Honor, Shame, and Slanting Theology

  In my 'Top Recommendations from 2012,' I listed The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross as my most thought-provoking book from last year.  It continues to challenge my thinking in a variety of areas, including getting me to read a book called 'Honor and Shame' by Roland Muller (also in  The Messenger, the Message, and the Community.)  This book deals with the topics of guilt-, fear- and shame-based cultures in relation to the Scriptures; most importantly it calls us to see the good news of Christ fully as it speaks to every person's guiltiness, fearfulness and shamefulness before the King and Judge of the universe.

  Most of us who were trained in a Western theological system were not taught to deal theologically with the Gospel outside of a guilt-justification context.  Thus, when people don't feel guilty before God, for instance in an Islamic (shame-based) or animistic (fear-based) culture, we struggle to bring the good news of salvation and true life to them.  Many of us have never felt particularly shamed or dirty before God, simply guilty; or maybe, we've never wondered if the spiritual forces which attack us are stronger than those which defend us.  In either case, the Gospel speaks thoroughly to these issues, as well, of course, as addressing our guiltiness.  And we do want a fully displayed Gospel!

A Tree Leaning on a Graveyard Fence

  This tree, which I walk by daily, reminds me of the dangers of an unbalanced and slanted theology: if the tree were not propped up by the fence, this tree would likely have fallen over long ago.  It seems like the tree lacked even sunlight and therefore grew dangerously.  I hope our theology is not as badly slanted as it feels, but from where I am, it certainly feels as badly slanted as the tree.  The problem is not what has grown; the problem is what hasn't!  

 The Old Testament has tons to say about God's purifying and exalting salvation to a shame-based culture where people feel polluted and unclean before God, but I am just beginning to see much of it for the first time.  The Gospel accounts are similarly filled with Jesus stepping into shamed and outcast peoples' lives and raising them to honor in salvation.  First Peter is another good place to go to consider these Gospel themes.  

 It is in that context that Zephaniah 3:11-12, 18-20 has given me great encouragement. Notice the parts I've bolded which speak directly to this great salvation!

“On that day you shall not be put to shame

because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;

for then I will remove from your midst

your proudly exultant ones,

and you shall no longer be haughty

in my holy mountain.

But I will leave in your midst

a people humble and lowly.

They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord

I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival,

so that you will no longer suffer reproach. ...

Behold, at that time I will deal

with all your oppressors.

And I will save the lame

and gather the outcast,

and I will change their shame into praise

and renown in all the earth.

At that time I will bring you in,

at the time when I gather you together;

for I will make you renowned and praised

among all the peoples of the earth,

when I restore your fortunes

before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Good Gold/Bad Gold?

  The entire rhythm of life changes pretty drastically in Istanbul for the summer months of July and August; this, of course, effects not only our individual lives but also our gathering as Christ-followers. When most of our fellowship that is still here gathered yesterday, we discussed the creation of the world.  We were again struck by the awesome weight and privilege of being made in God's image; how would it change our lives if we lived out the truth that we are (redeemed) image-bearers - it would destroy depression, pride and a multitude of other sins.

  But, we were also impacted by the goodness of God's nurture for His people - seven times declaring that He had made a good world in chapter 1, then, making sure that Adam had the perfect companion because it was 'not good' for him to be alone.  In between these points, two aspects of God's overflowing provision for His people are mentioned: God had every kind of beautiful tree with good fruit grow in the Garden of Eden, and in verses 11-12 while describing the area's geography,

"...Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good..." 

 I haven't heard of gold that humans didn't think was good, but this gold was good.  The point of this odd little statement seems to be highlighting the magnificence of God's provision, the wonder of what He gave (and gives) to His people to care for, the greatness of His care for His own.  Just as the trees and the stars praise Him, gold also declares His goodness and glory to us.  May we have gracious understanding and response.

Our visit to Izmit: capital of the Roman Empire for a few years

This week, Bethany and I got to spend sometime in the Turkish city of Izmit; it apparently has a bad reputation, at least as far as vacation spots go.  When we told our friends we were going away for a couple days to celebrate our anniversary, they were glad.  When we would tell them where we were going, they wrinkled their noses... not a promising start.  But my research told me that it should be a nice, quiet town with a few sights to see if we cared to, so we went.  

İzmit's Landscape

Arriving in the city was not at all promising as the industrial section and the seaport are the first things you see.  However, once we got to the normal part of town it was nice.   Most importantly, it was quiet: it lacked the noise of two small daughters and also the other 20+ million people that normally surround us. Wonderful... If you're ever interested in visiting, I created a public map with a list of Izmit's top sites since there's not much else out there other than the Wikipedia article.

