CommonChristianity: September 2017

Monday, September 25, 2017

567 - He's So Unusual

4:28 PM | Posted by Bob Walters | | Edit Post

Spirituality Column No. 567

September 26, 2017

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

He’s So Unusual

By Bob Walters

I’ve said this before: My favorite definition of “news” is “what’s not supposed to happen.”

If you can find an honest newspaper, newspost (internet) or newscast –increasingly difficult, I know – you’ll notice a “usual” mix of what happened (ball game scores, for example), what might happen (the weather, legislative agendas, business and jobs forecasts) and then what wasn’t supposed to happen but did (murders, disasters, Cubs win the World Series, Trump elected, etc.), i.e., the “unusual.”

Just because something unexpected happened doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad or good, it just goes to prove that “surprise” is a highly effective and intense emotion, attention getter, and conversation generator. “What’s not supposed to happen” – but does – gets us talking. Our conversation is directed to how it will affect “me” (us, loved ones, neighbors) both physically (suffering or joy) and morally (evil or good).

Now, please realize I’m about to talk about Jesus and the Good News, the best but most unusual news of all, not sports or politics; but I also am well aware that almost everybody reading this is, right now – because of the parenthetical, one-word mentions above – still thinking about either the Champion Cubs or President Trump.

Which proves my point: startling developments catch and hold our attention.

In all human experience what was, is, and will remain more startling than Jesus?

Nothing. He is the most famous person in all history, but how do we even know about Him? There is virtually no historical record of Jesus. He was born, lived and died – the savior of mankind died as a criminal – in the furthest, least regarded nether-region of the dominant civilization of His time, the Roman Empire.

Then He came back to life and ascended to heaven: that’s unusual; that’s news.

Jesus uniquely and with all authority said we are strong in our weakness, rich in our poverty, and to love our enemies. He expressed royal heavenly kingship by being a suffering earthly servant. He said that He will be known by – and that we will be saved by – faith not evidence. He said we are forgiven of our badness by His goodness once for all; that we are forgiven of our sins to prove the eternal loving righteousness of God.

Unusual? That doesn’t even make sense. Again, that’s the point.

The same folks stuck on the Cubs/Trump mentions above may be going into mild hyperventilation about my “sparse evidence” suggestion regarding Jesus. Wait wait wait! one might sputter (or a preacher might preach), there is all kinds of evidence for Jesus! Yes, there is. There is the Bible, the Church, the truth in my heart, and the fellowship of all believers that endures today. There’s historian Josephus, some Roman records, the Dead Sea Scrolls, papyrus …how much proof do you need?

Well … more. The “intellectual” world insists on non-faith evidence. The ancient Greek philosophers said only the seen and repeatable is real. The Enlightenment told us God and the whole Christ thing is a reflection of humanity rather than the other way around. Science denies we were created in God’s image, that the truest, most reliable evidence for Christ resides in our hearts, and that faith is the largest reality there is.

Jesus is real, is truth, is love, and is repeatable in our hearts.

That’s so unusual.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) says “hearts” but means “my soul’s brain.”

Labels: Champion Cubs, Enlightenment, evidence, Greek philosophy, Jesus is unusual, news, President Trump, proof, surprise | 0 comments

Monday, September 18, 2017

566 - 'Life is a Line...'

5:54 PM | Posted by Bob Walters | | Edit Post

Spirituality Column No. 566
September 19, 2017
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

‘Life is a Line …’

By Bob Walters

Toward the end of my teen years a light-hearted, not-especially-philosophical high school friend offered this practical and subtly philosophical life’s insight:

“Life is a line,” he said, smiling and expressing that line by thumping his left hand and then his right hand a couple feet apart on a table in front of him. “You are born here (left hand), you die here (right), and here in the middle you gotta sleep and you gotta eat. Other than that, you make choices and live with whatever comes next.”

OK it’s not Kierkegaard, but the image of that line stayed with me because it speaks to humanity’s – each individual human’s – God-ordained freedom, opportunity, and movement. In life, are we going forward, backward, or running in place? There was no mystery, really, at that impregnable stage of life when “forward” was the only imaginable direction; “backwards” or “staying in place” were too horrible to contemplate.

