The Into to My Book

I finally found out how to share my book with those of you who have not read it yet.  If you are interested to reading it click on the title and it will take you to the sight.  

In the mean time I will share the Introduction with you;

Introduction

An Invitation to Enter the Conversation

1. Could it be that God has more to say than what was first printed in the books chosen to be “the Christian Canon?”
2. Coulditbethatallofourquestionsarenotansweredbywhatisspecificallywrittenonthe pages of the Bible?
To be attentive to these questions I am going to attempt to place words on the pages of this book that could have indefinable present day meaning before a God who is undefinable and beyond the limits of our human brain’s ability to comprehend.
This small book is one person’s passionate plea for the Christian world, and our nation, to come together in their ignorance. It is a thesis on one, just one, understanding of the most widely read book in our history. A book that cannot easily be understood at first, nor even second reading. A book that needs explanation of its contexts, cultures, languages, and traditions. And yet, a book that I believe holds the basic truth for life and living upon this earth.
This small book is also a plea for those, who seem to want to, limit God’s grace and mercy. They do this by witnessing in ways that put stumbling blocks before those who still strive to seek meaning and purpose in this God who seems so very illusive and untouchable.
In the last century our nation has experienced the insurgence of a very strong right wing in the Christian religion that has claimed dominance in Biblical understanding. I am not attempting to pronounce judgment on their theology, even though I disagree with their interpretations on scripture as well as their methods of witness and evangelism. It is simply my opinion, and so, I have to say, I may very well be incorrect in my assessment. What I will attempt to do is request that they at least consider what I have to say. Keeping in mind that I am perfectly willing to admit that I could be incorrect in my own understanding, interpretation, and theology. However, it is my firm opinion that we all stand ignorant before this boundless God that we worship. I honor all thoughts on scripture as one person’s, or one group’s, true belief about what is written within the covers of the Holy Bible. I am truly grateful that people have a passion for what they profess to believe.
What concerns me, and the reason for this book, is how our witness as Christian draws in, or turns away, those outside the institutional church. I speak about this at the very beginning of my thoughts. Jesus gave us a commission to “Go and make disciples (students) of all nations, ...” (Matthew 28:19-20 NRSV). My primary question is: Are we making disciples? Or are we making skeptics? Does our witness create a safe place for wonder, questions, and/or doubts to grow into belief that leads to a life of faith? Or, does our witness intimidate and limit people’s quest for truth?
As I do this I will be talking about the difference between the Old Covenant (the Old Testament) and the New Covenant (the New Testament). I will touch on the issue of sin, belief, faith and most clearly Jesus’ promise of continual assistance in our student status of human living in a very human culture.

2

For those of you who are not familiar with theological lingo, I want to be very intentional about the various terms that we theological types tend to use so freely in conversations like this one, not realizing how foreign the meaning is to the world around us. I mention this because when I first entered seminary I sat through my first hour of Lutheran Theology listening to the professor rattle on using terms I didn’t understand. I went up after class and asked him: “So, do you have a dictionary I might buy that will help me understand the language you use?” He smiled, laughed a little, and answered: “Yes, as a matter of fact we do.” I went directly to the bookstore and bought a little paperback that became my guide to listening in class that first year.
We, in the institutional church often forget to remember that what we understand so automatically fails to express the message to those who come to listen. And, it is not just the big concepts like incarnation, salvation, justification, sanctification, redemption, repentance, etc. It also includes what I call the important little words like love, grace, sin, saved, baptized, all, if, old and new that tend to get left to the listener’s imagination without adequate definition. So, throughout this conversation I will attempt to be attentive to the words and concepts that I will bring into the discussion in order that you, the reader, will be able to stay with me as we go along.
With all of that being said, I invite you into the conversation. I encourage openness and a grace filled discussion about how we might faithfully witness together to this Mighty God we claim to believe in and have faith to follow.
So, come on along!

“I Still Have Many Things to Say to You” But You Cannot Bear Them NowBy Marcia G. Carrier Shocked by the idea that some people believe that “God hates ____’s,” Pastor Marcia Carrier describes a new way of thinking about God and His love for all people. I Still Have Many Things to Say to You (But You Cannot Bear them Now) explores the s...

