Christianity: From Bad to Worse (And My Personal Dilemma)

The area roughly considered to be part of the Bible Belt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mick Turner

The first part of this article appeared on this site in August, 2011. Part Two, which is an expansion and describes what has happened in the intervening months, immediately follows Part One.

Author Ann Rice renounced her association with Christianity a while back, citing that she could no longer in good conscience, associate herself with a religion the was filled with hatred and other related vices. I can’t say that I blame Ms. Rice for doing what she did. Believe me, on more than one occasion I have seriously considered doing exactly what she did.

In fact, I still do and to be gut-level honest, this occurs on a near weekly basis. Let’s face it, the Christian faith has a major image problem – no, it is beyond that – at this point it is safe to say that Christianity has an image crisis. This reality is sad enough; what makes it more so is the fact that it is not getting any better. It is getting worse.

In January of last year, I ran across sermon tapes where pastors, one a former Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the he prayed for the death of President Obama and another where a Phoenix, Arizona pastor said he “hated” Obama and then tried to launch a biblical explanation in support of his position. Somewhere along the line these folks missed the gospel and found something else. What these guys are preaching sounds a lot more like the Republican platform than anything Jesus had to say.

When Paul talked about Christians being a “pleasant aroma” rising up to heaven, I don’t think he had these jokers in mind.

If this sort of thing isn’t enough to drive folks away from the church, Christian broadcasting can take up the slack. It seems every program on these “faith-based” channels have a hand out, asking for money to “do God’s work.” What they really mean is “give us your cash so we can stay on the air.” Whether or not a particular program staying on the air constitutes God’s work is debatable.

These stations also hold frequent telethons, aimed at fleecing even more money out of viewers whether they can afford it or not. There are several “evangelists” that appear to be nothing more than professional hucksters, hired by the networks to raise funds by “preaching the gospel.” The gospel these folks preach basically boils down to “plant a seed and reap a harvest,” which is the Prosperity Gospels lingo for “send me some money and God will bless you.”

One particular huckster makes the rounds on these telethons and he is truly shameless in the things that he says in order to dupe the faithful out of their cash. I won’t mention his name, but I will share with you a transcription of an appeal he made on a recent telethon. The transcript, published in the fall 2010 edition of Plain Truth magazine, also omits his name, but if you are at all familiar with these telethons, you will immediately recognize his spiel:

Delayed obedience becomes disobedience…the delivery date of your financial harvest is today. If you hesitate, if you doubt, if you stop to think before you call and sow your uncommon seed right now, the delivery date on your harvest will be moved back. If you delay, heaven will delay. Call now. Don’t think. Don’t hesitate. Just simply obey the man of God, and reap your harvest of uncommon prosperity.

Don’t let this hour close with your hands closed. Quickly, go to the phone now. God never opens his hands until you open your hands. Call quickly. Call now.

 

When God wants you to have a harvest, he asks for a seed that authorizes it. When God has a future for you, he talks to you about a seed. The instruction you follow determines the future you create. When I open my hands, God opens his hands. My seed talks to God. My seed is a picture of my covenant to God. When God sees my seed, it is the way he remembers me.

When God wants to bless you, he talks to you about a seed. Quickly go to the telephone. Call the number that’s on the screen. Do it now.

Nothing leaves heaven until something leaves earth. A swift response of faith releases a swift response from God. Your seed has never had so much power. If you have ever decided to obey the Holy Spirit, do it today. If you are ever watching a program ordained by the Holy Spirit, this is the one.

There is an anointing on the $1,000 seed right now. God will always give you something illogical to do. God will never give you something logical to do. You can do the logical stuff yourself. God doesn’t talk to your mind; he talks to your heart. God doesn’t talk to your logic; he talks to your faith. Call now.

For those unfamiliar with the jargon these hucksters use, the term “seed” means a monetary donation to whatever organization, ministry, or program that is hosting the telethon or, as they so often call these gatherings, “praise-a-thons.”

A short time later, the “evangelist” mentioned above added this little gem to his fundraising plea:

“Nothing leaves heaven until something leaves earth first. It is a divine law, so you had best get up off that couch and go to the phone right now.” In other words, don’t expect God to bless you financially until you “demonstrate your faith” by sending in your money.

The fact that this sort of con game bilks decent, hard working folks out of their money is tragic enough. But there is yet another aspect of this kind of spectacle that is equally disturbing. For many, many people, this is the only face of the Christian faith they may ever see. After listening to a sickening diatribe like the one just quoted, I doubt a late night channel surfer seeking answers to life’s difficulties would give the Christian faith a second thought.

Think about it.

© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Part Two

I penned Part One of this essay, which was originally published as a standalone piece back in August, 2011. In the months since that time, rather than improving, the church’s image has been tarnished even further, now perhaps beyond redemption. It seems almost every week some bonehead pastor, most often a Southern Baptist somewhere in the Bible Belt, makes inflammatory remarks about some current issue and in the process, reveals his ignorance and exudes hatred, bigotry, and an obvious lack of Christian decency.

These people are the very antithesis of everything Christ taught and stood for and furthermore, do more to drive people away from the Christian faith than the most verbose and spiteful atheist ever did.

I won’t go through a litany of these comments as they are not deserving of further mention. I will say, however, that most recently these wing nuts have focused on the Gay/Lesbian marriage issue in general and now, President Obama’s open support of Gay rights. Rather than addressing this issue with even a modicum of civility and rationality, these “shepherds” stand before their flock and scream things like “I ain’t going to vote for no baby killing homo lover.” This same pastor, and I use that term loosely, suggested building a 100-150 mile electric fence to imprison lesbians, homosexuals, and “queers.”

Doesn’t the love of Christ just leap from every word coming out of the mouth of this man?

Please allow me to be a bit personal here. These folks have pretty much done what Satan, however you might want to define that term, never could directly do – and that is to drive me out of the Christian faith. Every day I vacillate between leaving the faith altogether and, at other times, feel I should stay and do battle with these heretics, because they have virtually destroyed the Bride of Christ. Sometimes I feel that is my duty as a follower of Jesus to, at least in some small way, do whatever I can to recapture his church from the hands of these buffoons. Yet I am just as often convinced that such a battle is far too great. With my rather severe heart problems, I wonder if I am up to it.

On a side note, many years ago, at a very critical time in my life, I gained much inner healing from my intense practice of Zen. I often feel the call to go back to this and let the church implode. Or perhaps there are others more able to fight this battle than I am.

As for now, I am in limbo…….

© L.D. Turner 2012/All Rights Reserved

Wise Words for Today

Early Christian ichthys sign carved into marble in the ruins of Ephesus, Turkey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Christianity is now so fundamentally associated with the formula of fall and redemption, so focused on beliefs about Jesus instead of invitations to follow Jesus, that a new Reformation is needed. It will deal not with matters of doctrine and church order but with a recovery of the concept of transformation through the imitative wisdom of discipleship. It will reject once and for all the illusion that knowledge alone is redemptive and seek to restore the ancient truth that creation is blessed, not fallen…..The new Reformation will be about the very life and death of Christianity itself. We must first recover the original message and then be willing to interpret it for a new age. It will be a return to faith as praxis, grounded in trust, not intellectual assent, grounded in doctrine. Christianity was once, and must be again, about following Jesus, not worshiping Christ.

Robin Meyers

(from Saving Jesus from the Church)

Wise Words for Today

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I suggest, in fact, that if postmodernism functions as the death of modernist culture, many of us will find ourselves like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We as Western Christians mostly bought a bit too heavily into modernism, and we are shocked to discover that it has been dying for a while and is now more or less completely dead. We need to learn how to listen for the hidden stranger on the road who will explain to us how it was that these things had to happen, and how there is a whole new world out there waiting to be born, for which we are called to be the midwives. The answer to the challenge of postmodernism is not to run back tearfully into the arms of modernism. It is to hear in postmodernity God’s judgment on the follies and failings, the sheer selfish arrogance, of modernity and to look and pray and work for the resurrection into God’s new world out beyond. We live at a great cultural turning point; Christian mission in the postmodern world must be the means of the church grasping the initiative and enabling our world to turn the corner in the right direction.

N.T. Wright

(from The Challenge of Jesus)

Related articles

• The Reintroduction of Jesus Christ (Part One) (lifebrook.wordpress.com)
• Quotes and Notes on Early Christian Missions (missionmusings.wordpress.com)

Hope Yet for Mainline Denominations

Hope Yet for Mainline Denominations.

Positive Confession: The Baby in the Bathwater

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L.D. Turner

Type in a search engine the term “positive confession” and you will obtain a plethora of responses, most of them of a negative nature. Outside the Word of Faith Movement, which utilizes this prayer technique to the extreme, it would seem positive confession has developed quite a nefarious reputation.

Before going any deeper into this topic, let me make the following caveat. I am not a member or the Word of Faith Movement, nor am I an advocate of this rapidly expanding segment of the Christian faith. There are numerous aspects of this movement that trouble me, most notably the misuse of certain spiritual principles for personal gain, the misleading of many sincere persons seeking a deeper walk with God, and the so-called “Prosperity Gospel.”

With that being said, let me also say this: I believe positive confession, when properly used in its appropriate context, is a highly beneficial, God-given practice that can facilitate positive change in a person’s life.

I say this with a solid degree of personal certainty because a form of positive confession has done precisely that in my own life. Through the consistent use of this type of prayer, augmented by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, I have managed to deal with several long standing, stubborn strongholds in my cognitive life and, as a result, find increased freedom and flexibility in my walk with Christ.

