Church’s Can Be Places of Healing, If We Let Them

Talked with the pastor of my little, Baptist church on Sunday. She actually came up to me and asked me if everything was all right between us! She then wanted to know if there was anything she needed to apologize for! Caught off guard I did not know what to say. I mumbled something like, yes, it’s ok, no, nothing to apologize for, or something along those lines. I really was not prepared for it and we were walking through the church with everybody around at the time. I didn’t want to get into it then. Now, I know I’ve been holding a grudge against her and the church for a while now, and even though I don’t think she’s changed her ways much, I thought I had forgiven her. But I realized I hadn’t, so this week I sent her a birthday card indicating that all the “bad vibes” between us are in the past and that all was ok between us. I knew that this was something I should do whether I actually felt that way or not. Feelings come after actions right?

This morning I dug out my old Life Recovery Bible and while reading chapters in Joshua and Job, I came across the 12 Steps for Christians. My translation is the old Living Bible paraphrase, which I still love regardless of its being replaced by the New Living Bible. Based on Bill,s 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous,  the Life Recovery Bible focuses on using the same but differently worded steps for the Christian journey. I began to realize that my Christian life was indeed completely out of control and that I needed to make some amends. I’m not talking about spiritual discipline, but spiritual practice. For me, forgiving the pastor for wrongs done in the church was a big step toward getting things right again. So, in my prayer time this morning, I asked forgiveness for my unforgiving spirit and then forgave all those I perceived had wronged me. They may not actually have wronged me, but I may have thought they did and am harboring resentment. The most amazing thing is what and who the Lord brings to your attention during these times. People I had not thought of initially started coming to mind, one after another. I felt that I had been carrying this huge weight of resentment around with me. Now, I feel like I’ve been purged!

I knew I’d taken the right step in offering the olive branch to the pastor. I know there will be other times of betrayal and other times of forgiveness but it’s not about that. It’s about harboring resentment and unforgiveness.  Rather than sit and wait for others to ask it, and most never will, true humility makes the first move regardless of feelings and without expectation of reciprocation. I feel as if I’ve done what I was supposed to. My heart is lighter.

Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37).

“Unwarranted Rest” For My Soul?

I found this article curious today. It made me think deeply about my own tremulous faith and the way that evangelicals evangelize others. What is this man saying about salvation and the assurance of it, when unbelievers are evangelized? That we should be making them realize how wonderful Christ is and not scaring them with hell?

John Piper writes:

Next we should realize that saving faith has two parts. First, faith is a spiritual sight of glory (or beauty) in the Christ of the gospel. In other words, when you hear or read what God has done for sinners in the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, this appears to your heart as a great and glorious thing in and of itself even before you are sure you are saved by it. I get this idea from 2 Corinthians 4:4, where Paul says that what Satan hinders in the minds of unbelievers is the “seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” For faith to be real there must be a supernatural “light” that God shines into the heart to show us that Christ is glorious and wonderful (2 Corinthians 4:6). This happens as a work of the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel.

Second, faith is a warranted resting in this glorious gospel for our own salvation. I say “warranted resting” because there is an “unwarranted resting” – people who think they are saved who are not, because they have never come to see the glory of Christ as compellingly glorious. These people only believe on the basis of wanting rescue from harm, not because they see Christ as more beautiful and desirable than all else. But for those who “see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” their resting is warranted.

Ok, now I’m worried. Many Christians come to Christ because they’ve listened to fiery sermons in the “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” style and then come to repentance and faith because they fear hell. Is this the “unwarranted faith” Piper is talking about? Is this the opposite of saving faith? Would anyone believe in Christ at all if someone proved that there is no hell? I’m not sure I would believe without the reality of hell. Besides, isn’t that the only reason we have a Savior to begin with…to save us from hell? If there were no hell, then there is no punishment for our sins, except perhaps torments in this life and death/annhilation. What’s so scary about that?

I must admit that I didn’t come to faith because I saw Christ as “glorious and wonderful” to use Piper’s terminology. I came to faith because I had a conversion experience in which Jesus showered me with love and forgiveness. I first learned of Jesus by reading the Gospels. I saw what a loving and forgiving person he was and decided to try to follow him. I then realized that I couldn’t follow him without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and prayed to be healed and cleansed by Him. I chose to believe him when he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest (Mat. 11:28).” I wanted rest from myself and I wanted a new slate to begin my life over again. I also wanted deliverance from my personal demons. I wasn’t thinking of deliverance from hell at that moment, but later I was grateful about being saved from it.

