Tonight, while driving home from her basketball game, Anna looked out at the first snow of the season and asked me if God brings natural disasters because of our sin. I asked her to explain her question further. She wanted to know if things like blizzards and tornadoes and earthquakes happen because God is punishing us for our sin.
This is not the gospel message I want my daughter to know or believe.
One of the questions that pervades my thoughts most often is one I don't believe will be answered in my lifetime. Why does God allow the horrific? Why was there not another way? I've read the books. I hear what wise authors say. "The hard shows God's glory. The hard causes us to recognize our need for God. God is God and I am not."
If God is God, then couldn't They have found another path for glorifying Themself? If God wants us to need Them, and They are all-powerful and all-knowing, couldn't They have created beings who recognize their need for Them without all the suffering? Is God too small, too powerless to have done it differently?
I don't get it.
And I don't have an answer for that question...
...but I am convinced that all living things on earth have a life cycle - birth, life, death. That cycle always includes the creation of life, the birth, the living, and the dying. In the forest, when lightening strikes the dry brittle branches of a dead tree and ignites a fire, that fire often burns up healthy, living trees and plants as well. It takes the lives of thriving animals and the homes of birds. It also, by the way, kills diseases that, left unchecked, can run rampant wipe out an entire forest. When it burns out, what is left looks like utter destruction, but when the rain comes again, the grass starts to poke up through the ash. Young trees spring up. Animals begin to find lush and fertile fields of grass and foliage to live on. Birds come back to the area and build new nests. The disease is wiped out and the cycle begins again.
I don't know why this is the way of life, but even God modeled it through Jesus Christ. God knew that the eternal answer to death was a dying and rising again. This truth doesn't explain away the horrors that are taking place in our world today. It doesn't mean we shouldn't grieve when life is lost. It doesn't call us to avert our eyes when we witness suffering or abuse for which we have the ability to stop. We aren't called to give up. Even plants and animals have an innate striving for survival. The drive inside of us to avoid pain and death is from God too. Jesus begged his Father to not have to go thru the dying, but he knew the dying was required to get to the living.
In the course of a lifetime, the recognition of and submission to the lessons of the cycle come through experiencing the cycle. We don't get the option of avoiding pain and death. They come for all of us. We can respond by believing we are being punished, or we can look for the wisdom of our Creator. What do They want us to learn? We can respond with fear or lean into Love. Reconciling the truth of something is very different from acknowledging the emotions of each stage of living. Leaning into the lessons does not explain the why of how things play out in each circumstance. We may understand the overall cycle, without understanding the why of the individual cycles that take place in each of our lives. Fear may be the right and unavoidable response in the moment of a terrifying accident or assault, but afterwords, as we process, time allows us to seek Love over fear in how we learn from the story. Seeking love builds the muscles of courage, wisdom, presence and trust.
It is my desire to turn my kids (and myself) back to Love over fear when they ask me questions about the hard. Love grows life and courage and truth in our souls. Fear grows anger, cowardice and a death to freedom. I do not and cannot comprehend the why of so much of what happens in our world, but I know without a doubt that God has met me in the hard and has shown me how to receive Love and how to give it too.
I wonder if my kids will soon be asking me if God has turned Their back on the country we live in. It appears that fear is ruling the day. I easily fall prey to the fear and find myself wallowing in anger and judgement. If I can remember and trust the cycle, can I believe that the fire burning here and now may be purging us of the disease that would ultimately wipe us all out? The fire could even turn back on itself and not harm all that we fear it might. Is the pain right now necessary because it is causing the Love and Truth in our spirits to awaken and fight for the Life we innately long for and were created to experience? As we witness what feels like death to much of what we know, can we use the drive inside of us to fight for the Life that is on the other side? Can we be a shelter for the defenseless and pour out a healing rain on what looks like destruction? Can we look for where new Life is springing up out of the dying and marvel at how God's plan cannot be destroyed by what feels far bigger than we can combat?
