Los lagos

I won't be posting for a couple of weeks because I'm heading down south for a holiday! This is what it looks like there :).

Public theology

I can't normally watch Q&A because the party-line politicians drive me out of my mind. But yesterday the internets were buzzing about Peter Jensen's appearance, so I had to take a look. (And on a sidenote, while I can't access iView here, it seems that if I go to the individual page for a program I can watch the episodes just fine. Hoorah!) It was heart-warmingly good. I could employ a mountain of adjectives but better for you to just watch the episode if you haven't yet. (Peter's bit is from 27 minutes in until the end.)

Anyway as a follow-up another Jensen asked on facebook: "OK, now for the hard and honest self-examination part: what does QandA tell us about public theology?" I like what I had to say, so I thought I'd repeat it here!

What Q&A definitely tells us about public theology is that:

• we should free up the very gifted for these roles (although that is problematic because these folk often make very good pastors & preachers as well...).

• we should never look to audience response to gauge how well we did - we can be as intelligent, calm and caring as PFJ and still have people up in arms and assuming the worst.

• and yet there is perhaps merit in finding a fairminded thinking person who disagrees with us (like the lady immediately to the right of Tony Jones) and asking for feedback. I say this because I'm thinking of how poorly the Christian lady on the panel came across. It's not enough to have faith - you also need to understand the people you are speaking to.

• we should seek to understand where people are at and of course aim to speak plainly and clearly, but that at the same time as this, we should speak to the dignified part of people, speaking respectfully, assuming that amidst all the hostility and blinded thinking something of the knowledge of God remains and may recognise truth when it is spoken. So: speak intelligently, gladly and hopefully, knowing that these words of God are good words.

• it is possible to use Christian language and concepts in secular public discourse, as long as you make it comprehensible and all your other language is directly engaging with the culture-at-large. So: PFJ's mention of men and women being valuable because both are made "in the image of God" and that a husband's role should mimic Christ's of "laying down his life". While people unfamiliar with the Bible may not have completely understood these ideas, they showed that Christianity is more than just another philosophy of how to life well, that the presence of God brings profound realities. Normally Christians either avoid this explicit language or use it without taking the time to understand the culture (and so it's no more than a jarring insert).

• it is possible to mention the Gospel in public discourse - with careful planning (the question about men and women's roles in marriage) and jumping on opportunities (the critique that Christians should be more into equality).

• to ensure that these public opportunities have maximum benefit going forward, it is also good to aim for more process/systematic/meta things as well as conveying actual content - like "I want this to be the sort of thing that can be discussed openly", "I want us to have a respectful and serious discussion". 

What I *hope* we find that it tells us is that a kind, true and winsome word may be the thing that tips someone over into going to church.

Environmental friction

Great post about 'environmental friction', something that has been a factor in my life (in all of our lives!) without me always having the words for it.

What he should have said

I don't know if you heard about this US congressman's idiotic, harmful comments about abortion following a rape. Well here is The Gospel Coalition's Trevin Wax with the much improved 'What Todd Akin Should Have Said About Abortion and Rape'. And while we're talking about the humanity of the unborn, here is a telling quote:

He [President Obama] says abortion is a “heart-wrenching decision” and we should seek to reduce it.
But why is it heart-wrenching? And why seek to reduce it? If elective abortion does not take the life of a defenseless human being, why worry about the number of abortions each year? from here

Both things

The thing I find the most confronting about my faith is that God has not chosen to save all people. I praise him for his impartiality - that any person can be chosen, not only the middle-class, white, educated man or whatever other group is favoured in society. Crims and people with ugly disabilities and streetwomen and diseased African families living on rubbish dumps and young men dying of AIDS and people like me. There's no yardstick, because Jesus did it all. I praise him for this. But I don't understand why he didn't chose to have mercy on us all. I don't think it's injust of him, in no way do I think that - even saving just one single person would be an act of astonishingly unmerited mercy. My struggle isn't to do with injustice, it's rather that I feel like, if I were in his place I would be more merciful and more generous (which no doubt stems from a staggering lack of self-awareness). All this is in one sense made easier by the words of Romans 9 - because it teaches me what is true and right and what I'm to hold onto even in my non-understanding. But Romans 9 is hard too, because it's so blunt, so humbling.

