“To Strive, or Not To Strive. That Is the Question.” – Part Two: Do I Dare Face Off against Myself?

Reading the apparent contrasts in the lists of scriptures I quoted in part one, you may already have asked these questions: “Does scripture contradict itself in what it demands of us?” and, “Isn’t this just another example of how the Bible can be made to say whatever we want?” Before considering how to reconcile the two lists, be sure to recognize the importance of considering them together. Otherwise, we easily fall into the trap of selectively listening to God’s word, or simply disregarding it altogether.

To the first question, “Does scripture contradict itself?” I would answer No. God’s word points us consistently in the same direction. But that’s why it is essential that it be taken in its entirety, with each passage carefully examined for its context as well as its content. In fact, as you read the verses I am struggling with, you may already have said to yourself: “that’s not what God means in those verses,” or at least “why isn’t he considering passages that address that topic more fully?”

That’s also why I would also answer the second question, “No.” My overactive anxieties and depression are tempting me to grasp at disconnected segments of the whole, making the Bible say what I do not want. The underlying temptation in this leads me to consider a disastrous sin: that I would give up on hearing from God and embark impulsively on whatever the path of least resistance seems to be at the moment. (For an example of how the enemy of our souls tries to use scripture to twist us to his plan, consider the third ploy he offers in the wilderness temptation of Christ. Luke 4:9-11.)

All of this contemplation of potential contradictions leads me to welcome the two-fold wisdom found in more direct comparisons like Proverbs 13:4, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.”

If I crave anything in this season of my life, it is that I crave those few days which require no expenditures. I cannot buy even the most basic groceries without calculating the percentage of their effect on our remaining bank balance. The greater challenge is to remain diligent in those things to which the Lord calls me, despite the fact that none of them provide income. Chaplaincies at Hospice and the Community Food Pantry, counseling for the hospital, substitute instructing for the seminary, and assisting in a classroom at the elementary school all fall under the same heading: organizations to which my services were once generously provided by the church that no longer pays me a salary. Only my work toward establishing a counseling center at the church we are attending hold the potential for someday providing an income.

But despite the sense of obligation without remuneration, there is this blessing in all of those organizations: They provide me with opportunities to remain diligent in the service described in Hebrews 6:10-12.

Hebrews 6:10–12 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Not sluggish, but diligent. And yet not desperately striving, but accepting of God’s timing, call, promise, and provision. The both of these can be balanced together even as I seek diligently to be and do as God has called me, even as I wait patiently for Him to tie some portion of those activities to a paycheck…perhaps.

“To Strive, or Not To Strive. That Is the Question.” – Part One: Do the Scriptures Face Off against Themselves?

On this Monday morning, I'm contemplating concepts that are a little deeper than my headache would prefer. But there are two sets of scriptures I'm trying to reconcile into my actual action plan for the day, week, and month ahead.

One set of scriptures fuels the motivation to placidly await the revelation of God’s will, and work only at finding, fulfilling, and finding my fulfillment in that which He has called me to be and to do. This set includes verses like Psalm 23:1-3, Psalm 46:10, Isaiah 40:31 and, of course, Matthew 11:28.

Psalm 23:1–3 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Psalm 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Patience is never easy for me in the best of times, but especially when I am being tempted to "stop waiting, start striving, get to work, and make something happen." Given multiple examples in my own life, though,I should have learned long ago not to race on ahead of the Lord’s instruction and timing, as though I somehow could reach His destination by plotting my own course.

In the past, my tendency to define, chart, and manufacture my own circumstances has led me to unfortunate decisions and desperate situations. The passages above do help me to resist the impulse to run from the peace and quiet in which God speaks, to avoid filling my schedule with random appointments, and especially to stop calculating where and how I might best “monetize” my skills and experiences regardless of what God calls me to be and do.

When the urge strikes to blindly plunge ahead, compelling me to at least stew over the many options I can imagine becoming profitable, I selectively recall another set of scriptures. These others provoke my impatience still further with verses like Proverbs 6:6-11, Proverbs 24:30-34, and II Thessalonians 3:10.

Proverbs 6:6–11 Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, 8 Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest. 9 How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest”— 11 Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.

Proverbs 24:30–34 I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, 31 And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. 32 When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. 33 “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,” 34 Then your poverty will come as a robber And your want like an armed man.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

Part Two will appear here soon. For now, consider which set of scriptures draws your attention most often. Are you more likely to lie down, to cease striving, to wait, and to rest? Or are you found more regularly gathering and preparing, clearing and cleaning, and working so as to ensure your food supply? And, if you can identify which list most describes you, then which aspects of the opposite list might be needed in order to bring greater balance to your life?

An Image Problem or an Essence Problem: What is wrong with us Christians? – Part Two, An Evangelical’s Admission to Anger, Intolerance and Fear…Primarily toward Evangelicals

This is the simplest, easiest, and most problematic
way of looking at Christian unity and diversity. We're all
playing, but usually against each other.

Following up further on Dr. Jared Champion’s first post in his new blog (you can find it here), I want to explore his perception (which I share) that the Evangelicals he refers to as “mainstream Christianity” exhibit a “message of anger, intolerance, and fear,” in contrast to progressive Christians’ “patient grace, unwavering love, and critical engagement.” As a doctoral student in Cross-Cultural Engagement, I might object slightly to the mutual exclusivity of the dichotomy he poses. But I am too much in agreement to do so. Additionally, I recognize too much of one and too little of the other in myself.

In my confrontation of the anger, intolerance and fear too prevalent among Christians, I grow impatient and can fail to be gracious toward my fellow Evangelicals. My love does waver when I must wearily persist in pointing to Jesus’ pairing of both the great commandment (i.e., love for God and love for others is stated as a single commandment – Matthew 22:36-40 – “the second is like it,” in the sense of being of the same character and substance as the first) and the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20 – in which the result is to be that others follow that single commandment).