Having prefaced things with the above, let’s get down to the meat of the matter. I think that the primary reason that positive confession gets such bad press is that the majority of its critics, and even some of its advocates, totally misunderstand the dynamics of this mode of prayer. As a result, this misunderstanding gives rise to a chain reaction of mistaken notions and, taken along with the techniques association with the Word of Faith Movement, many folks end up throwing out the baby with the bathwater. In this case, positive confession is the baby and the Word of Faith Movement is the bathwater.

This is altogether unfortunate because, as stated above, the use of positive confession, in its proper form and context, can be a real asset to the sincere Christ-follower.

Positive confession basically involves constructing your prayer based on biblical promises and worded in a positive manner. After formulating the prayer, you then “speak” the prayer, either out loud or to yourself. Some advocates of the technique insist that it must be spoken out loud, while others contend that speaking silently is perfectly alright. Here is an example of a brief positive confession:

In Christ I am a new creation; behold – the old is gone and the new has come. All things work in my favor because I love God and have been called according to his purpose. I expect blessings and an abundant life according to the promises of Christ.

I can find nothing in this prayer that is heretical, blasphemous, or otherwise untoward. Yet many critics of positive confession would take issue with this and other similar prayers.

The chief complaint lodged against positive confession is that it is a “name it and claim it” gambit that tells God what to do. These critics go on to say that positive confession turns God into nothing more than a “heavenly genie,” a “cosmic bellhop,” or one of my personal favorites, a “celestial step-and-fetch-it.” And viewed from a surface perspective, I can see how those who fail to take the time to truly explore this type of prayer would arrive a these kind of conclusions.

The conclusions, however, are wrong and based on a misunderstanding of what positive confession is attempting to accomplish. Positive confession does not attempt to get God to do anything. When a person prays using positive confession, he or she is not placing an order with a magic genie, a bellhop, or a step-and-fetch-it. Please understand this point: positive confession is not concerned with forcing God to act based on some arcane spiritual law; positive confession, instead, is more concerned with what God has already done.

Of course, this notion has many critics among those of a somewhat conservative ilk and the usual criticism launched by these “experts” reveal that they don’t truly understand the Word of Faith teaching regarding positive confession, nor have they taken the time to explore what most reputable WOF teachers are actually saying about the subject. The net result of all this is that these conservative critics have done much to emasculate the church of its rightful, Christ-ordained power and, at the same time, neutralized the essential transformative nature of the gospel message itself.

Theology is often a more potent force than people realize. Although the vast majority of Christians are only marginally aware of the impact of theology on their walk of faith, the reality and depth of that impact is unaffected by their lack of awareness. The most cogent fact here is that we all, whether we realize it or not, have a “personal theology,” which consists of a set of basic theological principles we hold to be true and sacred. We may arrive at those principles through our own study or investigation, we may have imbibed them from family influences during childhood, or we may have them fed to us as adults by those we hold to be “authorities” on matters of faith.

Regardless of where or how we came by this set of beliefs, they serve the function of filtering the vast amount of spiritual information we encounter and, in a manner that is almost exclusively unconscious, categorizing that information as true or false, useful or useless, standard orthodoxy or dangerous apostasy.

Where we run into trouble is if the theology we have internalized is faulty. This issue is far more critical than most people realize. If we are carrying around an internalized set of beliefs that are in error, we are more than likely experiencing a walk of faith that is erratic, confused, and largely unfulfilling. And if we have imbibed a set of theological principles that fail to equip us to do the job Christ called us to do, our most dearly held beliefs, the principles that guide our thoughts, attitudes, and actions, are our own worst enemy. They are, for lack of a better way of putting it, our own internal Anti-Christ, working at cross-purposes to what Jesus calls us, expects us, and empowers us to become.

Put simply, scripture repeatedly tells us that the goal of spiritual formation from the Christian perspective is to become more “Christ-like.” The formational process is one wherein we increasingly die to our old way of living with its habitual patterns of thinking, behaving, and relating. Yet like the Master before us, our death is not an end in itself but is instead a means to an end – we die in order to rise again. In the words of Paul, we become “new creations.”

This process of character formation is a joint venture between Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the individual believer. As Christ-followers, we are responsible for doing all we can to discipline ourselves and place ourselves in an open, receptive position that will enable God to do his part. We are also responsible for using the divine tools and spiritual technology that Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Christian tradition has left for us to practice. Among these tools is the use of spirit-filled words of power that help facilitate positive change in our lives on all levels. To listen to these ill-informed and misguided voices of criticism that malign the use of spiritual disciplines such as prayer, meditation, service, sacred study, and celebration – along with practices such as positive confession, declarative prayer, and positive thinking, is nothing less than slow, spiritual suicide.

