Madison Avenue or the Holy Spirit: conflicted Presbyterians

Have you ever heard a progressive member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) suggest that with the passage of 10-A and the adopting of different moral standards the Holy Spirit is doing a new thing? Well, it turns out that instead of the Holy Spirit it was the Arcus Foundation funding a project put together by Fenton, a group helping organizations with campaigns centered in social issues, and Goodwin & Simon a group which provides statistics and research—and all of this through Auburn Media, a division of Auburn Theological Seminary.

Auburn Media advertizes a booklet, described as a toolkit, entitled My Mind Was Changed: A New Way to Talk to Conflicted Christians about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in Church and Society. It is also linked to at Presbyterian Welcome. The booklet attempts to give secular and progressive people a method for  persuading Christians who are conflicted about homosexuality a way to accept the LGBT lifestyle.

The concept is that Christians will not listen to arguments based on a secular version of rights or equality so the arguments need to be reframed and the reframing must possess some Christian characteristics.

1. They need to be “based on moral truths and Christian tenets.”

2. They must be “built around the search for God’s truth and leads conflicted Christians to a God-inspired revelation.”

3. They should be based “in moral clarity.” “There is no moral wiggle room because the frameworks are inspired by God-given moral absolutes.”

4. They need to be “Christ-centric.” That means “they are built around the moral teachings of Jesus.”

These are the frames:

1. Inclusion—Jesus never excluded anyone.

2. Jesus taught that God loves everyone.

3. “Judge not.” Under this the authors write, “They [conflicted Christians] are in search of a third way that will allow them to integrate LGBT people into their moral worldview while still adhering to their perceptions of God’s word.”

Some of this needs to be addressed and I will do so after explaining how this all supposedly affected the outcome of the vote on 10-A.

Toward the end of the booklet the authors explain how well this all works by pointing to the PC (U.S.A.) and our 2009-10 vote on ordination, under the subtitle, “Real world Case Study: Presbyterians shine a light on inclusion.” They write:

They’ve [Presbyterian presbyteries] also historically opposed LGBT inclusion in leadership positions. In 2009 when votes were cast for a similar amendment it failed to reach the majority needed by nine presbyteries.

This time around More Light Presbyterians brought on Fenton to develop a narrative and advertizing campaign that would run in the largest Presbyterian magazine during the course of the voting. Fenton saw this as a perfect opportunity to try out the tactics described in this toolkit with a real group of conflicted Christians.

The authors go on to explain that they listened to conflicted Presbyterians in order to use the right language. Then they divided their advertisements into some of the same categories used in the booklet. And supposedly not only were the advertisements in the magazine, they were also handed out during voting in presbyteries. Fenton thinks they are the cause of the victory—so we could say that Madison Avenue worked its wiles on the Presbyterian denomination.

The authors go on to state that “As of this writing, Fenton is working with More Light Presbyterians to tell the next chapter on inclusion with the media and church-based audiences: the stories of LGBT candidates for ordination.”

As for the frames used in the booklet they are themselves good examples of Madison Avenue cliché. They are simplistic ideas that have not been filled with the rich meat of God’s word. For instance—inclusion-the idea that Jesus never excluded anyone therefore LGBT people should not be excluded. But here are two very big problems with that frame.

1) Jesus did include many marginalized people in many ways, eating with them, touching them, healing them. He allowed women to follow him and to set at his feet learning from him. But he also forgave sinners and told them to “go and sin no more.” The inclusiveness of Jesus embraced the sinner, but not her sin.

2) The question that the conflicted Christian is concerned about is ordination. Jesus never suggested that the unrepentant sinner should be in leadership. Jesus’ inclusiveness is not about leadership at all—but about tending to sheep, feeding them and causing them to flourish in their life in him. Jesus’ inclusiveness does not answer the question the conflicted Christian is asking.

The frames are not based on Christian tenets, not even Christian morals and certainly not on Christian absolutes. In fact, the frames are themselves immoral because they are half truths useful only for snaring the people of God into accepting as good what God has called sin. The people of God need the pure word of God, unhindered by subterfuge. There is a way to integrate LGBT persons into the Christian’s understanding of God’s word. That is, to love them, care for them and lead them to the Savior who will begin a transformation in their lives.

Sexual orientation therapy for minors outlawed in California: it does not matter! Update

UPdate see below-
It does not matter that California Governor Brown has signed into law a bill banning all “therapy practices that attempt to change the sexual orientation of minors.” As the SFGate states:

California has become the first state in the country to ban controversial therapy practices that attempt to change the sexual orientation of minors after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to outlaw them Saturday.

