A little over twenty years ago I re-opened the door to Christ’s Kingdom and with great zeal ran in. Since I belong to the personality type we call “thinkers”, I proceeded to devour any and all books I could find written about Christian Theology, systematics, and the fundamentals. One of the many volumes I read during this time was The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Only in the last couple of years I rediscovered the small paperback buried behind my collection of commentaries, books on Christian history, text books from seminary study, etc. Upon rereading Tozer’s gem I realized that I had my first time through only highlighted his comments on Theological terms- head stuff; I totally missed what was a treasury poured out from Tozer’s heart. What profound insights he shares about the institutional maladies of Evangelicalism in the mid 20th century, and the hope for the Church today. Following are excerpts from his preface written June 16, 1948:
“In this hour of all but universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct "interpretations" of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.
This is the only real harbinger of revival which I have been able to detect anywhere on the religious horizon. It may be the cloud the size of a man's hand for which a few saints here and there have been looking. It can result in a resurrection of life for many souls and a recapture of that radiant wonder which should accompany faith in Christ, that wonder which has all but fled the Church of God in our day.
But this hunger must be recognized by our religious leaders. Current evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God be thanked that there are a few who care. They are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the "piercing sweetness" of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.
There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy.
I trust I speak in charity, but the lack in our pulpits is real. Milton's terrible sentence applies to our day as accurately as it did to his: “The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.” It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's children starving while actually seated at the Father's table. The truth of Wesley's words is established before our eyes: "Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is, at best, a very slender part of religion… There may be a right opinion of God without either love or one right temper toward Him. Satan is a proof of this."
Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies for the dissemination of the Word, there are today many millions of people who hold "right opinions," probably more than ever before in the history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the "program." This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us.
Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts…”
This is the "Gospel of the Gut".
Blessings,
Gary Parkinson
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
to Editor re: Mystical Theology and Contemplative Prayer
Editor, Lighthouse Trails:
What is your basis for making the statement that such people as Larry Crabb and Brennan Manning have compromised the Scriptures with their "contemplative" prayer and "Mystical" theology? I suggest you attempt to interpret John’s Gospel and 1John through other lenses than those clouded by the historical/critical method and our evangelical obsession with having to intellectually defend the Divinity of Christ. Consider this- John's Theology in his writings was developed over a minimum of two generations more experience of living in a socially and politically hostile world than any of the other New Testament authors. Does this make John's writing more important than say Paul or Mark? No, but it complements the other authors and adds an element of "living” the Gospel that the other first generation authors did not experience. John and his community of followers had 40+ more years to develop the theological concepts of the believer's "unity" with God, "abiding" in God, and the Divine dwelling in the heart- in the “gut” of man. This is the “mystery” in John’s writings. One can intimately know God; one can know the unconditional love of God; one can know that he/she is the beloved.
I also suggest you research the lives of some of these men you are publicly criticizing. As John experienced many more years of living a Kingdom life than the other New Testament authors, I suggest that Crabb and Manning have done the same in comparison to yours. Their Theology is not just the product of seminary study in apologetics or systematics, but of living in Christ, abiding in Christ, and in the face of extreme trials and hardships knowing that they are the beloved of the Creator of the Universe.
My old business partner always used to say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Jesus said "he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Check the fruit of these men's lives- are they building the Kingdom? Have thousands of people's lives been radically changed through the writings, counseling, and sacrifice of these men and I am sure many more who you are bashing? For your sake and the sake of others reading your stuff, check the fruit of your work. Are you building the Kingdom of God, or dividing it? Miraslov Volf once appropriately wrote: “Christian communities that should be the ‘salt’ of the culture are often as insipid as everything around them…What we should turn away from seems clear; it is captivity to our own culture, coupled so often with blind self righteousness.”
The Gospel is not about being right; it’s not about being an authority; it’s not about being exclusive. The Gospel is about the heart; it’s about loving others “because (in spite of ourselves) He loved us first.”
