what is faith?

If Jesus' sacrifice was a once and for action ... doing anything that seeks to forgive us of our sins with a repeated nature does one of two things

1. States we never had faith

2. States Jesus alone is not enough, thus 1 still

How does this apply to certain church denominations

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postmodern church

"I'm alright - I don't believe in the law of gravity"

Everyone has a way of thinking, a way of viewing how the world works.  Postmodernism describes one of these. Consequently, people who accept a postmodern mindset tend to behave in certain ways, as others do according to their mindset. And as such, given people inhabit the church, how do the mindsets we bring affect the church? How do they impact you, your family, your friends?

Exploring this begins by understanding where people, generally, tend to gain their views about truth and reality. Assuming they are generational ignores the exceptions within a population and that people can and do change, for various reasons, how they see their world over time.

What are the main differences how each of the three "moderns" relate to truth and reality?

foundations of postmodernism

If the individual, you, is the source of truth and reality, no one else may determine what you believe or do. This includes God. And assuming you do accept his existence, this mindset will help you ignore or downplay his voice.

Please be aware this is necessary because when you decide what is true and real, absolute truths, like the ones God speaks of, become impossible. Why? Because when everyone has the right to their own opinions, every opinion must be considered equally valid, including what is in the bible. Truth is made relative and now it depends on personal preferences and interpretations.

Consequently, no one single faith/religion can claim itself as the only truth. To do so is viewed as arrogant. You may include and exclude whatever suits you, and then mix them together, from a variety of faiths and other areas. This affects both evangelism (new believers) and discipleship (new and existing believers) because accepting God and understanding his ways doesn't necessitate giving anything up or changing anything if it doesn't suit you. For example, reading the bible, praying, hearing sermon messages, and prophecy, are approached in terms of "what does this mean to you?" instead of "what does God mean by this?" In short, considering matters of faith as opinions makes it difficult to see God's truths since each view is given equal importance.

Are you doing this? What are the implications of fully listening to God?

What could happen if a priest/pastor or other church leaders lived this way? How could this affect what is taught? What if you need to ask a question, or reveal that God actually disagrees with their claims?

"That might be true for you, but not for me.” "You are welcome to your opinion, but mine is..."

When confronted, people with a post-modern mindset tend to avoid arguments. Turning issues into opinions is easier than listening, considering the merits of what is being proposed, and then choosing to reject or embrace it. Therefore, if absolute truths about faith/religion cause this type of response, so will morality, ethics, and justice.

Why? Because morality is based upon the absolutes of right and wrong. But, if each person is the source of what is true, then 'what is right' and 'what is wrong' becomes subjective. "What you see as wrong, might not be for me” or "The way I choose to live is my business, who are you to interfere?" Thinking like this only considers how things and situations affect you and ignores any personal responsibility you might have to others.

For example, a man is lying in the gutter, an open bottle of alcohol in his hand. He is very drunk. You walk past him thinking, "He made his choices. This is his journey. Who am I to interfere?" But stop for a moment. What if that was your own son? Could you walk past him? How would you respond to see others walking past him? Stop again. What if that was you drunk in the gutter? Why are you there? Is it right to be left alone in your hopelessness?

Now reexamine this in the following situations. Do you call the police when your home is burgled? If there is no right or wrong, why? What if your sister was raped or your child molested? If there is no right or wrong please don't complain, let alone seek justice. And yes it could be argued, the source of this outrage was you. But then why interfere when it was someone else who was impacted?

exception to the rule

Ultimately, when the line between self, the world, and your beliefs is blurred, the way you seek the acceptance of others is to advocate tolerance of the views of others, in the hope the curtesy will be returned. Accepting, or at least claiming to accept other opinions is seen the same as valuing the people who hold them.

The one exception to this rule is anyone who seeks truths that universally apply to everyone, particularly anyone who dares to criticize the views of others, disagree with them, or suggest they are wrong.

In other words, all views about truth are possible, except if your view about truth disagrees with this stance. As a follower of Christ, you must expect this toward you from people who hold a postmodern mindset.  Why?

• God communicates about and with absolute truths (Jn 18:37)
• The foundations of Jesus' life and mission apply to everyone (e.g. forgiveness, sacrifice, sin, repentance, reconciliation)
• Teachings by Jesus and his disciples did not offer the option based upon a “this is true for me, but may not be true for you” philosophy.  They were simply offered.  People regularly rejected it (e.g. ).

conclusion

If you are postmodern, you must accept all faiths/religions as equally true.  Hence, you must accept God is real and Jesus was sent to earth to free you and restore you with God. To refuse is to reject your pluralistic philosophy.  Sure, you can reject Jesus, but do so honestly.

Similarly, if you are a postmodern christian, you must accept every interpretation someone tells you about God's ways and character as equally true.  Hence, you must, for example, accept the need to let go of everything you love more than him. You must be missional and not merely a Sunday attendee. You must sacrificially love all your enemies. You must stop being sectarian in how you treat the church, Christ's body. To refuse is to reject your pluralistic philosophy.  Sure, you can reject these proposals but do so by first seeking what God's reality is, not how you interpret it.

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relational responsibity

Whose responsibility is it?

A woman is sitting on her own.  She is new to town and knows no one.  She does not even have family with her.

Whose responsibility is it to initiate an interaction.  Is it hers to introduce herself or for others to approach her?  Assuming she has a level of courage in this scenario, relationships could form even if no one approached her because she can make the first move.

