seeing you again in Pasadena. I think Corey will be here right before that time, right?
Keep cool, literally. I have forgotten how hot and humid the East Coast can be.
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