If we believe what scripture tells us, then we must understand that part of becoming more Christ-like involves, as much as possible, living in the manner that He lived. This imitation of Christ not only means to become more and more like Jesus in terms of our attitudes, behaviors, and spiritual practices. We are also expected to wield the same kind of spiritual power as Christ did. The Master did not utter empty words when he said:

I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I go to the Father. (John 14:12 NLT)

No, friend, these were not empty words nor a wild promise. Jesus clearly would not tell us we could do things that we had no power to do. Later on, just prior to His ascension into heaven, He tells the disciples:

You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on you. (Acts 1:8 NLT)

Scriptural references regarding the power associated with our words, not just power but creative power, abound. Those who react to the teaching of positive confession without doing the necessary research into the matter reveal themselves as knee-jerk reactionaries doing little more than splashing about in the urine-warmed waters of the theological wading pool. As stated earlier, this phenomenon has gone a long way toward draining the very operative power out of the Christian faith and contributed greatly to its dwindling influence and  increasing marginalization in our social milieu.

Granted, there are excessive and abuses sometimes associated with positive confession, declarative prayer, affirmative prayer and related practices. Keep in mind, however, that there are few spiritual practices and theological schools that are beyond the reach of spiritual excess. Some of the most heretical cults in the past as well as recent times were great prayer warriors or humble servants. Some were especially known for their works of charity. My point here is the same as earlier stated, but it bears frequent repetition: it is vital that we not throw the baby out with the bath water.

As sincere followers of the Master Jesus in this challenging time we would do well to free ourselves from any theological system that robs us of the power and the positive promises that Christ made to us. Christ expects us to accomplish the kinds of things He accomplished in both the physical and the spiritual realms and He also expects us to realize our full potential as Children of the Light. God has given each of us a personal mission to accomplish in this life and further, He has supplied us with the power and the spiritual gifts to fulfill that mission.

In essence, we are to become the optimal version of ourselves for the glory of God and the benefit of others. Any theology that works to thwart that process, either directly or indirectly, needs to be jettisoned with all due haste.

It is vital that we keep in the forefront of our minds just who and what we are now that we are “in Christ.” Created in God’s image, our words also contain creative power. It goes without saying that our words are not as pure or as powerful as the Father’s, yet at the same time, as his “image” on earth, restored and renewed after our adoption by Christ, our words do contain more power than we realize and, augmented by a living, vital faith, these words are vital tools in our spiritual toolkit. Unless you have had firsthand experience of this reality, you may find it hard to fathom that when you speak positive, optimistic, biblically-based promises over your life, promises that are in alignment with God’s will and morality, the sky truly is the limit.

© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Don’t Let Your Christ Be Too Small

Mick Turner

Each week Christians gather together to worship the Lord through prayer, praise and listening to the Word of God. However, it occurs to me that like anything that is done with constant repetition, the very act of worship becomes little more than a mechanical action, devoid of purpose and meaning. No wonder, as Christians, we often sense that something is missing.

In the meandering sojourn of my own spiritual journey I have gone through several periods where I felt especially dry and mechanical in worship services, at times to the point where I avoided participating altogether. Eventually I discovered several pertinent scriptures that helped me through these arid times and I want to use this article to share those valuable scriptures with you. You see, I think many of us do not fully realize just who and what this Christ is that we have pledged to follow.

Just who is this Christ that we worship? Just who is this being that we call our Lord and Savior? Is he a man that lived a little over 2,000 years ago? Yes? Was he a carpenter from Nazareth? Yes. Was he God’s son? Yes.

But he was so much more.

With these thoughts in mind, let’s pause for a little while and reflect a bit on just who this Jesus we worship is. Going back to the basics, let’s take a look at just who and what it is we are worshipping and, further, let’s see if we can recapture purpose and meaning in our times spent with the Lord, whether in public or in private.

I want to start with asking you to reflect for a moment on creation. By creation, I mean the natural world. Just spend a little time contemplating the complexity, intricacy and wonder that surround us on a daily basis. Now, consider what kind of being, possessing what kind of intelligence, brought all this into existence. Science tells us that if the earth was tilted just a fraction of a degree different than it is, life could not exist.

It is important that we come to understand just who this Christ is. Open your mind and your heart to the reality of just who and what we are dealing with when we encounter Christ. Above all, don’t let your Christ be too small. Go back to scripture and discover the true wonder of it all. Let’s start with Colossians.

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and was supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made all the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.”

                                                                                    Colossians 1:15-17

Christ himself, speaking through the pen of Solomon, long ago gave us a hint as to his nature and his identity.

“The Lord formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else.

I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began.

I was born before the oceans were created, before their springs bubbled forth their waters. Before the mountains were formed, before the hills, I was born – before he had made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil.