Blessings,
Gary Parkinson
What is your basis for making the statement that such people as Larry Crabb and Brennan Manning have compromised the Scriptures with their "contemplative" prayer and "Mystical" theology? I suggest you attempt to interpret John’s Gospel and 1John through other lenses than those clouded by the historical/critical method and our evangelical obsession with having to intellectually defend the Divinity of Christ. Consider this- John's Theology in his writings was developed over a minimum of two generations more experience of living in a socially and politically hostile world than any of the other New Testament authors. Does this make John's writing more important than say Paul or Mark? No, but it complements the other authors and adds an element of "living” the Gospel that the other first generation authors did not experience. John and his community of followers had 40+ more years to develop the theological concepts of the believer's "unity" with God, "abiding" in God, and the Divine dwelling in the heart- in the “gut” of man. This is the “mystery” in John’s writings. One can intimately know God; one can know the unconditional love of God; one can know that he/she is the beloved.
I also suggest you research the lives of some of these men you are publicly criticizing. As John experienced many more years of living a Kingdom life than the other New Testament authors, I suggest that Crabb and Manning have done the same in comparison to yours. Their Theology is not just the product of seminary study in apologetics or systematics, but of living in Christ, abiding in Christ, and in the face of extreme trials and hardships knowing that they are the beloved of the Creator of the Universe.
My old business partner always used to say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Jesus said "he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Check the fruit of these men's lives- are they building the Kingdom? Have thousands of people's lives been radically changed through the writings, counseling, and sacrifice of these men and I am sure many more who you are bashing? For your sake and the sake of others reading your stuff, check the fruit of your work. Are you building the Kingdom of God, or dividing it? Miraslov Volf once appropriately wrote: “Christian communities that should be the ‘salt’ of the culture are often as insipid as everything around them…What we should turn away from seems clear; it is captivity to our own culture, coupled so often with blind self righteousness.”
The Gospel is not about being right; it’s not about being an authority; it’s not about being exclusive. The Gospel is about the heart; it’s about loving others “because (in spite of ourselves) He loved us first.”
Blessings,
Gary Parkinson
Friday, April 25, 2008
to Craig re:Re-envisioning the "church"
Craig-
We've talked about this off and on over the years. It's encouraging to see some of the big players start to question the methodology of the modern church enterprise(over the past 10-15 years only the rebels/heretics would dare to do such a thing), however its not news to the many we label as "lay." Barna fingered it in "Revolution"- there are a boatload of men and women of God who no longer see any purpose for the Institution in their lives. This revelation keeps being re-discovered, re-packaged, re-titled by the institution, but without any realistic vision for the future.
Everyone agrees the institution serves a purpose early in a believer's spiritual journey, especially in our individualistic modern/postmodern western culture. But who has an answer for Pilgrim as he Progresses? Our answer today is we make a place for him in institutional "leadership”, or send him to the mission field(in India, or Africa, or some place worse.) For a few this works, for many this is dreadful. Personally, I can't imagine a worse fate than to either spend the rest of my life sucking up the hierarchy "led" by seminary trained bureaucrats whose primary purpose is to make themselves necessary, or to end up in the woods somewhere begging for financial support from my friends at home.
However some anti-institutional vocational ministry guys are re-envisioning 21st century Christianity. There seems to not only be a shift in methodology, but also in basic Theology. I am ecstatic when I here vocational types start talking in terms of Kingdom Theology instead of focusing on Salvation Theology. "Kingdom now", instead of "Salvation now" has such greater purpose. It steps out of the box, out of the consumer enterprise into the reality of a world in which Jesus is Lord, not just Savior; a world of people all around us who need, who desire, who hurt, who love, who hate, who want a hope bigger than some day going to heaven and an identity more real than the false face of today's institutionalized Christian. Most people I know today, and that includes youth up to my AARP friends, cannot imagine that their ultimate purpose on this earth is to find a niche in the institution and wait for the dubious "rapture". Most people I know want to make a difference. Today's Pilgrim sees a hurting messed up world of people who need care, emotional support, understanding, validation, and friendship where they are and just as they are. Mankind has never craved institutionalization: mankind longs for freedom. (Didn't Paul say something like that?)