I will keep getting distracted by the size and intense heat of the flames, for they are daunting, but I'm committed to not getting stuck there. The fear may well show us real danger that we should avoid, but the light of the flames is also illuminating where the Life is and I am drawn there. Life will win in the end, but dying is still part of the cycle. I may have to die to some of what is comfortable for me as the flames burn some of my temporary hopes into ashes, but there is a richer Life to be found after the destruction and what is burning up will feed the soil of hope and Love.
This answer is far more detailed than Anna was looking for (and I didn't burden her with all of it). To simplify it: Do I think God is punishing us? No. Do I understand then 'why' bad things happen? No. Do I see how Life is born out of death? Yes, I do. I don't get it, and I don't always like it, but I have certainly experienced the richness of being forever changed by seeking the Love after the dying. I have most certainly found Life, and that more abundantly, through the cycles of dying and being reborn each time to a deeper understanding of my Creator's Love.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Love does not need a Christian government to spread it's gospel message.
I have had a nagging feeling in my gut during the past few months that Christians are somehow missing the mark when fighting to protect their beliefs as rights through our government. I haven't quite been able to put my finger on what it is. I couldn't find clarity on what I was feeling until some things started to become very clear in the divisive talk and actions that flooded the last few weeks of this election.
People interpret scripture differently. I don't think there are two people on the planet who would find they have the exact same views on every verse in the Bible. We are unique and we have our own minds and experiences that shape our perceptions and understanding.
I believe that part of being separated from God is the confusion we experience because we are limited by our humanness from being able to fully experience or understand who God is. We don't like to feel confused. Confusion leads to fear that we're missing something. Fear makes us feel out of control. Too often in the church we decide to make certain unknowns 'known' by defining rules and understanding around things that God never intended us to get so wrapped up in.
I remember visiting my dad's side of the family when I was growing up and sitting with them at the dinner table while the adults would debate the topic of The Tribulation. The Tribulation is an idea that, in the end times, Christians will be heavily persecuted for their faith. Some people believe that God will snatch up all of the current Christians into heaven before The Tribulation begins and that because of that miraculous world event, many people will come to believe in God but will have to go through this horrific time of being abused, discriminated against, having no rights, and even being murdered, before God finally relents and wipes out all evil. Other people believe that Christians will not be rescued from The Tribulation, and still others think that maybe there is an answer somewhere in the middle. Of course, some believers don't believe in the idea of The Tribulation at all.
It was interesting to hear my dad and his siblings debate this topic. Some of them felt very strongly about their opinions and presented them as fact, others talked about teachers of the Bible who present reasons why it is actually wrong to believe anything but the conclusion they had come to. Some of them just weren't sure about the whole thing.
Who was right and who was wrong? Can any one of them prove in the world today what they thought they understood so clearly in the Scriptures? Is there really a black and white answer? Not feeling certain about something can leave us feeling too exposed and vulnerable. Our human tendency is to try to create peace and harmony in our souls by clarifying the unknown so that we don't feel afraid. Sometimes what we define as a 'known' for us, is not a 'known' for others. Sometimes we are taught our parents' 'knowns' and we grow up believing things to be certain having no idea that other people are not so certain. It is a strange thing, as a young adult, to suddenly realize that something you had no question about, is not that easy or clear for someone else.
Throughout history entire denominations and church affiliations have made decisions about what their black and white 'knowns' will be. They write value statements and membership agreements that clearly state what their beliefs are and the expectations they have for all who join their churches to believe in and abide by these 'knowns.' People feel safe when they surround themselves with others who all agree to be about the same things. People feel like the decisions they've made about what they 'know' to be true are validated when they join a church that has the same 'knowns.'
What, at first feels like inclusion and security inside of a group of believers who think like we think, can slowly fade into a club of exclusion, insecurity, and fear. This happens when we start to find more security in knowing that we know something, than the security we should be finding in knowing that all of us are loved by God and that God's truth cannot be undone by others who don't agree with us. When we start holding our beliefs as more sacred and more important than God's love for everyone, we begin to believe that we must make everyone believe and behave like we do. We forget that what was once a decision we made to define something a certain way might actually not be the only right way to define something. We feel threatened, defensive, and fearful when someone disagrees with us because we really liked the feeling we had in our gut that we had something all figured out and we didn't have to wonder about it anymore.
