Wednesday, July 26, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Is The Trinity An Optional "Extra" About God?



At Central Presbyterian Church, several times a year we conduct a ceremony of Ordination for new Elders and Deacons.  A key question asked by the officiating Minister is:

                           "Do you trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, acknowledge him
                            as Lord of all and head of the Church, and through him believe
                            in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit ?"

I have never heard anyone say "No" to this question, but I sometimes wonder if one or more of the nominees is a bit puzzled by the reference to what we call "The Trinity,"  (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)?  It seems to me that reference to The Trinity is cited less and less these days, except perhaps by our Pastors.  Presbyterians talk about "following Jesus" and listening to the "Spirit." but far more rare are references to all three persons of The Trinity in an integrated way.

My  impression is that we have not actually rejected The Trinity outright ---- we simply do not seem to need it anymore.  If we can express our faith fully by referring only to "God," perhaps we have thankfully simplified our lives.  Wouldn't it be easier for us, perhaps more efficient, to talk about our faith through a simple, direct appeal to God:  God loves you, God forgives you, God will be with you.  Perhaps the "gracious God" in many of our prayers is all we need.

Given the time, energy and controversy devoted to The Trinity in the history of the Church, how could we just let it slip away?  Perhaps part of the answer is a conviction that nothing should stand between us and God.  This thought is a basic principle of Protestantism, dating from the Reformation.  We are unlike Roman Catholics for whom the parish priest and the Saints are one's intermediaries with God.

Secondly, many people today seem to have moved beyond rejection of the church and doctrinal systems.  They seem to have become somewhat ambivalent about the specific need for the work of the Son and the Spirit.  We are "spiritual, but not religious" they say, finding God within themselves.  So, some believe they do not need the mediation of the Son or the continuing work of the Spirit, to connect with God.  They would say, "When we speak about the Spirit, are we not just using a shorthand for "God"?

Thirdly, what about the challenge today of religious pluralism?  We recognize that we share much with Jews and Muslims.  These two faiths are closely related to our own faith, but reject a Trinitarian notion of God.  Wouldn't our lives be much less complicated if we did not have a three-fold God to explain?  Wouldn't we be one step closer with others who worship God?

However, Christian faith does affirm that the work of all three persons of the Trinity is essential to our relationship to God.  It is the grace, love and communion of this one God in three persons that draws us into divine life.  So, The Trinity is not an optional "extra" to  God, but is the very nature of God as revealed to us in Scripture.

For example, the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1 - 5, 21 - 22:

                          "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
                           consoles us in our affliction, for just as the sufferings of Christ
                           are  abundant for us, so our consolation is abundant through 
                           Christ, sealed in our hearts through the power and constant 
                           presence of the Holy Spirit."

While not a quote from Scripture, Presbyterian early faith leader John Calvin,  said in his Institutes:

                          "Christ is not only the pledge of our adoption, but God also gives
                            us the Holy Spirit as a witness to this adoption, through whom
                            we may freely cry aloud, 'Abba, Father.'  Whenever we are dis-
                            tressed, remember to ask for the presence of the Spirit who will 
                            enable us to pray boldly."                   

We Presbyterians believe that the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ and the sanctifying and healing work of the Holy Spirit, are necessary in order for us to be reconciled to God.  Necessary ---- not merely helpful or encouraging.

While understandable, this impulse to simplify does not serve us well.  We confess faith in the Triune God because we believe this is who God truly is.  We cannot dispose of the Trinity any more easily than we can dispose of our conviction that God is the author of life.

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this summer at CPC.
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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Can We Continue to Believe In "Free Will"?



I recall that in my younger years, when I was really beginning to understand the Christian faith, the "free will" in each of us was said to be basic to understanding the human condition.  We were taught that each of us has the God-given freedom to make conscious choices between "good" and "bad".  Furthermore, that if we were to choose merely to serve ourselves, and not God, that would be sin.