But what if this lady has been experiencing some trauma in her life or something else that is causing her to hold back, to not make the first move? What if she is has a bad reputation or is physically unattractive?  What if her personality is different?  What if she has low self-esteem?  What if she finds it hard to trust people due to how she has been treated in the past?

Is it fair to suggest it was her responsibility if no interaction occurred?

What if this lady was you?

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in or out?

It has come to my attention that some Christians filter who may and may not gather with them during such times as a home group or bible study. The reason  is the new person would change the dynamics (e,g, learning stlye, maturity, gender, age, personality, denominational background, etc) of the group or not cope with the existing dynamics.  Therefore their presence would be considered disruptive.

Whether or not this sounds reasonable, is it acceptable?

Does God treat people this way? Did Jesus when on earth? What if you did this happened to your children?

Imagine saying to someone "Sorry, you cannot come pray and seek God with us because we are concerned you presence will disrupt the established group. We are doing things you may not be able to understand and we don't want to make the effort to change how we operate."

How you would respond if someone told you that?

May our doors be open to anyone willing to seek Him. Regardless of denominational or ideological background. Regardless of age, gender, socio-econics, or level of spiritual maturity.

May our minds and heart be open to Him so that we do not consider ourselves more important than others.

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God is all about relationships?

Today, the church often preaches about how God is all about relationships and as such so must the church.  We therefore have become accustomed to filtering what we do through the lens of relationships.  For instance, we only have the right to speak into another persons life once we have a relationship with them.  This is despite the fact that our very presence can be enough to affect another person's life, without have ever spoken a word to them let alone having met them.

We have also made our theology of God all about relationship.  God is the father, son, and spirit in continual relationship.  Occasionally, some believers will take the bold step and suggest people are invited into this relationship.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not opposing the importance of relationships.

But what I am pointing out is two things.  First, treating relationship this way is like the story of the elephant, where different people describe the elephant according to which part they were looking at: a leg, a trunk, an ear etc.  And as such they each spoke of the elephant in terms of the piece they could see.  Alternatively, what if the elephant is up a tree?  What if what we are describing looks like what we would expect a certain part of the elephant to look like, but we our expectations keep us distracted from looking up?

If we are doing this with God in terms of relationships, then what are we making the cornerstone of our faith and why?

Thus, the second point.  Could it be because our culture and society lack genuine relationship causing it to be the cry of our collective heart?  Could there be something more than what we experience through individualism?  Irony, in a desire to overcome individualism, we segment God into parts, father, son, spirit and then resolve this in terms of relationship, where we relate to one or more as our needs determine.

Again, not disregarding or diminishing relationship, trinity, or God's attributes. Just wanting to prompt us to consider what we doing and why.

Oneness

Jesus prayed that we be one like he and the father are one.  Is there distinction?  We are called to mature so we may be as the full stature of Christ.  We are to be in him and he in us... etc

This is like describing the colour green.  Yes we know and can show that yellow and blue are the component parts, and in a sense when we interact with green, we interact with mixed parts of yellow and blue.  But the truth is when you look at a frog or a leaf, you don't think or behave like that.  You only treat it as green.  We are not even contemplating how the bits work together.

Again, it is like when we send a christmas card to a household or a wedding gift.  Though we recognise each person involved, our focus os on the family, the couple.  Our love is for them as a whole.  Indeed, you may even sign off using your own family's surname.

The mystery that is God, the Church, etc...  Breaking him/us down while not 'bad', misses something.  And if we are doing this because of something we are missing in ourselves, communally or individually, then hmmm.

I pray that we are resolved in ourselves on this matter so that we may be one with one another and one with God.  And as such, just One.

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real love = attending church

The following is a response to a spoken message by Tony Rainbow of Victory Church (Adelaide, Australia) to the people of Fusion City Church (Canberra – Australia)

audio link

 

Topic being shared: Staying the Course

For the most part this message shared was positive.  However, part way through Tony stated:

"a person's church attendance reflects their real relationship with God.  If they are not attending they are reflecting a lack of genuine love for Him." Tony Rainbow, Victory Church, Australia - 27 Nov 2011

Given the information of the rest of the sermon, the context for this is attendance of Sunday church services.

In other words, Tony was suggesting that people who do not regularly attend a church service lack a genuine love for God.  Alternatively, people only really love God if they attend church services, preferably every week.

(This kind of comment is in the same category as those that suggest "Your love for God is measured by the amount of money you give to the church.")

Shortly after Tony stated

"If you hang around (spend time with) people who hate the church or speak against it, then we are going to become like them."  Tony Rainbow, Victory Church, Australia - 27 Nov 2011

Unfortunately the implications of this are:

• No one should speak against anything a church does, even if it does or says something counter to what appears in the Bible
• Decision makers and leaders of churches view themselves as infallible
• Anyone who raises a question of how and why things are done is seen as a hater of the church and indeed the people involved in it

And even if it is possible to ignore these comments, what are the implications for our relationship with God?  Ask yourself:

• Who did God send his son, Jesus, to hang around?  Did he become like them?
• Did he speak against religious attitudes and behaviours or people?
• Who did Jesus send his disciples amongst?
• People who pursue a life that copies Jesus will be hated and persecuted because the world first hated him (John 15:18-27).  Why does Gods warn us about this?  Does it mean we are to run away or persevere?  What does each choice here say about how we view God and Jesus?
• The Bible teaches us that we are not perfect and we make mistakes.  Is this is a reason to limit our relationships to those who agree with us and behave like us (Mt 5:43-48)?
• Consider evangelism.  Who is the audience?  How can discipleship occur if we are not to spend time people who disagree with us?

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