Shouldn't All Christians Be Universalists At Heart?

I recently read a blog post from a mainstream, conservative evangelical Christian blogger/author that leveled some damning accusations toward three authors/Christian thinkers, who I admire: Rob Bell, Donald Miller and Bryan Mclaren.

All three of these men had once been included beneath the mainstream, conservative evangelical umbrella, but (according to this blogger) they had strayed from orthodox Christian belief and become "universalists," who believe that God lets anyone into heaven, not just those who follow Jesus.

In our current culture, a Christian leader, pastor, author, theologian, etc. being labelled a "Universalist" by mainstream, conservative evangelical Christians is the post-post modern equivalent of being anathematized--a practice the early church fathers employed to rid themselves of heretics and people who had too much imagination when it came to Christian beliefs.

I realize that I just oversimplified and caricatured the development of orthodox Christian doctrine--development that took centuries of struggle and debate.
I also realize that there are things that sometimes get lost on the way to orthodoxy---and sometimes those things are fairly important.

Take, for example, the aforementioned dominant belief among Christians that only a select few people get to "go to heaven"--specifically those who have prayed the right prayer, and said the right things about Jesus afterward to indicate they have indeed "been saved."

So let me ask you a question, and it's a good one:

What if that wasn't exactly right?

Think about it.  What if God had different criteria, or no criteria?  What if in the end everyone got to go to heaven?

Would that really matter to you?

Would it tick you off?

Here's where I get anathematized by a slough of mainstream, conservative evangelical Christians...  But hear me out before you start smearing pine tar on your torches, friends.

Being a Presbyterian minister, I am situated in the Reformed Tradition of Christianity--a tradition that claims John Calvin as one of its spiritual fathers. Calvin lived, wrote, preached and pastored in the sixteenth century.

In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote this:

Let the Christian man, then, conform his prayers to this rule in order that they may be in common and embrace all who are his brothers in Christ, not only for those whom he at the present sees and recognizes as such but all men who dwell on earth. for what God has determined concerning them is beyond our knowing except that it is no less godly than humane to wish and hope the best for them. (Institutes 3.20.38)

I underlined the last bit of that quote because its one of those important things that I think got lost on the way to orthodoxy.

Here's the thing, Calvin wasn't a universalist to the extent that he believed God let everyone into heaven whether they confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior or not.  And neither am I.  I firmly believe that God redeems and "saves" through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

But I am not God.  And who God's chooses to save is God's business.  It's not my job as a disciple of Jesus to walk around trying to determine who's in and who's out.  My job is to worry about whether I am working out my salvation with "fear and trembling," as the Apostle Paul exhorted to the Early Church in the first century.

And to be glad that I serve a generous and loving God.

In Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus told a parable about vineyard workers.  "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner," he begins.  He goes on to tell how this landowner goes down in the morning to where all of the laborers are hanging out waiting to be hired.  They agree to a wage and then get to work.

Later the same landowner goes back to the labor pool and hires more guys, and agrees to pay them the same as the early workers.  Then he goes back out in the evening and does the same thing.  When the early workers realize that the landowner is paying the guys who worked like an hour the same wage as he paid them, they get ticked off and start complaining.

Jesus ends the parable with the landowner saying this:

‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? 
Or are you envious because I am generous?’

I underlined that last sentence because it hits me in the gut--right in my conviction muscle.  What is it to me if God wants to "save" people in the eleventh hour?  Shouldn't I want that?  This is, in fact, what Calvin asserted. Christians should want everyone to experience inclusion in God's kingdom, regardless of how or when it happens.  We should be for everyone, praying for them, hoping the best for them and never giving up on what God can do.

In so doing we can affirm the orthodoxy of the Christian faith when it comes to the particularity and Lordship of Jesus all the while holing on to a universal hope.

Or to put it another way--we can say that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to God except through him...

We can also say that God is merciful and offers eternal life to those whom He loves, in His way and His time.