Churches can become places where people begin to police behaviors and beliefs so that the group as a whole conforms to the shared 'knowns' and everyone feels validated that they are doing it right. Church was intended to be a place of love and service and inclusion. It was never intended to be a place of required conformity. When behaviors become valued above all else, those who don't fall in line suddenly find themselves excluded from the group. They find themselves alone, isolated, feeling unloved and unworthy. Worst of all, they find themselves unwelcome in the Church. This is not the example I see from Jesus in the New Testament. I see a man who spent his ministry breaking down the 'knowns' and rebuking those who held the 'knowns' so sacred. I see a man who sought out those who didn't conform to the rules and embracing them and telling them they were loved by Truth Itself. I see a man who gave his life for ALL, including ALL who didn't look like, sound like, dress like, believe like, or worship like he did.
Please don't hear me say that I don't think there aren't any absolutes. I just don't think any of us should get so certain in our thinking that we think we are the ones who've figured out exactly what those absolutes are and everyone else deserves to be marginalized until they fall into line. If you have chosen faith in God stay humble enough to remember that you might not have it all right. You might not truly 'know' all the truths. And even if you do know something that really is true, remember that the highest commandment that God gave was to love God and to love others. Love comes first.
Christians in America have gotten so wrapped up in the sacredness of their 'knowns' that they have come to believe it is their duty to force compliance on everyone through our government. They truly believe that they are doing this for the best and good of all, but because they are making these laws based, ultimately, out of the fear that drove them to the absolutes they have claimed, they fear everyone who doesn't believe or behave the way they do. This fear leads them to know that first, they must be able to protect their rights so they must be free to own the weapons they will need if the majority decides to go against their 'knowns.' Jesus did not model this. He did not assume he needed to be able to defend himself. He also never said we shouldn't own weapons, but when his day came to face those who didn't believe as he did, he did not call for all around him to take up weapons and defend him. He remained humble and calm. He leaned into love and not fear. He sacrificed the desire to force everyone to understand his truth in the moment for the eternal impact he could have by sacrificing himself in Love instead.
Christians have also chosen the 'knowns' that feel the most affirming to their way of life and they band together to make those 'knowns' required for all. They believe that if everyone will just comply because they are forced to, then everyone will be better people. They forget that compliance doesn't create believers. Compliance doesn't offer salvation. And, compliance will never happen across the board. We were created individually and have lived unique experiences because God, in infinite wisdom and creativity, knows that God's glory can only be revealed in the infinite variety of life and love that is displayed throughout the world. And, every single person is imperfect so we will all mess up, choose selfishness, forget to love well and decide to live out of fear rather than love far more often than we should.
When Christians decide to police things they can't ultimately control, and then decide to alienate and shut out those who don't submit to the rules, they create battles that cannot be won. Change that matters does not happen with lots of rules that say 'don't.' Change happens when individuals say 'how can I help?' Outlawing abortion doesn't stop abortions from happening. Finding out why abortions are happening and finding ways to help women so that abortions are not needed stops abortions from happening. Telling people not to have sex before marriage doesn't keep that from happening either. Showing each individual their worth as a whole person who is loved and valued and who is more than their bodies, helps them to make wise decisions about what is best for them instead of making decisions out of desperation for connection that ends up being about nothing more than instant gratification. Assuming that people who worship a faith other than Christianity are evil doesn't make them evil, nor does it make them interested in learning about our faith. Calling someone evil because they don't think they way we do is something evil we do to others.
We discredit our faith when we believe we need to force compliance but teach a message of grace. We make our faith something to be feared and distrusted when we fear and distrust everyone who does not share our faith. We build walls that exclude and are founded in fear when we think that behaviors indicate the conditions of people's hearts and that we are charged with the responsibility to change those behaviors without first caring for those hearts.
Love meets people where they are.
Love listens to people's stories.
Love is curious and asks questions.
Love assumes the best of people and their intentions.
Love looks for common ground.
Love trusts God with outcomes.
Love values people and relationships.
Love seeks to follow Jesus' example.
Love includes everyone.
Love does not seek to defend itself at the cost of others.
Love does not need for everyone to look at behave one certain way.