Unlike some more mainstream Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church, and as a Baptist, I believe in one-time salvation. I’m perplexed because this is the first time I’ve read about TYPES of salvation, especially “warranted” and “unwarranted rest.” So, does this mean I’m not saved? 😦 I certainly believe in Jesus. Is Piper making too fine a distinction here? Who cares how we were saved just that we are? Does Romans 10:9-10 mean nothing? Thoughts? Anyone?

Verse of the Day

Hebrews 12:14-29

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Where does bitterness spring up in your life? Is the writer of Hebrews saying that bitterness causes us to “fail to obtain the grace of God?” Not because God doesn’t grace us, but because we’ve erected a barrier and do not receive? Can we ever be the barrier to God’s blessing? Could it be that the more barriers we erect the more we barricade ourselves in and keep God out? This is so true in the Christian’s life and especially in my life. Barriers I’ve erected keep me from experiencing disappointment once again. It keeps me from risking love.  What barriers have you erected?

Christ as Temple: The Differences Between Baptist/Catholic Atonement

Theories about the atonement are rife in Christian life. Atonement is the KEY doctrine for most Christians because it defines (or attempts to define) the WAY God saves us through Jesus Christ. For the Baptist, Jesus is the only way through which we come to God. Jesus is the New Jerusalem and the Temple of God through which we offer spiritual sacrifices as priests of God. We are forever priests and it cannot be revoked (1, see notes) Everyone is on the same footing in Baptist circles. For Catholics the temple is the Church and specifically the Catholic altar. Jesus is re-sacrificed every day the world over to regrace the world with salvation through his offering. (2) This is no final act and the effects are not final either. One story from the scriptures that illustrates this difference is the hour of Jesus’ crucifixion.

For those who don’t know the biblical story; when Jesus was crucified, the Jewish temple veil was torn from top to bottom, signifying that the Holy of Holies was now accessible to everyone through the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:51). The Holy of Holies was the place in the Jewish temple in which God dwelt and only the priests were allowed to come near to offer sacrifices for the people:

3 If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you shall offer a male without blemish; you shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, for acceptance in your behalf before the Lord. 4 You shall lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be acceptable in your behalf as atonement for you. 5 The bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 The burnt offering shall be flayed and cut up into its parts. 7 The sons of the priest Aaron shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the parts, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9 but its entrails and its legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall turn the whole into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord (Leviticus 1:3-9)

The priests of Israel were to do this in perpetuity. However, when Jesus incarnated and died, new Jewish Christians, such as Paul, began seeing parallels to Jesus’ life and role as the long promised Savior who would eliminate material temple sacrifices and institute a new era of spiritual faith. For Paul, when the veil of the temple was rent in two, temple sacrifices were symbolically no more. This event, more than any other, was intended to convince Israel that the daily sacrifices of animals in the temple were no longer necessary to please God. God sacrificed his Son to please Himself. As merciless as this sounds to mothers everywhere, you must remember that this story and its effects for the believer is the VITAL, key doctrine of Christendom: Jesus’ sacrificial atonement to the Father for all humankind (Ephesians 2:14-22; Hebrews 6:18-20; 9:1-7; 10:19-22).

Mongergists call this interpretation of Jesus’ death “penal substitutionary atonement theory.” It is but one type of atonement theory. (3) This theory emphasizes the substitutionary part of the atonement. In other words, Jesus Christ, when he died, took our place on the Cross (a type of the altar of God in heaven), was sacrificed, and thereby died for all of our individual sins: past, present, and future. When Jesus died and was resurrected, every sinner turned believer in Him has died and, baptized into new life, will live forever. Therefore, animal sacrifice was no longer needed. The scapegoat is Jesus. The “animal” the Israelite priests laid their hands on to transfer the sins of the people was replaced by Jesus, who took sins away forever. The physical and spiritual veil is lifted and we can “see” with new eyes (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).