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. (verses 14-18)

But the apostle Paul writes this knowing his Old Testament very well. He knows what is said in Exodus about Pharaoh - ten times God is described as hardening Pharaoh's heart and ten times Pharaoh is said to harden his own heart. It was both things and still is today. God is sovereign and people do what they want to do and are responsible for it. The Bible nowhere explains how both things can be true, but shows clearly that they are. And this authority of God is not some small thing, some minor part of his character, but fundamental to who he is. Before his words to Moses quoted in the passage above, he said "I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy (etc)". I still don't understand it but I'm happy that it's complicated and I bow before my God who died for me. There is none else who should have this authority.


H/T Kirk

Apprentices and tea

We really are social beings, mirroring what the others do. Of course it's a blessing and an evil. In Australia, my introverted nature made it really hard for me to include a protégé in my ministry or to invite friends over for dinner. But now that I'm surrounded by a culture where everyone does things in the company of others and when hospitality is a key part of friendships, it all feels a lot more natural and easy. I'm still me, but I'm the Chilean me. It's like the same parts are all still there, but in a slightly different shape - like one of those crazy mirrors, except I don't look like a hideously ugly alien.

Broken record

I am here for a time. Maybe my whole life, but that is still a time. I want to make some sort of mark, and, God willing, it will be greater than my small talents. Because this is not my country and I have come here specifically to help, I am already aware of my legacy. More than anything, I want to be known as someone who loves, of course. But there are other things I want to be known for, things belonging more narrowly to teaching. Let me try and work them out.

"What does God say about... ?" (to encourage people to open up the Bible when they have issues or questions)

"What type of writing is this?" (when reading the Bible: to help people consider the literary genres of the Bible and the effect they have on any one point)

"Imagine you were one of the first people to hear this story/letter/prophecy - what would you tell your friend it was about?" (when reading the Bible: to help people work out the main point of what's written)

"Where are we in God's story?" (when reading the Bible: to help people consider the whole story of the Bible and the effect that has on any one point)

"How does the cross affect... ?" (to encourage people to think about the everything-altering effects of the cross, the climax of the whole story of the Bible)

"How does this help us live today?" (when reading the Bible: to help people harmonise the original message in its time, with our time after the cross and before heaven, and keeping in mind a) that the Bible is always helpful, even when it is condeming sin, and b) that sometimes it simply tells us something more about our God rather than commanding specific action)

The ones in bold are of first importance I think.

Real and good

Cristo Redentor's home groups have been taking a look at various aspects of evangelism in preparation for Club Preguntas. We considered Acts 4 the other day, and when we got to verse 3 were asked what is off-putting or repulsive about the message of Jesus today. We came up with five things that I think are true of both Australia and Chile. In no particular order then, the Gospel says:

1. you have to be accountable for your actions;
2. you are a sinner, a bad person at heart;
3. you have to hand over control of your life;
4. you have to place your trust in things you can't see and touch - God and a 2000 year-old story;
5. you have to agree that other paths do not lead to God.

No wonder it's a miracle when any person comes to Christ. Before I became a Christian I hated these things, even when I thought they might be true. What I didn't see then was that life is better if it accords with reality - and, when I'm most honest with myself, I know the ugliness of my thoughts and motives, and even sometimes my actions. Pretending this isn't real and getting indignant about it doesn't do a thing to help it.

The other thing I didn't see was that this God came to earth as a real man; was murdered by men and punished by his Father in our stead, such was the love he had for us; after his rescurrection, had a guy called Thomas jab his finger in the nail-holes so that he might believe and trust - and that all the other religions call for us to do something and leave us uncertain about the outcome. Life is better if you are reconciled to your kind, tender, wise and powerful King and Dad and he is looking out for you.