It gives me hope when I hear the CEO of the St Joseph Medical system state that her goal as CEO is to have every employee of the medical system recognize their occupation as also being a spiritual vocation.- every personal encounter is a sacred encounter.
At Orange Lutheran HS there is a waiting list for kids who want to give up their Christmas break to go clean houses in Katrina ravaged New Orleans. The fastest growing sub culture in the YLFC High School Ministry is not musical worship, or evangelism, or tech team, but service team! In a time when the institutional church and its paraministries are struggling financially, the coffers of health care non-profits are bursting at the seams. I give time and money to the church out of duty and guilt- I give to St Jude's "care for the poor" program out of joy. My daughter goes to Sunday service out of duty- she's going to New Orleans to make a difference.
Steven Graves in The Fourth Frontier said: "It’s the marketplace that carries the traffic of a lost world." It is my opinion that the "church" as we know it will never solve its problem as long as its primary purpose is internal growth and self propagation. It was once said that our purpose in the Kingdom is fourfold: "Love God, Love our neighbor, Tend Culture, Expand the Kingdom." Jesus pointed to the Kingdom outside the tent-"Go, be fishers of men!” We've got to go to the fishing holes, find out what they eat, what they need. I'm not a fish, but it’s my opinion the last thing any freedom loving 21st century fish wants to be is a trophy on our temple wall or to be showcased as part of our lobby aquarium collection.
Blessings
GP
We've talked about this off and on over the years. It's encouraging to see some of the big players start to question the methodology of the modern church enterprise(over the past 10-15 years only the rebels/heretics would dare to do such a thing), however its not news to the many we label as "lay." Barna fingered it in "Revolution"- there are a boatload of men and women of God who no longer see any purpose for the Institution in their lives. This revelation keeps being re-discovered, re-packaged, re-titled by the institution, but without any realistic vision for the future.
Everyone agrees the institution serves a purpose early in a believer's spiritual journey, especially in our individualistic modern/postmodern western culture. But who has an answer for Pilgrim as he Progresses? Our answer today is we make a place for him in institutional "leadership”, or send him to the mission field(in India, or Africa, or some place worse.) For a few this works, for many this is dreadful. Personally, I can't imagine a worse fate than to either spend the rest of my life sucking up the hierarchy "led" by seminary trained bureaucrats whose primary purpose is to make themselves necessary, or to end up in the woods somewhere begging for financial support from my friends at home.
However some anti-institutional vocational ministry guys are re-envisioning 21st century Christianity. There seems to not only be a shift in methodology, but also in basic Theology. I am ecstatic when I here vocational types start talking in terms of Kingdom Theology instead of focusing on Salvation Theology. "Kingdom now", instead of "Salvation now" has such greater purpose. It steps out of the box, out of the consumer enterprise into the reality of a world in which Jesus is Lord, not just Savior; a world of people all around us who need, who desire, who hurt, who love, who hate, who want a hope bigger than some day going to heaven and an identity more real than the false face of today's institutionalized Christian. Most people I know today, and that includes youth up to my AARP friends, cannot imagine that their ultimate purpose on this earth is to find a niche in the institution and wait for the dubious "rapture". Most people I know want to make a difference. Today's Pilgrim sees a hurting messed up world of people who need care, emotional support, understanding, validation, and friendship where they are and just as they are. Mankind has never craved institutionalization: mankind longs for freedom. (Didn't Paul say something like that?)
It gives me hope when I hear the CEO of the St Joseph Medical system state that her goal as CEO is to have every employee of the medical system recognize their occupation as also being a spiritual vocation.- every personal encounter is a sacred encounter.