Here is what Christianity begins to look like when we begin
to recognize the diversity of backgrounds, traditions, dogma
and ritual among our brothers and sisters.

As much as I want to critically engage anti-intellectual demagogues among my own tribe (I am an Evangelical, after all), I can barely pretend to tolerate the proof-texting and cherry-picking and socio-economic, cultural, and political filtering of scripture by those who seek justification for the oppression and exploitation of other human persons (not to mention the rest of God’s creation). Further, I do fear that we, meaning mainstream, Evangelical Christians, often obscure the message of Jesus, whether in passages anticipating the Messiah yet to come (the Old Testament), or the Messiah who came (as told in the New Testament).

The message of Jesus—this gospel, the good news—was first proclaimed, according to Genesis 3, in the Garden of Eden, and is the consistent message of scripture up to and including the final judgments and eternal state described in the last chapters of Revelation. My anger, intolerance and fear, then, are directed primarily at those who claim to be Bible teachers who teach only “how the Bible supports our beliefs.”

To me, this is the primary reason I have such difficulty in accepting
the diversity among Christians, even as I claim to seek unity
among the congregations and denominations in the body of Christ.

I may be projecting my own perspective onto Dr. Champion’s thoughts. But I see him offering a confrontation of both progressive and Evangelical Christians regarding one of very few issues in which they would agree. My experience is that both progressive and fundamentalist Christians discourage a robust engagement with the text of the Holy Bible. For progressives, the fear seems to be that we will emulate parts of the scripture that are extraneous, or even contradictory to what we perceive to be the core message of Jesus. For fundamentalists, the fear seems to be that we will emulate parts of the core message of Jesus that, in their theology, are only applicable when fulfilled after the end of history.

Progressives seem afraid to find that the scriptures are more complex than we’d prefer. This would suggest that we are responsible for more than simply loving others in whatever way we choose to define love, refusing to acknowledge that our definition of love is often limited in service of our own selfishness, given our fallen human nature. In contrast, Fundamentalists seem afraid that we’ll find the scriptures are more comprehensive than the proof-text memorizations that support “what we all know the Bible says.” Were we to acknowledge that God’s love applies more broadly than we allow, our redaction of the text, omitting so much that disagrees with our preconceptions, would confront the service of our selfishness as well.

Multiply the complexity of this image by something like BILLIONS of
times, and you might have some parallel to how God sees The Church.

The solution for both camps: study the scriptures, acknowledge the fullness of Jesus’ message, and recognize our reluctance to either narrow our focus or broaden our love as rooted in our own self-protection, self-provision, and self-ishness—all of which stem from a lack of trust in the benevolence of God’s sovereign justice, mercy, and grace.

But returning to answer Dr. Champion’s primary concern, the public relations crisis facing Jesus’ followers (whatever banner they may camp under), I would suggest that popularity has never been Jesus’ concern. Still, though, when the public relations crisis results from misrepresenting the good news He lived and died and rose again to bring us…that is what we should work toward fixing!

“But the Bible says…”

I have to say it.

If you claim to be a Bible scholar and refuse the practice of hermeneutics and exegesis, then please stop prescribing others’ beliefs and behaviors. Likewise, however, if you believe that others’ prejudicial proof-texting (eisegesis is the technical term) justifies abandoning scripture’s authority, please know: your current-drifting pseudo-theology isn’t helping either.

What got me so riled this morning? In the online “Join the Conversation” section of October 8, 2013’s Christianity Today—Alister McGrath’s new Lewis biography having been reviewed—C.S. Lewis’s relationship with Joy Davidman was labeled: Adulterous. In the booming business of speaking ill of the dead, there will, sadly, be no McGrath vs. Lewis debate on the subject. But my defensiveness on behalf of Davidman and Lewis is not what stirred my ire. Here’s my problem: as some asserted adultery while others contradicted, both sides denied the authority of scripture.

The paths are well-worn, but let me try to describe their arguments briefly.

First, there were (parts of some) scriptures quoted. Some regularly sew bits and pieces of unrelated passages into a banner of false doctrine. But here the misuse of even a single portion of scripture illuminates far-reaching consequences. This morning’s textus minimus was “…and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32b). I’m used to this scrap of scripture (nine of the twenty-nine words of the New American Standard translation of this verse—which is itself just a part of one sentence, to which the prior verse adds another sixteen words) being used to bludgeon abandoned wives into shame, or even into enduring further abuse as “their godly duty.” The public display of bad theology is unfortunately routine. But today, the person offering their opinion (in nine words from scripture, isolated from the canon, the New Testament, the gospels, Jesus’ teachings, or even their own sentence) demanded my agreement, “if we take scripture seriously.” I’m sure that it’s exactly because I take scripture so seriously that my hackles were raised, especially when I saw the immediate effect of those claims.

The practice of proof-texting our personal opinions creates mistrust in not only self-proclaimed Bible scholars, but in the scriptures themselves. The alternative viewpoint correctly identifies the faulty theology resulting from using only parts of parts of sentences (which are themselves only parts of paragraphs, etc.). Yet, in doing so, it also abandons scriptural authority in favor of personal preferences for a god who not only “shows grace to those who fail” (as I understand God’s word to teach) but, through hazily phrased divine opinions that “need to be interpreted,” wants us to “find happiness” (even if that means jettisoning our obligations in marriage).

There is a third, and absolutely essential course. Neither prejudicial proof-texting nor vague invocation “take scripture seriously.” Deepening our relationship with the God who communicates through His word requires us to merge these divergent paths, doing Theology-in-Community, practicing exegesis on the basis of sound hermeneutics, toward determining a clear answer to “What would Jesus have us do?”