WE ARE HEADING FOR CHINA IN MAY

Many of you are aware that Connie and I are going to China. We leave May 22nd and return June 15th. Five cities and four universities will be visited during this time.

Our itinerary takes us from Seattle to Hong Kong, to Shenzhen, to Nanchang, to Xian to Beijing and back to Seattle. We will be teaching in four universities across China, about writing, the arts, tourism in English speaking nations, and much more.

This trip has been a dream of ours for a number of years. Now, thanks to the generous gifts of friends and relatives, this trip will be a reality. Thanks to everyone of you who has made this trip to China a possibility.

If you would like to be part of or team but have not had the opportunity to contributed to this venture, we invite you to do so today. Thank you for giving generously to the China team.

Check out the special gift for you described in our mid-April China team flier. Go here to take a peek. http://www.danielriceart.net/CHINA/update_d.pdf

A LOVE FOR THE TRUTH

This painting is called, "The Triumph of Truth," by Peter Paul Rubens. Why do you suppose he depicts Truth naked, and who are these other figures? What is Rubens trying to tell us?

Loving truth and recognizing truth requires a number of things. Not everyone loves the truth, not everyone loves the idea that truth exists independently of them; beyond their own personal perspectives, and not everyone is prepared to give truth a welcoming embrace - especially when it militates against their sensibilities and beliefs. Truth can seem harsh and unflattering. Truth can be hard to take. Truth can cut you down as well as lift you up. Truth is tough stuff.

Truth has to do with what "is;" that which is independent of us, not that which comes from inside of us. Truth does not originate from us, and is not dependent upon our approval for its existence. We do not decree what is true or false, truth is something we learn to recognize, something we discover, something we come to love or not. The discovery of that truth is often unsettling, and sometimes shocking.

What I mean is, truth is truth whether I consent to its veracity or not. Truth is never subjective. It is always first objective, then it becomes personalized as we adopt it, but North American culture does not like to see it that way. Truth, in contemporary America, is often described as the subjective product of emotion and personal preference. We say, "What is true for you may not be true for me,:" and that might hold strong in some circumstances, like saying vanilla ice cream is better than strawberry, but it does not hold true across the spectrum of life. Sometimes truth (in the form of facts) mean little or nothing to a person who wishes to place their own perspectives at the locus of highest esteem, but this does not mean that their own preferences or personal perspectives could ever equal truth. They don't.

Even when it comes to simple facts, people are not always convinced by facts. People don't always recognize or welcome truth either. The fact is, our beliefs and personal viewpoints are continually being colored by our preferences and our emotions. Truth is colored by nothing. Truth colors all other things. Someone said that a person's philosophy is dictated by their morality, and not the other way around, but this is not how truth works.

Truth is the judge of all philosophies, and determines their soundness, not the other way around. This is an unpopular thing to say, because as soon as one starts speaking about truth they get labeled as a fundamentalist. But to say truth does not exist is equally fundamentalistic because it asserts something as true. It is inescapable. Each of us has ideas about truth whether they are well formed or not. Each of us believes in truth of one sort or another. The only difference is whether our beliefs reflect the reality that stands beyond us.

People frequently believe what they FEEL to be true, and some people believe what they WANT to be true. For all of our wonderful complexity as human beings, for all of our intellect and thinking, we are still majorly influenced by our moral preferences and our emotions. This is upside down living, and it leads to despair and brokenness. Take for example our emotions themselves . . .

Emotions get the best of us and make fools of us all, yet which of us would give up their emotions for cold calculating bald intellect. Why? Because emotions take us places and provide us with richness that the cold intellect never can. A purely scientific mind can might use sex for purposes of procreation, but lovers make love. Procreation to them is a byproduct, not merely an end. We lament over the troubles our emotions cause us, but if there was a surgery that would remove our emotions once and for all, precious few of us would go for it. It seems that those pesky, unpredictable, troublesome, infuriating emotions of ours are some of the things that make us feel most human. I have often wondered about this oddity . . . emotions.

Art is often about emotions. I wonder if the arts could exist without emotions. I don't see how they could. Here is an even weirder thing, the Bible speaks of God's emotions. Is the Bible merely speaking in the language of accommodation for the sake of our understanding . . . so WE can relate to God . . . or does God really and truly have emotions like us? Can it be that such a view of God is not provincial, not merely anthropomorphizing the deity? Can emotions be important in the heavens?