Other theologians especially of the New Emergent Church variety, call this theory of atonement into question. I’m not SURE what the atonement theory they ascribe to is, but I assume it’s like the Catholic version. For Catholics, Jesus died to make it POSSIBLE that we are forgiven by God, assuming we follow all the rules to the end without falling away into doubt and mortal sin. We are only put back on an even keel and must begin with the fresh start that Jesus provides us. Therefore, Evangelicals and Catholics couldn’t be further apart on Atonement theory. For evangelicals, salvation is personal and immediately applicable when one believes. It is permanent and cannot be revoked. For Catholics, salvation is corporate and far removed. IF you attain it, you do well, if not, well….

Then throw into the mix the doctrine of Original Sin and that’s where the fun begins. Your take on the doctrine of original sin affects your interpretation of atonement. Much like the chicken or egg first conundrum, Christians have argued over the doctrine of Original Sin since the time of Augustine. Augustine introduced the “mankind is inherently evil; born that way” view of sin, thereby guaranteeing that anything short of penal atonement isn’t going to cut it in the salvation department. Ironically enough, Augustine was Roman Catholic and the harsher the original sin theory was, the farther away Catholics got to “allowing” Jesus to become a complete remedy for mankind. It was the Celtic monk Pelagius who pooh-poohed the idea that mankind was born sinful and called the church to be the agent that would grow humankind into its fullest potential and bring her back to the essential goodness God created. The kind and gentle Pelagius was viciously attacked for this theory, of course. You cannot threaten people with excommunication for sin if the means of grace can be found in God’s mercy and creation OUTSIDE the confines of the Mother Church. For Pelagius, there is also no assurance, but we weren’t inherently sinful to begin with. For Evangelicals, nothing short of exhange of Christ’s Spirit for our spirit will effect the change from heathen flesh to salvation.

So, we see how Christian dogma is stacked on a precarious house of cards. Remove one card: “Original Sin” and the other cards fall down around it. I see Christian history and tradition like that tall, tall, house of cards; interpretation piled on interpretation until, at the Reformation, the house finally began collapsing. Zwingli, Luther, Calvin, and others before them began questioning Roman Catholic views of sin and atonement and what that meant for the Christian. Why, they asked, was it so needlessly complicated and riddled with extra-biblical practices such as indulgences? Reading the bible, which was now available to the people in printed form, was a chief catalyst in this religious revolution. Since then the waters have cleared just enough to know that all the arguing comes down to this:

1) Jesus either died for Adam’s original “stain” of sin; past, present, and future, becoming the final sacrifice for sins forever and releasing the believer from a daily system of sacrifices. (Matthew 27:51; Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45; Hebrews 10:10-12) This sacrifice of Jesus sanctifies the believer, and sets her apart in assurance of salvation for eternity. If you die accidentally after having sinned, and didn’t have time to confess, you are still assured a place in heaven. (Baptist view)

OR

2) Jesus died merely to eliminate the Jewish sacrificial system and set up a Christian system whereby priests sacrifice Jesus daily in the Eucharist as a special offer of salvation to all who choose to come and follow Jesus. We are never assured of salvation and must ever be wary of sin, but at least salvation is offered. If you die in sin (unconfessed and unshriven) you are lost forever, even after a long and moral life (4). Jesus died to make salvation POSSIBLE not actual. (Catholic view)

The stack of dogma cards is becoming more perilous! If I HAD to choose, I prefer the Baptist version. But still, one has to wonder why it was necessary for Jesus to die when God could have forgiven us freely and even did forgive in the Old Testament? Diehard fundamentalists believe that the inherent sin of Adam would not go away unless we appeased God’s sense of justice, but what kind of justice is it that requires the death of your son? How did God forgive the Israelites when God said he “hated sacrifice?” (Hosea 6:6)

For an excellent discussion about this go to Scot McKnight’s blog. Personally, I believe these theories of atonement are needlessly complicated and are either to broad or too limited. I often ask myself the question, “If I can conceive of a completely merciful way of forgiveness, why can’t God?” I get the sneaky suspicion that no one knows what God wants based on the conflicting stories in the Bible. Dogma is just theory and interpretation of theory anyway. We are all casting about in the dark finding a way. I believe the answer is in simplicity and rooted in the law of love espoused by Christ himself.
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1) So say the “eternal security” Baptists, who believe that once you are chosen, justified, and sanctified, you can never fall away from Christ.

2) Catholic Catechism, section 1367-1368 (sacrifice) and section 797-798 (Church is temple. Here the temple is the Church, meaning a separate entity than the believers together.