Back then I wasn’t thinking so much about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, eternity, or hope, but only this finite life’s seemingly infinite road ahead. It was some years later that I learned a bit more, philosophically, about the western world’s “linear sequential programming,” i.e., “Life actually IS a line,” versus the eastern world’s quite different orientation, “Life is a circle.” And then you discover that smart people have been thinking about philosophy – life’s meaning and purpose – for a very long time, and learn there is way more to it than lines and circles.

But I bring all this up because it has settled into my being that the one, simple, dependable way forward; the way to navigate life’s “line” for all time, reason, purpose, and meaning, is holy relationship with and faith in Jesus Christ. Forward is the direction Christ is going; it’s the only way. Here is how I know and why I want to go that way, too.

Let’s start with the cosmic millstone around my neck – the sin in my life. Sparing the salient specifics of both “sin the condition” and “sin the action,” what I notice is that I’ve not yet sinned tomorrow. I probably will – sin, I mean; in fact I doubt I can get through the rest of today cleanly. But that millstone is both the worst of my past and the anchor binding my present unless I choose to let Jesus – in faith knowing the truth of his promise – break that millstone of sin cleanly from my neck. Then I won’t have to live with the perpetual weight and fear of it. The line – the way ahead – is free.

The Good News? Jesus on the cross already broke that millstone; it’s gone. The bad news? We have a free choice whether to believe Jesus or not; to keep that millstone or not. And that, cosmically, is life’s most important choice because I know this: That millstone – whether your own neck is in it or not – is ultimately heading for the deepest pit God can create. As the old knight said in Indiana Jones 3: “Choose wisely.”

Sure, sins endure … for now. We see them, live them, suffer with them. But they were and are covered by the life-restoring blood and resurrection of Jesus – “once for all,” is how the Bible repeatedly puts it. Our hope is the eternal tomorrow without sin.

How thankful I am that Jesus is my freedom from before and my lifeline ahead.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is more a fan of Jesus than of philosophy; philosophy can explain sin but it sure can’t cure it. Jesus is the only truly happy ending.

Labels: freedom, going forward, Kierkegaard, Life is a line, millstone, philosophy, road ahead, sin, teen advice | 0 comments

Monday, September 11, 2017

565 - Mark My Words

6:10 PM | Posted by Bob Walters | | Edit Post

Spirituality Column No. 565

September 12, 2017

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Mark My Words

By Bob Walters

It seems that everybody but me already knew that the Gospel of Mark is basically the witness of St. Peter.

I have read the Gospels many times, know that Matthew wrote to the Jews, Mark to the Romans, Luke to the Greeks and John to everybody. Matthew the Jew was a hated tax collector for the Romans recruited by Jesus to be a disciple. Mark was a Jew but not a disciple and most Bible scholars agree he was probably the “young man who fled naked” (Mark 14:51-52) when Jesus was arrested. Luke, a Greek physician, was not among the 12 Disciples but probably was one of the “70 or 72” caretaker disciples (Luke 10:1-2) and also very likely was the “other man” with Cleopas on the road to Emmaus when they were visited by Jesus (Luke 24:13-18) following the crucifixion. John, “the Disciple Jesus loved,” was the only Disciple who actually was at the crucifixion. All the rest fled. At the cross, of all Jesus’s followers, only John and a few women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, were there.

To recap the Gospel writers early on, Matthew was despised, Mark was a coward, Luke was a foreigner, and John, probably too many times in his Gospel, mentioned that he was “the disciple Jesus loved.” My dear but now 10-years-deceased pastor and mentor Russ Blowers liked to joke, lovingly, that John wanted to make sure everyone knew he was Jesus’s “favorite.”

To me the greatness of the Bible is more than just its divine trustworthiness. With its fascinating stories, depth, danger, complex and linked characters, and how everything ultimately fits together; there is always something new to learn.

And I keep learning things, thanks in no small part to my great friend and teacher George Bebawi, a Bible translator and well-regarded scholar in church history (lecturer at Cambridge University, England) who for the 14^th consecutive September at East 91^st Street Christian Church begins a Christian teaching series, this year on the Gospel of Mark. The class – free and open to everyone – begins this week, Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the upstairs “Sun Room” at E91. Anyone from any church is welcome.