The profound mystery of the "incarnation" is that God took upon himself human flesh, and we see that God in the form of Jesus of Nazareth displaying really honest emotions. I don't know about you, but that kind of Divine identification with human emotions says something wonderful to me about our own thought life as well. Jesus' own words are profound and meaningful when he said, "Be angry, but sin not." He is not denying us the use of our emotions, not even of anger. He says, USE THEM, but don't let them lead you into the wrong path.

Emotions may be as transformable as the surface of the water, but this does not make them worthless. Emotions are not our enemies. Emotions are important to the intellect, to wholeness as a human being, but let us never forget that reason is given to balance out the inherent weaknesses of mere emotion. Logic is not merely a construct of Modernity, it is part of human civilization in every culture. Emotional maturity, that is, putting emotions to their proper work for us, is a mark of maturity and wisdom. It is both winsome and wise.

When we construct our personal belief systems, let us not forget the need for emotion. Let us retain it and embrace emotion, but let us never give our emotions the final say. The last word belongs to our minds, our reason, our intellect and our ability to make sound judgments -- but beyond that, our maturity relies not in our intellect but in Truth itself.

I never want to dismiss logic because my emotions are telling me something different, and I never what to reject the Truth simply because my intellect cannot get it's mind around the Truth.

I never want to fear when there is no reason to fear. I never want to despair or be overly optimistic either. I want to know the Truth. Only the truth has the ability to set one free from the tyranny of emotions and the restrictions of the mind.

I hope, as I grow, that I can correct the excesses of my emotions and bring them into useful service to my mind, and I pray I can bring my mind into conformity to the Truth itself.

Here is a curious scripture in the New Testament. It relates to the issue of Truth, and the importance of loving the Truth.

2 Thess 2:8-13 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. NIV

It is interesting to consider that Jesus said, "I AM THE TRUTH." In one of his prayers he said to God, "Your word is truth." I wonder what he meant by that, and I wonder if anyone ponders those words very deeply. The apostle Paul said, "The truth is in Jesus." (Eph 4) Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24 NIV

WE WILL ALL PASS THROUGH THE FIRE

Dante, we often forget, was just a Medieval Italian author, a good one, to be sure, but just human. His ideas of heaven and hell are not the Bible, they are just Dante's ideas that made it convenient for him to tell his entertaining, and often instructive tales. Still, most images and ideas of hell we see depicted in art or discussed in conversation are quite Dante-esque. I am not sure at all that Dante's ideas are Biblical ideas, though his are quite profound and often amusing. I often have remarked how convenient it is to believe in hell, especially when one has enemies.

I have noticed how people seem strangely comforted to imagine their enemies roasting in hell. What a bizarre thing this is to me.

Theologically, I am not a universalist; believing that all people will be ultimately saved. No, I think some people's destiny will shape up badly. I don't see universalism in scripture, but I also think we will all be surprised on "that day," when we see who gets in and who does not get it. Oh, I think there is going to be a great deal of surprise on judgment day, to say nothing of shock and awe. One thing for sure is that the first will be last and the last will be first. The powerful will find themselves cast down and the weak will find themselves exalted. I do believe that justice will prevail in the end, and that every mountain and hill will be made low, and every valley and ditch raised up. There will come a reckoning, I do believe that.

The fact is, the Bible, although it frankly speaks about hell (there is no getting around that), does not really give us that much to go on, and I am glad. I think we should be talking about the "Good News" a lot more than we talk about the bad news, and thank God, the Bible actually does that.

The biggest idea about hell we get from the Bible is that we REALLY don't want to go there. Hell is a state of existence we want to avoid at all costs. Sometimes the Bible describes the nether world as a burning place, and sometimes as a sterile place, such as outer darkness. There is not one single word that describes hell in the New Testament, but several. Much has been written by religious folks about this place, but, every description leaves me cold. :-) Whatever it is, I do NOT want to go there. I have my own ideas about it, but I hate thinking about it.

But, as for the subject of fire, a much more important subject in the Bible, we would definitely do well to ponder it. The Bible teaches that we will ALL pass through one kind of fire or another. Fire, can be a metaphor for suffering, or it can be referring to fire as a purifying agent; as punishment, or as judgment. It can be "good" or "bad." It can be many things. The end of the world will be with fire. Fire is God's cleansing agent. When Christ appears, he will appear, "in fire," and so forth.

This morning I was listening to Handel's Messiah, which by the way is about the entire gospel story, Christmas, Easter, and the world to come. I listen to Handel's Messiah all the time. There is hardly a week goes by but that I listen to some portion of it. This morning the section I was listening to was taken from Malachi chapter three, and it really caught my attention - and my imagination. Here it is.

Malachi 3:1-6 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. 5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. Robbing God 6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.