Love does not need a Christian government to spread it's gospel message.
It takes a lot of selflessness to love well. It takes a different kind of love and energy to decide to seek to bring change through loving people in the mess of relationship over attempting to force their compliance through laws and legalism. Trying to force an entire nation to comply to the 'knowns' of a few (who might not have it all right) does not create unity or love. It does not bring about the desired outcome. In fact, it only serves to create more divisiveness, more fear, more broken relationships. Being a part of the side that perpetuates so much fear and judges so harshly just doesn't sound to me like being a part of the side that Jesus is on.
People interpret scripture differently. I don't think there are two people on the planet who would find they have the exact same views on every verse in the Bible. We are unique and we have our own minds and experiences that shape our perceptions and understanding.
I believe that part of being separated from God is the confusion we experience because we are limited by our humanness from being able to fully experience or understand who God is. We don't like to feel confused. Confusion leads to fear that we're missing something. Fear makes us feel out of control. Too often in the church we decide to make certain unknowns 'known' by defining rules and understanding around things that God never intended us to get so wrapped up in.
I remember visiting my dad's side of the family when I was growing up and sitting with them at the dinner table while the adults would debate the topic of The Tribulation. The Tribulation is an idea that, in the end times, Christians will be heavily persecuted for their faith. Some people believe that God will snatch up all of the current Christians into heaven before The Tribulation begins and that because of that miraculous world event, many people will come to believe in God but will have to go through this horrific time of being abused, discriminated against, having no rights, and even being murdered, before God finally relents and wipes out all evil. Other people believe that Christians will not be rescued from The Tribulation, and still others think that maybe there is an answer somewhere in the middle. Of course, some believers don't believe in the idea of The Tribulation at all.
It was interesting to hear my dad and his siblings debate this topic. Some of them felt very strongly about their opinions and presented them as fact, others talked about teachers of the Bible who present reasons why it is actually wrong to believe anything but the conclusion they had come to. Some of them just weren't sure about the whole thing.
Who was right and who was wrong? Can any one of them prove in the world today what they thought they understood so clearly in the Scriptures? Is there really a black and white answer? Not feeling certain about something can leave us feeling too exposed and vulnerable. Our human tendency is to try to create peace and harmony in our souls by clarifying the unknown so that we don't feel afraid. Sometimes what we define as a 'known' for us, is not a 'known' for others. Sometimes we are taught our parents' 'knowns' and we grow up believing things to be certain having no idea that other people are not so certain. It is a strange thing, as a young adult, to suddenly realize that something you had no question about, is not that easy or clear for someone else.
Throughout history entire denominations and church affiliations have made decisions about what their black and white 'knowns' will be. They write value statements and membership agreements that clearly state what their beliefs are and the expectations they have for all who join their churches to believe in and abide by these 'knowns.' People feel safe when they surround themselves with others who all agree to be about the same things. People feel like the decisions they've made about what they 'know' to be true are validated when they join a church that has the same 'knowns.'
What, at first feels like inclusion and security inside of a group of believers who think like we think, can slowly fade into a club of exclusion, insecurity, and fear. This happens when we start to find more security in knowing that we know something, than the security we should be finding in knowing that all of us are loved by God and that God's truth cannot be undone by others who don't agree with us. When we start holding our beliefs as more sacred and more important than God's love for everyone, we begin to believe that we must make everyone believe and behave like we do. We forget that what was once a decision we made to define something a certain way might actually not be the only right way to define something. We feel threatened, defensive, and fearful when someone disagrees with us because we really liked the feeling we had in our gut that we had something all figured out and we didn't have to wonder about it anymore.
Churches can become places where people begin to police behaviors and beliefs so that the group as a whole conforms to the shared 'knowns' and everyone feels validated that they are doing it right. Church was intended to be a place of love and service and inclusion. It was never intended to be a place of required conformity. When behaviors become valued above all else, those who don't fall in line suddenly find themselves excluded from the group. They find themselves alone, isolated, feeling unloved and unworthy. Worst of all, they find themselves unwelcome in the Church. This is not the example I see from Jesus in the New Testament. I see a man who spent his ministry breaking down the 'knowns' and rebuking those who held the 'knowns' so sacred. I see a man who sought out those who didn't conform to the rules and embracing them and telling them they were loved by Truth Itself. I see a man who gave his life for ALL, including ALL who didn't look like, sound like, dress like, believe like, or worship like he did.