And, if I may be so bold, we wouldn't be true followers of Jesus if we didn't hold out hope that everyone receives this eternal life offered by God.  

Lenten Reflections: Week One - "Wilderness"

I am convinced that there are moments in your life when you are better prepared to be shaped by your experiences than others.  Maybe you just needed to get your mind right first.  Perhaps you needed to be a certain age, or have a particular set of experiences under your belt. 

Or maybe you just needed to have your heart in the right place. 

This particular season of Lent has become just such a time for me.  I can feel it.  There's something different about this Lenten season than any of those that I previously observed.  Not having been raised in a faith tradition that valued the rhythms of the Church, I am a recent adherent to "liturgical living," so I don't have all that many years to use as a reference.  

But on Ash Wednesday this week I was struck by something profound:  I can choose to endure Lent, ignore it, or be shaped by it.  That's about it.  And for most of my life I've opted for the first two choices. 

Then I read something that changed my heart about the season of Lent--hopefully forever.  It was a simple phrase:  "Build a Lent that Becomes a Life." In other words, Lent isn't a season to deny yourself pleasures just for the sake of feeling better about yourself.  It isn't about controlling your base desires and fleshly urges for forty days--bookended by binge eating and drinking (or whatever you've decided to "give up") on Fat Tuesday and Easter Sunday.  

It's about adopting practices that will last beyond the forty days. 

I have given up all forms of social media for Lent--Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. I've also given up listening to "secular" music and talk radio while driving, working out, etc. I've also decided to change how I speak--not saying certain words, for example.  

But in each case, I have also decided to replace these things with other things that feed my soul.  Instead of spending so much time browsing Facebook and Twitter on my computer, iPad and iPhone, I write or read good books.  Instead of filling my head with anxious news programs, or music that isn't uplifting I listen to sermons and inspirational music.  And I find other things to say when I am tempted to use words that aren't helpful. 

When I started this whole "fast," I figured that even though it was ambitious, I could do anything for forty days.  Then I read that line:  "Build a Lent That Becomes A Life."  And it hit me.  What if, after all was said and done, I came out of Lent with new habits?  What if---these forty days were life changing?

In his excellent book, Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit The Story of God, Bobby Gross writes that these kinds of Lenten fasts are "like sabbath-keeping: a restriction that makes space for God."  They remind us that in the end, we can't get true sustenance, complete satisfaction from anything that our culture has to offer to us.  Only when we draw near to God and trust God to supply all our needs, will we be transformed into the people we always hoped we would become.  

In the Exodus account from the Old Testament, we are giving the example of the ancient Hebrew people who wandered in the wilderness, helpless and totally dependent on God for everything.  Their journey through the wilderness was filled with temptations to turn from God and long for Egypt, and an entire generation of Hebrews gave in to those temptations, and perished in the wilderness filled with those Egyptian longings.  

I don't want to die in the wilderness.  I am tired of walking in circles.  It's time to learn that I can build a Lent that becomes a life.  It begins with making space for God to change me, then allowing myself to be changed.  

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth - A Book Review

I think it was Rudolf Bultmann who said that those who go about searching for Jesus more often than not find a Jesus that looks an awful lot like themselves.

As I read Reza Aslan's Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, I couldn't shake that quote from my head.  I also couldn't shake the notion that the most fervent non-smoker is an ex-smoker, which naturally led me to another notion I've had from time to time: the most fervent nonChristian is an ex-fundamentalist Christian.

I don't know if Reza Aslan has ever smoked, but he does reveal that he used to be an evangelical, fundamentalist Christian.  Aslan's family immigrated to the United States from Iran after the Iranian revolution in the 1970's.  He was, in his own words, raised a "lukewarm" Muslim, and found Jesus through friends who invited him to church when he was fifteen.  Aslan chalks up his initial conversion to Christianity to a need to fit in to American culture--a need that evaporated when he went to college and decided that nearly everything he had been taught about Christianity was false.  Aslan returned to his Muslim faith and pursued a career in historical scholarship and writing.