It would be great to unpack everything here, but suffice it to say, this is a place in scriptures that speaks of God's people as going through the fire of judgment, and that is more important than the fact that some will go through that "OTHER" kind of fire.

Malachi talks about the fire that will purify the sons of Levi; that they may offer righteous sacrifices. John the Baptist talks about one who will come after him who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Fire is always associated with God, and God with fire. "Our God," the writer to the Hebrews says, "is a consuming fire." This is a strong theme in the scriptures.

Yet, there is a principle here that bears consideration. It is that God's fire, though it purges away impurity, does not consume the believer, just the impurity.

6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. In the King James version it says, "so you sons of Jacob are not consumed."

Moses saw the burning bush, but it was NOT being consumed. This was strange, and it drew him aside. The "consuming fire" spoken about in Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire, is not the kind that devours God's people. The irony, if it be that, is that Hebrews 12 discusses God and fire before verse 29 and says, 18 You have not come to a mountain . . . that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

He then comforts us by telling us the kind of wonderful place we now inhabit with God - read it for yourself. It is awesome -- then comes back around to the issue of God as fire . . . and not just any kind of fire, but a "consuming fire." Do a study on the subject of fire. You will be amazed at what you discover.

So, this fire of God is different than other kinds of fire. This fire is a safe fire. Safe does not mean it does not burn. Safe does not imply it does not hurt. Safe does not imply that it is all sweetness and light. Nope. This fire is a raging burning, churning, furious, vigorous burning that consumes the dross, the impurities, the wood/hay/stubble of our lives, and leaves only purified substance in its wake.

Make no mistake. We shall all pass through the fire; some to destruction and others to a purified life, by which we will be able to make acceptable sacrifices to God . . . in righteousness. God deserves the best, and he is determined to get it. Fire is the means. Purification is the desired effect. The revelation of God's splendor is the end.

From the beginning of the Bible to the end, fire is God's agent of transformation. If you have ever prayed for God to change you, then you can expect the fire of God to purge you. If you have never prayed for God to change you, you can still expect to encounter the fire of God, but you won't like it. As for me, I prefer one over the other. I trust the one kind of fire to do for me (and for my God) the best things imaginable. I want to offer my life as an acceptable sacrifice, and though I tremble and struggle at times with the implications of God's fire in my life, I will not refuse him. I will welcome that burning which transforms me from what I am to what he desires for me to be. Without such a blaze, there would be no hope for me. A fate worse than purging is the fate of being reserved for a different kind of fire. Our choices are never fire or no fire, but ever and only, which fire will I embrace.

John the Baptist said it best when he said, "There is one coming after me, whose shoes I am unworthy to untie, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." Yes, Jesus. Baptize me with that Holy Spirit and that fire.

BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS

There are realities beyond sight, beyond measurement, even beyond belief.

It is that fact that keeps me enthralled with life and this wonderful world in which we live.

If you like biology or astronomy, physics or art, you don't have to go far before you discover a vast world of wonder. The universe is so full of amazement. It is overflowing with things we cannot comprehend, and would never have imagined on our own. Praise to the Creator for having made such a rich and abundant cosmos. "Open our eyes, Lord, that we might see what yet lies beyond our meager perceptions."

May God grant us the grace of seeing that which reaches beyond our wildest dreams of wonder.

