thechurchblog

(Posted at 6:52am, June 24, 2005)

David writes:
Douglas Adams, in his book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” pokes more than a little fun at religion. He describes the “people” in the galaxy as being rather proud, definitely enlightened (and deceived at the same time) – and all around just plain goofy. Now, don’t get me wrong – I am a fan of the “Hitchhiker’s” series – and I find the humor and satire somewhat refreshing. I believe that when Douglas Adams pokes fun at religion, he is poking fun at us – reminding us not to take ourselves too seriously. Incidentally, he also pokes fun at politics, bureaucracy, the British, construction workers, social functions – the list goes on. He is one of the heroes of our cynical world.

So far in my explorations of the “Emerging Church,” I have found more than a few individuals (and even congregations) who fit right in with the “Adamsian” philosophy presented in the “Hitchhiker’s” books – that is, that there are more fools than wise in the world. Some folks take the negative view on this, that we are foolish to continue to do things the way our fathers and grandfathers did (or mothers and grandmothers for those who desire gender equality). Or that others are fools for not believing or experiencing what they believe and experience. A common trap to avoid, however, is in describing everybody foolish but yourself. Part of why the “Hitchhiker’s” books are so funny is that the fools often don’t realize their status.

A more positive view on foolishness is also echoed in The Church. The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:20, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” The positive side of foolishness is that you are never a fool if you are earnestly seeking the Most High God – we become fools only by what we make of Him, especially as we try to communicate Him to our friends and neighbors. We must therefore be very careful in how we do this.

Pride. If there was one sin that is above all others (which there isn’t – but that’s a topic for a future article), it is pride. People want to feel good about themselves. People need to know that they are important – and people aren’t usually bashful in sharing their view. Now, pride is a human emotion (although it is sometimes attributed to animals as well). Pride is ourselves telling us that we matter above others in some way. School pride, national pride, team pride – it’s all the same pride. And yes, we do have church pride. We have “religion pride.” It is a trap, because few things can motivate the human soul like pride.

I am a proud person. I am proud of the things I have accomplished, I am proud of the life I lead, I am proud of the role I play in our church. And yes, those things motivate me more strongly than perhaps anything else most of the time. I WANT people to know what I’ve accomplished. I WANT to maintain the life I lead. I WANT to continue to have an even more significant role in my church. But (–cheesy cliche’ warning!–) where is God in all of this? It is ridiculous and humbling at the same time. On the one hand I say, “Of course God is in all these things. He is made it all happen, after all!” On the other hand, you saw an awful lot of “I WANT” statements a minute ago.

I believe that it is pride that ultimately keeps people from God in the first place. A good friend of mine and co-worker at NMSU tells it this way, “It’s not that I think that God doesn’t exist – it’s just that I don’t see any evidence that God gives a da** about me, so why should I give a da** about him!?!” This is blunt, but accurate in describing a large percentage of our self-proclaimed agnostic society. This man isn’t a believer. But he believes that he knows where he stands in the universe.

For a more in-depth view on this “Apathetic Agnostism,” this site has a good summary. A word of caution – the link will take you to a real, live, professing agnostic’s personal site. I don’t endorse the truth of his statements, I just present it for your further education and interest in the topic.

The Church of late has been challenged by this class of agnosticism. We see people in all walks of life – at work, at school, at home – who are either self-proclaimed or practical agnostics. Agnostism is the new black, so the saying goes – it is very hip to be agnostic these days. “Who is this god person, anyway?” The basic teaching of agnostism is that God cannot be reasoned, personalized, understood, related-to, etc. Albert Einstein was a famous agnostic (there is some debate as to what his actual religions view were – this would be a GREAT topic for further discussion). This quote is attributed to him; “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.” (stanford.edu) Furthermore, it has been said of Einstein that he viewed the church and Christians as being out of touch with how incredibly complex and incomprehensible God is.

Raise your hand if you can agree with that. Come on, you know that you want to!

The “emerging church,” (or EC for short) has latched on to this way of thinking big time – because it is being honest to how we feel deep in our hearts. Of course, this is a generality, and I will always try to avoid generalizing whenever I can (d’oh!), but if you spend any time reading many of the EC blogs or webpages from EC congregations, you’ll see a lot of this.

What I really want to say, however, is that we need to be careful. An agnostic would say that God is evidenced in nature, but cannot be known by nature. The EC might take the middle ground and point out that Paul talks about this in Romans 1:20 (crosswalk.com). It is the basis for one of Paul’s most powerful arguments in Romans, that man is depraved both because of the inheritance of sin through Adam, and because we willfully reject God even though He is known to us. But God makes himself known to us through beauty and majesty – just as Paul points out. The agnostic would agree with this, but also profess that this is a rather shallow view of God. They would be right. Therefore, when we worship God in The Church, we need another element to distinguish ourselves from the agnostics. I believe this is found in Galatians:

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?”

The key phrase here is “you. . .are known by God.” We want to make a big deal about who God is in our worship (beauty, majesty, almighty power, incomprehensible hugeness) – but do we also make a big deal in our worship about what God has done for us? You see, God isn’t ours to know. We are God’s to know. This is yet another way in which God helps us keep our pride in check. Psalm 8 is all about that. Yes God is beauty and majesty – but it isn’t for us to discover. It is for Him to show – and he does it through the praises of simple children. That chapter in Psalms doesn’t mention a single thing we can do for God – including discovering Him. He has done all the work. He set the moon and stars in place (v. 3), He made us (v.5) and crowned us with glory and honor (v.6). He put us in charge of His creation (v.7-8). His name – the majesty of it – fills the earth (v.1).

I think a challenge for The Church is to develop wisdom in this. That is, wisdom about God’s nature as opposed to knowledge. Knowledge leads to pride, after all. Wisdom is from God. Knowledge is from us, and leads to foolish, “worldly” wisdom.

Who is this God person, anyway? You will know when you know that He knows you. You will then know that He loves you. And that will lead you to ask the next question, “Who is Jesus Christ, really?”

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

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