Andy Szymas Part Deux (Not for the Weak Stomached....)

Andy here; thanks for tuning in again… Today is the second part of a series that is all about taking Jesus out of the Box. Without further ado, let’s see what other boxes we can rescue Him from…

Jesus is my Hostage: Some people don’t view Jesus as someone that they serve, but as someone that should serve them. Jesus seems to be in their life simply to inform their political views or beliefs. The Bible isn’t a truth to live to; it’s a weapon to divide with. Verses are ripped screaming from their context and used as a bludgeon over those who aren’t as adept at memorizing scripture.

The most frustrating part about this box is that it isn’t a box that affects the “boxer” as much as the “boxee.” It’s a struggle to wake anyone up from this, and ultimately, we have to balance love and challenge to the people who have put Jesus in this box.

Before we can even do that to others, we also must remove the planks in our own eyes. Think back to your life and when you get most frustrated and want to “prove your point.” What scriptures come to your head? Do you see where they fit in the whole of the Bible, or do you only remember the sentence/phrase that proves your point? If you feel yourself in this trap, I recommend spending some time forcing yourself to listen and not immediately respond to whatever “threat” is in front of you.

Jesus is my Stock Broker: Don’t you know that Jesus gives all the investment tips you need in the Bible? If you’re poor now, that’s because you aren’t serving God properly. God wants nothing to do with the poor – he’s given them all the tools they need to pull themselves out.

Of course that’s absurd, but it’s frightening how often we can use Jesus to promote capitalism. We take verses in the Bible where Jesus says that a worker deserves his wages but ignore Matthew 20, which flies in the face of conventional capitalism. In this parable, the worker does not pay for the amount of work done, but pays everyone equally. What economic system does that sound like? Hint hint… it’s not capitalism.

And that’s not to say that Jesus is promoting communism or socialism. I’m trying to point out that when we prop Jesus up to serve a specific economic model, we lose sight of the idea that all money belongs to Jesus, and that he doesn’t hoard it… So neither should we.

 

Jesus is my Uncle Sam: Jesus invented America and makes an exception to his platform of love for those dirty commies and people not fortunate enough to be a full blooded American. That’s why when you look at a picture of Jesus on the cross, you see red (Jesus’ blood), white (Jesus’ skin), and blue (Jesus’ eyes). That’s red, white, and blue baby…

This is pretty absurd on all levels, and we can tackle it without using the Bible. Pretty much have to, actually, since the Bible says nothing (directly) about America. The U.S.A. is a wonderful country to live in and provides us with many rich blessings that no one else in history is provided. However, this country was founded primarily on the works of John Locke, not on Jesus Christ.

More sobering than the foundation is what America is now. Still a great country, but we have to realize that if Jesus were to come today, we would probably look a lot more like the villainous Roman empire of the New Testament rather than the heroes of the story. I’ll leave you with this quote from Rob Bell’s “Jesus Wants to Save Christians:”

“Most of the Bible is a history told by people living in lands occupied by conquering superpowers. It is a book written from the underside of power. It’s an oppression narrative. The majority of the Bible was written by a minority people living under the rule and reign of massive, mighty empires, from the Egyptian Empire to the Babylonian Empire to the Persian Empire to the Assyrian Empire to the Roman Empire. This can make the Bible a very difficult book to understand if you are reading it as a citizen of the most powerful empire the world has ever seen.”

Andy is a freelance thinker, writer, and giver-of-opinions. Read more of his work at: http://andyszymas.blogspot.com

 

Guest Stars

(The following is the beginning of many posts that will be contributed to my blog by others.  The first contribution is from my brother-in-law Andy Szymas.  Think of him as an evil version of me.  Andy can speak for himself, so without further ado....)

Hello – I’m not Jason. I’m Andy, and Jason is my brother-in-law. Jason asked me to contribute a few posts here and there to this blog, so here I am! I won’t go into a tremendous introduction here – if you would like more understanding of my context and the way I approach life (including scripture) you can visit my blog at Thoughts On Life. I figured a good place to start would be with the title of this blog – Taking Jesus out of the Box. But to do that, we have to figure out what box we put him in.