"Can Faith Save You?"

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.  18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. ¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. ²⁰Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. ²³Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? ²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.(James 2)

Huuuuummm

The first thing that caught my mind here is the question about being “saved.”

                        Can faith save you?

That word, saved, is over loaded with the human mind’s interpretation; and most often judgment.

Now, I grant you, that question is just a tiny tiny part of James’ dissertation here.  But at the same time it is a phrase that gets thrown around, a whole lot, in order to put others down. Make them feel less faithful, less worthy.

So, in my excellent Lutheran understanding. I have rightly learned the answer, to that over used question, is yes. 

Yes. You can be, and are, saved by your faith no matter how tiny it may be.  

I quote the mantra of all ELCA Lutherans:

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—  (Eph. 2) 

Paul also writes a bit on this subject in Romans: chapters 3 and 4.

It is also true that the ELCA Lutherans are often accused of using that mantra to avoid living by faith.  Doing!

Meaning that we believe in “cheap grace” — doing nothing.

There is most certainly a misunderstood balance here; that needs to be clarified.  

As with most faith related issues there is a, tissue-paper-thin, line between doing work for the sake of work -- doing work to look good before others.  Or doing things for our neighbor because we want to help them have a better quality of life.

Our faith prompts us to live, on this earth, in caring and compassionate ways.  Ways that allow others to feel our empathy for them; through our God given ability, our God given faith.

We also believe that God, by his amazing grace, has given us this faith.  And in our gratitude we are asked, to live out the call of Jesus, to be servants to our sisters and brothers.   

Faith prompts doing.  That often does mean work.  Sometimes hard work.

¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. ¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ²⁰He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’(Matt. 17) 

For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”,…

Through the gift of faith we often do things that we think we can’t.  

We do things that we may not even want to do. 

We sometime think that we are not good enough, or strong enough. or capable enough, or smart enough to do what is called for.

Moving mountains is no easy task (; 

However what we learn, over and over again, is that even those things that seem insurmountable can be done by God through us.

That grace — God’s activity — working in and through us, makes the work possible. 

The confusion is that some think that if they work hard enough, or perfectly enough, or any another adjective that measures their action, that that is what gets them to heaven.  More specifically, what gets them saved.

It is a common confusion people have; that it is the quality or perfection of what they do that earns them a place in God's realm --  God's heart. 

The God I believe in does not judge us by our ability or intelligence.  God does not evaluate us by how we do something -- or how much we do.  There is no better, or most right, or most capable in this faith life.  

What God is clearly interested in, is where our heart is in the living out of our faith. 

So no, we are not saved by our works. 

We are saved by our faith in an extraordinarily gracious God.  

Who, I think, loves it when we simply try to follow his original design for taking care of all he has made.

Caution When Reading James 2

James continues to pontificate on the ins-and-outs of human behavior.  

And, as I began to read this morning I found my mouth forming a position of total disagreement with the way James limits the grace of God.

⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.(James20

Make one error and you are done for.

Really?

If one believes that God is merciful and forgiving. And I do. Then James is all wet.  There is no perfect human being. The only one who is perfect is God’s alone.

My opinion only of course.  

I am thinking, at this point, that James took his schooling from writer of Leviticus:  

21 When anyone offers a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, in fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill-offering, from the herd or from the flock, to be acceptable it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.(Lev. 22)

How many of us are without blemish?

To read this portion of James is like reading the Old Testament theology of a God of wrath and total — narrow, limited — judgment. 

To ask people to believe that one mistake — one so called “sin” — means you are doomed to hell; is so against the character of the God I have set my faith on.  

A God, by the way, that taught us to forgive seventy times seven; would not go along with James here.  

To quote my collage freshmen English teacher: Its Balderdash!  Poppycock!

I am quite sure that there are many who would disagree with me on this blog.  

You are welcome to add your comments.

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? ²For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’, ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹For the one who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement.(James 2)