As I referenced in the title, this city was once the capital of the Roman Empire under Constantine.  While it's certainly bigger now than it was then, it also is probably a better vacation spot, at least by today's standards.  

my Google map -  stuff we found to do either by looking beforehand or by finding it there.  

The Obscured Origin of English Grammar

English doesn’t borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

― James Nicoll

I can't say that I haven't felt the sentiment which inspired this quote as I've taught, or tried to teach, over the last weeks or months. The area which this quote, or its more colorful cousin which concerns English vocabulary and is found in other places online, does not cover is spelling. English orthography (spelling) seems to me and to my Turkish friends and students to be a most unnecessary hinderance to learning the English language.

See, Turkish has nearly perfect orthography.  Certainly, there are some aspects of pronunciation which are not demonstrated in the letters; and while native speakers often don't recognize it, there are some pronunciation differences in practice; but at least the letters all stay in their own region of the ballpark.

Having said all that, thanks to the various English teachers who invested in my learning the boulevards and alleyways of the English language. Your insights are still useful to me.

Work, without that unnecessary Leadership

I wanted to find a way to tie this post with the previous post, but the topics were slightly too far apart despite both falling under the topics of work and leadership.  I've been reading in Proverbs recently and again came across the verses about the Ant and its hard work, which is related to the way of wisdom.  It is fascinating that the Ant is specifically lauded for doing this without a manager, particularly in light of the generally accepted wisdom regarding leadership being the hinge for everything, an example of which is found in the previous post.


But consider the Ants without a manager in this video:

Finally, some previous pondering on the Ant:

Go to the Ant, if you’re lazy -

    I know it sounds crazy - but watch!

The Ant always works; its jobs never shirks!

    Which, of course, tells you why, if it’s rainy or dry,

When there’s cold or there’s heat, the Ant still has plenty to eat!

 (from Solomon's Proverbs 6:6-8, poeticized by me a couple years ago)

Work and Leadership

One of the advantages of helping others learn English is that I get to learn while I do it.  I have learned unexpected stuff about high finance, human resources, and leadership development. Beyond that, the 'learners' frequently give me new cultural insights and a deeper understanding of the Turkish language.  While teaching is possibly an unusual way to learn and expand one's horizons in new areas, it is a quite enjoyable one.

In the last two weeks, I've gone through an article titled 'Beyond the heroic CEO: the changing challenge of leadership' which was required reading for one student.  Peter Hawkins says a number of useful things in this article, but I particularly appreciated the section about the challenges this world faces today and the ways in which we should approach them.  While you certainly may not agree with all of the challenges he mentions (I don't), the vastness of the challenges facing the world is hardly overestimated, and a huge proportion of the world's population sees these issues as serious struggles which need answers. He writes:

The challenge would be great if we were just facing global warming or population explosion or technological interconnectedness or the volatility and fragility of the financial markets or the exhaustion of accessible oil supplies or the extinction of species at a rate 1,000 times greater than ever before; but we are not. We are facing a world where all of these challenges and many more are happening in a systemically complex web of interconnecting forces, at an exponentially accelerating rate so that no expert can possibly understand the whole pattern, let alone know how to address it. (emphasis mine)

For a fascinating example of how the world's 'next tallest building' actually interacts at a greater or lesser level with each of the issues which Hawkins mentions, check out this article (and its accompanying video) which I came across completely separately.

Manhood is not Automatic

"Manhood is Not Automatic" was a helpful article to me, specifically and generally.  Meaning, it says things that are relevant to me right now, and it also says things that can affect the way I think for the coming years.  The article is both confessional and challenging; it speaks from Scripture and gives aids for probing your own heart.  May it help you!

 A brief excerpt:

Dennis Rainey said, “Our churches are full of men just like I was…one foot on adolescence and one foot on manhood and have not turned from the lusts, the selfishness, the passivity, the rebellion of the teenage years to become what God called them to be.”

Have you turned intentionally and aggressively away from the self absorbed life that marks the average adolescent teenager for something nobler?

Child-training, without a Fall

 As I have been pondering child-training again, I have considered what it would look like to have raised children in Eden. Obviously there is a certain amount of speculation inherent in considering a 'what if'; but in this case, we have some information to build on.

1. The Garden (and the Earth) were always meant to be filled with children and people (Gen 1:28).
2. The only perfect child ever actually born was Jesus, and He was born into a fallen world, so He dealt with things that would not have existed in a sinless world (Heb 4:15; 7:26-28).
3. Jesus had to mature as a human being (Luke 2:52).
4. Jesus learned obedience through His suffering (Heb 5:8). Also, Adam and Eve obviously needed to learn obedience even in a sinless world; they failed to, at least initially.