3) Other theories are the “financial” debit and credit system of justification, the militry image of Satan vs. God, and the legal courtroom image in which God is judge. (Christian Doctrine by Shirley C. Guthrie, Rev. Ed., pages 252-256).

Catholic Catechism, section 1033.

Catholic Confession Nothing But a Drive-Through?

I had a disturbing conversation with a Baptist friend during Sunday school this past weekend. We were discussing sin and the baptized believer. We were talking about how Baptists believe that once a person is baptized and becomes a disciple of Christ, that person and other believers are priests before God. Baptists teach that the believer offers spiritual sacrifices rather than those given by the Israelites in the Old Testament (Romans 12:1-2). The topic came up that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us and we don’t need to sacrifice bulls, goats, and other animals as the Levites did. While we were discussing the confession of our sins to God and what that means for us a good friend of mine turned to me and said under her breath, “Well you know, the Catholics can just go to Confession on Saturday, get forgiven, and then sin again anytime they want to on Monday.” She looked at me and waited for my response. I didn’t say anything at the time, but I should have.

As a Baptist, I’ve heard this many, many times before (among other things) and didn’t really have an answer for her at the time. Baptists, along with every other Protestant sect out there, are notorious for teaching that the Catholic Church is not the true Church of Christ, but an imposter. Many Baptists still believe that. But now that I think about my friend’s statement more closely, and now that I have participated in the Sacrament of Penance myself and know what is involved with the examination of conscience, I feel I can speak more about it. The woman who said this is a very smart lady but has a very misguided impression of Confession, because even as a Baptist, we do the very same thing she accuses Catholics of doing! We can confess to God on Sunday, be forgiven, and then sin right away on Monday. So what? Every sinner does it and every sinner will do it until Jesus returns. Does she mean Catholics somehow give themselves license to sin because they know they can go to confession later and be cleansed of it? Well, so what again? Baptists do that too! Somehow this woman thinks that it is a kind of easy-believism to go to a priest and get absolution, but I’m here to tell you right now that going to confession is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done as a Christian.

Let me explain. When I sin as a Baptist, I know in my head that if “we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Every Baptist knows that if we ask forgiveness of God, He will forgive us right away. Some Baptists who believe in eternal security even believe that we can sin and sin and never lose our salvation. God may get mad and kill you early (I swear I’ve heard some pastors teach this concept), but by jove you won’t lose your salvation.We are free and clear and have fellowship with him, until the next time we sin and then we start over. We have this process drilled into us in Sunday school and in sermons. Well, fine. That’s comforting. But it leaves your heart still empty.

Now it’s an entirely different story when you have to have to confess to another person. Besides the theological quibbles about our confessing to a priest, let’s focus on the psychological aspects alone because when the rubber meets the road, that’s what people care about and what people will remember the most. Confession through the Sacrament of Penance has been very, very good for my soul. Why? Because it forces me to acknowledge my sins aloud and to actually hear the absolution by the priest, coming from a representative of Jesus Christ, assuring me of forgiveness. Confessing to God alone is good, and Catholics do not deny it is, but for me there is no substitute for the Sacrament of Penance. It reaches the heart not just the head.

Not only is there assurance for the soul, but the process we have to go through BEFORE we confess is both humbling and eye-opening. The examination of conscience forces us not to see sin where there is none, but to examine those areas that we need to keep an careful eye on. We are so attuned to this world that we don’t even know the harm we sometimes do unless confronted with it by those who deal much with it. Not only does it force you to truly examine your own motives, it makes me ‘fess up to those sins that I know are still haunting me and that I can’t quite forgive myself for. Talk about a literal weight lifted off my soul! Not only is Penance soul-cleansing, it acts as a better deterrent to sin than anything I’ve encountered. It’s so darn difficult that I don’t want to go through that agony every single time that I’ve committed a major sin. Better to keep the slate clean now and go frequently, than scare the wits out of you for the BIG confession.

So when this woman tells me that Catholics have it easy, that somehow confession is like a McDonald’s drive-through and that Catholics can confess on Saturday and then go and sin all they want to on Monday…….well that’s just not true. It’s no more true than Baptists confessing to God on Sunday and then thinking that since no one else knows, that sin is all the more easy to commit and confess to God the next time. Because God will forgive, after all. There is no difference. To me the Baptist way is the easy-believism in this picture.