Scholars and church people have generally believed that civilization as we know it depends on a widespread belief in free will ---- and that losing this belief could be a disaster.  More broadly, our various codes of ethics assume that we can freely choose between right and wrong.  Christians have always pointed to and encouraged the human capacity to discern and pursue the good, instead of merely taking an action compelled by one's appetites and momentary desires.

Today, the assumption of free will runs through every aspect of American politics, from provision for the poor and homeless, to criminal law.  We judge people every day on the assumption that they have made their daily life choices freely.  It permeates the popular culture and underpins the American belief that anyone can choose to make something of themselves, no matter what their start in life.

I had always taken my free will for granted, until I read a surprising article in The Atlantic magazine. It was written by Stephen Cave, a philosopher and author on the subjects of science and religion. Cave's questions were:   Are our actions merely the result of our genetics?  Or, are they the outcome of what has been imprinted on us by our physical and social environments?  Or, are they merely the result of the logical and emotional experiences of our lives?  Some people call this the debate between nature and nurture.

In recent decades, says Cave, research on the inner workings of the brain may have helped resolve the nature VS. nurture issue.  Advanced brain scanners have shown that networks of neurons are shaped by both genes and environmental factors.  But many scientists seem to agree that the firing of neurons determines not just  some or most, but all of our thoughts, hopes, memories, and dreams.  We now know that changes to brain chemistry can alter behavior ---- otherwise neither alcohol nor anti-psychotics would have their desired effects.

The 20th century nature VS. nurture debate prepared us to think of ourselves as shaped by influences beyond our control.  But they never said we are robots!  I believe we are left with some room for the possibility that we could overcome our circumstances (or our genes) to become the author of our own destiny.  However, the challenge posed by neuroscience is more radical ---- it describes the brain as a physical system like any other, and suggests that we can no more will it to operate in a particular way, than we can will our heart to beat.

These developments raise tough questions.  If moral responsibility depends on our own "free will," but "free will"  becomes seen as a delusion, will we become morally irresponsible?  What will happen to all those institutions that are based on "free will"?  There is evidence that when people stop believing that they have free will, they will stop seeing themselves as blameworthy for their actions.  Therefore they act less responsibly and more often give in to their baser instincts.

Ironically, to the extent one's actions are not sourced in free will, but are pre-determined, it not only undermines blame ---- it also undermines praise.  Imagine that I risk my life by jumping into enemy territory to perform a daring mission.  Afterward, people might say that I had no choice, that my feat was merely pre-ordained by my physical body, not my will. Therefore, that my action was hardly praiseworthy. 

In the same manner, undermining blame removes the obstacle that might block me from acting wickedly.  Likewise, undermining praise removes all incentive to do good.  Our heroes would seem less inspiring, and our achievements less noteworthy.  So, is "free will" an illusion.  I hope that "good" behavior and "true" science can be reconciled convincingly.

However, Stephen Cave notes that we currently use the threat of imprisonment as a crude tool to persuade people not to do bad things.  But if instead we accept that human behavior arises partly from neurophysiology, then we can better understand what is really causing people to do bad things, despite the threat of punishment ---- and how to stop them.  We need to know what are the levers we can pull as a society to rehabilitate people to be the best version of themselves.

People often confuse determinism with fatalism, Stephen Cave believes.  Determinism is the belief that our decisions are part of an unbreakable chain of cause and effect.  Fatalism, on the other hand, is the belief that our decisions don't really matter because whatever is destined to happen will happen, despite our efforts to avoid that fate.  Perhaps we should reject both of these theories. People are not robots ---- they still have an important decision role to play.

I suggest there is still room for us to willfully over-ride bad choices.   Similarly, there is room for us to consciously support good choices.

That means to me that God's Word, the Bible, and the example of Jesus, remain relevant to the choices in our lives today.  We just need to understand that the background process underlying our choice of "good" or "bad" is a little more complicated than we had realized before.

