Several years ago I visited a museum and saw the skeleton of a dinosaur. As I read the plaque, I learned only a handful of the bones were original, that the remainder had been fabricated based on a paleontologist's extrapolation from the authentic bones. The dinosaur was massive and I was mystified at how such a large creature could be produced from scraps of bone.
I've studied theology in some depth, not by watching Pat Robertson and reading books about how God wants to bless me financially, but by trotting off to college and earning degrees in it. So when I saw the dinosaur, my thoughts turned church-ward, as they invariably do. I thought how the church, like many of these dinosaur skeletons, is the product of extrapolation, of modest beginnings multiplied into vast enterprises.
Jesus, we are told by the church, emerged from his mother's virginal womb with a pencil behind his ear and a blueprint for the church well in hand. But there are only two passages in the Bible (Matthew 16:18 and 18:17) in which Jesus mentions the church, and those references have dubious origins. Many Bible scholars (the ones who don't watch Pat Robertson) suspect the Matthean verses were not original to Jesus, but were written back into the text by persons hoping to bolster their theological and ecclesial position by placing them in the mouth of Jesus. (There's no better guarantee of job security than convincing others Jesus appointed you to the task.) From those two verses, we have built a vast institution based on these "hints" Jesus gave us. But we should never delude ourselves into thinking that today's church sprung directly from the mind of Jesus. All we have is extrapolation, a few bones upon which have been erected a larger organism.
By way of disclosure, I should confess that I am involved in the church, having served as a Quaker pastor in Indiana for 25 years and counting. My brand of Quakerism is a good-humored one, and casts a jaundiced eye towards the Holy and Catholic Church Instituted By Christ, the Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, and the Only Way By Which God Is Known and We Are Saved. We're more the working-for-peace, feeding-the-poor, knitting-afghans-for-Afghans kind of church.
This is all to say that some Christians believe in Biblical inerrancy or papal infallibility or that the Haitians made a pact with the devil that centuries later caused an earthquake, but I'm not one of them. I fall squarely in the nice camp of Christianity. Be nice to people. Be pleasant. What the heck, let's go out on a limb and do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
Large portions of religious folks have forgotten this, a fact that both annoys and inspires me. Annoys me because they've managed to convince so many people that theirs is the normative definition of faith, inspires me because I enjoy articulating an understanding of Christian faith that annoys them. Hence, my most recent book, If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus.
It is apparent, after several millennia of experimentation, that the Ten Commandments we Christians all know and love and want to hang in courtrooms haven't lived up to their billing. We're still coveting, fornicating, and stealing, and seeming to enjoy it more than ever. So I've suggested ten new standards around which we can orient our lives. They are as follows:
If the church were Christian, Jesus would be a model for living, not an object of worship.
If the church were Christian, affirming our potential would be more important than condemning our brokenness.
If the church were Christian, reconciliation would be valued over judgment.
If the church were Christian, gracious behavior would be more important than right belief.
If the church were Christian, inviting questions would be more important than supplying answers.
If the church were Christian, encouraging personal exploration would be more important than communal uniformity.
If the church were Christian, meeting needs would be more important than maintaining institutions.
If the church were Christian, peace would be more important than power.
If the church were Christian, it would care more about love and less about sex.
If the church were Christian, this life would be more important than the afterlife.
In the end, what I'm hoping for is a church a little less full of itself, and a little more full of love. It wouldn't take much, for love and grace and kindness have a way of multiplying. We can start with just a few bones of it, and watch it build into something so vast it boggles the mind -- a divine extrapolation, if you will.
Mary C. Gordon: Why I Stay: A Parable From A Progressive Catholic
The Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matthew 16:18 - Passage Lookup - New International Version ...
Matthew 16:18 - Passage Lookup - King James Version - BibleGateway.com
I suppose that every writer must overstate his case to keep it interesting and Phil has done that very well in stating, “Jesus, we are told by the church, emerged … blueprint for the church well in hand.” However, I’m afraid that the later quote, “I enjoy articulating an understanding of the Christian faith that annoys them,” is not such an exaggeration and I feel very sad about that. I have always tried to stand in that place that respects the heartfelt beliefs of every person, whether I agree with them or not and, yes, even if they annoy me.
Phil has articulated ten “new standards.” My concern is that Phil has offered us false options. We don’t have to choose. In fact it is possible to stand in a place that values Jesus as a model and also reveres Jesus as the son of God. It is possible to stand in a place where asking questions and supplying answers are both vital roles of the church.