Jesus is my CEO: A CEO’s job is to maximize profits, and to be honest, Jesus does not exist to maximize much of anything really. Jesus isn’t particularly concerned with getting the most followers – See Mark 10 for at least one example of someone that Jesus “let get away.” Jesus seems to speak in a deliberately confusing way in order to drive at least a few people away. Jesus never shows interest in money or political power for himself or for his “organization.” All in all, Jesus would be fired as a CEO in today’s business world.

To get Jesus out of this box, we have to stop allowing the world to set our goals and metrics. Success in the eyes of Jesus is not measured by how efficiently we can send out church invitations; it is not found in the number of seats used on Sunday morning; and it can’t be found in counting our tithes. Success, in the eyes of Jesus, is found in glorification of His name.

Jesus is my Santa Claus: This seems to be the idea in some churches which preach a prosperity gospel – that Jesus exists to bring gifts (hopefully more than once a year!) But only if you’re nice and not naughty.  Actually, Jesus doesn’t always give much in the way of traditional gifts or wealth, does he? His best friend is called from a life as a poor fisherman to a life as a … poor preacher who is crucified upside down. That’s a great gift, isn’t it?

We must begin to realize that Jesus doesn’t exist to bring us gifts – we exist to bring Him gifts. Jesus isn’t around to make sure that we have summer homes and nice cars and no cancer. We may end up with those things through God’s blessing, but we aren’t to use those for only our enjoyment. In fact, the only reason that Jesus gives us anything is for us to give to others – look at the story of Abraham, who is blessed “in order to be a blessing to all nations.” So to remove Jesus from this box, we have to stop thinking of my stuff and start thinking of Jesus’ stuff.

Jesus is my Superman: Superman swoops down and saves the day at the last minute, against all odds. Superman is known as the Big Blue Boy Scout – he rescues people again and again, even if they’re evil and suffering the consequence of their own mistake. But Jesus seems to be more willing to let people make their choices and take the consequences – Jesus gives Judas some three years to see his ministry, but never seems to take the temptation away or rescue Judas. He lets Judas make his choice and grieves Judas’ decision.

Jesus is in this particular box because of the choices we make that put us in situations that need rescue. In order for us to remove Jesus from this box, we need to remove the need for a box – we must stop putting ourselves in situations where we need a Superman. Rather than expecting Jesus to rescue us from crippling debt, we need to make decisions that don’t put us there. Instead of expecting Jesus to pull us out of crushing materialism, we need to start giving in small ways. You get the point.


I’ll return in a couple of days with a few more “boxes” that we put Jesus in… In the meantime, if you have questions/comments/concerns/ideas, let me know and comment! 
Andy is a freelance thinker, writer, and giver-of-opinions. Read more of his work at: http://andyszymas.blogspot.com

Interesting Blog Post on the Wesleyan Quadrilateral at JesusCreed

Read Scot McKnight's take on the Wesleyan Quadrilateral here: http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2010/07/the-wesleyan-quadrilateral-ste.html

