Intercession at Redeemer Today

Some of our Redeemer prayer warriors are praying today in the sanctuary from 7:30 AM - 3 or 4 for a number of things, especially those in our church family who are now facing serious health issues.

If you want to join us you are mnore than welcome. Stop in for a few minutes, or as long as you can.

Redeemer Fellowship Church
5305 Evergreen
Monroe, MI
734-242-5277

The Way of Escape & the Two Options of Choice

Linda, in Yellow Springs, Ohio

(What follows is experimental theology in the area of spiritual formation.)

An MRI produces a powerful magnetic field. Metal objects are not to be brought close to it. For example:

"Metal objects in the vicinity of a MRI can be dangerous. In 2001, a six year-old boy was killed when an oxygen tank struck the child. When the MRI magnet was turned on, the oxygen tank was sucked into the MRI, and the child was struck by this heavy object. Because of this potential problem, the MRI staff is extremely careful in ensuring the safety of patients."

When I was a campus pastor in the 1980s at Michigan State University we had a number of medical students in our ministry. One day a few of them told me about two med students who flirted with an MRI. They took a ten pound dumbbell and held it closer and closer to the MRI until they could feel the gravitational tug. Closer. Closer. How strong was the pull? How strong were they? Suddenly the dumbbell ripped out of their hands and flew into the MRI, causing much damage. A costly, foolish thing to do!

They could have chosen not to do this. But they gave in to temptation's drawing power. Paul would have told them they had a way out of this. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 Paul writes: No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

What is this "way out?" The "way out of temptation" is: "choice." And "choice" has two options: one verbal, the other physical.

The verbal choice is the word "No!"

The physical choice is: get your butt out of there and "Run!"

"No!" must always be accompanied by "Run!" "Run!" need not be accompanied by "No!" One could just run!

Anything less than "No!" + "Run!" is flirting. Those who flirt, lose.

Therefore, my dear friends, flee... (1 Cor. 10:14)

Is it that simple? Yes and no. Yes, it is that simple. Check it out for yourself. Today, if you are tempted to do something God would not want you to do, such as eat that extra oreo cookie, you can choose to leave the room. Note: obviously, you can do this. It is possible. Is it easy to do? No, not if you see how close you can get the dumbbell to the MRI without getting sucked in. Not if you flirt.

When the addict utters one "No!" and chooses to "Run!" a new neural pathway begins to be formed in her physical brain. Choose "No!" + "Run!" enough times and the old neural highway becomes as pot-holed and unused as a Michigan back road, while a new neural highway [a new behavior] is morphing into I-75.

Am I kidding? Philosophically and theologically, see here the extant and ongoing work of Dallas Willard, J.P. Moreland, and N.T. Wright. See Wright's After You Believe, Ch. 3, "The Transformation of Character." Wright writes: "Learning results in physical changes to the brain, and these changes are unique to each individual... Contemporary science is actually able to study and map the way in which lieflong habits come to be formed."
 
Try this little essay "The Human Body and Spiritual Growth" by Willard. And here's a teaser by Moreland - "The Bible and Neuroscience on Promiscuity."

Where does God fit in? God provides the "way of escape." God gives us the word "No!" and the ability to "Run!"

Darren Wilson and the Wanderlust Monthly

Filmmaker Darren Wilson ("Finger of God," "Furious Love," and the forthcoming "Father of Lights" has just announced The Wanderlust Monthly.

Darren says this is a way to stay connected and share content from his many filming adventures past, present, and future as he has traveled the world filming God.

The Logic of Self-Control

Whoever invented the Oreo cookie and a glass of ice cold milk should be taken to the woodshed. It is logically impossible to eat just one of them. The statement "I ate one Oreo cookie" is a lie. Just one taste of this deadly, evil union and fat grows at the rate of one pound/cookie. Self-control goes out the window. Therein lies one of my problems.

Two and a half years ago I had blood pressure that was too high. My doctor (perhaps the best general practitioner I have ever had) showed me the DASH diet. I went on it, lost 25 pounds, and have kept it off. My blood pressure came down and has stayed down. There have been many times where I have said "No" to the lure of Oreo Cookie #1. "No" is the gift-word of self-control.

I'm doing this for Linda. I want to live for her as long as possible. I know this is not, in many ways, in my control. But in some things I can be self-controlled. In some things I am self-controlled. But I wonder if "self-control" is an oxymoron? Here is my current Jesus-understanding.

Galatians 5:22-23 says: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Using these words, here is the logic of self-control.

