Rob Bell's "Love Wins" book has just come out and before I was able to get myself a copy, I was reading some of the reviews that this "controversial" topic of Universalism has raised. I was musing over the fact that some people believe in Jesus. And some people believe in Orthodoxy. Sometimes the two groups sort of swirl together in a form of tango-- but often our "tried and true" Orthodoxy is itself a chasing after the wind. The pursuit of Christ-- that is a worthwhile enterprise. The pursuit of Orthodoxy-- that is a ridiculous man-made notion that makes US the deciders of God's rulebook. Or that God is bound by a rule book.
Orthodoxy is important, some say, because if you don't have your ducks in a row, you're going to end up in hell because you believe the wrong things. Hm. I have two comments to that. One, when has ANYONE ever had all their ducks in a row? Even the most "polished" Theologian is still in progress and if they were to die early on in the journey before they learned those nit picky details that they tell everyone is so important, then the poor dears are burning in hell right now. Two, threatening people to learn orthodoxy with the punishment of hell was never Jesus' angle. Jesus was into threatening people to love, or they will find themselves in hell. That makes sense, both in the spiritual and the physical realm (those who can't love are already in a form of hell). And the orthodoxy of love is full of wonderful, glorious paradoxes that Orthodoxy lovers can't get their mind around. "What do you mean, love drives away fear? What do you mean God is love? What do you mean love never fails? Love fails when it isn't in proper orthodox, right?" WRONG.
It makes sense that modern conservative Orthodoxians would react very strongly with Rob Bell's work (keep in mind I still haven't read it and I'm not talking about the content of it, just the fact that people are furious that it challenges their precious Orthodoxy) because the religious leaders in Jesus' day did the same thing when He came along. "So you've heard it said," Christ would say, which means in our language, "So, this is your current Orthodoxy, eh? Well, I'm going to put a spin on that." And Christ didn't just do that when he was on the earth in his physical form. He is constantly spinning, twisting and fulfilling our concept of Orthodoxy through his presence within us. This is why every faction of the Christian faith meets regularly and goes all the way back to the basics to answer the question, "Well, what do we really believe now?" I've heard of all sorts of conferences of Catholics and Protestants alike who from year to year might drastically change their tune.
This is a GOOD thing. This reveals not the changing nature of God, but the changing nature of humanity and how God's Word is never outdated, but GROWS WITH US as we understand it always in the growing light of our current situations and our timeless Creator.
So this humble amateur theologian says, yeah, go ahead and learn from our forefathers. Read what they wrote, discover the journey that God took them on. But do not cling to a Time-relative Orthodoxy. Cling to a Time-less God who guides us as we seek Him.
i found your blog via Kevin DeYoung's massive critique of Rob Bell's book - wonderfully written! I agree with you that *love* is always more important that "getting our theology right". Most protestants think Martin Luther is a hero (i named one of my sons after him!) - but he was racist. We are none of us perfect, and God is at work in and through us nonetheless. I wonder if Paul sometimes looks at where we're at and wishes he had written a little more clearly, too, sometimes :)... But i believe that if we LOVE God and love one another, He will lead us to where we need to be...
ReplyDeleteThank you! You are very kind! I like what you said about love- I couldn't have said it better myself! -Tim
ReplyDeleteThe heresy of modern-day "fundamentalism" (for lack of a better term) is that we are saved by "believing the right thing" rather than trusting that Jesus made it okay to admit when we're wrong. But what you're being presented with today as "orthodoxy" is actually not orthodoxy.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually the type of heresy that orthodoxy is supposed to protect us from. If you look in Galatians, Corinthians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, and other places, you'll see that the false teachings described there mirror the manipulative doctrinal power-plays that go on in "conservative" Christianity today.
Paul said to Timothy basically the same thing that Mamazee wrote: "The goal of [orthodoxy (my interpretative translation)] is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Tim 1:5).
The bad teachings that orthodoxy is supposed to weed out include most of what is today considered "orthodox" but has more to do with affirming patriarchy and the present social order.
sounds like a new orthodoxy!
ReplyDelete