The book of Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. It is located in the books of wisdom. In the book of Job, there is a verse, "The Fear of God is the BEGINNING of WISDOM".
I used to read this verse as, " The Fear of God is the Beginning of wisdom"..
The emphasis on the former is that one has to fear God to even begin to understand. Such are the supernaturalists in their understanding of text and tradition and life, itself!
But, now, I understand that it means fearing "God" is Just the Beginning of Wisdom. Wisdom is practical knowledge about life throught experience, not knowledge about "God" and the supernatural.
This latter understanding is more in line with the original Jewish understanding. Wasn't it Job who suffered under the hands of those who thought they know what "God" wanted, and knew what God was doing in Job's life?
What did Job learn? Didn't Job learn that the whole creation was a mystery and that life was a gift to be lived in the present and be grasped by an awe inspiring worship?
Job's "answer" was not about a "how to", or answers the text has to offer, but life itself.
Life is hard, at times. It behooves all of us to understand that we shouldn't lay undue burdens upon others backs by being like Job's comforters.
(But, for the sake of balance, one cannot live without understanding what they will value, as this is the "stuff" where one's commitments will be. The Supernaturalists just believe that "God" should be their life commitment.)
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Two Jesuses?
There is a distinct problem in the Christian community. It really is not a problem. Just a quandary...There are two Jesuses that are recognized and "worshipped".
One Jesus is the one most of us learned about in Sunday School. He worked miracles by healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons. This Jesus is a supernatural one. We worshipped him for being God. But, although he was a real person, he was too holy to consider as "one of us". He was all about love, mercy and forgiveness. The difference was who Jesus was. He was God.
The other Jesus is a historical one. He lived and died and experienced life like the rest of us. He struggled, was betrayed, and walked against the tide. His life is "worshipped" by what he did, not so much in who he was. His life sought justice.
Tradition has held that Jesus is both God and Man and theologians go out of their way to understand and explain through their theologizing what this means. The Trinity is their conclusion. This was the way for the Church to acknowledge, embrace and understand how we grow and understand our faith.
Until someone is ready to take up their life and walk out their faith in commitment to what their own personal values and convictions are, then, their need for Christ to be God for them is necessary.
Which Jesus do you 'worship"?
One Jesus is the one most of us learned about in Sunday School. He worked miracles by healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons. This Jesus is a supernatural one. We worshipped him for being God. But, although he was a real person, he was too holy to consider as "one of us". He was all about love, mercy and forgiveness. The difference was who Jesus was. He was God.
The other Jesus is a historical one. He lived and died and experienced life like the rest of us. He struggled, was betrayed, and walked against the tide. His life is "worshipped" by what he did, not so much in who he was. His life sought justice.
Tradition has held that Jesus is both God and Man and theologians go out of their way to understand and explain through their theologizing what this means. The Trinity is their conclusion. This was the way for the Church to acknowledge, embrace and understand how we grow and understand our faith.
Until someone is ready to take up their life and walk out their faith in commitment to what their own personal values and convictions are, then, their need for Christ to be God for them is necessary.
Which Jesus do you 'worship"?
Monday, September 22, 2008
What Kind of God?
Mankind tries to understand God by developing different ways of worship. Some confine their understanding to a text, others to a tradition's "wisdom", while others have given up hoping to understand the transcendent, for the present problems are too demanding for them to take the time.
What is the Christian response to such diversity?
Christians should embrace diversity, as Jesus life and message did not limit or confine his ministry to the understandings of either text or tradition. This means that the Christian message should be about humanity, not God. Man is made in God's image and Christians and Jews were commanded to make no other graven image...That means that the face of man is the face of God. That does not mean that God's face is individually defined, but must be seen within the faces of all of humanity and its multiverse ways of understanding God.
Christianiy needs to define itself on humanity, and humanities' giftings in every area of life. The problem of a universal Christian faith, is that there is opporsition from those who define their faith along the lines of traditional or conservative understandings and feel a universal call to the Church would diminish the Church's distinctiveness. This has always happened within Chruch History. What do you propose in seeking to unify diversity? Surely, you don't propose conformity, do you?
What is the Christian response to such diversity?
Christians should embrace diversity, as Jesus life and message did not limit or confine his ministry to the understandings of either text or tradition. This means that the Christian message should be about humanity, not God. Man is made in God's image and Christians and Jews were commanded to make no other graven image...That means that the face of man is the face of God. That does not mean that God's face is individually defined, but must be seen within the faces of all of humanity and its multiverse ways of understanding God.
Christianiy needs to define itself on humanity, and humanities' giftings in every area of life. The problem of a universal Christian faith, is that there is opporsition from those who define their faith along the lines of traditional or conservative understandings and feel a universal call to the Church would diminish the Church's distinctiveness. This has always happened within Chruch History. What do you propose in seeking to unify diversity? Surely, you don't propose conformity, do you?
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