1. We struggle to control our own addictive selves. On our own, we're powerless before our addictions. So "self-control" functions like a contradiction, an oxymoron, if it means we can control ourselves. Food addicts take note: if it were only that simple! Thestatement "I can control my overeating" is, minimally, exaggeration and over-confidence.
2. We can choose to abide in Christ.
3. If I see myself as a "branch," and attach myself to a fruit tree, I will be fruit-bearing. Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) This seems counterintuitive. But since will-power doesn't work, why not give Jesus a try?
4. Part of the "fruit" God wants to grow in us is self-control.
5. So if I focus on dwelling in Christ, instead of will-worshiping my way to overcome addiction, self-control will be produced in me.

Focus on abiding in Christ, rather than trying to make something happen. This is the logic of fruit-bearing, part of which is the capacity to say "No."

Furious Love

I LOVE this photo taken by David McKay at our April "Furious Love" event.

The Psychology of Atheism: Part II

Our front porch - a great place
for theological thinking.

Paul Vitz, in his presentation "The Psychology of Atheism," looks at deeper psychological reasons for atheism. (In Willard, A Place for Truth) And why not? Lots of psychological work has been done on religious belief and behavior, and lots of internet ad hominem "analysis" goes on by the village atheists among us. So why not a psychology of atheism, subjecting it to analysis? Atheists are no more immune or psychological "neutral" than are theists. Indeed, for most of the confessing atheists I have met I have concluded that their nonbelief is far more related to, e.g., emotional and psychological issues than being a result of "objective, rational thought." This is not a criticism of atheism as such. Theists suffer this, too. It is, however, a criticism of the myth of epistemic neutrality and objectivity. And this also cuts both ways, affecting theists who claim a neutral, fully objective and "rational" view of things.

Perhaps the most famous, and infamous, psychology of religion is Freud's The Future of an Illusion. It is to Freud that Vitz now turns.

"Freud was the first prominent psychologist to propose that people's belief in God could not be trusted because of its origins. In other words, what Freud did was take the ad hominem argument and make it a very popular and influential one." (141) Uh-oh. Ad hominem arguments, in logic, are a no-no, an epistemic non-event.

Freud argued that we can't trust the source of religious beliefs. Religion is neither true nor false, but "is a psychological illusion that arose from our primitive needs for protection. Our basic, infantile, unconscious needs for a father who would look after us, and therefore an illusion." (142) Because of this we cannot accept the truth value of theism.

But this is not convincing. Freud thought that all the contributions of civilization, including science and literature and even psychoanalysis, could be understood as due to infantile, unconscious needs. "So," Vitz says, "if the origins of a belief make us no longer accept its truth value, then according to Fried, we shouldn't accept the truth value of all the other accomplishments of civilization that he said arose from the same kind of motivation." (142)

Further, Freud claimed that among the oldest psychological needs of the human race is the need for a loving, all-powerful father. But that is unconvincing, because if it were true than most or all religions would project the idea of "God" as a loving, protecting, all-powerful "father." But this is not the case. "Many religions don't have that understanding of God at all, particularly many of the pre-Christian or pre-Jewish religions in the Mediterranean area. Some major religions either have no God or their understanding of God is quite different."

Vitz thinks Freud's assumption of a universal, human need of this type is unconvincing. Because were it true, then we'd find "the same kind of religion everywhere we looked." (142)

Next: Vitz looks at the Feuerbachian roots of Freud's atheism.

Zip-Lining With Redeemer Ministry School Students

This morning I'm going with Holly Benner and Redeemer Ministry School students to a cabin in the woods 50 miles west of Monroe. It's in a beautiful location, perched on a 100 foot cliff overlooking a river. There's a 450 foot zip line that starts on top of the cliff, runs through the treetops, and ends on the other side of the river.
We'll worship together, and RMS graduating students will share thoughts about this past school year, and what it means to them.
On the way back to Monroe we'll stop at Culver's in Adrian.
It's a stunning weather day on Monroe – temps in the low 70s, nothing but sun!

Intratheological Study: 1 Corinthians 11:29-30

Monroe

As I study with this Sunday's text I am engaged in intratheological activity. For example, I'm looking closely at 1 Corinthians 11:29-30, which reads: ²⁹For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

Commentaries by Fee and Witherington say these verses might have to do with Paul being given prophetic insight into the unusual circumstances of "many" of the Corinthian Jesus-followers being sick and "a number of" them having died. The Corinthians have been taking the Lord's Supper while maintaining the Greek cultural division between "haves" and "have-nots."

Paul is not giving some universal principle that posits a point-for-point correspondence between taking the Lord's Supper in about as wrong a way as one could take it, and illness and death. If that were the case we would then have:

1. If you take the Lord's Supper while maintaining the cultural division of "haves" and "have-nots," then many of you will either get sick or die (or both).
2. A number of us are not getting sick or dying.
3. Therefore, we must be taking the Lord's Supper in the right way.

