"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
then whence cometh evil.
Is he neither able nor willing?
then why call him God?"
-Epicurus
This, to me, succinctly summarizes one of the most critical logical questions that Christianity must face. As Primo Levi once said, "Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are...the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions." So with this in mind, will we retain our image of God as a God of love, over our need for the comfort of a being that controls and keeps all things in his hands? I have many many thoughts on this and have read the work of several Theologians who deal with this, but I would rather spend most of my time hearing what you all have to say and I will intersperse my own thoughts within your comments as we discuss, but if you are curious about my position on this, I have come to the conclusion that if God is able to intervene in situations regardless of people's actions, I cannot believe that God is good. There is no way I can find a reason for a good God to let a rape happen, or the holocaust, or natural disasters, or mental illness, or hell (which I don't really believe in, but that's another post). I must sacrifice the omnipotent for the loving. That is my conclusion so far. What is yours?
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
On Tithing
So for my first post, I wanted to start with some pretty light and not-too-philosophical material, considering that I don't want to scare anybody off, and please if you do not follow the Christian tradition (which is great and I would love your commentary on this too), I am sorry if the references to Scripture are confusing or turn you off, I am simply trying to converse with a crowd made up primarily of those who give weight to its words. This is meant to be a cross-cultural and cross-generational conversation, and not a sermon or a soapbox for anyone. I simply want to talk. I hope that's cool?
Anyways, I wanted to talk about tithing today. Tithing, in the sense that I think we should be willing to relinquish a percentage of our wealth to help those who might not have the same social standing or opportunity as us is a necessary thing for the perpetuation of a just society. I happen to think, however, that tithing in the Christian sense does not accomplish this anymore, at least not for the most part, nor are its motives good all the time. Allow me to start with a few observations from Scripture (if you happen to be more well-researched or well-read on any of these subjects, please feel free to correct my history).
First, the initiation of the tithe in the Protestant Christian canon of Scripture can be traced back as far as the story of Cain and Abel, in which Cain and Abel both give a percentage of their crops as an offering to the Lord (Genesis 4:1-8). Again this can be seen after Jacob's vision of a ladder leading up to Heaven (Genesis 28:10-19), after which Jacob offers God gifts if God will promise to always be with him. Here we run into a problem. the God of the Old testament was interested in sacrificing things to him in the form of gifts or slain animals or a portion of grain or wealth, and in the Israelite community that went to the Priests and High Priests who were basically temple functionaries who were mediators between the divine and the human. These days, it would be foolish to just give money "to God" because that would equate to burning hundred dollar bills to please God.
In summary, in much of the Old Testament, tithing or "giving to God" was either a means by which the Jewish people pleased him or appeased his anger (see Cain and Abel and how God reacted there) or a means to support those who ran the functions of the Temple where "God dwelt" (when in reality I believe that he dwells in the spaces between people and the compassion that is expressed there...yet we still give our money to the places we associate him with...like church.)
The problem with all this stuff pertaining to the Old Testament is three-fold. First, the Jewish Law looks very different even from our modern understanding of it. As far as I have studied, there is a first tithe, a second tithe, and a poor tithe in the Jewish system. The first tithe is simply giving food to the priesthood so they can eat, the second tithe is setting aside a particular amount of food to be consumed in Jerusalem, presumably while on a pilgrimage (please feel free to correct me if you have a better knowledge of the Jewish system than I do), and then there is the poor tithe, or 'ma'aser kesafim', which is to give ten percent to charity, or those in need. Islam also has a similar concept which is called 'Zakat' (I am not well-versed in this, but someone who is might be able to shed some light on this practice better than I could). Secondly, I would encourage us all to not think of God as a fickle being who requires our sacrifices to appease him.
Moving on to the early church, we see examples of tithe evolving into something else, and taking on more of an economical tone, with people being encouraged to share their wealth, and some people even giving their entire fortunes to redistribute to those in need in the community ( Acts 2:44-47), so here we have an example of tithe as a means to help others and spread the wealth.