When Aslan's book was released some months ago, he appeared on Fox News for an interview with Lauren Green, who essentially asked him if his being a Muslim had colored his point of view.  There was an immediate firestorm from left-leaning folks, including more than a few of my own liberal colleagues, who decried Green's question as out of bounds and intolerant--another example of how Fox News always gets these kinds of things wrong and MSNBC and NPR don't.

Here's the problem.  It was a valid question.

In Zealot, Aslan asserts that Jesus was simply just another revolutionary figure in Jewish history--a revolutionary who was executed by the Romans for sedition, nothing more, nothing less.  Further, Aslan identifies Jesus with other "zealots" or revolutionary figures in the first century who were basically considered terrorists by the Roman Empire, and who sometimes conducted acts of terror against their Roman occupiers.

Hmmm...

Literary criticism should be limited to an author's work, but when an author so blatantly inserts himself and his own distorted bias into the work---it behooves us as critics to ask why.

I can't be the only one who read this book and saw right through what Aslan is trying to do by writing it.  Turn after turn Aslan discredits the assertions of the New Testament about Jesus and his contemporaries, gleefully pointing out discrepancies and passages that he ham-handedly asserts are historically inaccurate.  Aslan's Jesus is not even close to being the Son of God.  In fact, Aslan's Jesus seems to be little more than an indictment of Christianity in the West--and the West along with it.

To his credit, Aslan is a great writer and the book is very engaging.  There is much to be gleaned from it in terms of first century history.  But I couldn't get beyond the hypocrisy that rested between the lines.  And honestly, if I wanted to read books about first century history there are a dozen more qualified scholars I could choose from.

Here's my take...

Rather than being offended by the suggestion that his Muslim faith had anything to do with his treatment of Jesus, Aslan should have told the truth--a truth that is more than a little evident.  He obviously has an axe to grind against Christians who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but who also espouse prejudice and have all kinds of far-fetched notions about Muslims being terrorists.  Zealot was merely a two-hundred plus page pointed stick in the eye from Aslan to all of them.  If my assumptions are true---there's a kernel of truth in the midst of them: Christians need to become better at loving our enemies or we'll keep making them.

I do have to say this, though: If the shoe were on the other foot, and this book was about illegitimacy of "The Prophet" and contained passages discrediting the Koran...  Yeah, ask Salman Rushdie how that turned out.  However, I am sure that Aslan would agree with me that it's better to live in a world where theology of all kinds can be held up to critique.  Perhaps he can turn now toward his own tradition and do the same.

Related articles

• Fox News Under Fire for 'Embarrassing' Interview With Reza Aslan

One Way? Week Two: "Tempted"

Is Jesus the only way to God?  For Christians (like me) he is, which presents an interesting problem for those of us who assert this belief as trustworthy: Not everyone agrees with us. Christians can respond to this question in a number of ways.  They can learn to argue better, an approach that doesn't seem to be working all that well.  Or they can retreat into a Christian ghetto away from all the nonChristians.  Or they can tacitly embrace the idea that there might be other ways to God other than Jesus but for them he is the way.  

I think we can do better.  The purpose of this sermon series is to offer another approach--an approach that challenges followers of Jesus to demonstrate with their lives all the ways that Jesus is the way.  

Today we're going to be studying Matthew 4:1-11, the story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. But before we launch into that study--let me show you a photo of one of the most beautiful places in the entire state of Vermont:  Huntington River Gorge.  

Isn't that gorgeous?  

Would it surprise you to know that in addition to being one of the most beautiful places in the state of Vermont, Huntington River Gorge is also one of the most deadly.  Over the past 40 years there have been 20 deaths in the Gorge.  Hundreds of people have nearly lost their lives in it as well.  The surface of the water looks placid, but underneath it is a swirling mass of currents, dangerous rocks, and treacherous footing.  

