Why Fear Asking Questions?

As a college student, I once attended a conference sponsored by Christian campus fellowship, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Some of my friends were active in this group and I found that the IVP books were of great benefit to me. My experiences with this group have impacted my life for the better. This particular retreat was led by a well-known author.

In one session (on the Gospel of John), I decided to go public with my doubts by challenging the main assumption of the leader in front of the group of about 200. The speaker began with the self-stated assumption that "the ultimate reality of the universe is God. Can we all agree on that?" I jumped in and said, "Aren't human beings really the ultimate reality?" There was a brief pause and things got quiet.  As nicely as he could, the leader said something like, "Though that's a good question, for our purposes we'll start with God as the ultimate reality." Ouch! (Note: It's not a good idea to challenge an authority in front of the whole room. You will never win that one).

A mentor of the great John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, gave him encouragement in his early ministry by telling him to "preach faith until you believe, and because you believe, you will preach faith."* My seminary professors used this phrase some, but I think it was meant for Wesley at a unique moment in his life and work. Perhaps it was the answer to improve his preaching.

But this is not a prescription for everyone. Can you imagine teaching the traditional Christian doctrines with your fingers crossed behind your back, thinking that if you say it enough, you'll believe? That's fruitless and a little deceptive, even without the crossed fingers. It's also teaching others to be dishonest and pretend they don't question things that, to them, seem unreal. This is especially true when the world's misery is explained away by spiritualizing or theologizing the suffering of others.**

So the next time I dismiss a difficult text, I need to know that I'm also dismissing others. When a Christian doctrine bounces off my ears as wishful thinking, I will need to accept that others have similar doubts. And no amount of repeating the right words will make the questions disappear.

1. Provide intentional group settings where authenticity and honesty is part of the group covenant. Recovery groups invite members to share their "experience, strength and hope."
2. Do whatever self-reflection -inner work- you need to go beyond anecdotes and share the meaning of a personal experience. 
3. Learn to share your growth of thinking on a particular question, how your understanding has changed from childhood on.
4.  In light of experience, even the questions themselves change.

*Words attributed to Wesley's Moravian mentor, Peter Bohler.

**Jesus died to show us there are no barriers to God's love. One way that people's suffering is minimized is to compare it with God's grief in unjustly losing God's only Son. While I understand it, I have never chosen to use it as an answer to people's suffering or misery, because others may hear it as "your grief or loss really doesn't matter when compared to God's." Even if we could measure or compare such pain, what about the theological- let alone the psychological impact- of this statement?

 

 

Teaching Morality: Why Be Moral?

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,

and crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet...Psalm 8:3b-7

Drills on good behavior are tiring and tedious; sadly, this is what makes so much preaching and teaching punchless and boring. Reciting what's good or bad may create docile people.* Asking questions is apart of faith development, and not antithetical to it.  

Instead of enumerating moral (or immoral) acts, start with the state of mind, the inner person. Because this is the locus of transformation. The first question to address is- WHY- why be moral? Why should I care? 

Moral theology begins with two important faith premises. One, we are created for covenant love, capable of both receiving and offering it. We are equipped to live in relationships, where unconditional love is a lively possibility.** Why be moral? Because it is apart of being created in God's image and likeness, made a little less than God. 

Two, we are free to choose, within limits, for the good. Read Psalm 8 again. We can choose whether or not to be driven by hormones, the instinctual brain, or to choose to employ the reason made possible by the human brain. There are no guarantees what is right and what is wrong, except maybe well after the event. 

What is my spirit condition that goes before a kind, gracious- or a  thoughtless, hateful word? What is self-chosen? In Roman Catholic theology, the differentiation between venial and mortal sin is made, with the caveat that it is very difficult to label an act as a mortal sin. Can we be sure if the original intention was evil? What are the intended consequences and the unintended consequences? ***

A Moral Examen

1. Can I love God without needing or expecting anything in return? 

2. Can I love others without hope of payback?

3. Can my actions spring forth from a loving heart?****

*The UMC mission, "to make disciples for the transformation of the world" has erred greatly on the side of listing traits, or even behaviors, of a Christian disciple. In this, unconditional love becomes secondary. The above is as much a value as it is a mission statement. 

**This possibility is limited by free will, our choosing the good. For example, addiction destroys free will, rendering people, created in God's image, incapable of choosing for the good. I do not believe addiction is first a sin, it is a illness, evidenced at the cellular level. See Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, 1988. 

***I am indebted to the Spiritual Direction Institute of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cenacle, for my understanding of Catholic moral theology. Included in this is spiritual direction received under one of the Cenacle Religious. 

****See John Wesley, Christian Perfection: Edited with an Introduction by Thomas Kepler, 1954. Perfection is best understood as action flowing from loving heart, not as perfect behavior and flawless judgement. 

Does God Need to be Pleased?

Questions can linger. Several years ago, the Spiritual Director asked, "By going into ordained ministry, and serving  for all those years, you did what God wanted you to do, right?

"I guess." was my reply.  I never saw it as a matter of pleasing God. But I hear that word "pleasing" God often in congregational worship- and have used it myself. It's another phrase that's used without much thought. But think of the absurdity of somehow pleasing the Lord of all the powers of the universe. 

As I read the Bible, there are responsibilities for living in a covenant relationship with God. You do this for me, then I will do this for you. You refuse to do this for me, then I will do bad things to you (and generations to follow!) * It appears God has little use for people who do not please. Any reading of Scripture cannot skip over it.

As is often the case in Scripture, there's another side to this question. Because of who God is, there is no need to please her if it were even possible: "The God who made the world and everything in it, the God who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is God served by human hands, as though God needed anything, since God gives to all mortals life and breath and all things." Acts 17: 24-25 

Are we still talking about pleasing God? 

What thoughts come to mind when I hear something about "pleasing God?"

• Arrogance in assuming we know how to please God.
• The irony of trying please God who is supposed to love us unconditionally. 
• A bargaining chip to get what I want, i.e., "I need a favor." (Pop icon Jelly Roll)
• Guilt and shame in never measuring up. 
• Inability to please people, much less God. 

Considerations

1. Consider omitting references to pleasing God from prayers, etc. For Scripture texts, provide context. **
2. Indicate that our primary responsibility is to fulfill our purpose, to make good on the gifts God has given us. 
3. Teach the difference between transactional and transformational God-covenant. One is based on shame and guilt, the other on unconditional love.
4.  Measure intention- i.e., why be moral? Loving to get something we want in return is not about love. How do I love without any hope of return, reward or gain?
5. What effect do these words have on the listeners? How do others hear these words? 
6. What are the drawbacks of living to please others?
7. Any leader can use insider knowledge on what pleases God and use it as cover for what he or she wants.

*Exodus 20:5-6: You shall not bow down and worship them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments." The theme of blessings and curses is repeated in gruesome detail in Deuteronomy 28.

**For example, Romans 12:1-2 NRSV states "I appeal to you... to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God... Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." In biblical faith, the people of God are delivered from slavery. No one owns your body; you and your body now belong to God. Paul is drawing on the idea of acceptable sacrifices for the goal of transformation. Like repentance or metanoia, transformation leads to a true discernment of one's gifts and an honest estimate of one's limits. (12: 3-8).