The bill, SB 1172 by Sen. Ted Lieu, D—Torrance (Los Angeles County), bars mental health practitioners from performing so-called reparative therapy, which professional psychological organizations have said may cause harm. Gay rights groups have labeled them dangerous and abusive.

It does not matter because Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church, will continue to be Lord. God loves those who are trapped in the homosexual lifestyle and will not cease to move on their behalf. He is open to the cry of those who repent of their sins no matter the sin. He will either change the LGBT person by transforming their orientation or by giving them the power to live a celibate life. This does not mean that people won’t fall and need to be picked up again—we are all sinners after all.

We must simply acknowledge that God is greater than any Governor, Legislator or law. Our churches are and must be a place of recovery for all sinners—all of us—but we must provide the love and care that is now outlawed in California.

“’Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and our redemption.’ (1 Cor. 1:30)

As Jesus Christ is God’s assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so in the same way and with the same seriousness is he also God’s mighty claim upon our whole life. Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his creatures.

We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords—areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.” (The Theological Declaration of Barmen 8.13-8.15)

Update-Lawsuit filed over California gay teen therapy law

 

Presbyterian Leadership.com-harming the little ones

Two Presbyterian entities have articles with confrontational references to Jesus. The Presbyterian News Service has an article highlighting one of our mission partners who is a part of the team representing the Presbyterian International Peacemaker Program. The article, Knowing Jesus, is about Andrey Beskorovainiy, a Roma Pastor. When asked “What is the primary message you want to communicate to U.S. Presbyterians?” Beskorovainiy answers, “Do you know Jesus?” That is a wonderful question, and just the right one for this time in our denomination.

Sadly the other Presbyterian entity, The Presbyterian Leadership.com, is attempting to answer the question with those theologians and teachers that will lead followers of Jesus away from a true biblical knowledge of Jesus. They are now highlighting two sets of a series of videos and study books one entitled, Living the Questions, the other entitled, Saving Jesus. The latter is a revision of the first. The summery of “Saving Jesus,” is:

Ever feel like Jesus has been kidnapped by the Christian Right and discarded by the Secular Left? Jesus Redux is total revision of Living the Question’s popular 12-session DVD-based small group exploration of credible Jesus for the third millennium. New contributors including Brian McLaren, Diana Butler Bass, and Robin Meyers join Marcus Borg, Walter Brueggemann, John Dominic Crossan, Matthew Fox, Amy-Jill Levine and a host of others for a conversation around the relevance of Jesus for today.

Some of the other presenters listed are John Cobb, Rita Nakashima Brock and John Shelby Spong. Many of these authors, theologians and teachers do not believe in the most bedrock belief of the Christian faith, the deity of Christ.

Matthew Fox and Spong are two infamous examples but there are others. Marcus Borg has stated that he sees Jesus from a panentheistic view. That is the view that humanity is a part of God although God is more than humanity. Using this view he sees Jesus as a person who is so empty that he could be filled with the Spirit. “Thus I see Jesus as the embodiment and incarnation of the God who is everywhere present. But he is not a visitor from else where, sent to the world by a god ‘out there.’”[2] Borg does not accept any of the statements Jesus makes about himself such as “I am the Light of the world” as being authentic.

Stephen Patterson, professor at Eden Theological Seminary, and another contributor for the videos, in his book, The God of Jesus: the historical Jesus and the Search for Meaning, misrepresents the biblical view of the Incarnation, suggesting that it was easy for ancient peoples to believe that a god mated with a human.[3] And he goes on to write that the meaning the early disciples found was simply in the words and actions of Christ, not in his miracles, death or resurrection. Patterson writes:

But many still believe that Jesus was essentially divine, accepting this as an article of faith, even though the mythic framework within which such belief might have made sense has longed passed away from our cultural consciousness. It remains as the text of a placard, a rallying cry. But it is a claim without meaningful content in the modern world. It is perhaps the centerpiece of a modern Christianity that has been drained of most of its content and meaning.[4]

Another contributor, Brock, under the subtitle, “Beyond Jesus as the Christ,” in her book, Journeys by Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power, concerned with what she calls erotic power posits Christ not in the person Jesus but in a community. She writes:

In that sense, Christ is what I am calling Christa/Community. Jesus participates centrally in this Christa/Community, but he neither brings erotic power into being nor controls it. … Hence Christa/Community is described in the images of events in which erotic power is made manifest. The reality of erotic power within connectedness means it cannot be located in a single individual. Hence what is truly Christological, that is, truly revealing of divine incarnation and salvific power in human life, must reside in connectedness and not in single individuals.[5]

Very few of those on the contributors list accept the biblical view of atonement. Brock along with author Rebecca Ann Parker, a Methodist minister in fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, and another contributor, wrote the book Proverbs of Ashes which considers the biblical view of atonement to be child abuse and the cause of abuse against women. Their book Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of this World for Crucifixion and Empire is a convoluted text attempting to prove that the idea of the cross as important to Christianity is an extremely late innovation.