Perhaps a good metaphor for our use of "free will" in decision-making is this:  When I am driving my car, I don't need to know what is happening under the hood (the source of the car's motion), to know that it is a bad use of my "free will" to "run" a red light at a busy intersection. 
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this summer at CPC.
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Thursday, July 13, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Be REALLY Aware of Your Personal Gifts



Recently, my cousin Jeff from the mid-West, came to New York City for some job interviews.  He was in his early twenties and had recently graduated from college.  He stayed with us for several days, so we had a chance to get much better acquainted.

By the third day of interviews, it was clear Jeff was discouraged and at "loose ends" about his career plans.  As caring family members, my wife and I wondered if there was anything we could do to help him.  And yet, we did not want to intrude too much on his privacy, nor imply that we thought he was not able to solve his own problems.

Jeff said the job interviews had not gone well ---- either the interviews fell flat, or Jeff found the prospective employer and/or the offered job to be disappointing.  He said that his career planning now seemed to be a failure.  Therefore, I thought a little coaching might be helpful.

There are a number of ways to engage a hurting person in personal conversation, but one way I have  found fruitful is to gently ask, "What personal gifts do you think you have?"  The very nature of the question ---- "What gifts do you think you have?" seems to affirm the person's dignity and hopefully encourages them to take a more positive attitude about their life.  This is not asking how they spend their free time, but rather to think about the choices they might make in the use of their personal gifts.

I think of a "personal gift" as any talent or skill which one uses better, easier or more successfully than most other people.

After an awkward moment, Jeff cited a gift or two, with some sense of pride.  I asked Jeff to think more broadly ---- were there any other God-given gifts that he could use to improve his life?  "Too many folks do not focus on whether they possess any gifts," I told Jeff.  "So, you and they need to take an inventory.  How can one be a good steward of their gifts and personal resources, if they do not even know what all of them are?  We need this so we can develop the  potential which God gives us from the very start.?"

Surprisingly, one's opinion of their gifts may be quite different from what they tell you about themselves.  Sometimes a bit of false modesty creeps in ---- they do not want to appear to be bragging!  At other times we'll hear a gift described that had totally eluded us in our relationship with this person.  I remember that as a teenager I had some dreams based on gifts I "wished" myself into believing I possessed, but it turned out I did not actually have them.  Luckily, I outgrew those false personal gift illusions.

So, what do you say to a friend who tells you, "Yes. I have several gifts I would like to develop, but my daily life is already crazy with commitments?"  Well, Jeff's reaction was along those lines. 
"I have college debt, a girl friend who wants to get married and move to California, and I need to do odd jobs to pay my other current bills."  Many of us can sympathize with fully-committed Jeff.  It may sound a little bit grand, but how about trying to enjoy a feast by taking just a few bites at a time, chewing thoroughly and then savoring the flavor?

I once had a friend who had a passion for soccer, but knew he was no longer young enough to continue playing.  He turned to coaching a YMCA youth team and was happy to discover that he had a gift for teaching youngsters the finer points of soccer.  He simply adjusted how to use his gift, to fit his new circumstances.

This reminds me of another important point.  When you inventory your personal gifts, some of those gifts show up over and over again through the years.  However, be alert to new arrivals. New experiences, new challenges and new relationships with other people, may bring some new items to our personal gift inventory.  Some people call this "growth" ---- you should treat it as a blessing, and put it to work.

Where does this take us?  First, we need to be really clear about our own gifts, and find ways and time to employ them.  Secondly, when we encounter someone who will focus mainly on his or her problems, not on their gifts, draw them into conversation about this unfamiliar aspect of their lives ----  their personal gifts. If you are lucky you will have some impact on their viewpoint ---- a negative viewpoint that has been blinding them to the capabilities, skills and resources they possess.  Ideally, they will come to see a person (themselves) who is full of possibilities given to them by God.  The beauty of this approach is that their "cure" comes from within themselves ---- you are simply the catalyst and encouragement, but that is indispensable help.  Remember, your job as encourager is not a one-shot assignment.  Keep giving positive reinforcement, praise and appreciation to your friend, for continuing the hard work they have started.

