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greybetaSo, in my most recent update to my religious views on Facebook, I have entered “Contradictory Christianity”. Nope, I’ve never heard of before it either, but it has to do with the one fundamental principle that I cannot fully accept. It is what I consider to be greatest weakness in fundamental Christianity, and therefore its greatest strength.
Before I get into that, I need to say what I consider to be the fundamental principles of Christianity. There are actually a lot of ways to state this, but the one that made the most sense to me was what I learned from a discipleship study called MasterLife.
The author postulated the following six principles of being a disciple of Christ:
1. Spend Time with the Master
2. Live in the Word
3. Pray in Faith
4. Fellowship with Believers
5. Witness to the World
6. Minister to Others
Spending time with the Master is fairly obvious. If one is to follow Christ, one must spend time with Him. This is what most Christians would call their “quiet time”, most often done early in the morning in order to get one’s day started.
Living in the Word involves constantly studying the Bible. How can one follow Christ if one does not even know His Word? Related to this is memorizing Scripture. A disciple of Christ should keep His Word close to his or her heart, in order to avoid being tempted by Satan.
Praying in Faith is all about putting supplications before the LORD. You can go with the George Carlin theory that prayers are only answered 50% of the time, but there is something behind the power of prayer. Whether it’s psychological or spiritual is up for debate.
Fellowship with Believers is perhaps the easiest of these disciplines. I mean, it involves hanging out with your friends. Who doesn’t love having a good time, sans alcohol and the like?
Witness to the World refers to the fact that disciples should bear much fruit, to His Father’s glory. The fact that you’re following Christ should inspire others to follow Christ as well.
Ministering to Others serves basic needs and is the chief reason why there are so many church outreach programs. It’s a tangible service to the good Lord, and one where results can be seen and measured.
So which of these six do I not fully accept? It would be number five, witnessing to the world. I’ve never felt particularly called to missions. Perhaps it’s my Buddhist upbringing, but I’ve always been taught to respect other people’s views and beliefs on things.
My parents were always harping on me to think from the other viewpoint. This is why I’m very talented at reading other people’s minds because I’ve thought about what they’re thinking about ever since I can remember.
And yet, I also believe that number five is the lynchpin to the Church. Without it, the Church ceases to have meaning. So, I don’t believe in the most fundamental principle of the church and yet I go anyways.
You might ask, why is that?
Because I’m a contrarian by nature. While I’m a history teacher, I was also fairly good at electrical engineering for three years. I didn’t particularly like circuits, but I have a powerful analytical mind. And that analytical mind will run contrary to whatever I’m facing.
I’m one of those scary people who believe that you must try to disprove your theory to prove it. If I am a pessimistic person who believes that life is meaningless, then I must do my best to find meaning in life.
On my Facebook, I quote myself once. “The universe is entirely random, but we can only comprehend it by giving meaning to coincidences.”
For some reason, many people do not believe omniscience and omnipotence can go together. How can someone be all-knowing and all-powerful if by definition being all-knowing and all-powerful means knowing nothing and not having any power whatsoever?
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Or, I think of it this way. I don’t believe in randomness because I can’t believe in randomness.
Let’s use one of those strange philosophical arguments here. Say the universe is completely random, but God granted us the power of choice. He already knows where all of our choices lead to, good or bad. He has the power to change it, but he doesn’t.
Wait, why wouldn’t God wanted to change all the bad things that could happen to us? Well, for the same reason our parents quit telling us to do things at a certain age. Unlike the love of a child that is forced, the given love of a child actually means something!
What I don’t hear often enough in the church is that we should do things how we want, the way we want. Because if we don’t fully give ourselves to God, we might as well give nothing at all. Admittedly, it says in Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
However, I can’t admit that Jesus is the only way. Oh, to be sure, Christ is my way, but that isn’t quite good enough. He must be the only way through to the Father. I must give not 99.99992% of my heart, I must give the full 100%.
You see, all of my Christian friends are praying that I will do so one day. That’s because they truly believe in Jesus’s weakest and strongest teaching.
Heh, you can’t disagree with me now, can you?
Before I get into that, I need to say what I consider to be the fundamental principles of Christianity. There are actually a lot of ways to state this, but the one that made the most sense to me was what I learned from a discipleship study called MasterLife.
The author postulated the following six principles of being a disciple of Christ:
1. Spend Time with the Master
2. Live in the Word
3. Pray in Faith
4. Fellowship with Believers
5. Witness to the World
6. Minister to Others
Spending time with the Master is fairly obvious. If one is to follow Christ, one must spend time with Him. This is what most Christians would call their “quiet time”, most often done early in the morning in order to get one’s day started.
Living in the Word involves constantly studying the Bible. How can one follow Christ if one does not even know His Word? Related to this is memorizing Scripture. A disciple of Christ should keep His Word close to his or her heart, in order to avoid being tempted by Satan.
Praying in Faith is all about putting supplications before the LORD. You can go with the George Carlin theory that prayers are only answered 50% of the time, but there is something behind the power of prayer. Whether it’s psychological or spiritual is up for debate.
Fellowship with Believers is perhaps the easiest of these disciplines. I mean, it involves hanging out with your friends. Who doesn’t love having a good time, sans alcohol and the like?
Witness to the World refers to the fact that disciples should bear much fruit, to His Father’s glory. The fact that you’re following Christ should inspire others to follow Christ as well.