The text is also occultic in its worldview. Chapter seven begins, “Throughout their lives, Christians were instructed to be the earthly manifestations of God. Like their forerunner and model, they were to become fully human and fully divine.” (6)

One could keep probing and quoting the relentless destruction of such basic Christian beliefs, including the bodily resurrection of Jesus—but this is enough to insist that the entity ‘Presbyterian Leadership’ is failing to uphold and defend the faith. It is an official Presbyterian organization promoting material that will lead astray and hurt those who belong to Jesus Christ. The scripture gives very clear warnings about such teaching. Jesus is very clear:

“I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:9-10)

And Paul, faithful to his Lord, thinking of his people and undoubtedly looking prophetically down the long corridors of history states:

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.” (Acts 20:28-30)

This is perverse and the evil one who has ever opposed Jesus Christ and his redemptive, life, death and resurrection, surely intends it as one of his means of stealing, killing and destroying.

David Maxwell, who is “the executive editor for Geneva Press, WJK Press, The Thoughtful Christian, and The Presbyterian Leader,” needs to address the apostate teaching that is being offered through the Saving Jesus curriculum. Hopefully no official organization or leader in the PC (U.S.A.) will allow themselves to become complicit in harming the little ones of Christ’s kingdom.

[1]This is from the web site of Presbyterian Leadership, “The Mission of The Presbyterian Leader.com The Presbyterian Leader.com is a comprehensive selection of inspiring resources that provides the information necessary to support new and existing congregational leaders as they prepare meaningful worship experiences, learn about practical and spiritual aspects of leadership in the church, and forge a deeper understanding of basic Presbyterian beliefs and doctrines.
The Presbyterian Leader.com is maintained by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, the publishing house of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)."

[2]Marcus J. Borg & N.T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus, paperback edition, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco 2000) 147-48.

[3]Please note that both Borg and Patterson present a caricature of real biblical Christology.

[4]Stephen J. Patterson, The God of Jesus: The Historical Jesus & the Search for Meaning, ((Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International 1998) 53.

[5]Rita Nakashima Brock, Journeys by Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power, (New York: Crossroad 2000) 52.

[6]Rebecca Ann Parker & Rita Nakashima Brock, Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of this World for Crucifixion and Empire, (Boston: Beacon Press 2008) 169.

The Covenant Network & Jeroboam's Baals

The Covenant Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as well as several other progressive entities, have attempted in many ways to keep those who are orthodox from flourishing in the midst of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). I wrote in November of 2011 about how the CN had new guidelines in which they suggest that new candidates for teaching elder should be disqualified if they cannot for conscience sake ordain someone who participates in same gender sex.[1]

Now, with the article, “Union Presbytery?,” written by Doug Nave, who also wrote the guidelines, and is a member of the CN’s Board of Directors, the CN is attempting to help some progressives prevent the Presbytery of Santa Barbara from becoming a union presbytery with a presbytery within ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. The progressives in the presbytery have filed a complaint with the Synod of Southern California.

Nave who will be the counsel for those who filed the complaint is suggesting in his article that ECO is not recognized as a denomination and has “no existing congregations,” which is untrue. But what I really want to address in this posting is the orthodox’s concern that there will soon be no place for them in the PC (U.S.A.) as both the guidelines and the complaint make clear. There is scripture that tells of just such a situation in ancient Judah and Israel. In fact it happened almost immediately after the tribes split apart.

In 2 Chronicles 11, Jeroboam in a measure meant to secure his position as king of Israel instituted a false religious system. He made golden calves and satyrs for worship which would have constituted worship combined with sexual perversion. He also made sure that none of the Levites were allowed to lead worship, and instead choose his own priests rather than the ones chosen by the Lord. But the Levites stayed faithful:

For the Levites left their pasture lands and their property and came to Judah and Jerusalem for Jeroboam had excluded them from serving as priests to the Lord. (2 Chronicles 11:14)

And amazingly the faithful among the people followed them:

Those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers.

Judah would also waver back and forth between the true God and idols, but because of the people and priests who fled Israel for Judah the scripture states that Judah was strengthened for three years. And strengthened in a righteous way. This is just a small incident in the history of the tribes of Israel but it is a very clear picture. When those who are disobedient to scripture make it impossible to remain, when they push out the ones who hold to the authority of scripture, the Lord has good pastures elsewhere. And those who are faithful will always strengthen each other in the Lord.

