Christian Cliches with Rev. Adam Hamilton

The other night I was humbled to be sitting in a fancy room with other United Methodists in Dallas in order to hear Rev. Adam Hamilton share a few words on his book set for release in the spring of 2016 entitled Half Truths. I don't think that I am giving anything away when I say that it is a book that is addresses five different cliches that Christians say that are half true (at best). The five half truths in the book are:

• Everything happens for a reason
• God helps those those who help themselves
• God does not give you more than you can handle
• God said it, I believe it, that settles it 
• Love the sinner, hate the sin

The lecture he gave addressed the first and the last half truth listed above with most of the time going to "everything happens for a reason". It was a fine lecture mostly dedicated to the older debate between Calvin and Arminius. Since the room was full of United Methodists (of the Armenian influence) the lecture was an easy sell. 

While the lecture was fine and logical, it is clear to me that these half truths are here to stay, they are a part of the lexicon of many Christians and to logically talk them out of using them will be a difficult thing to do. It is in part because these cliches are so sticky that is what makes them difficult to remove from our vocabulary.

While I appreciate the contribution Rev. Adam Hamilton is making in helping us all see the theological limitations of these half truths, I do not believe that it will help remove these half truths from our culture. As Andy Crouch said in his book Culture Making you cannot eradicate culture you can only make new culture. We cannot eradicate the poor language, we have to make new language. 

For instance, instead of saying, "everything happens for a reason" what about "everything happens and sometimes there a reason." Or, as Rev. Hamilton stated, "I love the sinner despite I sin."

I'm done with "The Bible"

“Tradition is the democracy of the dead. It means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes: our ancestors.”

— Chesterton in his book "Orthodoxy"

David Ball - Original work

Like many Christians, I am a big fan of the Bible. It has it's flaws and it has its puzzles and a deep beauty that only can be described as sacred. However I am done with "The Bible". Not the actual sacred text of my faith tradition. Like I said, I am a fan of that. What I am done with is the phrase "The Bible".

Calling it "The Bible" while technically accurate leaves little to be desired theologically. What I mean by this is that when we hear "The Bible" we hear in our heads a dead set of stories. We hear a book. Or, putting it in the negative, when we hear "The Bible" we don't hear a living story. We don't hear lives of people. We don't hear this as a collection of stories giving witness to something indescribable that the characters do not fully understand but try to put words to because words are all we have.

Perhaps a better way to talk (and in turn think) about this collection of sacred stories is to shift talking about it as "The Bible" but as the "Biblical Witness". This collection of stories are the tradition of the people of faith and, as it has been said, tradition is the vote of the dead.

When we think about the Biblical Witness this begins to reshape the way we think about the sacred stories. We begin to think of these stories like that of a witness. And, like any witness, the Biblical witness has it's own biases and perspective and even errors. It is a valuable and powerful witness to God in the Christian faith tradition but, like I have argued before, it is not the ultimate revelation of God (that is reserved for Jesus). And so it is okay to admit that the Bible may have errors or inaccuracies or contradictions. It is a witness, it is not infallible nor inerrant.

And because the Biblical witness has the same biases and perspectives that other witnesses may have, it is important to know that the UMC affirms that there are other sources of authority that we use in conjunction with the Biblical witness to better discern the will and work of God. This is why the UMC holds fast to not only the Biblical witness but also, tradition, experience and reason. 

Taken together, these four sources (perhaps we could call them the four witnesses?) are the voices we listen to in order to find what God desires and hopes and dreams. These four witnesses give us direction on how to live in right relationship with one another and with God and with ourselves. 

It may not be helpful or reasonable to stop calling it "The Bible", but is it too much to expect that we can understand the Bible as bearing a living witness to the deep mysteries of God and not to understand the Bible as a set of dead stories of the past? 

Reclaiming "I am blessed."

There are words that I do not use because of the horrible and painful history around those words. Most (all?) of these words are not in my ability or even desire to help redeem.

There are words that I do not use because they have been used and reallocated. Most (all?) of these words are in my ability or desire to help redeem. 

"I am blessed" needs to and can be redeemed. Here is my contribution.

"I am blessed" is not something that I use because it has been used and reallocated by some variations of the gospel of prosperity. The vast majority of the time I hear "I am blessed" it is in relation to how much stuff (family, experiences, money, toys, etc.) a person has. It is a statement about accumulation. It is a statement, I think, meant to remind the person that all that they have is a result of something. The American gospel of prosperity says that you got all this stuff because you personally earned it with no help. The religious gospel of prosperity says that you got all this stuff because you are doing something right that pleases the god(s).

The underlying assumption in the "I am blessed" conversations is that being blessed means being independent and not having to rely on others. Although Jesus might have said it, we typically do not think that the poor, the mourning, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted (Matthew 5). 

I would like to reclaim the "I am blessed" as I understand Jesus assuming it to be. Being blessed means you are one who is keenly aware of the interdependence of life.

Art Roy Remy

Being poor, mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemakers and/or persecuted are all situations in life that require interdependence if we are going to make it through those situations. 

Being blessed, as I understand Jesus, is to be one who is aware of just how small we are in the vastness of life. It is to be aware of just how much we need one another and need God. It is to be aware of how we are all just barely making it.

You can be rich and aware of your smallness and interdependence. But, like Jesus said, it is very hard to do. It is hard to not because the accumulation of stuff is bad or evil but because the stuff allows you and I to feel independent and not interdependent.