MIND-FREAKING PARANORMAL GHOST HUNTING SUPERNATURALISM ON TV

Our society boasts about how thoroughly we have been freed from the superstitions of religion by science and technology, but the presence of paranormal subjects in the movies and in the programming on TV continues to haunt the realm of entertainment. What is up with that? How, in such a technological and savvy global culture, can interest in the paranormal remain so strong?
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This is not unusual; we have seen resurgence in interest in the realm of "the mysterious" numerous times in the last two hundred years. It was very strong in the Victorian Age, it was very strong during the Great Depression, it was very strong in the later in the 1960s, and it is very strong right now. In the Victorian age it produced a spiritual awakening, not only in the world in the area of spiritualism, but in the church as well, and so these two strains of spiritual pursuits have often walked hand in hand.
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The interest in the paranormal is almost normal for our culture. I have heard many people make fun of cultures in less "developed" countries for allowing superstitions to influence and guide their lives, but are we any less superstitious than they? It is a question worth asking, especially when politicians and powerful leaders in our nation consult astrologers and mediums before they make decisions or act on important matters of state. How are we any different than the Roman leaders when they sacrificed animals to pagan deities and then examined their entrails to determine when and how to go to war? It begs the question whether there are any "developed" nations at all.
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Before the Enlightenment, during the Reformation and Renaissance, the Catholic Church had been dealt heavy blows to its credibility and authority. From the challenges of Martin Luther all the way to discoveries of Galileo, the Catholic Church lost its exclusive hold on the culture. They rallied with a Counter Reformation and an Inquisition, but nothing could stop the slide of European societies away from the authoritarian stranglehold of the Church. This was good in some senses but it also opened up gnarly questions about issues of truth and spiritual guidance.
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After the Enlightenment, when all forms of religion and supernaturalism were nearly banned from France, it affected the rest of Europe and America as well. In that process a spiritual vacuum was created. Where once churches filled the place of truth and spiritual guidance, now no institution could seriously claim that place of privilege with any final authority. Those days faded the moment the Protestant Reformation began.
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Religion, that is Christianity, was nearly swept out of France altogether, but that did not mean (as some foolishly thought) that people would cease to be interested in spirituality; quite the contrary. A thirst for the supernatural, much to the chagrin of the intelligencia, remained deeply imbedded in the general population. Not everyone was as "liberated" and as "enlightened" as the intellectual fathers of the French Enlightenment. The result of the loss of spiritual leadership and its resultant cultural vacuum in the public sector eventually produced a movement called Spiritualism, which took many forms, not just in France, but particularly in England. A look at this phenomenon produces curious discoveries. Not only did this vacuum reveal an interest in the supernatural, but that vacuum was filled up with all sorts of teachings and experimentation with spirits, specters, ghosts, and the ability to communicate with the dead. It produced a fascination about witches, magic, and fairies too. One famous example of this is the beloved Dickens story, A Christmas Carol.
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Here we have Dickens showing the shallowness of the Enlightenment ideals through Mr. Scrooge. He typifies result of those horrific effects on humanity, via the Industrial Revolution, within the context of English society.
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Scrooge talks to ghosts, and is thereby brought to his senses (interesting in itself), and ultimately to a very Christian kind of redemption. Not all "supernaturalism" led directly to the devil, as some might fear. Some of it, especially in this case with Charles Dickens, led back to church, to Christ and to salvation.
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In this, the Englishman's (Dickens) spirituality differs from the French forms of his era. In England it is still possible to believe in the Christian ideal, but not so much in France. This is a very curious phenomenon, and I would love to comment more on this point, and I may do that in a later blog if there is interest by readers for me to do that.
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I would only give you a hint that the same possibility of turning a populist interest in supernaturalism toward Christ rather than toward the devil can work in the context of New Age ideas too. It may be possible to turn the general postmodern openness to the spiritual and paranormal "realities" toward Christ in a redeeming way. I think it is not only possible, but it may be the only truly beneficial direction it can be turned. Ministers, rather than fearing and denouncing postmodern spirituality, might do well to reconsider the benefits such interests create for the possibility of dialogue. Of course, dogmatists won't get this, they never do. But those who are alive with the Spirit will quickly understand this concept.
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The interest in fairies and spirits of the earth has been around since the dawn of pagan mythology, but these ideas surged up again during the Victorian age. As noted, I believe that happened because it was a "safe" non-dogmatic kind of generic happy spirituality that became available to the masses at a time when they were spiritually curious. It satisfied the masses' thirst for something spiritual without the heavy moral baggage of religion. In a video link to YouTube (below) I have given you access to a painting by Richard Dadd, called the Fairy Feller's Master Stroke, which has been updated with a song by Queen. It is entirely entertaining, profound and humorous. This is a kind of proof that the fascination with fairies and such things is with us for some time to come.
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We all know that the Age of Enlightenment produced the Industrial Revolution, and in the midst of those revolutionary movements, we have a corresponding deluge of interest in the occult and in spiritual subjects. These two things are linked together. But here is a very interesting thing to consider, there was also a spiritual awakening within the Protestant churches at the same time.
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At the end of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century, there was a spiritual-earthquake that shook the Western world. Its ripples continue out to us today - but instead of those ripples growing weaker and farther apart as they move outward from the epicenter (the French Enlightenment), it appears like they are growing larger, as does a tsunami when it reaches the shore.
