i am paradox

The Secret Message, Part Two

More from Brian McLaren's lastest book: The Secret Message of Jesus .

" Here's the scandal: not just that Jesus speaks of the new kingdom, but that he says the kingdom is at hand, available to be grasped, knocking at the door--not just someday in the future, but here and now!  To a Jewish hearer then, "the kingdom of God" may have been an accessible and evoactive metaphor, but "at hand" would come as a shock and a contradiction to what everyone thought. To them, it could only happen later--after the Romans were ejected or eliminated.  And this was so hard to imagine actually occurring anytime soon that they were considered completely improbable and practically impossible.

Think of our reality today.  We might all believe that war and poverty should end someday, but how many people would believe a self-proclaimed prophet who arose from say, Panama or Sierra Leone or Sri Lanka and was interviewed on CNN with this message: " Now is the time!  It's time to decommission weapons programs and reconcile with enemeies!  It's time for prosperous multinationals to become rich in generousity!  Don't say someday or tomorrow, the time is today!  Shut down your weapons and open your checkbooks!"
(pgs. 24-25)

"The Greek phrase John uses for eternal life literally means life of the ages, as opposed, I think we could say, to life as people are living these days.  So John's related phrases--eternal life, life to the full, and simply life--give us a unique angle on what Jesus meant by kingdom of God:  a life radically different from the way people are living these days, a life that is full and overflowing, a higher life that is centered in an interactive relationship with God. "
(pg. 37)

The Secret Message, Part One

Have really been enjoying Brian McLaren's newest book lately. Here are a few excerpts:

"What if Jesus of Nazareth was right--more right, and right in different ways, than we have ever realized?  What if we have developed a religion that makes reverent and honoring statements about Jesus but doesn't teach what Jesus taught in the manner he taught in?  What if the religion generally associated with Jesus neither expects nor trains its adherents to actually live in the way of Jesus?

What if the message of Jesus was good news--not just for Christians but also for Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, New Agers, agnostics, and athesists?  Wouldn't it be interesting if the people who started discovering and believing the hidden message of Jesus were people who aren't even identified as Christians, and wouldn't it be tragic if people like myself, identified as Christians, were unwilling to consider the possibility that that have more to learn about the message of Jesus?"

Pages 3, 8

Hallowing the Everyday

So for the past couple of months, I have been doing a ton of reading and research for a new ministry we are planning to launch called Catalyst .  One of the books that I've gotten the most from has been The Shaping of Things to Come .  Check out this passage I recently came across:

"One of the most wonderful metaphors in Jewish mysticism is the rabbinical teaching on the Shekinah (God's glory). In the typically playful way Jewish theology was presented, the Shekinah gains a personality and usually takes the form of a woman.  In exile, God and His glory have been tragically separated through the fall. The separation is one of a cosmic crash in which God's glory was scattered into myriad sparks and caught up in all created matter. The holy sparks are now imprisoned in all things. Even the lowest of created things have the holy sparks in them.

The remarkable aspect of this Jewish teaching is the view that it is our holy actions actually free the holy sparks ensnared in all things allowing the exiled Shekinah to journey back to her Husband. God and His glory are joined together when people act in holiness.

When we act redemptively and in holiness, we fan into flames the creational purpose that lies at the heart of all things in God's world."

(pg. 128)

Last Word Book Tour

Brian McLaren  is doing a book tour for his newest work, The Last Word and the Word after that.  You can find a list of where he will be when, and see that the heat about hell is already starting at Chris Monroe's blog. 

The Last Word and the Word after That : A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity

The Last Word and the Word after That

March 25

Deceived on Purpose?

Ok, now I'm no fan of the Purpose Driven Life. But when I found this on a website, I forgot how mean Christians can sometime be in their quest for truth.

Deceived on Purpose—
The New Age Implications of the

Purpose-Driven

 

Church

by Warren Smith

---

A Must-Read!
Now in its second edition.

The testimony of a former New Ager and how he sees a connection between Purpose-Driven Life and the New Age!

When former New Ager Warren Smith began reading the purpose Driven Life, he was shocked to discover language, ideas, terms and philosophies that he learned as a New Ager. If you have ever wondered what really lies beneath the surface of the Purpose-Driven agenda, then Deceived on Purpose is a must-read. A stunning and thought-provoking testimonial.

Talking out of both sides?

I was kind of upset this week when I discovered that DA Carson is having a new book published based on his talks that have been talked about online recently. I didn't really care that his book is being published, but that its being published by Zondervan. The same company that has produced a ton of great books through Emergent/YS over the past 2 years. Is it all about money? It makes you sick.

Book signing with Brian McLaren

Join Fuller in a conversation with Brian McLaren as he discusses his latest book, A Generous Orthodoxy.

WHEN:
Thursday, October 21st, 2004
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

WHERE:
Fuller Theological Seminary
Travis Auditorium
135 N. Oakland Avenue
Pasadena, CA

Brian's book signing

Angels and Demons

Creation. Evolution. Antimatter. Purpose. Atheism. Big Bang. Nanotechonology. Illumanti. Syncretism. Dan Brown, who has received so much attention for DaVinci Code, has a previous novel (prequel) that is amazing. I am currently listening to Angels and Demons, from which I got at Audible.com. Its a fascinating story which includes many postmodern trends: spirituality, ancient future emphasis and skepticism. Definately worth checking out, even if you are not a conspiracy buff.

A generous orthodoxy

" The book is absurd because it advocates an orthodoxy that next to no one actually holds, at least not so far. Most people aren’t interested in an orthodoxy anyway—generous or otherwise; they want THE orthodoxy. From the look of things, this book will do little to change the situation, although hope dies hard. Many will agree: the choice of the word orthodoxy in the title is a terrible mistake. For most people, orthodoxy means right thinking or right opinions, or in other words, “what we think,” as opposed to “what they think.”

In contrast, orthodoxy in this book may mean something more like “what God knows, some of which we believe a little, some of which they believe a little, and about which we all have a whole lot to learn.” Or it may mean “how we search for a kind of truth you can never fully get into your head, so
instead you seek to get your head (and heart) into it.” Many hold a minimalist concept of orthodoxy, seeking “the least common denominator,” which limits the list of requirements for orthodoxy to a few core essentials. The generous orthodoxy of this book never seeks to dispute with those lists, but rather, it consistently, unequivocally, and unapologetically upholds and affirms the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. It also acknowledges (rather perversely) that a number of items many hold as vital for orthodoxy are found nowhere in those seminal creeds and adds (somewhat sheepishly) that the creeds should never be used as a club to batter into submission people with honest questions and doubts. It also af.rms (this is so Protestant) that Scripture itself remains above creeds and that the Holy Spirit may use Scripture
to tweak our creedal understandings and emphases from time to time, so that new creeds are needed to give voice to the cry of faith today."

From Brian McLaren's newest work, chapter 0