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this summer a t CPC.  
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Thursday, July 6, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Reasons to Reach Out to God ---- Or to Not Reach Out


I seldom travel into New York City to meet someone for lunch, but I had been invited by Richard, a good friend from college days, and I was eager to see him again.

We had planned to meet at a restaurant near Union Square, and while waiting for our food and drink to be served, we tried to give each other a quick story about what we had been doing since we had last met.  I learned that Richard, his wife and their two kids now live in New York City, and seem to be enjoying city life and its many diversions.

Later, Richard mentioned that he had become a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.  The Senior Pastor of that church, he said, was a man named Timothy Keller.  Rev. Keller had been preaching recently on the subject of one's relationship with God.  Richard paraphrased Pastor Keller as saying,

"Our identity is not built on our earthly record or our earthly performance, but on God's love for us through Christ.  Our main purpose is fellowship with God.  Our self-view should not be be based on our mortal achievements. In Christ all of us are simultaneously sinful and lost, yet Christ accepts us.  We are so bad that Jesus had to die for us, and we are so loved that Jesus was glad to die for us."
        
Richard stopped to take a breath, and then continued to paraphrase Pastor Keller.

"This leads us to deep humility, but also confidence, at the same time. Our identity and self-worth are centered on one who died for us.  We are saved by sheer grace, so we should not look down on those  who believe or practice something different from us, because only by God's grace are you and I what we are."    

Frankly, I knew all of this, so I was a little surprised that Richard found it so astonishing.

Then Richard reminded me that in his college days, he had been his own boss, and that he had not believed there was a God who cared about humankind.  So, Richard had seen a need to be his own Savior.  Later, after college, Richard  said, as he saw a bit more of the world, that he looked  upon God as his helper and teacher, and through Jesus as the model for our daily behavior.  Richard claimed that in those years he had always tried to obey God's law (that is, to be really righteous and really moral), but he was still the boss.

Richard seemed to be admitting that he had been obeying God in order to get things from God. He said that when circumstances in his life would go wrong, he was angry at God, because he believed that anyone who is "good" deserves a comfortable life.  He said that his prayer life had consisted mainly of petition, and prayers that he would employ only when he was in a "time of need."  Richard admitted to me that in.those days his main purpose  with prayer was to control his environment, not to develop a relationship with God.  That reminded me of the Pharisees of Jesus' time, who were so fixated on the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law.

Richard said of himself that his motivation in those days was based on fear and insecurity.  "If and when I was living up to my standards," Richard continued, "I felt confident, but then I was prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people.  If I was not living up to my standards, I felt humble, but not confident ---- I felt like a failure.  My identity and self-worth were based mainly on how I worked, or how moral I thought I was ---- and so I had to look down on those I perceived as lazy and immoral."

I thought hard about where Richard said he had come in seeking a compass for his life.  It seemed that before hearing Pastor Keller, Richard was avoiding God as the Savior and Lord.  He was trying to keep control of his life by looking to something besides God for salvation ---- HIMSELF.

Now I needed to react to Richard's description of his chosen path to spiritual discovery ---- his personal discovery of a relationship with God.

"Only an experience of grace," I said, "can change us so we understand Jesus Christ as our Savior, and we would do good things for goodness's sake.  So, what is this grace?  It is not fundamentally an invitation to become more "religious."  No,  Though we often do fail to obey the moral law, the deeper problem  is why are we trying to obey it?  Our earlier efforts to obey it may have been just a way of seeking to be our own Savior."  Now I told Richard he should be doing things that would please God, not simply please himself. 

In my opinion, I said, the way to live does not involve only an attempt to repent.  Richard's earlier way to live had involved simply repentance of his sins.  But Pastor Keller urges that we live by repenting both our sins and our self-righteousness.

"So," I concluded, "we must change not so much the amount, but the object of our faith.  We must do more than just subscribe intellectually to a set of doctrines about Christ.  It is more than that ---- we must transfer our trust from our own works and record, to Christ's work and record."

Having said that, I felt obliged to pick up the tab for lunch.

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this year at CPC.

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