Starting over
I had a fascinating talk recently with someone recently about the state of our society and what the Global Methodist Church is offering. He was disappointed in the GMC; he thought it lacked passion for the fight we’re in to save our society. He described a world deluded and declining - and I agree with him on that. But mere politics or social protest or organizing alternative institutions (Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option, for instance) - all important things - can’t ultimately fix what’s wrong with our society. That’s like saying that the next win at the roulette table will finally allow me to recoup all my losses and leave with some winnings. It’s a sucker bet.
Now, if all the GMC - or any church - has to offer is Jesus as the Cherry On Top - that is, a relationship with God through Christ that doesn’t challenge and change any of the ways we live and think and do business - Jesus as mere convenience product, a consumer’s smart purchase at a bargain price - then we will not accomplish much. But if we say, Jesus Later, Jesus in Due Time, and hit people first with all kinds of lifestyle challenges and political theory and policy prescriptions, we just become another bunch of Pharisees (zealous ones, to be sure, but still).
The answer is to teach the doctrine. A relationship with God through Christ is a real experience, but it is also a way of understanding the nature of ultimate reality. The great creeds were not formulated by some committee that sat around spitballing phrases; they were developed in answer to urgent questions arising from the Scriptures and from Christian experience. How is Jesus of Nazareth to be understood in relation to the God of Israel? Is he really God, or just “goddish?” And if he is truly God, is he truly human, too? And if he is both at the same time, is he a truly integrated Person?
Think of the ideologies that afflict our current age and society. Yes, they’re all wrong, but what are they wrong about? At their heart, they make one or more of the following errors: they try to do without God, and a proper understanding of God; they misunderstand (or deliberately lie) about what it means to be human; they have a deficient understanding of personhood.
Thus, “woke” functions as a religion, castigating sin and demanding penance (though without ever giving absolution). “Woke” is just one version of Critical Theory, an adaptation of Marxism that attempts to replace God with race or social class or sexuality. Climate alarmism also assumes religious form and demands sacrifice. We are awash in ideologies that demand our abasement before - what? Something other than God. Something that can condemn but not save. Before an idol, with a priesthood demanding we give up all rights, all property, all freedom of thought, yielding all power to - them? Yes. It’s the same old medicine show, with the street barker calling on us to put our valuables in his evil-be-gone box. It’s a sham. But if you’re frightened or cowed and you don’t know how to think properly about God, you don’t know how to confront this. If you know the truth, however, the truth will set you free.
Meanwhile, we have people who seriously believe - and expect us to agree with - preposterous notions about the nature of humanity. The human species is a binary one, and we are all either male or female. This identity is encoded in every cell of our bodies, and it is not capable of being changed from one to the other, not by costuming, nor by cosmetics, nor by drugs, not even by surgery. How you feel about your body is a fact among other facts, but it cannot change this basic fact. The incarnate God had to be born either male or female; there weren’t any other options. So we read that Mary “brought forth her firstborn son” and that son was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, something required of males under the Law of Moses. But people who think that sex is fluid, that there are 50 or so “genders,” aren’t the only people who misunderstand the nature of humanity. The people who think that you will eventually be able to upload your soul into a computer and achieve immortality are just as deluded.
Not only is that computer program not human, nor a continuation of your humanity; it isn’t you, either. It isn’t a person at all. What is a person, anyway? Are we just a mishmash of identities? Can my Whiteness and my Maleness - or my Blackness and my Femaleness - separate me into different people? How do I resolve the conflicts within myself and find my authentic Self? The answer Christians give is that you have to give up yourself to find yourself, and when you find yourself in Christ you will finally know who you are and be at peace. And our exemplar is Jesus Christ, who though he be both God and Man, is yet one Person, whole and undivided. Jesus shows us what sanity is. The more we become like him, the healthier, mentally as well as spiritually, we will be.
People who know who God is - and therefore have a way to understand ultimate values - and who know what humanity is - and who therefore value all human beings, not just those “on the right side” - and who have had their minds renewed so that they can know the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God - are then prepared to address themselves to the many perplexities, prudential choices, and rebuke of outright lies that will be required to rebuild our society.
As a pastor, an ordained minister, I am a Steward of the Mysteries of God. I care about those societal problems because I’m a member of the society, too. I swim in the same waters we all do, and have to drink from them. But I’m not called to re-order society as if I had finally achieved the High Priesthood that so many are contesting for these days. I am called to teach people about God-in-Christ, which involves both bringing them into the right relationship with him (an experience and a life) and then exploring how what that means affects the meaning of everything else. In order to “live not by lies” we have to know the truth. The truth that sets you free starts with Jesus.