But there is something more: The Levites who went to Jerusalem to perform faithful worship, and the people who followed demonstrate true unity and that kind of faithful unity continues on in the New Testament. As Martin J. Selman in the Tyndale Commentary points out, “…the phrase set their hearts at seeking the Lord (v. 16) underlines the inward aspect of biblical religion. ‘The true kingdom is a gathered community (Ackroyd) of those whose way of life is to seek God, that is they continually seek his will for their lives (cf. e.g. 1 Ch. 13: 3; 28:9; 2 Ch. 7:14; 15:4, 15). Such an attitude derives from a heart set towards God.”

The gathered community of the New Testament is not restricted to a place and the “sacrificial gift is altered.” Selman points to the kind of sacrifice the Christian lifts to the Lord in his references to Phil. 4:18; and Heb. 13:15-16. He adds “acceptable Christian worship continues to include a physical as well as a spiritual dimension (cf. Rom. 12:1)” I would add Romans 12:2. This is true unity both as it is expressed in the O.T and the New.

The Covenant Network may push and pull trying try to disallow any kind of help to those who wish to live faithfully in obedience to scripture and the Lord, but God is utterly faithful to his people. A union presbytery would strengthen ministry and mission. It would be the cause of joyous worship. But God’s will be done and may many be faithful to their Lord.

[1]See The Covenant Network: disqualifying orthodox candidates

A Ward & a Wyrm-biblical themes nestled in a northern tale

A Review of:

The Ward of Heaven and The Wyrm in the Sea by Colin J. Cutler

Eden Books 2012 79 pages



Have you ever wondered what the biblical stories of beginnings and endings would sound like if they came covered or nestled into the imagery and words of Norse sagas? A new writer who loves, as J.R.R. Tolkien did, the ancient northern myths and legends has written a small book which does just that—The Ward of Heaven and the Wyrm in the Sea , written by Colin J. Cutler, begins with a sea storm, a mystified and scared young sailor and an ancient man of wisdom who speaks the tales. The tales begin with the Father of All who speaks into existence a hall, Mortaigh, with a hearth and a board for feasting.

From this place comes a great fall of one of the spirits created from the flame in the hearth. And a battle ensues within the hall with finally the spirit, Vrigthar, and his fellow rebels defeated. Vrigthar becomes at the touch of the Father of All’s hand “a foul wyrm writhing on the floor-boards, spewing filth out of his toothed jaws.” Next a terrestrial ball and universe are created within and from a goblet, waters and the skins of the slain and Vrigthar is chained to a great tree in the new land. Urventhil, Son of the Father of All will continue the battle began in the great hall.

From all of this one can see this is mythic telling and the truth is in the symbols not in their exact rendering. One could, I believe, wish for a clearer rendering of the eternality of the Son and Holy Spirit, but their characteristics are just right. Of the Holy Spirit, Cutler writes:

With the Father’s breath are my fiery feathers lit;

I spring from the whispers of the Son,

And in the Father’s ear wise counsel whisper:

Light and Life bear I, and loose from Death and Darkness.

The redemptive quality of the story is beautiful. Although there are warriors the battle is completed by Urventhil. The start in a boat, where Urventhil has his feet tied to the sail’s cross-beam, is ended in the sea and darkness leaving all to wonder at the outcome:

Urventhil’s oarsmen cowered by the steering oar, and aided him not. As the sun was setting, one of these, afraid for their lives, grasped his oar and gave a great stroke which pulled the ship stem-wards as Vrigthar was striking. Vrigthar missed Urventhil’s body, and struck instead at the cross-beam whereon Urventhil’s feet were tied. This he shattered and he slashed with his teeth the rope binding Urventhil’s feet, and bit off two of Urventhil’s toes, which fell into the boat. Urventhil fell into the water, grasping the broken sail-beam. Vrigthar also plunged beneath the waves. Darkness and rain fell upon the brothers, who sat sorrowful in the boat. (65)

Cutler does not give a scriptural reference to this section as he does for other chapters under “Quotations and Adaptations,” but  with Urventhil’s praise song after his sea battle, Cutler beautifully uses Jesus’ reference to Jonah. And remember in the sea Jonah prays using a psalm. So Urventhil’s praise, “Three days and nights was I dragged through the deep, the rotten weeds were wrapped about my head.” But it is Urventhil, the Son who “smote the serpent, the sea wyrm.” And he “harrowed” hell’s fields for a “goodly harvest.”

This is a beautifully told tale embodying the goodness of the gospel. Cutler is a poet, and a Presbyterian, who hopefully, will in the future, give readers many delightful and serious stories uplifting the redemptive themes of scripture.