Please don't hear me say that I don't think there aren't any absolutes. I just don't think any of us should get so certain in our thinking that we think we are the ones who've figured out exactly what those absolutes are and everyone else deserves to be marginalized until they fall into line. If you have chosen faith in God stay humble enough to remember that you might not have it all right. You might not truly 'know' all the truths. And even if you do know something that really is true, remember that the highest commandment that God gave was to love God and to love others. Love comes first.
Christians in America have gotten so wrapped up in the sacredness of their 'knowns' that they have come to believe it is their duty to force compliance on everyone through our government. They truly believe that they are doing this for the best and good of all, but because they are making these laws based, ultimately, out of the fear that drove them to the absolutes they have claimed, they fear everyone who doesn't believe or behave the way they do. This fear leads them to know that first, they must be able to protect their rights so they must be free to own the weapons they will need if the majority decides to go against their 'knowns.' Jesus did not model this. He did not assume he needed to be able to defend himself. He also never said we shouldn't own weapons, but when his day came to face those who didn't believe as he did, he did not call for all around him to take up weapons and defend him. He remained humble and calm. He leaned into love and not fear. He sacrificed the desire to force everyone to understand his truth in the moment for the eternal impact he could have by sacrificing himself in Love instead.
Christians have also chosen the 'knowns' that feel the most affirming to their way of life and they band together to make those 'knowns' required for all. They believe that if everyone will just comply because they are forced to, then everyone will be better people. They forget that compliance doesn't create believers. Compliance doesn't offer salvation. And, compliance will never happen across the board. We were created individually and have lived unique experiences because God, in infinite wisdom and creativity, knows that God's glory can only be revealed in the infinite variety of life and love that is displayed throughout the world. And, every single person is imperfect so we will all mess up, choose selfishness, forget to love well and decide to live out of fear rather than love far more often than we should.
When Christians decide to police things they can't ultimately control, and then decide to alienate and shut out those who don't submit to the rules, they create battles that cannot be won. Change that matters does not happen with lots of rules that say 'don't.' Change happens when individuals say 'how can I help?' Outlawing abortion doesn't stop abortions from happening. Finding out why abortions are happening and finding ways to help women so that abortions are not needed stops abortions from happening. Telling people not to have sex before marriage doesn't keep that from happening either. Showing each individual their worth as a whole person who is loved and valued and who is more than their bodies, helps them to make wise decisions about what is best for them instead of making decisions out of desperation for connection that ends up being about nothing more than instant gratification. Assuming that people who worship a faith other than Christianity are evil doesn't make them evil, nor does it make them interested in learning about our faith. Calling someone evil because they don't think they way we do is something evil we do to others.
We discredit our faith when we believe we need to force compliance but teach a message of grace. We make our faith something to be feared and distrusted when we fear and distrust everyone who does not share our faith. We build walls that exclude and are founded in fear when we think that behaviors indicate the conditions of people's hearts and that we are charged with the responsibility to change those behaviors without first caring for those hearts.
Love meets people where they are.
Love listens to people's stories.
Love is curious and asks questions.
Love assumes the best of people and their intentions.
Love looks for common ground.
Love trusts God with outcomes.
Love values people and relationships.
Love seeks to follow Jesus' example.
Love includes everyone.
Love does not seek to defend itself at the cost of others.
Love does not need for everyone to look at behave one certain way.
Love does not need a Christian government to spread it's gospel message.
It takes a lot of selflessness to love well. It takes a different kind of love and energy to decide to seek to bring change through loving people in the mess of relationship over attempting to force their compliance through laws and legalism. Trying to force an entire nation to comply to the 'knowns' of a few (who might not have it all right) does not create unity or love. It does not bring about the desired outcome. In fact, it only serves to create more divisiveness, more fear, more broken relationships. Being a part of the side that perpetuates so much fear and judges so harshly just doesn't sound to me like being a part of the side that Jesus is on.
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