And now we come to modern times, where too often tithe has become a compulsory thing that we just do, and you don't "have to" do it, but there will be a Bible verse read after the 'call to give' which talks about how God blesses those who give and how you really should even if you don't feel like it and how he will always provide for those who give generously to the Church (which isn't true), but I think that we are missing the point. When Christ emerged onto the historical scene, it became clear that we were no longer to put our stock in religious systems and paraphrenalia, but rather: " Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). I would simply say that if there is a church that does not focus most of its resources on matters of social justice and physical ministry in the community (helping those orphans and widows to eat as well as trying to fix the system which is keeping them from eating), you should not give them money. period. otherwise you are simply perpetuating a system that is there so that you feel good during the service because the music is great or the pastor said something encouraging, or because "your money is going somewhere and you're doing your part." Throwing your money at problems will not fix them. This needs some thought, and I would love yours.
I would like to end this post, as I probably will continue to do each week, with a story. I was in Rite-Aid the other day, and this guy came up to me and asked to borrow my phone because his had ran out of minutes. He looked very shaggy and was probably homeless. Without even thinking, I promptly told him I did not have a phone because "who can afford that these days." Of course, he could have taken my phone and run or something, but honestly, the excuses I tell myself and the lies I tell others so I don't have to do anything hard or uncomfortable for my fellow man sicken me, and yet it is so easy to give our money in church, and I cannot help but think that it contributes to the problem by helping to wrongly appease the feeling that we are terrible people who don't really have the guts to actually help anybody else because that is difficult and on the horizntal dimension, as opposed to giving money ambiguosly "to God" which is easy and on the vertical dimension (which is not where God is anymore, if God ever was). Just think about all the televangelists who solicit people for money "for God" and live in big mansions, or how often the church throws money at inherently systemic issues and all the while forgets other social justice issues that I won't go into here.
As Paul says, "I am the greatest of sinners," but that doesn't mean I can't talk about what I see in myself and the church in general, and these are just observations that I want to discuss with you. So discuss away and please don't take any of this personally. We are all flawed and we can only begin to work on that by cultivating an honesty with ourselves and with the reality of the world as it is. Some of you will probably say things in your comments that offend me, but I will try my best not to miss your point because of it. I only ask the same of you.
Anyways, I wanted to talk about tithing today. Tithing, in the sense that I think we should be willing to relinquish a percentage of our wealth to help those who might not have the same social standing or opportunity as us is a necessary thing for the perpetuation of a just society. I happen to think, however, that tithing in the Christian sense does not accomplish this anymore, at least not for the most part, nor are its motives good all the time. Allow me to start with a few observations from Scripture (if you happen to be more well-researched or well-read on any of these subjects, please feel free to correct my history).
First, the initiation of the tithe in the Protestant Christian canon of Scripture can be traced back as far as the story of Cain and Abel, in which Cain and Abel both give a percentage of their crops as an offering to the Lord (Genesis 4:1-8). Again this can be seen after Jacob's vision of a ladder leading up to Heaven (Genesis 28:10-19), after which Jacob offers God gifts if God will promise to always be with him. Here we run into a problem. the God of the Old testament was interested in sacrificing things to him in the form of gifts or slain animals or a portion of grain or wealth, and in the Israelite community that went to the Priests and High Priests who were basically temple functionaries who were mediators between the divine and the human. These days, it would be foolish to just give money "to God" because that would equate to burning hundred dollar bills to please God.
In summary, in much of the Old Testament, tithing or "giving to God" was either a means by which the Jewish people pleased him or appeased his anger (see Cain and Abel and how God reacted there) or a means to support those who ran the functions of the Temple where "God dwelt" (when in reality I believe that he dwells in the spaces between people and the compassion that is expressed there...yet we still give our money to the places we associate him with...like church.)
The problem with all this stuff pertaining to the Old Testament is three-fold. First, the Jewish Law looks very different even from our modern understanding of it. As far as I have studied, there is a first tithe, a second tithe, and a poor tithe in the Jewish system. The first tithe is simply giving food to the priesthood so they can eat, the second tithe is setting aside a particular amount of food to be consumed in Jerusalem, presumably while on a pilgrimage (please feel free to correct me if you have a better knowledge of the Jewish system than I do), and then there is the poor tithe, or 'ma'aser kesafim', which is to give ten percent to charity, or those in need. Islam also has a similar concept which is called 'Zakat' (I am not well-versed in this, but someone who is might be able to shed some light on this practice better than I could). Secondly, I would encourage us all to not think of God as a fickle being who requires our sacrifices to appease him.
Moving on to the early church, we see examples of tithe evolving into something else, and taking on more of an economical tone, with people being encouraged to share their wealth, and some people even giving their entire fortunes to redistribute to those in need in the community ( Acts 2:44-47), so here we have an example of tithe as a means to help others and spread the wealth.