At Orange Lutheran HS there is a waiting list for kids who want to give up their Christmas break to go clean houses in Katrina ravaged New Orleans. The fastest growing sub culture in the YLFC High School Ministry is not musical worship, or evangelism, or tech team, but service team! In a time when the institutional church and its paraministries are struggling financially, the coffers of health care non-profits are bursting at the seams. I give time and money to the church out of duty and guilt- I give to St Jude's "care for the poor" program out of joy. My daughter goes to Sunday service out of duty- she's going to New Orleans to make a difference.
Steven Graves in The Fourth Frontier said: "It’s the marketplace that carries the traffic of a lost world." It is my opinion that the "church" as we know it will never solve its problem as long as its primary purpose is internal growth and self propagation. It was once said that our purpose in the Kingdom is fourfold: "Love God, Love our neighbor, Tend Culture, Expand the Kingdom." Jesus pointed to the Kingdom outside the tent-"Go, be fishers of men!” We've got to go to the fishing holes, find out what they eat, what they need. I'm not a fish, but it’s my opinion the last thing any freedom loving 21st century fish wants to be is a trophy on our temple wall or to be showcased as part of our lobby aquarium collection.
Blessings
GP
Monday, April 21, 2008
Response to Ryan re: the Kingdom of God
Ryan-
Yes, in my opinion all these are true regarding the Kingdom. Yes, we are in a spiritual war. However, try to understand the bigger picture of the Kingdom of God by first attempting to take off your neo-pentacostal glasses that see only the polarities of spiritual warfare- light and dark, good and bad, life and death. These are neat categories of Baconian thinking that help us process with our 60-120 IQ the creation as we perceive it and the Kingdom as we can understand it- both created and managed by a King with a 1,000,000 ++ IQ.
In my opinion the closest we can come to understanding the Kingdom is to look at the teachings and actions of Jesus in his ministry. The Kingdom flies in the face of more than what we perceive as "darkness", it contradicts most of the ideals and ideology that I call "conventional wisdom". Much of creation is not dark in itself- its the way we use it, treat it, distort it for our personal, or communal, or national pride, power, prestige. Furthermore, much of what we perceive as the work of Satan is also the upside down way God has of drawing us to Him- our failures, pain, sorrow, suffering- as CS Lewis said: "God's megaphone". Even the personal characteristics- physical, emotional, and intellectual we perceive as defective or insufficient in ourselves were given to us as blessing that make us wonderfully unique. Thus our categories of light and dark that are so easy to systematically separate turn to shades of gray when outside of the Temple.
Second, take off your Reformation glasses that see mankind as totally depraved, wracked and driven by our "flesh" that manages every thought, emotion, and action of our lives. There is also good in man. Every man was born with a longing- a holy longing, a longing for something only God can satisfy. The Fathers write of this longing, the men and women of the Scriptures were driven by this longing, Buddhists, Hindus, New Agers, JW's, and atheists, (unless they are psychopaths), have the same longing. This longing is for the relationship of a perfect lover, one who is perfect love. We seek it from our parents , from our families, from our spouses, from Alah, the eight fold path, mother earth, from our boss, from our customer, from our pastor, our therapist. We attempt to find it in personal acclaim, accolades for success, and in recognition for performance. We strive for it, scratch for it, drive ourselves to anxiety, depression, addiction because of our longing for it- even to suicide when the search seems futile to find it.
What did Jesus command his followers to do? The only commands he gave were the commands of a King- the commands of one with a 1,000,000++ IQ. These commands are the core, the heart and soul of the Kingdom, the already but not yet of the Kingdom. Those commands were to Love God, and love all the people around us- with their warts, egos, miserable dispositions, and weird ideologies. The disciples were commanded to love and serve others as they were first loved by the Father and modeled by the human- yes totally human- Jesus of Nazareth who touched, and laughed, and cried, and hurt more emotionally and physically in his short life here on earth than you or I will probably ever experience. No,mankind is not totally depraved- men and women are capable of loving and being loved. All men as busted up and broken as they are, physically, emotionally, and spiritually long for love and are capable of doing love. We also have a Helper - one to help us know the truth of the Kingdom- to help us know the truth of the Father's love and change our hearts to become lovers. The good news is about the Kingdom. The Kingdom is about the heart. The Kingdom is about the power, the rule and reign of a King who loves perfectly, and his men and women who are becoming servants and will some day be perfect lovers. How this works out is totally "unconventional"- often messy, untidy, to our minds disorderly, and often paradoxically joyful and gut wrenching at the same time. This is earthy spirituality- this is the "gospel of the gut".