I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans. I was there when he set the clouds above, when he established springs deep in the earth. I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. And when he marked off the earth’s foundations, I was the architect at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence. And how happy I was with the world he created; how I rejoiced with the human family.”

                                                                                    Proverbs 8:22-31

Now we come to the most amazing part of our exploration. This magnificent being that was formed from the beginning before anything else decided to come down out of the heavenly realms. He chose, through love for us, the most incredible act possible, the most outrageous and unexpected course of action possible. He took on human flesh, dressed himself up in an earth suit and showed up as an infant lying in a manger, grew up and walked among us. Why would a being such as he do such a thing? It boggles the mind.

“Though he was God, he did think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”

                                                                                    Philippians 2:6-7.

Only God’s great love for fallen humanity can account for his committing such an unthinkable thing. Who among us can truly fathom the depth of his actions? Now, let’s go back to scripture to see just exactly what he did.

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believe him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn, not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son….From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son is himself God and is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.”

                                                                                    John 1:1-14; 16-18

For more clarification, let’s revisit Colossians and continue our study of what Paul tells us about Christ:

“Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is the first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”

                                                                                     Colossians 1:18-20

 

And finally, let’s return to Christ’s own concluding counsel as he spoke in Proverbs:

“And so, my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful. Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it. Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But those who miss me injure themselves. All who hate me love death.”

                                                                                     Proverbs 8:32-36

Think about it.

© L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

Wise Words for Today

…we must carefully seek to determine not just what Jesus said, but what he meant, and how he would have been heard by his original hearers. Only then can we venture to explore what his original meaning would mean for us today, and even then, we must do so with great humility and awareness of our amazing human capacity to be wrong. This process is far more complex than simply marshalling quotes, and it is also more fruitful. It requires more than an ability to lift quotations out of context and fire them at an opponent like a missle. It requires the ability to get a sense for the shape, feel, and direction of Jesus’ life and words, in the swirl and spin of his times, and find patterns of resonance with our own.

Brian McLaren

(from Everything Must Change)

Wise Words for Today

These are the churches I feel most at home in now and in which I see the future – congregations full of liberals and conservatives, old and young, many formerly unchurched but now committed Christians, suburban but involved in their cities, urban who make the city their “parish,” evangelical, mainline Protestant and Catholic, but comfortably ecumenical, full of families and kids, crowds of teenagers in the youth group, traditional and contemporary in worship, intellectual but warm-hearted, successful but humble, Democrats and Republicans who believe God is neither, becoming as colorful as the rich diversity of all God’s children, and most of all, fervently committed to a gospel that is both personal and social and refusing to divide the word of God or the Body of Christ. And they are churches who now want to reach out to their neighbors from all the other faith traditions in their communities and those of no faith at all for projects of “the common good.” It is a future for which I have been hoping and waiting – for a long time.

Jim Wallis

(from The Great Awakening)

The Implications of Covenant Relationship

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L.D. “Mick” Turner

Of late I have been exploring the issue of “Covenant” in general and the provisions of the New Covenant in particular. I think the theme of covenant is one which we Christians do not invest much thought in. As I explore the issue at more depth, I am increasingly aware of just how tragic this lack of awareness is.

 As Christians, we are charged with being keepers of God’s great story of redemption, renewal, and restoration. It is our calling to keep the story pure and to, by the most effective means available, carry that great story to the ends of the earth. Perhaps more than anything else, God’s great story is grounded in the reality of a “covenant relationship.” In this article, and a few more to follow, we will look at this notion of “covenant” and explore just how it fits into God’s great story and also look at how covenantal relationship has far-reaching implications for how we conduct our lives.

 Let’s start with an interesting happening, recorded in the 15^th Chapter of Genesis.

 I have always been fascinated by the story of God’s dealings with Abram, later to be named Abraham, as described in Genesis 15. It is precisely here that the reality of God’s covenant with humanity entered history. Although we often interpret this watershed event as God making a covenant with Abram, in a very real sense, God also made a covenant with himself.

 In those ancient times, whenever two parties entered into a covenantal partnership they would take an animal, cut it in two, and place one half on each side of a designated path. After doing this, the partners would walk between the severed halves of the carcass, thereby pledging to honor the agreement they had entered into. This act was highly significant and highly symbolic. By walking through the designated path together, the two parties involved were promising to be faithful to the promise made, but also agreed to endure a harsh punishment should either one fail to keep the agreement. Basically, by walking between the halved carcass, they were in essence agreeing to undergo a like fate should they fail to honor their pledge. It was a serious business, indeed. One did not enter into a covenant lightly.

 Now, let’s pay close attention to what happened on that fateful night between God and Abram. In Genesis 15:12 we discover that:

 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

 While in this deep sleep, Abram was told by God about the future tribulations and blessings of the Hebrew people as well as the fact that God would be a righteous judge toward those who had oppressed Abrams’ descendents. Furthermore, Abram was told that he would live to a ripe old age and die in peace.

