Thursday, April 23, 2009

Religulousists

I'm going to review Religulous before I've seen it. I will play into the classic stereotype of a right-wing, closed-minded, uneducated, prejudiced Christian who believes everyone is going to hell except those who believe like I do. Crappadoo-doo! Why not? Seems like nothing a theist or, God forbid, a Christian can say or do will disentangle him (I forgot "sexist") from this image.

I will review the film, then view it, the re-review it. I suppose we could say that I shall pre-review the film. How's that my friends? [I would like a Pulitzer for creating a new genre of literature.]

And I haven't followed Maher that much. Too cheap to buy HBO. I only know that when he appears on TV interviews, the producers insist on tagging him (in the banner which appears in the lower part of the frame) as a "comedian." I may date myself here but, when I was coming along, comedians made people laugh or they had to find other work. Obviously, that's what Maher did. The producers as usual, haven't been informed.

Full disclosure - I've seen the trailer once and I voted for George Bush . . . twice. I wish I could say "thrice." Voted for George Bush, that is.

If you will please wipe the grin off your face long enough to take me serious, I will give this thing a serious whirl.

Maher identifies religious kooks (branded and not) who embrace belief in God for a variety of uninformed and illogical reasons. This is Exhibit A in the prosecution's case that belief in God is totally unwarranted. Rather than concluding that people are stupid and leave it at that, Maher concludes that he is not. And that belief in God is therefore stupid. He interviews a few experts who confirm his findings lending an air of credibility to his contentions.

Let me state it as inductive logic:
1. Stupid people believe in God.
2. Smart people do not believe in God.
3. Stupid people are wrong and smart people are right.
4. God does not exist because smart people cannot possibly be wrong.

The classic mistake that atheists are almost bound to make is that religion = belief in God. If religion is discredited, there goes any warranted belief in a deity. The argument is too irresistible. It's just too easy. There are too many kooks out there waving some religious banner. (My favorites are the more entertaining ones like Robert Tilton and Benny Hinn. I'm sure you have your favs). One can discredit preachers and religious people as easily as one can lick sugar off a sucker. It's really not that difficult.

That's it. That's my pre-review. I'm sure I'll probably regret the use of a few words like "totally." Like, totally, dude.

Thankfully, we live in an age when precision of thought, exactitude of logic and accuracy of fact is not nearly as important as audacity. Given that my presumptive (read "audacious") review of Religulous is now available for billions of internet users, do I not deserve an appearance on Oprah or at least in the Obama administration?

I would like to apologize to high school and college graduates for my limited vocabulary. Please bear in mind that I am reviewing Maher.

Friday, April 10, 2009

How To Stop A Crucifixion

Today (April 10, 2009), millions of Christians will rehearse in their minds the Passion of Christ. They will recall his torture, his silence and his cries, the nails, the thorns, the body piercings, the ultimate agony and death.

It all could have been prevented. The revelation of a simple secret, a mystery as the apostle Paul called it, would have triggered an "abort mission" from the "rulers of this world."

Look at exactly what Paul said about this. We rarely hear it preached or explained.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden [wisdom] which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Cor. 2:7-8

If they would have known what?

Many will say that the rulers didn't know that our sins would be forgiven or that we would be given eternal life. That's nice. But, it's not the mystery of which Paul spoke. Those features are part of the mystery. But, they are not the heart of the mystery.

18 times the gospel writers or Paul mention the "mystery" of the gospel. In most places, Paul does not fully explain the "mystery" (in the context of his reference) and in at least one case, he implies that it is quite obvious as it is manifest among all the saints (Col. 1:6).

"Mystery" means "hidden truth" not "enigmatic, obtuse or obfuscated secret." The second definition would have delighted the gnostics who loved the idea of secrets. But, this mystery is simpler. It was simply hidden for a very long time from the understanding of mankind. And Paul tells us why. Had it been plain, the "rulers of this world" would never have carried out the crucifixion of Jesus. And without that event, humankind was certainly destined for sure demise and a dismal future at best, not to mention . . . well, I don't want to wax nasty here.

Basically, here is the mystery. I probably cannot say it succinctly and simply enough but I shall try.

