ver.: 15 March 2008
Pre-post-postmodernism postings here :
If someone were to choose a theme for today's theological cacophony, it'd have to be the search for an 'underlying spirituality'. This idea comes naturally to Asian religions. It also goes well with the addictions to philosophy and psychology shown by much of today's pop Judaism. But it has never been a very comfortable thing for religions which say a specific thing, such as Islam, Christianity, and most eras of Judaism.
Mainline Protestantism has quietly shifted toward this approach, to the point that each person's free, unbounded search for what 'lies beneath' has become more important than each person's following Christ. Or worse, it becomes the definition of 'following Christ', even though it's clearly not what Jesus meant by 'follow'. Small wonder so many Protestants feel distant from their own church leaders and seminaries.
Many people don't like the Christian church; they say it's too constrictive. Yet, Christianity is a very broad religion. It's hard to find any other religion with the broad range of philosophy and practice Christianity has (such as Coptic, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Nazarene, Quaker, United Church, or Southern Baptist). Christianity has proven to be wide open to adaptations from other religions (such as rosaries, Christmas trees, prayer mountains, Greek philosophy, the Enlightenment (through mainline Protestantism), dates for holidays, and all sorts of spiritual practices from Europe, Africa, and Asia). But Christianity is narrow in a way, perhaps the narrowest of the major religions. All of Christian beliefs and practices go through only one point (Jesus) and sift through a single screen (the Bible). These sources teach us how to know what's underlying the Christian faith. Christians have spent the last 2000 years trying things out, and keep rediscovering that what doesn't pass through Jesus and through Scripture just doesn't measure up. The challenge, then, is to experience life by following Jesus.
Is there a spirituality underlying all
the world's religions? I think that in a way there is. We're
talking about something which involves human beings who, for all
that's different about them, are still much more alike than
not alike. That has to say something about all spiritualities.
When I say I am a Christian, one of the things I am saying is
that underlying all true spirituality lies a specific
person/being/entity, and that this is the same One we
met as Jesus of Nazareth 2000 years ago. If this is true, then
the search for an 'underlying spirituality' will end either in
this Jesus, who was by and large accurately portrayed in the
Gospels, or in futility, cynicism, and a cosmic shell
game.
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The world of today tells us we can shape our own destinies, even (especially in cyberspace) our own reality. And more, that we have a right to do so.
Thanks to the new technologies, we really do have more of a part in deciding where we're going. That's good. God gave each of us gifts, and we are all best off if we're using them to the fullest. But it's good only to a point -- when the reality bill arrives in our e-mail box. There is 'other', in fact all else is 'other', and 'other' does most of the real shaping of the reality you live in. Of course, your attitudes do make a big difference, but they doesn't change the fact itself, only how you deal with it.
Think of 'other' as an opportunity to love -- something beyond narcissism and navel-gazing. Your truest love is not for yourself, but for someone other than yourself. (See? Those old sappy romantic movies did get part of it right!) We ignore this not only at our own peril, but even more at the peril of those 'others'. Your actions can have a mighty impact on others' lives, even causing their death. Christ's call for us to love means we are responsible to consider the effects of what we do before we do it.
It's only right that your world isn't just yours. The 'others' have rights, too. But even if it wasn't right, it's what you've got. Live with it.
God isn't you, and you aren't God. God made you this way, it was no accident and no mistake, it was quite intentional. So any sort of search for 'unity' with the Creator or the cosmos or anything else has to be expressed in some other way than to be absorbed into the Whole. A better way to describe it would be the kind of unity found in a happy marriage or a sports championship team -- only, more so. Personally, I find that much more attractive than 'melting into the collective consciousness of the cosmos' -- it sounds like much more fun to me. But what I or you or anyone else feels is totally beside the point : there is no melting-pot option. It won't happen, even if you and everyone else wanted it with every fiber of their being. That determines nothing. The Creator settled the question once and for all, by making a you.
When the follower of Christ speaks of the Church (the body of believers) as 'the Bride of Christ', and of a Kingdom of God which operates like a family or a team, they're facing this reality head-on. And enjoying it.
You didn't make it that way. God did. And that's what makes it 'real'.
Feelings are easy to manipulate; ask the ad men.
Facts are easy to spin; ask the political advisors.
Some would say God is the ultimate spin doctor, making
it seem as if all the good things belong to the divine plan
while all the bad things are blamed on you. The truth is, God
sees the good in you. You're a different being from God; that's
what makes it possible for you to do what you do and be who you
are. This different being is whom God loves. God may well be
saddened by much of what you do -- but then, God seeks for you to get real.
underlying
is religion all
just a matter of which fable you choose?
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There's both spiritual health and spiritual sickness in the constant ego-lifting rant. You know : 'Dare it!' 'Do it!', 'You deserve it!', 'Pursue your dreams!'
Our era is the era of choice. Choice is a good thing. It gives dignity, adaptability, fit, and the chance to show forth character. But we live in an era when choice has become a new commandment: everything is subject to the new iron law. We can choose to ignore common sense, history, and even truth. There are ideologies around which claim one can choose not to be ill or choose to have one's mind escape the limits of time and space. Some even say we can choose to pretend away the very existence of others' lives, especially if we can't see them or if they can be wrapped in an enemy flag or lost in a statistic. But modern choice is not really a god; it is a tool we choose to use in order to carry out the pretense that we can fashion our own version of reality itself. Today, the idol Ba'al (potent power) is joined to the goddess DiY (do it yourself). This is the lot of the postmodern human being. It's nonsense when pushed as far as it is being pushed, but all of us buy into it to a surprisingly large degree. Yet because our powerlessness is obvious to anyone who thinks about it a while, or to anyone who's poor or oppressed, there is this nagging doubt, which shows itself as cynicism.
This creates a spiritual problem: we're so busy fashioning something we pretend is reality that we don't have the time or patience or desire to pay heed to the One who created us, the One who is what is ultimately real in a way we can never reach in so-called 'real' life. Even our surreal, self-designed virtual world has an underlying reality which you can pretend away only at your own peril.
Most of us confront this spiritual reality only when we finally have to face it. When the only choices are few, limited, or even Hobson's, we come face to face with our limited-ness. It is when we hit the wall, or hit bottom, when we even think of trying the one thing which will most benefit us : to let go of the controls, of the obsession with choices, of fashioning our own version of reality. To let go -- and let God.
Underneath all our cynicism, we're not stupid. We know what we really need : someone who loves us, whom we can trust, who can lead us, encourage us, and help us be all we were made to be. It takes a god to be that kind of good. Some philosophers would say that to meet this need, humans go about creating their own gods. But ask yourself : why posit a fancy of your own making, when the Real Thing is there? Not a god manufactured to meet an ultimate need, but a God who put the ultimate need into us in the first place, and seeks to fill it with the only thing which will work : God. If this is true, then no wonder the Bible is so hard on idolatry. When only the real God can satisfy, anyone/thing else we put in God's place can only pull us further and further from where we need to be.
Mixing and matching the parts of religions as DiY to create
a new image for God will not do, not just because the parts
don't fit together, but also because the whole effort is no
less idolatry than the making of golden calves. And the god
made by the effort is no more able to love or support or
teach or nurture or enable or grow us than the golden calf
was. We're left with only God as-is.
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|
If you preach the Gospel
in all aspects with the exception of the issues which
deal specifically with your time, you are not preaching
the Gospel at all. |
If the above stuff interests to you, experience these sites. I may or may not support what they say, but you'll come away with something if you go there :
Some of these sites speak from a consciously 'postmodern' or 'emergent' viewpoint; go there and see what those terms mean.
Thinking about God? Try these pages :
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