Ministering to Others serves basic needs and is the chief reason why there are so many church outreach programs. It’s a tangible service to the good Lord, and one where results can be seen and measured.
So which of these six do I not fully accept? It would be number five, witnessing to the world. I’ve never felt particularly called to missions. Perhaps it’s my Buddhist upbringing, but I’ve always been taught to respect other people’s views and beliefs on things.
My parents were always harping on me to think from the other viewpoint. This is why I’m very talented at reading other people’s minds because I’ve thought about what they’re thinking about ever since I can remember.
And yet, I also believe that number five is the lynchpin to the Church. Without it, the Church ceases to have meaning. So, I don’t believe in the most fundamental principle of the church and yet I go anyways.
You might ask, why is that?
Because I’m a contrarian by nature. While I’m a history teacher, I was also fairly good at electrical engineering for three years. I didn’t particularly like circuits, but I have a powerful analytical mind. And that analytical mind will run contrary to whatever I’m facing.
I’m one of those scary people who believe that you must try to disprove your theory to prove it. If I am a pessimistic person who believes that life is meaningless, then I must do my best to find meaning in life.
On my Facebook, I quote myself once. “The universe is entirely random, but we can only comprehend it by giving meaning to coincidences.”
For some reason, many people do not believe omniscience and omnipotence can go together. How can someone be all-knowing and all-powerful if by definition being all-knowing and all-powerful means knowing nothing and not having any power whatsoever?
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Or, I think of it this way. I don’t believe in randomness because I can’t believe in randomness.
Let’s use one of those strange philosophical arguments here. Say the universe is completely random, but God granted us the power of choice. He already knows where all of our choices lead to, good or bad. He has the power to change it, but he doesn’t.
Wait, why wouldn’t God wanted to change all the bad things that could happen to us? Well, for the same reason our parents quit telling us to do things at a certain age. Unlike the love of a child that is forced, the given love of a child actually means something!
What I don’t hear often enough in the church is that we should do things how we want, the way we want. Because if we don’t fully give ourselves to God, we might as well give nothing at all. Admittedly, it says in Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
However, I can’t admit that Jesus is the only way. Oh, to be sure, Christ is my way, but that isn’t quite good enough. He must be the only way through to the Father. I must give not 99.99992% of my heart, I must give the full 100%.
You see, all of my Christian friends are praying that I will do so one day. That’s because they truly believe in Jesus’s weakest and strongest teaching.
Heh, you can’t disagree with me now, can you?
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-23 10:21 pm (UTC)Not all Christian demoninations are evangelical. If you feel that Christ is still in your heart, you might consider trying a different flavor of the faith.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-25 12:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-23 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-25 12:02 pm (UTC)Random points I agree with (warning-- very ADD)
Date: 2007-05-24 04:44 am (UTC)-St. Francis of Assisi
While writing an exegetical paper for a theology class, Jesus and the Synoptic Gospels, I read a biblical commentary that stated that prayer is an anthropological phenomenon among humankind-- because, while at prayer, a person is more honest than they could possibly hope to be than when they are interacting with other people. Interesting.
One of the last topics we discussed in another class, Contemporary Social Justice Problems, involved Jesus on the Cross. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" and such. God had the power to reach out and save Jesus, but He didn't. That would have been beside the point, and against everything the crucifixion had built up to. It also speaks of the power of faith-- how much did Jesus know and when did He know it? A Catholic point of view is that Jesus did not *know* about the Resurrection, but He had to have faith that this was not the end. Yes, He despaired, but such is human nature when the weight of the world breaks us down. God is never closer than when He seems so far away. Your point about a parent letting their child do what they need to do to learn made me think of this.
I am a Catholic convert from Islam. My experiences are not over, but the ones I have-- they have offered me some insight, though I have much still to learn. I do not believe that Christ is the only way. My God does not fit into box, though, others' understanding of Him may be that way. Regardless of how someone believes, they are affected. Whether they are athiest, Buddhist, Christian, whatever. God is all powerful, and He is present in ways that we don't understand. Just because someone may deny the existance of gravity doesn't mean they aren't subject to its effects.
Haha, I"m so random. Whatever. I liked this post.
Re: Random points I agree with (warning-- very ADD)
Date: 2007-05-24 04:45 am (UTC)Re: Random points I agree with (warning-- very ADD)
Date: 2007-05-25 12:08 pm (UTC)I like what most of you said, though the whole "existence of gravity" thing is an argument that can actually be used against Christianity.
Re: Random points I agree with (warning-- very ADD)
Date: 2007-05-25 08:45 pm (UTC)The existence of gravity wasn't an argument FOR Xnity, so much as it was an argument for a higher power that can be felt, even if no explanation is offered for it.
Eh, it made sense in my head.
Truth be told, I'm more Catholic*ish* these days than Catholic. A dash of Islam, a sprig of Buddhism, and a pinch of skepticism... I'm my own concoction, I guess. I don't embrace any one idea fully because I don't think that was the point.
But, I'm just me. I should start my own church. I'll call it Godism. And I'll print out t-shirts just to make it official.
Re: Random points I agree with (warning-- very ADD)
Date: 2007-05-25 10:21 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godism
Re: Random points I agree with (warning-- very ADD)
Date: 2007-05-26 03:58 am (UTC)Man, how lame. That just goes to show you that there are no new ideas. So, my version of Godism will either be a remake or a B-movie sequal.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-25 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-25 10:22 pm (UTC)