Day of the Ninja
Go slink around somewhere and kill some unsuspecting heathen in the name of Christ and Ninjas everywhere.
posted by Scott at 8:16 AM
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Go slink around somewhere and kill some unsuspecting heathen in the name of Christ and Ninjas everywhere.
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2 Comments:
Hi Scott, thanks for stopping by my blog. You asked some interesting questions...
"I don't want to be godly, isn't that the nature of sin?"
The answer is no, unless Paul and the others mean 'sinful' when they say 'godly,' which I find doubtful. If you can explain how being loving, merciful, and patient is being sinful, then you've certainly accomplished something extraordinary.
"How can I be these things when I'm being pulled to do the opposite?"
What is impossible for men is possible for God. God is here to help. He's the point of all this anyways. Certainly it is a joy to immitate my Father, no?
"If one 'acting' like God is how one knows God then why not be a hindu."
I didn't mean to say 'know' in the strict sense of 'knowing everything about God,' but I certainly meant it in an important way. When you have love in you, flowing out of you, then you know what love is like, and then you know what 'God is love' means. Like Jesus said, the man who hears his words and acts on them is like a man who builds his house on a firm foundation. And as John says, those who claim to be in the light ought to walk as Jesus walked. Needless to say, none of us can match that standard, but as long as our view of good deeds is just about standards, we sorely miss out on the great wealth of serving God. Jesus didn't come to give us a new set of works, but neither did he come to say that our actions are irrelevant. In fact, he stated that we would know the truth by following his commands. So I say, try to follow them, and you will see.
peace.
Hey Scott, I think I know what you're saying, but I am also confused about how what I said looks like "mere actions tell you what Christ is like." I mean, you spoke of the difference between being and doing, but what I had said was "be gracious, be loving, be merciful, be generous." These all point to internal states, of the heart, as you put it. So I'm not understanding where the communication went wrong. Surely, Christ speaks of doing many things, because if you just speak of internal states, then you're not being very clear. But the average man who hears "love your enemies" should get the message that something internal is going on. Especially when Jesus says things like "even if you lust after a woman, you commit adultery in your heart," and "the good treasure stored up in a good man's heart brings forth good things," but again, "you will know a tree by its fruit." I believe that many churches have made the simple teachings of Jesus very strange, and I don't know how they accomplished this, but I think it has something to do with a grace vs. works phobia of some sort, which in turn was a result of some authorities letting Christianity become little more than a set of rules. But I think the truth is pretty intuitive... it takes effort to love, and that effort comes from within. Jesus' commands were not merely about the external action, but about the action in your heart. Jesus said it is not what goes into a man, but what comes out of a man, that makes him unclean. This, I think, clearly indicates that if you're doing all sorts of nasty things to your neighbors, or even just being indifferent towards them or ignoring them, then you are making yourself unclean inside. So I think the knowledge and the action come simultaneously, and I believe I am pretty much saying what Jesus would say to you. To talk a lot about cause and effect of action, I think, is a distraction. When you are in the moment, loving your neighbor, you know what love is. I mean, the statement, "be loving" doesn't make any sense unless you already have internal knowledge of what "love" means, right? So a command presupposes some internal knowledge. But I think that knowledge fades easily into the background, we are distracted, we are doubtful, we are selfish. A command brings that knowledge to the foreground again, and the hearer must take that knowledge more seriously. But if the hearer somehow says, "well, it's good, sure, but it doesn't really matter if I do it," then I think he allows himself to forget about it again.
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