Because I help George finalize his class notes (proofing and formatting), I saw the information on Peter and Mark. I shared that nugget with pastor-friend Dave Faust, who said, “Oh yeah, that’s in 1 Peter 5:13, and Silas (verse 12) helped both Peter and Paul.” John Samples, dear friend and pastor who wrote the foreword for my new book, said “That’s true, and isn’t it interesting that everyone thinks Mark is a shortened version of Matthew, when actually Mark was written first and Matthew is more like an extended version of Mark?” Many of you could probably add much more.

So sorry if I’m a bit behind, but I find constant renewal not only in daily relationship with Jesus but in the perpetual freshness of scripture. I pray you do too.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) sincerely invites you to George’s free class series on Mark at E91. Just bring your Bible and your brain … and some note paper.

Labels: 1 Peter 5:13, Bible knowledge, Cambridge University, Dave Faust, E91 Wednesday class, George Bebawi, Gospel of Mark, Gospel writers, John Samples, learning | 0 comments

Monday, September 4, 2017

564 - It's the Truth, Stupid

9:34 PM | Posted by Bob Walters | | Edit Post

Spirituality Column No. 564
September 5, 2017
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

It’s the Truth, Stupid

By Bob Walters

“…in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” – 1 Peter 3:15

Civil discourse in the modern public square – discourse not laced with name calling, belittlement, and insult – is getting harder and harder to find.

Can we agree, as Christians, that it’s a mistake to take that ad hominem, acid-throwing tactic and try to represent the love, salvation, and freedom we have in Jesus? And since absolutely everybody these days seems to think they know the truth; how is one supposed to act when one actually does know The Truth? To that end we find abundant help not only in the authoritative words of Jesus, but also in the disciple Peter’s good advice for assuredly proclaiming and witnessing to the truth of Jesus Christ: especially that “gentleness and respect” part.

The simple trick I think is obvious: love others, don’t insult them. We insult others maybe not so much because we think they are lesser humans than us, but because we fear their ideas; their ideas somehow threaten our lives. That’s why Jesus’s command to “love God and love others” blends so nicely with His constant instruction to “fear not.” We regularly get our Christian feet and faith tangled up trying to figure out if we are truly and primarily supposed to “fear” God, judgment, wrath, punishment, Hell, and Satan. All while we routinely and inexplicably ignore Jesus’s greatest calming gift: “fear not.”

That means, “He’s got this.” Being a true Christian means we trust that He does.

It also means, “Don’t fear other humans.” Eternally, there isn’t much damage they can do to us anyway, despite their ability and sometimes intent to make this life as miserable for us as possible. No doubt there are bad people and bad situations; there are “wars and rumors of wars”; there are demons, disasters, diseases and disappointment. Caution is prudent; sin and destruction are rife in this fallen world.

Yet the most powerful difference Christ can make in this life, right now while we are in it, is to remove fear, which He does with love. It is our own fear that allows others to control us, robbing both our ability to love and the freedom we are promised in Christ.

Think about that not only in the secular venues of politics, media, academia, and popular culture, but also listen carefully – and discerningly – to Christians preaching the controlling gospel of fear, guilt, punishment, etc. The freeing and true message of Jesus is grace, humility, forgiveness, mercy and love. Be thankful, not scared.

“Fear God,” I get it; sin is bad. But love Jesus; love covers our fear in this life the way Jesus covers our sins before God. Barbed name-calling, while it may win an argument or an election (e.g. “It’s the economy, stupid”, 1992), never generates love.

Love is as simple as gentleness and respect, and it is eternally wise to know joy comes when love overcomes fear. Boldly state your hope in Christ; it’s the smart truth.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) says “Happy 30^th birthday” today (Sept. 5) to his son Eric who posed the question in late summer of 2001: “Dad, why don’t we go to church?”

Labels: 1 Peter 3:15, civil discourse, Fear God, Fear Not, trusting Christ, Truth | 1 comments

567 - He's So Unusual

566 - 'Life is a Line...'

565 - Mark My Words

564 - It's the Truth, Stupid

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