The conversion of a gang member, and a Muslim

After writing about the Cross and the Switchblade, for the weekend, this is the story of a young man who was raised in a strict Muslim family but after moving to Canada became part of the gang and drug culture in Vancouver. He was converted to Christ and became a solution to the gang problem in that city. Its not long, and is full of the moving of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual and a whole city.

White supremacists & orthodox Christians

Several days ago I read a blog post by Carl Trueman at Reformation 21. The article, “Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name,” contained a paragraph that took my breath away it was so relevant to all that I had been reading and even thinking. It was one of those thoughts you don't allow yourself to say until someone else says it.  But I began to have some reservations as I thought more deeply about Trueman’s words, so I want to write about it. First, the paragraph:

Two things came to mind: the beautiful young things of the reformed renaissance have a hard choice to make in the next decade. You really do kid only yourselves if you think you can be an orthodox Christian and be at the same time cool enough and hip enough to cut it in the wider world. Frankly, in a couple of years it will not matter how much urban ink you sport, how much fair trade coffee you drink, how many craft brews you can name, how much urban gibberish you spout, how many art house movies you can find that redeemer figure in, and how much money you divert from gospel preaching to social justice: maintaining biblical sexual ethics will be the equivalent in our culture of being a white supremacist.

So, yes, it seems that way-‘maintaining biblical sexual ethics will be the equivalent in our culture of being white supremacists,’ but two things change this picture. (1) God’s power and grace (2) the real differences between orthodox Christians and white supremacists.

The grace of God given through Jesus Christ is the transforming factor in this picture. We have been surprised in many centuries, including this one, to find that the Creator of the universe stepped into our messes and for the sake of his Church, for the sake even of an individual believer, began to transform individuals, churches and even nations. That is the work of the Holy Spirit who comes not to bless our mistaken ethical visions of utopia but to illuminate God’s word and turn our hearts toward the Lord of the church.

I remember years ago reading David Wilkerson’s book The Cross and the Switchblade about his ministry to gang members in the sixties. In the book he tells of visiting his grandfather to talk about his new ministry and how his grandfather told him not to be surprised when the young men he was working with changed; it would be like a snake shedding his skin. First he talked about what Wilkerson would face, and then about the real renewal:

...wait until you meet more of these boys before you start having visions. They’ll be full of hate and sin, worse than you’ve ever heard of. They’re just boys, but they know what murder is, and rape and sodomy. How are you going to handle such things when you meet them?

Wilkerson’s grandfather reminded him of what the good news truly was. “The heart of the Gospel is change. It is transformation. It is being born again to new life.” And then he told a story.

Sometime ago I was taking a walk through the hills when I came across an enormous snake. He was a big one Davie, three inches thick and four feet long, and he just lay there in the sun looking scary. I was afraid of this thing and I didn’t move for a long time, and lo and behold, while I was watching I saw a miracle. I saw a new birth, I saw that old snake shed its skin and leave it lying there in the sun and go off a new and really beautiful creature.

When you start your work in the city, boy, don’t you be like I was, petrified by the outward appearance of your boys. God isn’t. He’s just waiting for each one of them to crawl right out of that old sin shell and leave it behind. He’s waiting and yearning for the new man to come out.

The Christians who today find themselves in the midst of an angry resentful society need to remember God is there and greater then any hindrance. His purposes are all wrapped up in Christ—the future may be full of transformation for many broken hurting people. It is certain it will be full of God’s love and comfort.

About the second thing, the differences between the orthodox and the white supremacist, which in fact, reading the two together, looks silly, but should be addressed because the name bigot, and racist has already been stated. The names have already been called. I have written many times about racist groups—one of my articles has even shown up on Storm Front's forum page as someone tried unsuccessfully to turn the conversation the right way. I know the difference very well. We all do!

The racist does not love, does not want Christ to change anyone—does not believe in change but only in endless hate. And here is the difference: love. Love for the sinner, love for the saint. My pastor every Sunday morning greets the congregation with the words, “Good morning saints.” After we say “Good morning,” he once again greets us with “Good morning sinners.” And we all greet him back with “Good morning.” The difference is the love of Christ; he takes sinners and makes them saints. We wear the righteousness of Christ—it covers our sin, and with its covering we begin to change—a change that will not be finished until the coming of Christ.

The world may hate those who belong to Christ but generally they know the difference between the redeemed and the unredeemed—between the orthodox and the white supremacist.

Like Paul we must live to make that difference known no matter the out come:

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. (2 Cor. 2:14-16a.)”

Picture by Penny Juncker