Love is an Orientation

Just finished reading this book too (its half term so I get a lot of reading done!). It doesn't answer any questions about homosexuality, as such, but that isn't really the point of the book, which was very refreshing. It does bring up some interesting things about church though, which I wanted to share here.

Andrew Marin writes:

"Church is a place to give rest to your soul, a place of gathering where anyone should be able to come and involve themselves with a community of believers who are joined by a common faith in the Lord Almighty. Church is believers - transparent, real and raw."

The Church of England in general, has become a place of perfection, a place without sinners, which is completely different to the church of close gatherers that Jesus surrounded himself with. The Kingdom of God is not for those who have lived a perfect life on earth as David's relationship with God shows. David was a sinner; an adulterer and a murderer (indirectly), still God calls him 'someone after my own heart'. David was centred on God and followed Him. Lot's wife on the other hand, chose her possessions and the life she had grown to love. The Kingdom of God is for those who have shifted their mind frame away from earthly things onto God. The people surrounding Jesus (his disciples, the Samaritian woman, Mary Magdalene etc) were sinners, who appreciated the 'living bread' Jesus was offering them.

When someone asked Billy Graham why he still hung around Bill Clinton after the sex scandal broke out, he replied: "It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict, God's job to judge and my job to love." We are all called to love.

In the book 'UnChristian' a group of 16-29 year olds were asked how they perceive the church. They replied:
Anti-gay (91%)
Judgemental (87%)
Hypocritical (85%)
They are some figures!

I'm lucky I belong to a lovely church which I don't think embodies those characteristics but there are some people in all churches who believe it is their job to judge and condemn. It isn't.

Andrew Marin describes a photo frame he has on his desk which has no photo but just a single mustard seed. Everyone that comes across it stops to think why he would have such a thing on his desk. He uses it to show we are like that mustard seed. "We are unable to establish ourselves, dependent on the intervention of Another, not in control of ourcircumstances but hopeful that God can bring us through them."

We all need God and we all need the fellowship of others in a church, full of people that don't judge us, who are not perfect and are all struggling with sin in different ways. Its time we shared rather than judged or criticised.

The Doctrine of God - The Trinity

I have just finished reading this in depth book I borrowed, after my meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses last week. It is excellent, though I did skim read some of it!

It starts with discussing the difference between the Jewish and Christian idea of God and how Jesus allows us to know God from within, on the inside, whereas the Jews had only ever known him on the outside. 'All partitions are (now) torn down, no more divisions.' Jesus' death has helped us to be risen up to God 'in the heavenly realms', able to stand in the presence of God the Father, through union with Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

What the Jehovah's Witnesses believe in is called Economic Trinitarianism which means that the Son and the Holy Spirit came out of the Father, in time, not in eternity. This separates the Bible into sections - Old Testament is the time of the Father; the Gospels are the time of the Son and after Pentecost is the time of the Holy Spirit (although the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the time of the Holy Spirit has now ended).
The book argues that the Trinity, though not mentioned as a concept in the New Testament, has its roots in the Bible. Jesus instructs his disciples to baptise 'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Matthew 28:19). This is mirrored in his own baptism when all three are present (Father-voice; Son and Holy Spirit-dove). His disciples would have been baptising while Jesus was alive and after, before the manuscript was written, implying that it is the norm. In Acts 8 someone was only baptised in the name of the Son and this was considered inadequate, the Holy Spirit was needed too. We can fall into the trap of singling out one member of the Trinity so forgetting that they cannot be separated.

Paul refers to the Trinity (or the three persons) with varying order - another way of showing that no one particular person of the Trinity takes precidence over the other. All three have particular purposes and roles, though God cannot be divided and to say that the Holy Spirit possesses one quality that the Father or the Son do not have would be wrong. Co-inherence is the theology that all three persons occupy the same divine 'space', so to see God is to see all three at once. All three are therefore involved in the crucifixion but God is not dead - though they all suffered, it is in Christ's humanity that he dies. It was the son who offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father and it is the Holy Spirit who now makes that sacrifice effective in the life of the Christian. Jesus enables us to have a relationship with the Father so points to himself and the Father. We are therefore in the 'image of Christ' as sons and daughters of God.

In Revelation 1 the parallel between God the Father and God the Son are shown quite clearly. In verse 8, it appears God  the Father is speaking: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Jesus then appears to say in verse 17-18: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death." In the passages it is very unclear who is speaking, showing that Father and Son are interchangeable and reflect each other in what they say and do; they share the absolute power of God without losing their identities. The Holy Spirit makes the vision possible (verse 10) and each letter to the different churches ends with: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

This book has highlighted where I was going wrong before - in separating the persons of the Trinity to discuss who is the most important and who has final authority. It doesn't matter - the three persons can't be separated: to see one is to see them all.

The Trinity and Jehovah's Witnesses

I have been meeting up with two Jehovah's Witnesses for a few months, with a great friend who lets me join in, in all their debates. Yesterday we focused on the kingdom and who Jesus really is and what they seemed to be saying is that Jesus is God but not equal to God the Father.
They were quoting scripture left, right and centre to support their view. Here are a few examples:

John 14 v28: Jesus says: "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."

Matthew 24 v36: Jesus says: "No-one knows about that day (the last day) or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

1 Corinthians 11 v3: "Now I want you to realise that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God."

They quoted a few others which I can't remember off the top of my head, but I left the meeting feeling like I'd let down the side - that I couldn't come up with enough arguments to 'knock 'em dead' with. I argued that many times Jesus says that He and the Father are 'one' and that if you see Jesus 'you see the Father'. I quoted Philippians 2 v6 onwards: Jesus "who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness... he humbled himself..." I felt this showed that Jesus was God but had to make himself nothing and a servant in order to accomplish what His Father had told Jesus to do.

The way I see it is that Jesus is God but He had to make his role 'lesser' than God to show other's how to live (prayer etc) and fulfill his purpose. In Corinthians Paul is not saying that women are lesser than men and Jesus lesser than God but he is saying who the final authority goes to. While Jesus was on earth the final authority goes to his Father in Heaven and on earth the final authority in a marriage goes to the husband (I am definitely not saying women are inferior to men, just that a head is needed. A good husband always listens to his wife and considers her opinion when making decisions for them both). While on earth Jesus would not know about the last days and He was saying that this does not concern Him while on earth. While on earth the Father is greater than the Son. It is all a matter of purpose.

The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus was the first created (before Adam and Eve) and is therefore the first, the beginning and the Alpha (Revelations 22). They believe this explains why Jesus was at the creation of Adam and Eve. I do believe that Jesus has always been there.

Now this is where I show how amazing God really is. While worrying about this during Sunday service and thinking about what a failure I'd been the day before, God speaks to me through the sermon. Jesus is the cornerstone and foundation of our faith: Jesus is 'the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me' (John 14 v6). My vicar even says he has changed his sermon in the evening service to talk more about who Jesus really is!

I may not be able to argue and explain all things (to my satisfaction!) but at least I know who the cornerstone really is and no one can take that away from me.