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There are many similarities and some significant differences between the belief in and experience of the supernatural since the Enlightenment. Some of those are the inclusion of women in the role of spiritual guide. In séances and spiritualist meetings, women were thought to be the more sensitive mediums. In the development of Post-Industrial society, the women's movement gained greater and greater momentum, as did the inclusion of disenfranchised peoples in society and marginalized individuals, such as bohemians, transcendentalists and other "free" thinkers.
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It is an irony that in the spiritual Protestant awakening in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, women also began to enjoy greater respect and inclusion in the spiritual life of the church; the Reform church and the Baptist churches notwithstanding. It was not only the spiritualist movements like Christian Science, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and séances that sported women proponents, but so did the new Christian movements. The Evangelist Charles Finney championed not only Abolishionist Issues, but Women's Issues too.
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The newer denominations from branches of the Wesleyan line, Nazarene churches, Holiness churches and the growth of the Pentecostal churches (both black and white), all permitted women to participate in ways they had not been allowed in previous generations. Modernism produced some unexpected twists for spiritual communities, and that resulted in benefits for women within communities of faith. All of these events helped create the foundations of Postmodernism because each played its part by creating openness to new spiritual ideas. Once the central place of Catholic authority had been removed, anything was possible, in any direction.
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Once religion and spirituality had to compete on equal terms with other ideas in the marketplace, it made new spiritual commodities possible (if we can call them comodities). Now, one's spiritual wares will remain viable in the market place only if the product offered is perceived as credibly meeting personal needs in a way that other options cannot. This trend toward interest in the supernatural continues today, and is a subject worthy of our study. The Postmodern view includes all sorts of possibilities and perspectives once thought unthinkable in a modernist mindset; a mindset which was predominantly empirical.
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Postmodernism is, by contrast, existential; that is, experiential in nature. A Postmodernist might consider data and empirical information, but emotions and personal perceptions are every bit as authoritative as is empirical data. This is problematical for scientific methodology, yet even good scientists are often swayed by Postmodern sentiments.
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Another nineteenth century example is the philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, who made a tremendous case for the necessity of an existential approach to faith. Unfortunately, errors of which Kierkegaard is not guilty are sometimes laid at his feet. His approach to personal spirituality placed an emphasis on the experiential "leap of faith" from the heart rather than the intellectual assent to knowledge. It was the heart not the head, that is required for one to embrace the things of the Spirit -- or anything supernatural.
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An over-simplified Kierkegaardianism works for just about any kind of supernaturalism, which is helpful in some cases and not so much in other cases. Kierkegaard himself would not approve of the way his ideas have been kidnapped. He was a Christian through and through, but his ideas, which were intended to speak to the issues of Christian faith, have been torn from their settings and made to apply to any and every experience of life -- spiritual or not. This degrading of his ideas was an unfortunate development. Many books have been written on an existential approach to spirituality, and perhaps, one day, I will write one too, but suffice it to say that interest and belief in the supernatural, paranormal, ghosts, specters, fairies, and spirits of all kinds is here to stay. Science has not stamped it out, The Enlightenment has not quelled our hunger for spiritual experiences, and, for better or worse, these curiosities are part of our permanent cultural/spiritual landscape.
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It is, in my estimation that -- and not mine only -- that "God shaped void" within us, described by Paul Tillich, cannot be satisfied with a purely naturalistic explanation of the universe. We feel deep within our being that there must be something more to the world than can be explained by science. Never was that more obvious than it is on TV and in movies today.
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Is it the angst produced by Modernism that fuels Postmodernism? Is it the notion that matter is all that exists the force that provokes our desire for "more" than a material reality?
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Whatever it is, the desire for spiritual things is basic to our nature. We not only want to believe . . . we do believe that there is more to the universe than meets the eye. How we go about satisfying our hunger for spiritual things may be dramatically different than our neighbor's method, but the essential thing is the same, that is, we believe there is something "out there," and we want to make contact with it, even if it scars the bejeebers out of us.
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Finally, I will make a kind of BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) prediction. If it is true that a general curiosity about the supernatural can (and has in the past) produced an attraction to the gospel, and if it is true that such an interest has always been accompanied by an outpouring of God's spirit (which it can be demonstrated that it has), then it is not too much of a stretch to see that the current interest in the paranormal, and such things, will be also accompanied by the Spirit in our present time. What we can expect, without a shadow of a doubt is that a fresh outpouring of grace and power is not far off. It only requires people who will open up to it.
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Those who understand this will prepare themselves to receive that mysterious move of God that will transcend the present materialistic preoccupation of the churches. Those who don't understand this will baulk and resist that move of the Spirit, just like a certain churches resisted the work of the Spirit in previous generations. As for me, I don't want to miss this next move of God, and you can bet money on the fact that it WILL come. If not through me, then perhaps through you, but if not through us, then it will come through someone else. The one thing that is certain, though, is that it will come from somewhere, and I pray it comes soon.
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I wonder what will become of those ministers and congregations, those institutions and groups who miss it? I want to be prepared. Will it come as a rushing mighty wind or a soft and gentle breeze? Only God knows. But however it comes, it will come in a form we least expect, and it will be a form that is perfect for the age in which we live. My prayer is that I am ready to receive it. How about you?
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NOTE: Here is that cool YouTube short about Richard Dadd's "Fairy Feller's Master Stroke," a sample of non-traditional spiritual ideas in mid-nineteenth century England. Check it out. It might amuse you. Cheers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoRaXAK2RCY