 Then something quite unusual happened. After laying out for the slumbering Abram the boundaries of the land his descendents would possess, a firepot and a torch passed through between the severed animals. God, in essence, walked through the pathway for both himself and Abram. Tim King and Frank Martin, in their excellent book entitled, Furious Pursuit, vividly describe why God chose to seal the covenant in this unusual manner:

 “God was so intent on seeing the promise fulfilled that he took no chances. He knew that his covenantal partner was fickle and skittish. When left to his own devices, Abram was driven by fear and shortsightedness, willing to pass off his wife as his sister or sire a son by his wife’s servant. Abram’s faith was like our faith – weak, undependable, and uncertain…..God knew that a covenant of this magnitude – an eternal covenant – had to be established on something much greater than human resolve. It required a level of faithfulness that only an all-powerful, all-loving, ever-faithful God could offer. So he walked alone between the halves of a bloody carcass. He pledged to carry the covenant on his own shoulders.”

 Whenever I pause, slow down, and allow the Holy Spirit to really speak to me on this issue, I sometimes am overwhelmed by both the insight and the compassion of our Father of Lights. Knowing all too well the fickle aspects of the human heart and the all-encompassing magnitude of the results of the Fall, God took it upon himself to seal this eternal covenant relationship. And in his act of walking between the halves of the carcass, we also see a symbolic foreshadowing of the future incarnation and sacrifice of Christ. Just as God put the keeping of the covenant with Abram on his own shoulders, Christ opened the way for the New Covenant, by taking all sin and iniquity upon his shoulders. We can even see the connection between these two events, the covenant with Abram and the crucifixion of Christ, as Jesus was forced to carry his own cross on his shoulders.

 The drama of that night is a chapter in God’s great story of restoration and renewal of his creation. The covenant implies that God seeks to deal with humankind through the parameters of “relationship.” The covenant has as its beating heart the honor and integrity of God the gracious giver and we the human receivers. Yet we also have responsibility in this partnership and we will discuss those responsibilities later. For now, let’s return to King and Martin, for they conclude with a powerful point:

 “Don’t miss the magnitude of this act….God was so convinced of his ability to remain faithful and so determined in his plan to restore us to himself that he was willing to lay everything on the line. When God walked between the severed animal pieces, he was saying to us, ‘This has never been about your faithfulness; it’s about my faithfulness. It’s not about your strength, your ability to remain in covenant with me. It’s about my strength, my ability, my love, my resolve to save you. I pledge to fight for you, to stay in relationship with you, to walk with you no matter what, from now until eternity.’”

 I have spent much of my life studying comparative religion and systems of spirituality. Exploring the various ways in which humankind has sought to find meaning, purpose, and ultimate understanding is, at least to me, one of the most fascinating undertakings a person can pursue. I say this to make a point that I firmly and passionately feel needs to be made. It is precisely this aspect of the Christian message that sets it apart from all the rest. This faith is not about working our way to God, but instead, about God emptying himself to pursue us in an act of sacrificial love. It is not about our spiritual achievements, no matter how splendid they might be. It is about God gathering us into a divine embrace and restoring us to our intended status.

 David Foster, founding pastor of Bellevue Community Church in Nashville, eloquently and cogently describes God’s consistent pursuit of us, no matter what the circumstance might be.

 “Jesus came to love you and give you life. He did not die to make your religious, but to give you a new heart. Because nothing changes until our hear changes, and the heart never changes by itself, we need help. Jesus’ death and resurrection is God’s promise fulfilled. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezek. 36:26). And this new freed-up, joy-filled heart of flesh doesn’t tame, shame, limit, or lump easily. Instead, it sets the R4G in us free to be an agent of change with a message of hope for a world in pain….Our corporate mission is the fueling and funding of a global revolution aimed at the radical reclamation of the human heart. We are driven by a relentless, passionate pursuit of the divine scandal – namely – every life matters to God.”

 The fact that God loves me enough to pursue me through the days of my life and down the many dark alleys I have chosen to stumble just absolutely boggles my mind. My only response, once I fully accept this reality, is utter amazement and radical wonder. And then, I am awash in sincere gratitude. In the above quotation, Foster is speaking of the same principle enunciated by the Master when he talked about the good shepherd leaving the 99 to go in search of the one that is lost. It is the same motivating ethic that caused the wealthy landowner to go out on the road every day and gaze longingly into the dry distance, hoping at last to catch a glimpse of his wandering prodigal.

 Christianity, as revealed by scripture in general and in the person of Christ in particular, is not “religion,” although many have turned it into that. Christianity, as revealed in the act of God on that dark night with Abram and on that dark afternoon on Calvary, is “relationship.” In essence, Christianity is “Covenant.”

 To be continued….