Perhaps the Spirit has given Paul insight into the hyper-sickness and hyper-death in the Corinthian context.

Gordon Fee writes: "Paul asserts that some present illnesses and deaths among them are expressions of divine judgment on their "divisions," that is, on their "not discerning the body" at this Supper." (Fee, 1C, 538) They are to "test" (dokimazo) themselves (v. 28) so that they will not incur such judgments. There is a divine "testing/sifting" process already at work in their midst. Fee thinks Paul thinks that such divisions are not a good thing but are an inevitable part of the Eschaton, which has already been set in motion by Christ. So, by this evil thing, viz. their "divisions," God is working out his own purposes. Fee says that "those who are truly his, the "tested/approved" (dokimoi – those who have passed the "examination"), are already being manifest in their midst, and presumably they will escape the final judgment that is coming upon the world." (Fee, 1C, 539)

NTW says that Paul has set up a kind of "court scene" to explain why the Corinthians' way of partaking in the Lord's Supper is scandalous, and "how to interpret strange events in the community, including some Christians falling sick and others dying." You and I might this this is weird, but Paul passionately believed that all of life was interlocking. And that "individual and social behavior, belief, and practice could and did have results in other areas of human experience, including health." (N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, 150) Since the Lord's Table is an event where the future comes to meet us in the present, "this judgment and discipline is brought into focus there, giving us a choice." (Ib., 151) Wright says: "Either examine and 'judge' yourselves, making sure your behavior is appropriate at this meal, or face the scrutiny and judgment of the Lord himself." (Ib.)

Was God judging them? Paul writes that the Corinthians are bringing judgment on themselves. This judgment was, according to Witherington, "both temporal and eternal. Paul even says that because of their failure with regard to the Supper some have died (v. 30). He must have believed that he had some prophetic insight into the situation which we do not have. It was not the food that made them ill, but the judgment that came on them for partaking in the Supper in an unworthy manner." (Witherington, 1 Corinthians, 252)

I'm looking into all of this, studying it, seeking God about it, and seeing what I can make of it. And again, it's intrabiblical activity. I already accept the noetic framework of Christian theism. I believe the Jesus story, both intellectually and viscerally. Within that story I do not understand everything, and I have questions. That is normal. Every person committed to a noetic framework will have intra-framework understanding and questioning.

I love studying and engaging in the deep, rich intratextual world that is the Bible! Persons who do not share belief in that world will find intra-details weird. But that's about the entire framework, and not the details.

Swimming In the Attributes of God

Sunset in Monroe County
5-31-11

Thomas Merton writes:

"It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life... Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul." (New Seeds of Contemplation, 184)

That is a strong claim. It can be argued for. Merton says it is true because "in perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him." (Ib.)

Paradoxically and oxymoronically it is here that humility is "highest." The humble person gets lifted up, high and exalted. We no longer live for the cultivation of our own tiny selves. From God's perspective this is very good. To live, out of one's heart, for others, is to live as Christ lived and still lives. Merton says the humble person "is delivered of all the limitations and vicissitudes of creaturehood and contingency, and swims in the attributes of God."

That last phrase, "swims in the attributes of God," is not hyperbolic. Read John chs. 14-16 and enter the waters of God. God's "power, magnificence, greatness and eternity have, through love, through humility, become our own." (Ib.) Merton's words are but a straightforward reading of Jesus' "final discourse."

Humility is so rock-bottom essential to authentic Jesus-living that Merton writes, "if there were no humility in the world, everybody would long ago have committed suicide." Uh-huh. Because there would be no real hope. Only the humble can be hopeful.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - This Sunday (Cupcakes too...)

Downtown Monroe

On this coming Sunday I'll preach out of 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. One of the things I will share is how I can now see that I have consistently misinterpreted one of these verses. We'll celebrate the Lord's Table after preaching about the Lord's Table as a wordless event in which something is done.

A main theme will be, as Ben Witherington writes, the deconstruction of social stratification and a great social leveling. I may or may not use the word 'deconstruction'. And, I'm not sure Ben is using it correctly anyway.

This Sunday our RMS students will graduate! A few of them will share Sunday morning, and we'll have our graduation ceremony at 6 PM Sunday night. Yay! (Plus cupcakes baked by the incredible H.H.)


1 Corinthians 11:17-34

¹⁷In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.

¹⁸In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. ²⁰When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, ²¹for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. ²²Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." ²⁵In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." ²⁶For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.