I think this is a well written post (as usual with McKnight's work), but I also think it is reflective of McKnight's upbringing and his own scriptural interpretation (obviously my post has it's own bias).  I do think that Wesley gave scripture priority, but given the time in which Wesley lived and taught, I wouldn't expect otherwise.  I would however, apply the quadrilateral maybe a bit differently today.  McKnight suggests that we should give scripture priority in the equation and the illustration shown in his post shows scripture, indeed, as the foundation of the quadrilateral.  I hope that one day we can get past these "word games" and realize that scripture is a vital component, but is no more or less valuable than the other components.
To explain myself, I would even echo some of the points McKnight makes himself as he talks about the ways tradition, reason, and experience enhance and work with scripture.  When we throw out tradition, we are basically insulting conclusions and affirmations made over centuries.  This doesn't mean that tradition isn't adapting or being reformed, but without tradition we lose respect for some of the distinctly common aspects to our faith.
Reason and experience are similar, and NT Wright (being an Anglican priest) asserts that experience is an unnecessary leg in the quadrilateral.  With my own "experience" in mind, I couldn't disagree more.  Reason allows us to translate scripture individually and communally with our experiences fueling what is reasonable (not without scripture and tradition in hand, though).
You can see how difficult it is to talk about one without the other three.  We can't possibly interpret scripture properly on our own.  We all have been brought up with a particular approach to the Bible and have reacted to that approach one way or another.  Ironically, the title of my blog is "Taking Jesus Out of the Box," and one of the most frustrating things I've seen is when people practice their faith in a way that chains God, and Christ, to the Bible.  Aren't we engaging the LIVING GOD today?  Are our lives any less important to God than the lives of the saints in the Bible?
I agree with most of what Mr. McKnight had to say, and I bet I'm reading too much into semantics when I challenge the sola scriptura approach as well as others who challenge that approach and yet still seem bullied into deferring to scripture as the primary understanding of God independent of our own lives.  I don't think that's what McKnight is doing, per say, but just the fact that he took the time to mention that scripture is the primary component of the quadrilateral speaks volumes.
To conclude, let me just say that we sometimes forget what we're reading and where it comes from.  In some cases we don't even know where exactly it came from but make an educated guess or conclusion with what we do know.  To me, the Bible is an interpretation of an interpretation of an oral tradition put into writing, and in some cases it is an interpretation of an account of events (interpretation in regard to language).  It is a central component of my own faith, but I always approach it with a bit of humility because to me it is impossible to look at the Bible as a prescription for all of life's events as well as a collection of scientific conclusions.  When people look to the Bible as the end all be all, they give it priority over God and lose the God given ability to think for themselves in some situations.  We need more room for discussion and respect for differences in the church in regard to scripture.  We have more common beliefs with each other as Christians than we do differences, and humanity as a whole has more in common than it has differences.  Let's give scripture it's proper place with the realization that God works outside of scripture as well as outside of the limitations tradition, reason and experience have on their own.

God bless,

Jason   

Rethinking Sin and Holiness (Part Two: Holiness)

Defining Holiness

Ho´ly

a.	1.	Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood.
	2.	Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God.

Ho´li`ness

n.	1.	The state or quality of being holy; perfect moral integrity or purity; freedom from sin; sanctity; innocence. Who is like thee, glorious in holiness! - Ex. xv. 11.
	2.	The state of being hallowed, or consecrated to God or to his worship; sacredness. Israel was holiness unto the Lord. - Jer.ii.3.

The above definitions are from Webster's online dictionary, and on top of that, in the NIV Bible there are 532 verses that have the words holy and holiness in them.  I would say that the concept of holiness is pretty important in our journeys, especially as Christians.  Sadly, I think certain interpretations of holiness often lead Christians to a way of living that can limit our availability/accessibility to others.
The most dangerous way in which we define holiness, or being holy, is when we interpret it as the freedom or absence of sin, especially in reference to the lives we live on this earth.  If you believe as I do (and as what was covered in my last post on sin) that we live in continual sin and need to be continually in repentance, then it is impossible to see yourself as without sin or in in a state of having no sin.  When we look at ourselves as being holy, we can cause permanent damage in our future relationships with others.  Perhaps of more concern, when we see ourselves as holy beings we often give ourselves power and control over realities in which we have little knowledge and absolutely no control over.  Instead of letting go and letting God work within us, we try to force (most often unintentionally) God into others.  The results of this kind of approach have been catastrophic in my experience.  With that said, it might be a good idea to look at other ways to view holiness.
The last thing I want anyone to do after reading the first couple paragraphs is to lose hope or to wonder, "why bother."  The mistake is not an intentional one in how we apply holiness, and I believe it can be somewhat remedied if we plug a little humility into the concept.  There are two definitions that I like from Webster's: 

Holy- set apart to the service or worship of God
Holiness- the state of being hallowed, or consecrated to God or to his worship

If we set a standard for ourselves of being without sin, we will fail every time.  It is not a matter of what people find out or how good we are at hiding it, even if no one (including ourselves) knows, we can never live up to this standard.  It is akin to listing sins in that we focus too often on not sinning, and in doing so, we either don't live up to the list we've made, or worse, we commit sins that aren't on the list which we may not consider to be important or that we are ignorant to.
The beautiful thing about the definitions above is that it opens up a whole new way to look at scripture and holiness.  The point is that we don't need to be sinless to be set apart in service or worship to God!  In fact, I believe he prefers it if we come as we are and don't try to pretend that we are better than anyone else.  This way of looking at holiness also brings scripture to our level, as intended by the writers of the gospels and Paul.  Maybe Jesus didn't die to free us from our sins in this life, but instead died so we could have a more intimate and personal relationship with God and with others.  Another way to phrase this is to recognize that Jesus died so the sins we continually commit won't be the death of us, but rather his death made the process of confession simpler through means of a more intimate relationship with God.  (Feel free to ask questions in the comments or through email/facebook if you have trouble grasping what I'm trying to say or if you want to explore the topic further.)


Application

To me this is the most exciting opportunity in writing on sin and holiness.  Imagine what we can do when we stop trying to be God, and instead take an honest approach to imitating the example of Christ.  It's amazing what God can open us up to when we stop worrying about what other people are doing and why we should set ourselves apart from them.  It's incredible what can happen when the church stops trying to be perfect and infallible, and this isn't just limited to Catholics.  Churches have been their own worst enemies because of this approach.
Jesus didn't come to save the religious institution which was hell bent on dictating others' lives.  He ate with "sinners" and healed these on the margins of society, people who had been been viewed as "unclean" or "unworthy" to be in relationship with him.  And yet today it is ironic how often we see churches doing their best to dictate others lives as well as being intentional in steering clear of ministry to specific groups of people.
We are more concerned with not becoming like sinners that we cut ourselves off from being in communion and fellowship with the very people we're called to.
You might honestly ask yourselves who Christians are called to.  It might be better if we ask ourselves:  Who didn't Jesus die for?  Make a list of all the people you feel are unworthy of Christ's love and I would argue those are the people you should be most worried about serving/being in fellowship with.  There is NO ONE ALIVE who is not invited by Christ to be in relationship with God.  It is a tragedy that we don't often take that approach, and even as I write this, I have failed many times at reflecting this outlook myself.
In conclusion, let us recognize that we are all sinners.  We need each other and we need God.  In following the example of Christ we will make many mistakes as we try to reach out to people who have been ignored for too long.  Let's stop trying to maintain an impossible state, but instead let's strive to continually be transformed and to never be satisfied with where we are.  I would rather miss the mark trying to follow Christ's example than I would trying to live a perfect life.
I hope this was helpful and thought provoking to those who have read my two part blog series.  Feel free to leave impressions in the comments.

God bless,

Jason
 
 

Books

Below are some books that I have read or am reading that I would recommend.











Feel free to buy anything I've suggested right from this website (shameless plug).  I will update what I'm reading every so often.

God bless,

Jason

Rethinking Sin and Holiness (Part One: Sin)

Intro

I think one of the biggest mistakes many Christians make today is through the misapplication of scriptural teachings on sin and holiness.  I include myself in this and do not intend to instill guilt into people who have done there best to apply scripture in following Christ.  As you who will read this will see, the point is that in striving to follow Christ we all sin;  The key is to be able to acknowledge our part in continual sin even if we don't recognize it.  Without repentance of sin, even sins of ignorance, I believe we handicap our ability to forgive and love others (especially those who many see as unworthy of love or forgiveness, aka people on the fringe).   

Diagnosing the Problem

I would be willing to bet that no matter where you go to church that sin would be acknowledged as a problem.  When contemplating what sin is, you might get tons of differing responses.  Human beings have made it there business to associate a long list of things which we should not do.  This list of "do nots" varies from person to person, church to church, denomination to denomination, etc.  In reading the gospels, it makes me wonder if we are missing the point.
I know the intent of listing sins is to simplify things, and the intention of this is to help people to achieve holiness in some cases.  But if we put aside the good intent of trying to use scripture to list sins, have we really simplified things?  Jesus is constantly redefining sin and judgment throughout his ministry in the gospels.  If we truly take his teachings to heart, we have to ask ourselves how deep the rabbit hole really is.
There are individual sins, group sins, communal sins, governmental sins, physical sins, sins of the mind, and sins of ignorance.  I've only listed types of sins and I think we can all agree it would be a waste of time spending the rest of my life trying to isolate every specific sin onto a list and then using my time trying to avoid those sins.  And yet this is how we often practice our faith.  We walk on egg shells day to day, and even worse, when someone else struggles with something in their lives we condemn them.  I want to mention that this type of behavior is not limited to a specific group of people.  I think we all struggle with this to some extent.  We are either acknowledging this behavior and trying to get better at being judgmental with the help of God and others, or we feel like because we have forgiveness for our sins and don't commit certain sins (which are worse than other sins) that we are set apart from others.  For those of you reading this who don't struggle with sin anymore, you might find this blog post of little use.
For some of us, before we can even take steps to try and "fix" our tendency to judge, we must first acknowledge that we are living in continual sin whether we know it or not.  Jesus likened thinking certain thoughts to committing physical sins.  He also calls us to self examination before we try to solve someone else's problems with sins.  If we are living in continual sin, shouldn't we be constantly examining our own roles in injustice at every level?  If we are to be judged as we judge others, shouldn't we handle our relationships with others in a respectful fashion, especially our enemies who we are called to love?  I know that I have run into problems when I mistakenly think that sin and holiness begin and end with me.  When we become absorbed in our own lives, we shut ourselves off from the beautiful opportunities God places right under our nose:  To serve and be in fellowship with others, especially people on the fringes of society.  
It's not just serving the poor, but doing our best to empower them to join in the service of others.  We can't do this if we don't recognize that we as Christians suffer from the same continual sin as others.  When we label sins, we are mostly setting a standard that no one can live up to as well as putting ourselves, as broken and imperfect beings, in a place reserved for God.  In my opinion and experience, doing so is about power and control.  Ironically, the way Jesus established these things was through service and humility.  I could be the one misreading scripture, but I don't recall Jesus ever belittling a person's right to think for themselves or make there own choices.  He definitely spoke to consequences and results of certain choices, but set an example of forgiveness, to the point that he even forgives the very people who hate him and are nailing him to the cross.  I can safely say that if someone caused me suffering like Christ suffered, forgiveness would not be at the front of my mind.  I have failed many lesser tests in life and therefore am in no position to judge others.


Redistribution for a Solution

I think that I have at least made a point for the fallacy of specifying sin and trying to achieve holiness by not sinning.  I would propose that we unlearn the way we think about sin and put our energies and time to better use.  It is far clearer, in my understanding, what we are called to than what we are called not to do.  Please recognize that what we are called to is still difficult, but it is exponentially easier than trying to avoid all sin (or even some sin; or even one sin).  Our time would be better spent trying to avoid getting wet in a downpour than it would be trying to spend our lives not sinning.  While sin is ugly, without acknowledging it we wouldn't be able to experience repentance, forgiveness and love to the fullness of what God intends.  The bottom line is that sin is a paradox which we will never fully understand, and that while we would probably prefer not to sin, God turns the negativity of our actions into the beauty of our individual and communal stories/testimonies.  Would the parable of the "Prodigal Son" be the same without the son's bad choices and struggles?
Rather than trying to shine a light on our sins, why don't we think of it as a sickness.  An epidemic that plagues all of humanity.  If Jesus invites everyone to follow him, than the only difference between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians continually repent and seek forgiveness for their sin.  I am obviously over simplifying when I type that, but how would people as a whole be different, even transformed, if they analyzed themselves instead of judging others?  What would church look like without walls of any kind?  Even scarier, what would church look like if we truly invited everyone, regardless of identity or credentials, to follow Christ in community of the church?
I would dare any church, local or greater, to invite and build relationships with anyone who would accept that invitation.  We fall into the myth of believing that we have to reach a certain status to help or serve others, especially in Western culture.  For many Christians and people in general, we invest so much time into achieving a certain level of success that we lose the ability to help others.  I myself have become so absorbed in my social status, my financial status, and my spiritual status that I am sure to have missed many opportunities to put my God given gifts to work in spite of my situation.  Even to this day I fear that I spend way too much time feeling sorry for myself.
I want to conclude by saying that I know the processes I have proposed are not easy.  I am also not trying to justify obvious wrongs by thinking of sin as an epidemic instead of a list we can avoid.  If you take anything away from this, I would say that we should redistribute our energy into what we can participate in or what we are called to rather than taking stands against certain behaviors or people.  It is impossible to know why certain people do things unless we truly walk in their shoes.  I'm not saying we would make the same decisions, but it is undeniable that environment and circumstance influence choices.  The sins of the "haves" are not any less to God than the sins of the "have nots."  Rather than isolating certain people for certain behavior and speaking against them, why don't we work together to improve others' situations so it is less tempting to resort to certain behaviors?
We are called to love God and love people above all else, so let's continue to do our best to love people as God intended.

I hope those who read this are moved and I will tackle holiness in part two.  I am open to discussion and suggestions on said topic(s).

God bless,

Jason     
 

Mountains and Valleys

It's been a long time since I updated this blog. I can assure you, the sporadic and inconsistent readers, that I have many good reasons for this. I feel bad about it nonetheless. I no longer plan to use this blog to relate to lectionary studies or analysis unless I get to a point in the future where I may wish to do so. I'm sure I'll get to the point where I am able to do what I intended with exploring different biblical/spiritual themes, but at this point there remain more pressing matters. I will still try to update more often as I have. No promises.

This post will definitely be more transparent as I will try to fill you all in on the busyness (and sometimes lack thereof) in my life. I am juggling quite a few things at the moment, although my burden has been eased a tad lately, and the first is that I am a candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church. For those of you who aren't aware of what that means, my plan is to eventually become a local pastor (simply put). I have been a candidate for over a year, but for many reasons have not made much progress. The process where it stands has been a process of continual soul searching and self analysis as well as a struggle at times.
My family and I just changed churches, and while that aspect of our lives has improved, many other things have caused much stress.
The second thing I've been juggling is my former employer and the unemployment that I'd been collecting for around a year. I won't go into too much detail here, but my former employer challenged my unemployment and I recently lost the case and have been ordered to pay it all back. My advocate has appealed to the State Board on my behalf but this situation has caused my family and me much stress.
Thirdly, a friend introduced me to the possibility of selling life and health insurance through a network. I have been studying for the last three weeks or so. I failed the licensing exam the first time I took it but just passed the exam last Thursday. I'm hoping this will provide my family with good income and provide some stability for us.
Now you know why I haven't been posting so much. I have a tendency to get down even though I believe a positive attitude is a key factor in dealing with adversity. I can honestly say that that is a principle easier said than practiced. I have struggled with follow through my whole life. I am getting better at it though and passing my licensing exam was a huge relief. I actually started to re-prioritize my life not too long ago following an e-mail my Grandma sent me which focused on not getting down and maintaining a positive outlook.

I promise this blog won't always be about me, but I just wanted to let those that may have been reading a reason why there's been a dry spell. I'll try not to go that long without posting again.

God bless,

Jason