(c) L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved

The Christian Faith: A Future Vision

Mick Turner

As the new century begins to unfold, we often hear many so-called and often self-proclaimed “experts” on culture and religion predicting the extinction of Christianity. If one listens closely to these pundits, it would seem the faith is already in its death throes, gasping vainly for its final breath. Are these doomsday prophets correct? Is the ancient and once-vibrant church universal on the cusp of being relegated to the dust bin of sociological irrelevance?

 The answer is clear: Yes and no.

 If one is speaking of the Church in its traditional form and structure, securely anchored to its dated and increasingly ineffective methodology of encountering the world, then the answer is a resounding yes. The Church of yesterday is rapidly becoming just that – the Church of yesterday. Stubbornly clinging to a Jurassic vision of its mission, function, and structure, the traditional church is incapable of successfully navigating the shifting shoals of the post-modern world. To make matters worse, people outside the Church have an increasingly negative view of Christianity in general and Christians in particular.

 There can be little doubt that we are living not only in the post-modern age, but the post-Christian age as well. Some of our more cocooned brothers and sisters may be in denial of this fact, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is true. And now hear this, things are not going to go back to the good old days. As the old saying goes, once it’s a pickle, it ain’t gonna be a cucumber ever again. Don’t just take my word for it, take heed of these statistics, culled from the research of several prominent church historians and sociologists, as well as renowned researcher George Barna.

 Historians postulate it took from the beginning of the church to the year 1900 for followers of Jesus to make up 2.5 percent of the world population. In the seventy years beyond that, it more than doubled. By 1970, the number of committed believers in the world expanded to over 6 percent. From 1970 to 1992 the number doubled again. So right now, in the world it is something like 12 or 13 percent. These are followers of Jesus Christ, people who say, “I am born again.” Here’s what’s really interesting. Seventy percent of this growth happened in the last fifteen years. All of that sounds pretty good, Turner, so why are you waving all these red flags in our faces? Well, here’s why:

  Seventy percent of that growth is happening outside the United States.

 The trends on our shores are just the opposite. In America today, over 85 percent of the churches are stagnant or dying. And while the appearance is there is an abundance of churches, the truth is most are nearly empty buildings with an average attendance of fewer than seventy-five. Every week more churches close their doors. Even in Nashville, the buckle of the Bible Belt and home to numerous large para-church ministries, churches are being turned into storage buildings, office complexes, and strip joints. Some downtown churches are more famous for the architecture than for the person and purpose they were built to glorify.

“America is fast becoming the land of empty church buildings and hollow religion,” said David Foster, founding pastor of one of Nashville’s largest congregations. “Out of   450,000 Protestant churches, we lost fifty thousand churches in the ‘90’s. I heard a denominational leader say recently roughly 5,000 ministers are leaving the ministry every month. These are obscene and sobering numbers.”

 Not such a pretty picture, is it? I live in the heart of the Bible Belt, where people still go to church in large numbers and Christianity remains a strong force in the cultural mix. We have no real shortage of churches and, except for several crisis-driven denominations, few churches are actually closing their doors. Still, the trend of declining numbers is more apparent in the larger cities in the Bible Belt, like Nashville, Memphis, and Atlanta. In other parts of the country, entire denominations seem to have on foot in the morgue and the other on a banana peel.

  Denominational leaders and church leaders tend to react in one of four basic ways: outright denial; panic-fueled tail chasing, like a dog running in circles; blaming everyone but themselves; or trying to find new, creative ways to fix the mess. Only Number Four has the proverbial snowball’s chance.

 A significant section of the Body of Christ has arisen, showing not only signs of life, but also a freshness of vision, a flexibility of methodology, and a contagious optimism. Often referred to as the “Emerging Church”, this proactive, mission-driven force in the Church is proving that the demise of the Christian faith is, to echo Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated.

 In my mind’s eye, I often see Christ standing before the fetid tomb of Mary and Martha’s brother. With a calm, reassuring voice, Jesus spoke:

 Lazarus, come forth!

 Some of those assembled there initially expressed concern:

 But Lord, he has been dead four days. He stinketh.

 In spite of the odor, Jesus called his friend back to life and Lazarus responded. Still wrapped in his burial cloths, the once-dead man now walked with new life. As the vision progresses, it is no longer Lazarus who I see resurrected at the Lord’s call, but the contemporary Church. Particularly, I see the revitalization and renewal of the old Mainline denominations, so rich in tradition and resources. These denominations have experienced the greatest loss in terms of numbers and influence, yet it is these very segments of the Church that have the most to offer.

 As the Body of Christ finds its way in our post-modern, post-Christian culture, I believe we will see major changes in the way the Church goes about its business. In addition to shifts in organizational structure and a reduced role of the ordained clergy, the churches that survive will be the ones that are innovative, transformative, and incarnational.