So I’m not avoiding the fight for civilization. But I know what I can do and what I can’t. And whether society recovers or descends further into economic crisis and superstition and rule by demagogues, somebody still needs to be getting back to teaching first principles. For even if you could elect the Right Guy and pass all the best laws, without renewing people’s understanding of the truth, you will not renew the society, only delay its fall by a little.
Now, if all the GMC - or any church - has to offer is Jesus as the Cherry On Top - that is, a relationship with God through Christ that doesn’t challenge and change any of the ways we live and think and do business - Jesus as mere convenience product, a consumer’s smart purchase at a bargain price - then we will not accomplish much. But if we say, Jesus Later, Jesus in Due Time, and hit people first with all kinds of lifestyle challenges and political theory and policy prescriptions, we just become another bunch of Pharisees (zealous ones, to be sure, but still).
The answer is to teach the doctrine. A relationship with God through Christ is a real experience, but it is also a way of understanding the nature of ultimate reality. The great creeds were not formulated by some committee that sat around spitballing phrases; they were developed in answer to urgent questions arising from the Scriptures and from Christian experience. How is Jesus of Nazareth to be understood in relation to the God of Israel? Is he really God, or just “goddish?” And if he is truly God, is he truly human, too? And if he is both at the same time, is he a truly integrated Person?
Think of the ideologies that afflict our current age and society. Yes, they’re all wrong, but what are they wrong about? At their heart, they make one or more of the following errors: they try to do without God, and a proper understanding of God; they misunderstand (or deliberately lie) about what it means to be human; they have a deficient understanding of personhood.
Thus, “woke” functions as a religion, castigating sin and demanding penance (though without ever giving absolution). “Woke” is just one version of Critical Theory, an adaptation of Marxism that attempts to replace God with race or social class or sexuality. Climate alarmism also assumes religious form and demands sacrifice. We are awash in ideologies that demand our abasement before - what? Something other than God. Something that can condemn but not save. Before an idol, with a priesthood demanding we give up all rights, all property, all freedom of thought, yielding all power to - them? Yes. It’s the same old medicine show, with the street barker calling on us to put our valuables in his evil-be-gone box. It’s a sham. But if you’re frightened or cowed and you don’t know how to think properly about God, you don’t know how to confront this. If you know the truth, however, the truth will set you free.
Meanwhile, we have people who seriously believe - and expect us to agree with - preposterous notions about the nature of humanity. The human species is a binary one, and we are all either male or female. This identity is encoded in every cell of our bodies, and it is not capable of being changed from one to the other, not by costuming, nor by cosmetics, nor by drugs, not even by surgery. How you feel about your body is a fact among other facts, but it cannot change this basic fact. The incarnate God had to be born either male or female; there weren’t any other options. So we read that Mary “brought forth her firstborn son” and that son was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, something required of males under the Law of Moses. But people who think that sex is fluid, that there are 50 or so “genders,” aren’t the only people who misunderstand the nature of humanity. The people who think that you will eventually be able to upload your soul into a computer and achieve immortality are just as deluded.
Not only is that computer program not human, nor a continuation of your humanity; it isn’t you, either. It isn’t a person at all. What is a person, anyway? Are we just a mishmash of identities? Can my Whiteness and my Maleness - or my Blackness and my Femaleness - separate me into different people? How do I resolve the conflicts within myself and find my authentic Self? The answer Christians give is that you have to give up yourself to find yourself, and when you find yourself in Christ you will finally know who you are and be at peace. And our exemplar is Jesus Christ, who though he be both God and Man, is yet one Person, whole and undivided. Jesus shows us what sanity is. The more we become like him, the healthier, mentally as well as spiritually, we will be.
People who know who God is - and therefore have a way to understand ultimate values - and who know what humanity is - and who therefore value all human beings, not just those “on the right side” - and who have had their minds renewed so that they can know the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God - are then prepared to address themselves to the many perplexities, prudential choices, and rebuke of outright lies that will be required to rebuild our society.
As a pastor, an ordained minister, I am a Steward of the Mysteries of God. I care about those societal problems because I’m a member of the society, too. I swim in the same waters we all do, and have to drink from them. But I’m not called to re-order society as if I had finally achieved the High Priesthood that so many are contesting for these days. I am called to teach people about God-in-Christ, which involves both bringing them into the right relationship with him (an experience and a life) and then exploring how what that means affects the meaning of everything else. In order to “live not by lies” we have to know the truth. The truth that sets you free starts with Jesus.
So I’m not avoiding the fight for civilization. But I know what I can do and what I can’t. And whether society recovers or descends further into economic crisis and superstition and rule by demagogues, somebody still needs to be getting back to teaching first principles. For even if you could elect the Right Guy and pass all the best laws, without renewing people’s understanding of the truth, you will not renew the society, only delay its fall by a little.