Despite the fact that there are signs posted all throughout the public areas of the Gorge warning people of the hazards, thousands of people each year jump in and start swimming.  A young college-aged woman was interviewed for one of the local newspapers and was asked what could be done to change things.  "You can't change the water," she stated simply.  "And you can't stop people from going in."  

I think this is a sobering illustration of what happens when people give in to the temptation of "now."  We all know what this is like.  In fact, we are assailed by the temptation of "now" every single day of our lives.  Our culture is not founded on patience.  We want what we want in the moment--or sooner.  And despite all of the sociological and psychological studies on the dangers of succumbing to a culture of immediacy--we keep jumping in, don't we?  

We know that below the surface, the water is treacherous, but we fool ourselves into thinking it's okay because it looks pleasing from where we stand.  So we jump in... and sometimes we make it out okay... and sometimes we don't.  

I think that these kinds of temptations win when we get so caught up in the trappings of life that we lose sight of eternal life right here, right now.  And this is where things get kind of sticky for some people.  Because most of us would be saying, "Listen, there's life now---and then there's life after you die.  Eternal life begins when you shuffle off this mortal coil, my friend and not a moment sooner."  The problem with this kind of thinking is it doesn't have any substantive support in Scripture.   

Jesus was always telling his disciples, "The kingdom of God is coming... and is NOW."  There was a "not yet" aspect to Jesus teachings about the kingdom of God.  You don't have to look to far to see that the world isn't as it should be, after all.  But you can't get away from the fact that he said "now."  Jesus wanted his followers to know that eternal life--the kind of life that matters--is available to those who follow him right here, right now.  

In fact, I want this thought to guide what we do today as we study the fourth chapter of Matthew:  Jesus is the One Way to God that leads to eternal life, right now.  It is our choice whether we want to experience this kind of life in the present--a choice that we have to make every single time we are tempted to do what  feels best rather than what is best.  

More specifically, it's the choice we have to make each time we are tempted to live and act outside of the intimacy of a relationship with God through Jesus.  

Let's take a look at Matthew 4:1-11: 

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 

What do you make of the fact that Jesus was "led" into the wilderness by the Spirit of God---to be tempted by the devil?  Seems kind of odd, doesn't it?  I think it would make it easier for me to accept this line if it read, "Jesus was driven by the Spirit..."  The way it's written, it conveys the idea that Jesus believed it was God's will for him to go into the wilderness for the purpose of being "tempted."  Does God set us up for these kinds of things?  Well, it depends on how you translated that word "tempted."  A better translation would actually be "tested."  There is a big difference between the idea of being tested as opposed to tempted.  Sometimes one can lead to the other, to be fair.  But what this shows us is very profound.  If God is calling you to do something for him--you can expect to be tested.  

The symbolism of forty days and forty nights is something we can't ignore.  This is a significant number in the Bible that typically accompanies a time of trial for God's people--specifically related to the struggle of God's people to be faithful in the wilderness.  

And the word "devil" is important, too.  It has it's roots in the Greek words dia and bello and when these two words are combined they form a word that essentially means, "one who attacks, misleads, diverts or slanders."  This is why this same person is often called the "Satan" throughout Scripture--"satan" being another word for "accuser."  

3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

The first temptation hits Jesus right where he lives and breathes in his frail, human form:  his physical need.  He's been fasting for forty days and nights, and the Devil makes a simple suggestion--turn the stones all around you into bread.  

Jesus is tempted with the immediacy of Physical Satisfaction.  "Feed your need!" the Devil tells him.  "You don't have to suffer like these people--you are better than that... IF you are the Son of God, after all."

But Jesus doesn't give in to the temptation of now even though it means he might suffer in the present.  This is huge because what we learn about Jesus in this moment is that he truly identifies with us in our frailty.  And further, he doesn't avoid suffering for our sake, because he knows there's more at stake than the moment.  