TO BURN OR BURY IS NOT THE QUESTION

Today's blog entry discusses ideas about cremation vs. burial - or - how one ought to treat the human body. The picture to the left is of the resurrection of Christ by Matthias Grunewald, from the Isenheim altar - 1515.

The link to the article above (click on the headline) will give some ideas about this subject, but suffice it to say that burial is a particularly Christian practice - not that others don't bury their dead, they do, but Christians have done it for different reasons.

In paganism both burial and cremation were practiced. When Christianity appeared in the Roman empire, it began to practice burial exclusively. Some of that may have been a reaction to the practices of Rome, but certainly the practice of Christian burial became the result of the teachings of the Apostles.

Paul, in I Corinthians 15, gives numerous pictures why Christians should bury their dead. Though this is not contrasted against cremation or anything like that, it is a treatise that stands on its own. This teaching was radical in his day. It seemed like a strange teaching because it was associated with the idea of the resurrection. Paul suffered much and was mocked, ridiculed and dismissed as a nut for preaching the resurrection. Just check out how people reacted when he talked about the resurrection. From rulers in Palestine to philosophers on Mars Hill, Paul was scoffed at when he preached the resurrection. Today people still baulk over the idea of the resurrection, both for Christ and for us, but resurrection is at the center of the gospel.

It use to be that the Church, meaning the church of Rome, forbade cremation. It was considered a sin, and if I remember correctly, it was a very bad sin, one that was said to condemn the soul.

Well, I am not sure that it is a bad sin, or that it is a sin at all, but there are some strong reasons for choosing burial over cremation. I do know that some attitudes about the body are probably sinful, or at least ignorant, and that might be more to the point.

The church has often interpreted things in moral terms that need not be placed in that category at all. Cremation vs. burial may be one of those. Issues of burial are, as far as I can tell, more of a didactic issue than a moral consideration. In other words, it is what "Christian burial" asserts and teaches about the human body that is more at the core of the practice than the way one may care for the body after death. I believe that people can have the right or wrong ideas in their heads regardless of their funerary practices. The inverse is also true.

Some will argue that it is not hard for the God who made the body to call it back from ashes, any more that it is an obstacle for him to reconstitute the body after it has been reclaimed by the earth, therefore cremation is not a problem.

Of course that would be true if God's abilities were the issue, but it is not. Jesus said that God was able of the stones, to raise up children unto Abraham. In other words, God is able to do not only the impossible, but also the unimaginable.

Some believe that the body is just a husk that will be discarded in order to set the soul free to be with God. First, this is not a biblical view. It is a view that comes partially out of pagan ideas and partially out of Greek ideas.

The immortality of the soul is Socrates idea (as well as others), and it is not a scriptural concept; resurrection is the biblical view, and that is very much different than notions about the immortality of the soul.

Second, the view that the body is worthless and can be discarded in anyway one wants comes close to promoting the lowest view of the body possible; again, not biblical. And THIS is the real issue at hand - a low view of the body. What do we believe about the body? This issue is central to the historical Christian faith.

This importance of the human body has been the battle ground of many theological "discussions," which may be at the root of why the Catholic church, to their credit I might add, has taken the treatment of the body into the arena of morality. Believers in Jesus do, without any doubt, have a moral/spiritual responsibility to the human body. The Catholic church may be wrong in its particular conclusions, but if it is, it is probably not far from the "spirit of the law" regarding this matter.

Further, some will argue that the funerary culture these days is a racket that preys on the emotions of loved ones in order to make a profit. This may be true, but it is a fallacious on numerous levels. It is a distraction from the core issue, i.e. one's view of the body, and makes it an issue of economics, of which it is anything but. This economic view leaves one with the same low view of the body. It does nothing to retrieve us from the unfortunate error of a low view of the body.

Not only this but such a view ignores the possibility that those who run crematoriums can be just as greedy, just as ignoble as those who sell plots and caskets. It further implies that all those companies that provide plots and caskets are insensitive and greedy, and that is too sweeping to be true. It is too stereotypical and emotional to be an accurate picture.

In the news, we have at least one horrible example of a crematorium owner dumping bodies all over his property rather than cremating them, because it was too expensive to cremate them. Can the view of the human body get any lower than that? I hope not.