In the end, what I’m hoping for is a church that can have gracious dialog where each person, and each person’s heartfelt belief, is valued.
It would be admirable if people did good works without anticipating the rewards of Heaven or the threat of Hell.
What are you saying-the church is sinful?
What I think you are m issing is this---It is because of our sin nature, that......(add your thoughts). Or another way to put it, if people were not sinful, power would be more important than peace.
Then I have a problem with what you think a church should look like, even after we get past the concept of inherent sin.
Why would questions with no answers be more important? I need Absolute Truths to live by.
Why can't Jesus be a model forliving and the Saviour to worship?
Do Quakers accept the fall of man, inherency of sin and our need for redemption ? If not, your diatribe is consistent with your beliefs, but not with the Truth..
Mimi Rothschild
Co-Founder and CEO, Learning By Grace
http://www.LearningByGrace.org
I think the above is true, but...
Unfortunately, Christian churches are big business in this world. They sell an invisible product and threaten those who don't buy it with the terrors of Hell. Each Christian faction (and there are so many. Anyone can put on a pastor's hat and go into business) has its own "Them and Us" doctrine. Those who don't believe as we do are evil and deserve to be punished.
We could also say if Christians acted like Christians. But why stop there: If the religious were religious? We would have no one blowing themselves up, drunks driving, pedophiles, and criminals at heart if not in practice.
When our leaders talk about the existence of a spiritual life, it really does help towards peace in the world.
What has happened, dar I say morphined, into an Americanized religion is a sorry state of behaving and believing. I stem my thought process in the reality that "the bible - new testiment" was not written down until 2 0 0 y e a r s after the existance of Christ and prophets. And yet, this ethos of Christianity badly pieced together is like the dinasour in Gulley's essay.
I will read more from P. Gulley.
you were reading my mind,. i grew up in the eastern orthodox church. amazingly gracious and beautiful. what is called a church here in the west is rather shocking and no consideration to what true christian church pre bible is like. splendor. yes the sermon on the mount. the trinity.
did mr gulley atribute catholic church as the mother church? its seems this error was made.
its really nice to have met someone in posts who has the spirit of the mother church within them. there simply isnt anything like it and i have visited many other churches.
the only thing close to it is buddhism, i do not discount the possibltiy or the probability of issa.
thanks for ther bit of joy you brought me in your post.
fanned!
happiness,
pema
HOWEVER - I agree with Eastern schools of thought, that corrupt behavior in life blinds one, shutting off the ability to sense, appreciate, benefit from, spiritual awareness - which, let's be real - if man were mud only, what would be the point of any of it? In the universal scheme of things, wiping out all life would matter not one whit when the dust settled. If scrabbling for survival on this dirt ball hurtling through the heavens is the sum total of human existence, then what does it matter, ultimately, if you're good or bad, charitable or mean, generous or selfish, constructive or destructive, noble or evil? It's all just molecules, anyway, right?
So perhaps if the church were Christian, salvation wouldn't be a "get out of hell free" card, making earthly behavior irrelevant.
I dont think a cosmic creator/god gives a damn about our paens of praise.
I've come to no conclusion on the "God question" myself. Sometimes I think the idea of God is just wishful thinking; sometimes I lean toward believing there may actually be a transcendent meaning to life. Regardless of whether I ever come to a conclusion on this question, I know, after many years of trying to live the teachings of Jesus, especially through the insights of Gandhi and Tolstoy, that the loving way of life outlined there---still discernible through all the accretions of ages of credulity---is the highest human wisdom I have found.
Can you call smaller churches McJesus? Is there a drive-through? Do they still have a drive-through chapel in Vegas, Rev. Elvis presiding, or officiating, or whatever? I think one of the things that's happened to religion is commercialization: It's become a business. Salvation, $4.99/lb. I also think that religion has become political, religious leaders and figures have gotten really really political, have agendas, start harping about geopolitics and other stuff, and I say if you want to run for office, do it honestly, if you want to represent the Word, so to speak, then keep your schnozz OUT of politics, and in the old scripture, there. Problem is, people can't leave well enough alone, and the more important they think they are, the more liable they'll be to start trying to tell other people what to do, what to think, how to live, so forth, and so on. Maybe, if you're really trying to get closer to (Deity), you should do it OUTside the confines of the traditional institution(s) and facility(ies).
I can not find many parallels with Christ here other than sharing the gospel with a small group of people in his basement. After that I think he kinda went off the rails.
However, about some of the comments here...........