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

    and they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The second temptation has to do with spectacle, and the revelation of Jesus' true power.  Jesus is being tempted here with Immediate Gratification.  The Devil suggests that Jesus could end all of the speculation about himself by simply revealing who he really is.  

"God will take care of you!" The Devil offers to Jesus. "You don't need to worry about the repercussions, just jump!  It'll be awesome!"  

But Jesus doesn't give in to this temptation either because he knows that despite how great it would feel to demonstrate his power and the provision and protection of God over his life, it would not accomplish the ultimate redemption of Creation.  Again, he knows there's more at stake than the moment.  

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

The third temptation is a direct offer of power in exchange for Jesus' recognizing the absolute dominion that the Devil has over the world.  This is a temptation of Power and Domination.  The Devil suggests that Jesus could have the world, establish his kingdom, make everything right---but in exchange he would be admitting that it's power, not love that makes the world go around.  

Jesus doesn't give in to this temptation either.  He knows that power is not an end in itself, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Although it would be easier to win people over by a show of power, Jesus knows that the only sure way to bring the kingdom of God to bear on earth was through sacrificial love.  By now you know what I am going to say.  He knows there's more at stake than the moment. 

When you pull back from this story a bit, you see that none of the things that the Devil tempted Jesus with were evil in and of themselves.  In fact, each could be considered a gift of God in the right circumstances.  But you also see when you pull back from this story that the temptation Jesus was being offered was to love the gifts of God and not the Giver--something he absolutely refused to do.  There is no surer path to self-destruction than when we makes idols out of the good things God has given us.  

There's something else at work here that's very important to note.  When Israel spent forty years in the desert wandering due to their disobedience they had moments when they were tested with all three of these temptations---and they failed the test.  Jesus, on the other hand, passed them.  This is important for all of us.  We need to see Jesus overcome these temptations.  We need to know that he was, as the author of Hebrews notes, "tested in every way that we are, but did not sin."  

Because Jesus didn't exchange what felt best for what was best.  He didn't give in to the temptation of now--because he knew there was more at stake than the moment.  

I saw this awesome video the other day called "The Marshmallow Test."  In the video, preschool children were placed in a room all by themselves and had a marshmallow placed in front of them.  They were promised that if they didn't eat the marshmallow they would be given another one---or they could go ahead and eat the marshmallow and not get another.  Then they were left alone to wait.  

I think this is a great illustration of what happens when we are confronted with the temptation of "now."

To begin with--when do we usually face temptation?  Can you recall the moments when you've been tempted?  Typically temptations come when we are stressed, tired, anxious, pre-occupied, unsatisfied or alone.  Those kinds of moments rarely affect us when we are feeling strong, confident, close to God and to others, right?

Then there's this little nugget.  The lady in the video tells the kids "If you eat this, that's all there is.  But if you wait, you can have even more."  How different is that than the "If's" that Satan uses in the story we just read?  "If you give in to your desires---you will have satisfaction... If you want immediate gratification, it will feel great... If you want power, than you have to stop caring so much about everyone else..."

But there is nothing on the other side of those "If's" that leads to eternal life right here, right now. Satan is like one of those television pitch men who keep ante'ing up and telling you, "But wait, there's more!"  Only there isn't more--there's less.

Which leads us to this important question---one that is illuminated in that video:  Will you trade eternity for NOW?  Eternal life, the kind of life that matters is happening all around you.  It's the real life that rejects what feels best for what is best.

In his fantastic allegory, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis presents correspondence between a senior demon named Screwtape and a junior demon named Wormtongue.  Wormtongue has been given the task of ensuring that a particular human rejects God and goes to hell.  Screwtape's advice is for Wormtongue to keep Christians "spiritual, but not practical."  In other words, keep them focused on what makes them feel good, rather than on doing good. Keep them in the illusion that what feels best is best.  Keep them focused on themselves, and their own needs... and not focused on the needs of the world.