  So, on a sinless earth, child-training would still have been necessary; children would not have been born mature... which doesn't even sound nice.  It might even have been necessary to teach children obedience, though that is completely speculative.  I would imagine from Genesis 1 and 2, as well as the rest of Scripture, that the areas of training for sinless children would have been concerned with loving God wholeheartedly, loving the people around you as yourself, and loving/ruling the land God has placed you on/in.  All of that still seems to be necessary and appropriate today.
  So, what was added to parents' responsibility at the Fall?  The basic change seems to be that now children will have to fight Sin and the effects of the Curse and Death from both inside and outside.  The positive side of teaching God's laws and ways did not necessarily change, and those are emphasized in Scripture.  But, I think those things would have been true in a sinless world.  What changed was that now the parent must fight his own sin nature, not provoke the child's inclination to sin, and train the child to fight their sin (Eph 6:4; Col 3:21).  I don't think that stretches these passages.  A final change would be that the parents are to aid the child in restraining and warring against his or her sin.  Solomon's Proverbs speak of that, which is another aspect I am studying.
 What I've found helpful in these thoughts is that it delineates my areas of responsibility as a parent.  It also makes it clear that I could successfully train my child in some areas while basically failing in others. For instance, I could teach them to love the place in which they have been placed without teaching them to love and listen to God.  Or, conversely, I might train them, by grace, to love God yet neglect to teach them to love the land in which they have been placed.  Of course, my brokenness will ensure that I cannot train them perfectly, but I hope that in grace I will continue learning and growing to train their hearts, minds, and strength better.

Home and the Road

There I loved my home,

Beautiful, familiar and green,

But the road moved on.

Again I loved home,

Wintery, blustery and white,

And the road moved on. 

Then I loved home,

Married, urbanized and speckled,

Till the road moved on.

Now I'll love this home,

Superlative, open and blue,

Tho’ the road move on.

Unseen I love Home,

Regathered, beyond, crystal;

The road will not move on.

Eternal Life: The River and the Banks

  At our church gathering yesterday, the 'sharing,' as it is called, was from the book of John, particularly 17:3 and chapter 4, What is Eternal Life?  Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.  In the last week, a couple of things have caused us to consider again the basic-ness of the call to Christ in exclusion to everything else.

  The main sermon illustration went something like this (originally in Turkish): Eternal Life is a river with two banks.  One bank is the things that Christians may do; the other bank is things Christians may not do.  These commands and 'forbiddens' are not part of eternal life though they are related to it. If there were no banks, the River would be harder to notice, but it certainly wouldn't disappear.

  This Life is Jesus and relationship with Him and the Father; this is why the Gospel of John tells us that we can have eternal life now. Yet so often, we confuse the (important, but) muddy banks for the (all-important) River.   Thus, this week we watched as our Facebook newsfeed exploded with people on both sides of a discussion (yelling, about music) again.  I wouldn't suggest that music is unimportant, and I certainly have an opinion on the issue, but there seemed to be some level of forgetting that we should all be in the River together, even when we disagree.  See, the fascinating thing about being in the River is that the River is most important.  Meanwhile, the key issue for anyone on the Bank of Doing or the Bank of Not Doing is 'my opinion,' 'my holiness,' or 'my rightness.'  And the frightening thing about this is that I can know it, write about it, and still sit on a Bank, not living my life in the River.

Niagara Falls - Fall 2012

   Two more pointed conversations also happened last week; in both of them I got asked if I were a Muslim. As I talked to a taxi driver and he wondered why we moved to Istanbul, he asked, "Did you convert?" Well, no, I'm a Christian. From there we continued to talk and share. A couple days later, in an English class discussion, I was asked if I drank alcohol or smoked. When I said no, the next question was, "Are you a Muslim?"  Again, the conversation continued. If things like my location or what I ingest are the core of my religion, I am in desperate need of the River of Eternal Life.

  But it's not quite this simple.  A couple years ago,  I learned something with abrupt force when I read The Mystics of Islam. The mystical Sufi denomination of Islam has some of the most 'Bible' ideas of any  group I've ever studied, yet they lack Christ.  I was struck as I read Sufi writings how much they sounded like A. W. Tozer and other great Christian writers of the past.  They believe in deep, loving relationship with God; they have a passionate pursuit of knowing Him, but Jesus is absent (except as a great prophet.)  How?

  More importantly, how is my religion different?  Is my 'religion' of such a sort that I can be holy enough, love God enough, pursue the knowledge of His greatness deeply or long enough?  Or, am I desperately thirsty for the River?  Certainly those who drink of the River stay between the banks. However, the banks do not define them; the River does!  May I be graced and galvanized to live only in the River, staying off the banks!

Cottica River - 2011