So, the argument that one part of the funerary industry is more virtuous than another does not hold water, and is, in itself, an sufficient reason to choose cremation over burial. Greed is ubiquitous. It affects everyone. Not only this, but all one need do then to provide a cheaper means of burial and the tide of opinion will swing back to burial. But, again, this is to reduce the treatment of the body to an economic quotient. That seems rather crass and utilitarian to me. It is entirely a modernist construct that views the body as nothing more than material, without any intrinsic value, without any inherent dignity. The body is ultimately junk, like a broken automobile, and should be disposed of in an efficient and economical manner. This is, again, a low view of the body.

The reasons why Christians buried their dead from the first century onward, and in fact the reason why the Jews buried their dead before Christianity, is for entirely different reasons than what we discuss about the dead these days.

The reasons Jews and Christians bury the body was for at least two reasons (there may be more). First, Jews and Christians buried rather than burned the dead because they had a high view of the body. This is key. They believe that the body is more than dirt, that it has dignity because it was created by a good God, and that it has a destiny beyond the grave.

The body, as we are told in the beginning of the Bible, was made in the likeness and image of God. Some seek to relegate that "image" and "likeness" to the confines of the human soul alone, but this would be to read into the scriptures something it does not say. The body, in some mysterious way, is part of that image of God. Just because we cannot conceive of its entire ramifications does not mean it is not still true. Not only this, but Paul give us some hints as to its deeper implications when he refers to this body as a seed of a new body. I wonder if we have even yet began to ponder the implications of this truth. It is only the small mind that would think that God looks like some wise old man with a beard, and yet, there really is something to the idea that the human body is part of the revelation of God in this world. I will leave that for you to ponder. The human body is important; far more important that most have considered. Selah.

Not only this, but Christ himself (as far as Christian teaching is concerned) took upon himself a body. Phil 2:5-9 . . . Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, NIV So, not only was man made in the image and likeness of God, but God was made in the image and likeness of man - in Christ. The incarnation is the ultimate scandal. Heb 10:5-7 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, 'Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, O God.'" NIV

For the remainder of this article, please go http://www.danielriceart.net/ILLUMINATRIUM/body.html -
I think you might appreciate completing the entire thought.

Painting: Resurrection of Christ, by Peter Paul Rubens

HOW SWEET THE SOUND

. . . that saved a wretch like me.

Sin, wickedness, evil, ungodliness, iniquity, wretchedness these are all concepts used in the Bible to describe human beings who are out of sync with God, in danger of judgment, or worse.

When I was a child in Sunday School, I did not think much about those words. I knew both from the Bible and personal experience that people do wrong things. By the time I had become a young man, I knew myself as being among that number. I recognized that I fit the description of a sinner well enough, but I never considered myself wicked, or evil. But when I was eighteen, while reading the Psalms, the use of the term, “the wicked” disturbed me. At first I denied that I was wicked. That was just too much. Sure, I was a naughty sinner, but wicked? Never!

All that year, the Bible descriptions of sinfulness plagued me. I found myself in varying degrees of mental and emotional discomfort. Now I know that it was the Holy Spirit dealing with me about repentance. I doubt there were any of my compatriots who worried about such things, but it bothered me.

Many conversations with my mother, a Christian, and other Christians followed. I protested that the Bible would use such pejorative language. What right did anyone have to call another “a sinner?” It seemed like the worst kind of insult. Are not all people basically good? Well, I launched all sorts of arguments and disapproving remonstrations that year. It was a controversy with me. I took it personally. After all, why use such a heavily laden word as “SIN” to describe mere human behavior? Why make any human behavior an issue between human beings and God? Why not just assign it a more general term like, ignorance, or selfishness, or personal perspective? SIN? That was going too far. It was coercive and judgmental. How dare anyone use such language? Such things should be stopped. That was my view at that time. I hated it.

Well, many things happened that year that brought me to my knees, as they say. If you want to know what, let me know, I’ll direct you to an account of those things that you can read for yourself. It is far too long and involved to go into here. However, the upshot of the story is that I no longer disagree with the use of such terms. I believe they are very good terms, and that they bring things to the surface in such ways as to give clarity and aid for one such as I.