This is the best I can do with my 65+ IQ to communicate what I today understand to be the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Check in tomorrow for updates...............
Blessings
Gary P
Yes, in my opinion all these are true regarding the Kingdom. Yes, we are in a spiritual war. However, try to understand the bigger picture of the Kingdom of God by first attempting to take off your neo-pentacostal glasses that see only the polarities of spiritual warfare- light and dark, good and bad, life and death. These are neat categories of Baconian thinking that help us process with our 60-120 IQ the creation as we perceive it and the Kingdom as we can understand it- both created and managed by a King with a 1,000,000 ++ IQ.
In my opinion the closest we can come to understanding the Kingdom is to look at the teachings and actions of Jesus in his ministry. The Kingdom flies in the face of more than what we perceive as "darkness", it contradicts most of the ideals and ideology that I call "conventional wisdom". Much of creation is not dark in itself- its the way we use it, treat it, distort it for our personal, or communal, or national pride, power, prestige. Furthermore, much of what we perceive as the work of Satan is also the upside down way God has of drawing us to Him- our failures, pain, sorrow, suffering- as CS Lewis said: "God's megaphone". Even the personal characteristics- physical, emotional, and intellectual we perceive as defective or insufficient in ourselves were given to us as blessing that make us wonderfully unique. Thus our categories of light and dark that are so easy to systematically separate turn to shades of gray when outside of the Temple.
Second, take off your Reformation glasses that see mankind as totally depraved, wracked and driven by our "flesh" that manages every thought, emotion, and action of our lives. There is also good in man. Every man was born with a longing- a holy longing, a longing for something only God can satisfy. The Fathers write of this longing, the men and women of the Scriptures were driven by this longing, Buddhists, Hindus, New Agers, JW's, and atheists, (unless they are psychopaths), have the same longing. This longing is for the relationship of a perfect lover, one who is perfect love. We seek it from our parents , from our families, from our spouses, from Alah, the eight fold path, mother earth, from our boss, from our customer, from our pastor, our therapist. We attempt to find it in personal acclaim, accolades for success, and in recognition for performance. We strive for it, scratch for it, drive ourselves to anxiety, depression, addiction because of our longing for it- even to suicide when the search seems futile to find it.
What did Jesus command his followers to do? The only commands he gave were the commands of a King- the commands of one with a 1,000,000++ IQ. These commands are the core, the heart and soul of the Kingdom, the already but not yet of the Kingdom. Those commands were to Love God, and love all the people around us- with their warts, egos, miserable dispositions, and weird ideologies. The disciples were commanded to love and serve others as they were first loved by the Father and modeled by the human- yes totally human- Jesus of Nazareth who touched, and laughed, and cried, and hurt more emotionally and physically in his short life here on earth than you or I will probably ever experience. No,mankind is not totally depraved- men and women are capable of loving and being loved. All men as busted up and broken as they are, physically, emotionally, and spiritually long for love and are capable of doing love. We also have a Helper - one to help us know the truth of the Kingdom- to help us know the truth of the Father's love and change our hearts to become lovers. The good news is about the Kingdom. The Kingdom is about the heart. The Kingdom is about the power, the rule and reign of a King who loves perfectly, and his men and women who are becoming servants and will some day be perfect lovers. How this works out is totally "unconventional"- often messy, untidy, to our minds disorderly, and often paradoxically joyful and gut wrenching at the same time. This is earthy spirituality- this is the "gospel of the gut".
This is the best I can do with my 65+ IQ to communicate what I today understand to be the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Check in tomorrow for updates...............
Blessings
Gary P
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