His death is our death. That's it.

But, it is surely not believed by a great many believers. Do we understand what this means?

First of all, what do I mean when I say this? How was His death also my death? When Christ, the "last Adam" died, he had gathered into Himself all of "Adam" or all of the human race - past, present and future. This is a spiritual, quantum-like reality that transcends time and space. Don't get bogged down in the mechanics of it for now.

So that, when Christ died, we were "in Him" and we also died - our "Adamic nature" (a theological term that needs some explaining I think) died. As a dear friend used to say "Jesus did not just die for us, He died as us." It is not, as we used to say, that it should have been us on the cross (being the ones who had sinned), it actually was us on the cross. It has been accomplished.

But, this still doesn't really tell the story. A lot of people argue about whether or not we have a "sinful" nature and whether or not our "Adamic" nature is the real us or not. We so often miss the real issue. And this is a case in point.

See if this is helpful. Once you have been placed "in Christ" by your faith in Him, you too have "passed from death to life." Maybe this phrase is so overused that it means very little to us. But, the reality is that we who are "in Christ" will never die. Our death is in our past. We only have to die once. And because of the reality of this great mystery, we have already been through our death. In this world, we may say that so-and-so died. But for me, one moment I will have biological life on this planet; the next moment, I will be face to face with Christ, no veil to separate. That's hardly death for me!

But, there really are two issues dealt with in Christ's death. Not just the issue of "one death" having been accomplished for us, as us and on our behalf. Quite possibly, this one issue merely resolves the fear of death that underlies much of our neurosis and psychosis. I don't mean to get all "Zen" on you here. It is, nevertheless, good news that death is not in our future. But, the second issue affects everything about us, even the way we feel. It affects whether or not we can attain that sense of peace, never feeling like we may be missing out on something. It affects whether or not we can be "at rest."

The great issue that is dealt with in great finality is that of judgment. The mystery is that we, in union with Christ, have also passed through our only judgment. Our judgment is in our past. We never have to look forward to judgment. We always look past upon it. This is what Jesus meant when he said "do this in remembrance of me." We don't remember our sins; we remember our release from judgment for those sins.

Paul said that we eat and drink damnation to ourselves if we partake of the "Lord's supper" unworthily. Most folks still think that the "unworthily" means that we still have unconfessed sins. Nothing could be further from the truth. Paul said that by simply not discerning the Lord's body, we eat/drink unworthily. The Lord's body is that body that was crucified . . . not just for you but as you. If we fail to see our union with Christ, in His body, specifically His body as it was being crucified, we receive the very opposite of the LIFE and FREEDOM that He provided. How opposite damnation is from life. How consistent damnation is with judgment. This is not our destiny or our feature. We can discern our union with Christ and our consequent total release from death and judgment.

Merely looking upon the Passion in our minds and developing some sympathy and empathy for what Jesus was doing is not discerning the Lord's body. It's observing as any observer may have done. Unless and until we discern (see, behold, comprehend) what was going on, we cannot see the mystery. And we cannot see why in the world the "rulers of this world" would have called the whole thing off had they also seen it.

Once Christ died, humanity died and passed into a realm by which no judgment could touch them (other than the judgment of whether or not they have received "The Son"). The "rulers of this world" can manipulate us by only one mechanism - our fear of death and judgment. With this weapon gone from their arsenal, they are thoroughly without power. Their only weapon now is deception - basically concealing from you and me the reality of our freedom in Christ.

Today, right now, I am free from death and judgment. I am free from the fear of either. God is not counting my sins against me any longer. I will never be judged as the world thinks of judgment. The "judgment" you and I can expect will be when God examines our motives and intents. Most of us are pretty hard on ourselves and shrink at the thought of our motives being revealed. But, Paul says that when that happens, every one of us will receive our praise from God. Not judgment, but praise. We say "praise God." God says "praise you back dudes and dudettes." (1 Cor. 4:5).

Indeed there was a way to stop the crucifixion. You and I are alive today because the rulers of the world walked blindly into God's trap, nailing the Son of God, the Lord of Glory, to a tree where He would become a curse, become sin for us and as us.

It's just "too good to be true." But this fool believes it.