And now we come to modern times, where too often tithe has become a compulsory thing that we just do, and you don't "have to" do it, but there will be a Bible verse read after the 'call to give' which talks about how God blesses those who give and how you really should even if you don't feel like it and how he will always provide for those who give generously to the Church (which isn't true), but I think that we are missing the point. When Christ emerged onto the historical scene, it became clear that we were no longer to put our stock in religious systems and paraphrenalia, but rather: " Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). I would simply say that if there is a church that does not focus most of its resources on matters of social justice and physical ministry in the community (helping those orphans and widows to eat as well as trying to fix the system which is keeping them from eating), you should not give them money. period. otherwise you are simply perpetuating a system that is there so that you feel good during the service because the music is great or the pastor said something encouraging, or because "your money is going somewhere and you're doing your part." Throwing your money at problems will not fix them. This needs some thought, and I would love yours.
I would like to end this post, as I probably will continue to do each week, with a story. I was in Rite-Aid the other day, and this guy came up to me and asked to borrow my phone because his had ran out of minutes. He looked very shaggy and was probably homeless. Without even thinking, I promptly told him I did not have a phone because "who can afford that these days." Of course, he could have taken my phone and run or something, but honestly, the excuses I tell myself and the lies I tell others so I don't have to do anything hard or uncomfortable for my fellow man sicken me, and yet it is so easy to give our money in church, and I cannot help but think that it contributes to the problem by helping to wrongly appease the feeling that we are terrible people who don't really have the guts to actually help anybody else because that is difficult and on the horizntal dimension, as opposed to giving money ambiguosly "to God" which is easy and on the vertical dimension (which is not where God is anymore, if God ever was). Just think about all the televangelists who solicit people for money "for God" and live in big mansions, or how often the church throws money at inherently systemic issues and all the while forgets other social justice issues that I won't go into here.
As Paul says, "I am the greatest of sinners," but that doesn't mean I can't talk about what I see in myself and the church in general, and these are just observations that I want to discuss with you. So discuss away and please don't take any of this personally. We are all flawed and we can only begin to work on that by cultivating an honesty with ourselves and with the reality of the world as it is. Some of you will probably say things in your comments that offend me, but I will try my best not to miss your point because of it. I only ask the same of you.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Introduction
Greetings. I am starting this blog because I have many thoughts and doubts (hence the name of the blog) concerning my Christian faith. Many things have contributed to this, and the road has been very long and a times has caused me much trauma. I would like to say, however, for those of you who are reading this and think that I am not a Christian because I have used the word "doubt" in my heading, this is not a place where I bash your faith, nor where you bash mine, and this is not a place where I tell you how and why I am not a Christian, because I am one, and I very much share many of the same desires as you, and this is simply a place where I want to dialogue with anyone who might want to talk honestly about issues of faith, spirituality, philosophy, church, etc.
I will have you know that I am very accepting of anyone who would contribute, regardless of your religious tradition or upbringing. I do recognize, however, that many people, like myself, have a bunch of baggage attached to Christianity and so I only ask one thing of you as I post (hopefully weekly) about these issues that I struggle with and that is this: Be open-minded. If someone says something you don't like, don't get defensive. Try to see where they are coming from and maybe you will find some truth there, even if it is uncomfortable. Lastly, please remember that this is a combat free zone. I am not at your throat (hopefully) and you are not at mine (hopefully). All that I am trying to do is to foster thought and a critical examination of important things, and if there is any enemy at all it is ignorance.
I appreciate in advance any comments you might have on each post, and I hope that each one will foster a conversation. That is all this is intended to be: a conversation.
I will have you know that I am very accepting of anyone who would contribute, regardless of your religious tradition or upbringing. I do recognize, however, that many people, like myself, have a bunch of baggage attached to Christianity and so I only ask one thing of you as I post (hopefully weekly) about these issues that I struggle with and that is this: Be open-minded. If someone says something you don't like, don't get defensive. Try to see where they are coming from and maybe you will find some truth there, even if it is uncomfortable. Lastly, please remember that this is a combat free zone. I am not at your throat (hopefully) and you are not at mine (hopefully). All that I am trying to do is to foster thought and a critical examination of important things, and if there is any enemy at all it is ignorance.
I appreciate in advance any comments you might have on each post, and I hope that each one will foster a conversation. That is all this is intended to be: a conversation.
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