 If the Church is to reach the growing post-Christian culture in ways that are relevant and effective, several things must be seen with clarity and focus. First, the primary question that must be answered is not, “How can we evangelize these people?” Instead, the relevant question must be, “How can I help you?” It is through this sort of proactive Christian service that the Church’s evangelistic witness can be best fostered. Secondly, the Church must reconsider how it can best present the truths of the faith in new wineskins that are more appropriate than the 19^th Century model that is commonly used even today. We must re-introduce people to God, to Christ, to the Scriptures, and to the Church and this must be done in ways that are both practical and palatable, given the parameters of the environment in which the Church is now operating.

 One salient and ubiquitous feature of 21^st Century America centers on the increased interest in all things spiritual. Increasingly, people are seeking spiritual experience, not just dogma, doctrine, and didactics. Many Americans find themselves encountering the reality that something important is missing from their lives and they are quite active in their search for an answer. It is here that the Church has consistently fallen short of the mark.

 Protestant Christianity in particular has long been suspicious, even paranoid, regarding spiritual disciplines and spiritual experience. As a result, the Church as we know it has been narrowly focused on belief and doctrine, ignoring the experiential, subjective side of an individual’s walk of faith. Discipleship programs have traditionally been focused on regimented Bible study and the central aspect of the overwhelming majority of Protestant worship services is the pastor’s sermon. Is it any wonder that many churches see dwindling numbers? The spiritual seeker of today finds the typical church service and discipleship program as unsatisfying and irrelevant. As a result, they turn elsewhere. Spiritual paths such as Buddhism, Yoga, Wicca, and many self-help programs are flourishing, primarily because they are more likely to address the needs of today’s spiritual seeker.

 Connected with this lack of deep discipleship on the part of the Church is a general lack of transformative experience among the faithful. According to the majority of sociological and spiritual research done by Gallup, as well as George Barna, the typical believer is not significantly different than the non-believer in terms of worldview. Our pews are filled with sincere people who are, in the words of Thoreau, living lives of quiet desperation. This unfortunate reality accounts for the fact that a tour of any Christian book store will reveal a plethora of books with dust jackets that claim the book will, “change your life.”

 Why do so many Christian experience such a desperate quality of life and seek something life-changing? Precisely because the Church has not provided a consistent means for spiritual growth and fulfillment. Let’s get real about this. A few praise songs, a couple of corporate prayers, a didactic Sunday School lesson, and a sermon just doesn’t cut it. If the Church is to thrive in the context of the current culture, it must be transformative. Few people speak as clearly and consistently on this issue as Dallas Willard:

 “The overshadowing event of the past two centuries of Christian life has been the struggle between orthodoxy and modernism. In this struggle the primary issue has, as a matter of fact, not been discipleship to Christ and a transformation of soul that expresses itself in pervasive, routine obedience to his ‘all that I have commanded you.’ Instead, both sides of the controversy have focused almost entirely upon what is to be explicitly asserted or rejected as essential Christian doctrine. In the process of battles over views of Christ the Savior, Christ the teacher was lost on all sides…..Discipleship as an essential issue disappeared from the churches, and with it there also disappeared realistic plans and programs for the transformation of the inmost self into Christ-likeness. One could now be a Christian forever without actually changing in heart and life. Right profession, positive or negative, was all that was required. This has now produced generations of professing Christians who, as a whole, do not differ in character, but only in ritual, from their non-professing neighbors….”

  Finally, the Body of Christ must develop innovative methods of giving flesh to its primary mission: incarnating Christ. The new Church must be mission-driven and willing to get its hands dirty. I believe the 21^st Century churches that thrive will increasingly be those that arise out of the culture where a need exists. These types of congregations will be largely unconventional in terms of make up and methodology. Numerous examples already exist and can serve as models upon which new, innovative churches can be built. Congregations like “Mosaic” in Los Angeles, “Solomon’s Porch” in Minneapolis, and “The Rock” in Huntsville, Alabama are but three among many examples to build upon. These churches are thriving because they encounter the surrounding culture and grow within the context of that culture.

 If the Body of Christ can incorporate progressive innovation, transformation, and incarnation into its calling and its mission, the consistent answer to the naysayers who are blowing Taps on Christianity will be a resounding, “No!”

 The Church faces major challenges as it learns to live within a cultural context in which it finds itself increasingly marginalized. We can either put our heads in the sand and pretend the storm isn’t on the horizon, or, we can come up with creative new wineskins to fulfill our commission being salt and light in our world. Realistically, we can assume some churches will do well, while others will become flavorless seasoning and blown out light bulbs. Some will become, in the words of Paul, a pleasant aroma to the nostrils; while others, unfortunately, will stinketh.

  How individual churches choose to respond to the realities of the situation will determine whether they will die, survive, or thrive.

 © L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved