Ok, so I have to hand it to Heath K. who sent me this link to an ABC.com video about a guy in Houston, TX who thinks he's Jesus. Normally I ignore guys like this, but I found this one to be particularly amusing.

Click the link above or the picture to the right to launch this short 3-4 minute video in a new window. I guarantee you that you won't be disappointed. This guy is some kind of sweet.

Be sure to post your thoughts on Jose after the break.

P.S. Yes, that is a "666" badge he is wearing in the screenshot above...

Over the past several months my family has been experiencing a crisis. While it is not in the interest of this post to identify what exactly the crisis is or who is involved, I will say that the crisis that is taking place is due to the actions of one single person. This person is quite possibly the single most selfish person I have ever personally known. He has caused me to really stop and think about some very important issues. As Jesus admonished us to identify the planks in our own eyes before pointing out the specks in each other's eyes, this situation has really caused me to think introspectively and evaluate some very personal issues.

In any case, I wanted to take a moment and share with you a few observations I have made concerning the issue of sin. As I witness a man whose heart is collapsing in on itself like a dying star, I have had the sickening experience of witnessing firsthand what unconstrained sin in a human life can -- and will -- produce.

Below are some of my observations:

• Sin is undeniably relational. No one sins in a vacuum. To think that someone can sin without it ever affecting someone else is insanity. Sin rips at the very fabric of our personhood, which, as all my astute Trinitarian readers will already know, is based on relationships of self-giving love. Sin is exactly the opposite of that. It is de-personalizing and de-humanizing. It not only affects the one committing, but the one receiving (and in this particular case, my entire family). Everybody suffers from the actions of one.


• Sin is, at its root, a condition. Yes, people commit "acts" of sin. Someone lies, another person steals, etc. But these actions come from an inner disposition of the heart. While on the surface it may not appear so, the actions of the individual in question are not some random acts that just came up out of nowhere. They are the outward manifestations or "fruits" of a deep, inner condition that has not been dealt with. Sinful actions do not simply materialize out of nothingness. They spring from a crooked and broken heart that is depraved because it is deprived.


• Broken fellowship produces sin FIRST, then sin produces broken fellowship. Usually the formula is as follows: Man sins, THEN his relationship with God is broken. But I think we have it all backwards. Once we break fellowship with God (thus depriving ourselves of his life-giving, life-sustaining presence), we leave ourselves open to all sorts of depravity. He alone is good, therefore He is the Source of all goodness. The person I have been mentioning broke fellowship with God a long time ago, and as a result has severed ties with the only Source of holiness. The result of this is what you now see. He is "Exhibit A" of a heart bent inward upon itself, the gravity of which destructively sucks in everyone and everything with which he comes into contact. The black hole of this man's heart feeds mercilessly on the lives of others with an insatiable appetite for more. This, in turn, leads to the breaking of fellowship with others. Keep this formula straight in your head: Broken fellowship with God results in a deprivation that leads to depravity that bears the fruit of sinful acts that destroy our relationships with others.
  


• Sin makes us crazy. I cannot even believe the delusions of grandeur of this person in my family. He is so whacked out of his own mind. The sin in his heart has absolutely blinded him to all things good and pure and wholesome in his life. He has a singular selfishness that acts as an impenetrable veil that prohibits his vision to see anything other than himself. The one who cuts himself from the Source of goodness simultaneously cuts himself off from the Source of truth. Without the Spirit of Truth we cannot discern right from wrong or good from evil.


• Sadly, my observations that have caused introspection have shown me that I am capable of anything. The self-centerdness of this individual is not some rare, unusual condition. It's not an endangered species of sin. It is simply a distilled example of what sin is. It is the same thing I experience in me when I find myself acting selfish in my own marriage, only to a greater degree. It is sin unblemished. It is not another kind of sin. It is sin in its purest form or expression. I'm not talking about actions. I am talking about a disposition/condition that produces actions. What I am seeing in this man is precisely what I myself would be were it not for grace. I am 100% capable of what this man is and what he is doing, that is because apart from grace I am capable of anything.


• This leads me to my final point: God's grace is sufficient. The true beauty of the gospel is that Jesus, the perfect divine-human person, has fully entered into the human condition, but he did so without sin. He "divinized" humanity, perfected it, recapitulated it into what it was supposed to be. We, in turn, can share in that, and through him in his Spirit become what he is - real human persons who partake of the divine nature of holy love. God's salvation is not simply being saved from the penalty of sin (i.e. death) but saved from the condition of it (i.e. a heart centered on itself). He saves us from sin to holiness, and He does it here and now. It is a very present salvation. Oh the joy that fills my heart when I realize that the deepest problems that trouble my soul don't have to wait until glory for a cure! He can save right now. He is the only hope we will ever have of not becoming a dehumanizing, depersonalizing, selfish, destructive time bomb in this world.

I have many other thoughts and observations concerning this issue, but I want to hear from you. What are your thoughts? What are your observations? What do you think?

Labels: theology

This in from the AP:

An Episcopal minister will stop performing all wedding ceremonies to protest the denomination's prohibition of same-sex unions.

"We are called to join the fast that our homosexual brothers and sisters in Christ have had to observe all their lives," said the Rev. Robert Hirschfeld, rector of Grace Episcopal Church.

Clearly the Episcopal church has gotten itself into a mess over this issue. It will be interesting to see what comes of this in America. I think in the meantime people like this guy should be removed from their position of authority. He's clearly out of line like so many other ministers in his denomination.

I don't hate homosexuals. I am not "homophobic" - whatever that's supposed to mean. But I do believe that homosexuality is morally reprehensible, unhealthy, destructive, depersonalizing, and an abomination to God. I don't think homosexuals are necessarily "worse" sinners than liars or thieves, but I do believe that homosexuality smacks right at the heart of what it means to be human and to be created in the image of God, therefore to me it has inherent significance.

I believe that this minister should be removed from his church. What do you think?

What is worship?

Now that is an interesting question. I do not doubt that after reading the word "worship" the first thing you thought of was singing in church. Am I right? It's ok, that's to be expected. After all, in America we have taken the concept of worship and stripped it of almost all its substance and then attached all sorts of baggage, and in the process have redefined and shaped it into something that images our own personal feelings, wishes, and desires. But worship, in its purest sense, isn't necessarily about singing and all of that stuff. It is above all a participation in the very life and being of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see, shared within the Trinity is something like worship, a mutuality of porous and permeable persons who adore one another - who are in essence nothing more or less than self-giving love. And this God, through His gracious provision in Jesus Christ, the God-man, has entered into the human situation so that through him and in his Spirit we may enter into and participate in His very worshipful being.

Now that sounds awfully abstract, I know. Perhaps that's because we don't want to talk about God's being; we are solely concerned with His function, i.e. what He can do for me. I apologize if that sounds like a trite, stereotyped suggestion, but it is true nonetheless. The irony of our time is that we openly confess that "it's not about me" and then arrange our lives, relationships, ministry, and worship as though it is. So worship becomes my own efforts to do something for God. I sing to Him. I pray to Him. I cry because of how He makes me feel. And somewhere in the midst of all the "I's" and "me's" we snuff the very life of God in us out like a dimming candle.

I want to posit an alternative. Yes, let's dialogue about worship style. Let's discuss drums and organs and podiums and multimedia projectors. But before we do, let's just SHUT UP. Before a single word is spoken, before a single note is sung, before a single prayer is offered, let's be still and acknowledge that worship is not something that we come to God to DO to or for Him. Instead, let's acknowledge that worship is something that God does within Himself, and through the Son in the Spirit draws us into. God's speaks, acts, and works first. We can only respond. Only in the silence of responsive self-givingness will we ever hear the melodious call of the Triune chorus beckoning us home in Him.

Take the following hymn as an example. It comes from The Divine Liturgy of Saint James (4th century). Notice how the hymn begins with a call to silence, then after proclaiming who God is and who He has revealed Himself to be in what He has done ends in glorious praise and worship:
This Lent, I offer to you this suggestion. Before you read your Bible or pray during your quiet time; before you go to church on Sunday and participate in the service; before you dare to sing a song or play an instrument or preach a sermon, do this: Be still. Don't say anything, don't do anything. Stop swinging your arms, crying, clapping your hands, and all the rest for just a moment and be still. In the stillness, acknowledge in your mind and in your heart that it is God who descends to us in order to take us up in ascension with Him. Your words and your songs and your very life will thus become a sacramental expression of your participation in the doxological Triunity of God.

Where do science and theology converge?

The typical answer is that they converge in Genesis chapter 1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” To the modern Western mind this makes perfect sense. We like linear logic, therefore when we talk about science or theology (often times either confusing the two or treating them as the same) we want to go to the starting point. We, being very Greek-ish, want to trace all causes and effects back to their original, static source. It makes sense, right?

I want to posit an alternative. (Granted, my thinking on this topic is in a VERY primitive state. Maybe you can offer some feedback to help me think this through.) My suggestion is this:

Science and theology converge not in the creation, but in the Incarnation.

As science delves ever more deeply into the inner workings of the material universe, it is becoming ever more clear that built into it from its conception is incredible design -- not just design, but design with an end in mind. Therefore, the question of design leads naturally to the question of purpose. In my estimation, the Eastern church has a better grasp on articulating the topic of purpose than the West. Perhaps that is because they are not bound up in linear logic, but instead are free to view things from the end first and then on back.

I have a sneaky suspicion that as cosmology and teleology are coupled together we start to see that science and theology inevitably find their beginning and end in the God-man, Jesus Christ. He alone offers an explanation for creation and consummation. He is the Alpha and the Omega, and this can be best understood from the end backwards, not the other way around. Purposeful design implies a purposeful, and in my mind personal, designer.

The author of I John understood this full well:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life -- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us -- that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (I John 1:1-3)

It is this Word of Life who became incarnate and entered into the material world. He can be touched, seen, and heard with the physical senses. And yet he transcends the material and gives definition to otherwise meaningless empirical data. He reveals that material is not without purpose, but instead finds its meaning and definition in its consummation. He alone answers the best questions that science, theology, and philosophy have to offer. He truly, definitively, and absolutely IS.

I know this is very unpolished thought and speech. Those of you who have been following my work for some time know that I don’t normally share thoughts this raw (in my own mind). I earnestly invite you to think out loud with me on the inner workings of this line of thinking as well as its implications (if any). I assure you that as my thinking on this topic develops I will revisit this discussion in future posts.

Labels: theology