Satan seems powerful in the temptation story.  It's almost like he was in the driver's seat--able to offer so many alluring things.  Make no mistake--the Accuser is powerful, and he seems to reign over the Culture of Now, without a doubt.  But unfortunately for the Accuser Jesus chose what was eternal instead.

In Matthew 28:18 Jesus appears to his disciples in his resurrected body having defeated sin and death, and giving his followers new hope and strength to choose eternal life that starts right now.  Satan is no where to be found in this moment.  Only Jesus.  And he says these words to those who would follow him, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given unto me..."

In other words, "Everything else you hear is a lie from the very pits of hell...  Because I chose what was best, you can begin eternity now.  You can be free from guilt.  You can be free from shame.  You can live in joy.  You can change the world.

Because I chose what was best for you and for all of Creation---now you can do the same."

 Beloved, Jesus is the One Way to God that leads to eternal life, right now.

Church Worth Getting Up For: A Book Review

I read a lot of books on church transformation, leadership and growth.  And when I say "a lot" I mean a lot.  What I've discovered is that a great deal of the work that is being done on church transformation, leadership and growth is coming out of the non-denominational, or "evangelical" wing of the Church.  There's a decided lack of voices (at least in my experience) from experts within the "mainline Protestant" tradition.

Which is why I was excited to read Charles E. Gutenson's book Church Worth Getting Up For, which was published last year.  Gutenson is a former pastor, current consultant and professor at Asbury Theological Seminary.  His frame of reference is the United Methodist Tradition (UMC).

For Church Worth Getting Up For Gutenson interviewed a virtual "who's who" of pastors, authors and church leaders who have been in some way, shape or form connected to what was once known as the "missional church" movement. He references emerging pastors like Nadia Bolz-Weber, Greg Boyd, Ross Picardo and Chris Seay, and two of the pioneers of the missional church movement Alan and Deb Hirsch.  From his own tradition, Gutenson spent time interviewing Mike Slaughter, pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church and one of the most well-known pastors in the UMC.

A significant portion of Gutenson's work in Church Worth Getting Up For is gleaned from both the interviews he conducted and also from work that was done by Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, who wrote the book unChristian.  
Dave Kinnaman also wrote a book entitled You Lost Me, which Gutenson references frequently.

Despite the fact that some of the material Gutenson presents was from works I had previously read, I rather enjoyed the way he presented it, and then processed it from his mainline lens.  Gutenson affirms that our culture is changing and that the emerging generations are avoiding church like the plague.  He offers some basic criticisms as to why he believes this is happening, which move above some of the specific reasons that authors like Kinnaman and Lyons outlined.

Gutenson offers a criticism of traditions within the church that rely too heavily on evangelistic tools and methods without paying attention to the kingdom work they have been called to do.  On the other hand, he offers similar criticisms to left-leaning mainline traditions that rely too heavily on deeds and not words. Essentially, he calls for a balance between the two extremes: evangelism and missional focus.  Gutenson cites Slaughter's Ginghamsburg church as a fine example of the kind of church that emphasizes right belief, evangelism and outreach, but also is focused on embodying the kingdom of God in the world.

Church Worth Getting Up For also provides a vision for churches to engage the world in different ways--to move beyond traditionalism and become transformative through radical hospitality, blurring the lines between sacred and secular and raising the bar when it comes to discipleship programs.  The latter is one that Gutenson also uses Ginghamsburg church to highlight through which he asserts that when churches challenge their members to deeper discipleship it will pay huge dividends for the kingdom of God, and could very well be one of many factors that draws emerging generations back to the church.

I recommend Church Worth Getting Up For for pastors, church leaders and church governing bodies who are seeking discernment in the next steps of transformation for their church.  If this is the first book of its kind that you read, it will definitely give you plenty of stepping off points for further reading on the topic.