After I became a Christ-Follower (and that was NOT easy for me), I ran into similar objections about the use of the word sin in the churches. Many folks, even Christians, did not like to think of themselves as sinners. They protest. They fudge. They wiggle and squirm, but not I. No longer do I chafe under the weight and implication of that word. It is okay if others do not wish to think of themselves as sinners. God is able to convince them otherwise. That is not my task. Besides, I would just mess that up like everything else I lay my hand to. Without God’s help, I have never – and will never – do anything worthy of praise in my life. The only good has been what has been done in God. I screw up everything else. I cannot help it. I am broken beyond repair. I don’t need a fix; I need a complete death and resurrection. My lot is hopeless without Christ. Jesus is not my crutch; he is my complete salvation. Without the Spirit of God, I am a completely wicked man, without hope in this world, and certainly without a place of rest in the next. When people notice that I am still wicked today, they should not be surprised, they should nod their heads in understanding that my sinful condition is every man’s lot. My wickedness is the reflection of every woman’s condition without God. My wickedness it a reminder of their own.

Here, then, is the point to this blog entry. The Bible, if read aright, is not a book that will comfort the heart, until the heart is ready for repentance. It is an offensive book that will infuriate and polarize the rebellious soul. In its reading, one will either turn toward God or away from Him. There is no middle ground with God, one must yield with one’s whole heart, or miss the high calling to which God has called all of his children.

Where does that leave me now? Well, it leaves me low – and high. An understanding of my own wickedness has brought me low. It has not merely humbled me in some nice religious sense, it has utterly humiliated me – but in that humiliation I have found a place of peace in this life and (hopefully) a place of rest from the weariness of sin in the next.

I cannot, and do not, claim that my soul is completely well. It is not, but it has received with Francis Schaeffer calls, in his book, True Spirituality, "Substantial Healing." And I see evidence that healing is coming to me gradually, but substantially. I no longer love that which I loved earlier in my life. I once loved my sins and hated Christ, but now I love Christ, and hate my sins; a sign, the Bible says, that I am being saved. Things are better than they were, but I am not nearly what I ought to be - not yet.

God is doing a truly wonderful work in my life, but there is SO much more ground to cover. I have been brought so very low by my sins, but I am hopeful about the future. Not that I might become better than all those OTHER sinners in the world. No. I cannot speak for others, and I do not judge any other person. I am merely hopeful that there will be a day when my own sins will cease; forever.

I have an inexplicably solid and joyful expectation that there will be a day when I enter into rest from the sins that have plagued my soul these many years. I am joyous that one day, my repentance will be complete, when I look on the face of my savior, Jesus Christ. I tell you, I trust him alone to do that work which religion never could - not in a million years. He alone is the healer of my soul, and I love him for it. It took me a long time to see that Jesus did not come to make my life unpleasant, but to bring to me a quality of life that can only come through an impossible operation of the Spirit.

I see more all the time what a sinful man I use to be. I am grieved every day about the evils that still linger in my heart. But, I am hopeful that in the future, this agony will be soothed with the sweet comfort of a new body, a new mind, a new name, and full access into the benefits of God's merciful eternal life. The thought is staggering; one day will see my Lord's dear face, and he will give me a new name, a good name, a right name, a strong name; he will heal me and I will be changed.

As my brother Paul said, “I am chief of sinners.” I know what he meant. The longer one walks this road with Christ, the more intolerable one’s sins appear to themself, and the more anxious one is for the change that is promised.

God never asked any of us to “be nice” so we could go to heaven. That is not what being a Christ-Follower is about. God commands us to come to the cross of Jesus and to die with Christ. It is only through his death that we will be released from this world of sin. It is only by conforming to that death that we will have an opportunity to be transformed by his resurrection.

The kind of death we choose is the only issue at hand. Will we choose a death of our own making, or will we choose the one of God’s making? It is not the fact of our death that is important, because that is a foregone conclusion. We all will die. A little while, and we will be what the great artist Michelangelo called, "dust in the sun."

It's not the fact of our death that matters, it is the nature of that death that matters. Will we die without Christ, or with we die in Christ, for the dead in Christ will rise again. No grave can hold them down.

The message that we are sinners - that we must come to the cross of Jesus - that there is but one path to salvation is NOT a negative message, it is part of the GOOD NEWS, for without it we would never seek the Lord, or learn to respect him.

The Good News, is that there IS a path - a sure path - an open path to God. When a humble soul hears that message it is glad. It rejoices that there is a definite path to God and it does not protest that there ought to be more. The proud soul, however, will stumble over that message and will certainly miss the best for themselves. God, in his great love, calls us to humility, to weakness, and to singleness of heart. He calls us to a salvation that is certain in Jesus.

The Apostle says it best when he writes, “ 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor 15:51-54 – NIV

The good news is that there is hope for such a one as I, and if there is hope for an old wicked sinner like me, then without a single doubt, there is definitely hope for you, dear friend. Do not despair. Do not give up. Do not dodge or duck the truth of what we are. Just look up, and call on Jesus today, because our redemption is growing closer with every tick of the clock.