Christ against Christendom

Christendom: "Do not consider anyone to be your enemy."
Christ: "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Christendom: "If someone acts wrongfully, pretend like you didn't notice."
Christ: "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private;"

Christendom: "Go, and consider adultery wrong no more."
Christ: "Go and sin no more."

Christendom: "Money is a root of all sorts of evil."
James: "The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil."

Christendom: "If your brother sins against you and repents, forgive him. If he continues doing it, though, his repentence was phony and you do not need to forgive him."
Christ: "If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, `I repent,' forgive him."

Christendom: "Of course Jesus liked to laugh and joke around. Everyone does."
Christ: "That which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God."
Christ: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep."

Christendom: "We have to start changing the social policies, the environmental situation, the world's opinion of us and our country because we could be facing a crisis soon!"
Christ: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Christendom: "Sacrifice. That's what God's looking for. Don't ask God for anything, ask God what you can sacrifice for Him."
Christ: "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'."

Christendom: "If we provide good logic and evidence in defense of our beliefs, people will naturally want to become Christians."
Christ: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

Christendom: "Sin is going to happen. It's inevitable, really, so stop worrying about it."
Christ: "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire."

Christendom: "It's perfectly fine to love the world and the things of the world."
John: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world-- the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches-- comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever."

Christendom: "Feed the appetites of the sick and the poor because that's all we are ... appetites."
Christ: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes from the mouth of God."

Christendom: "Christ didn't die to make us comfortable."
Paul: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ."
Paul: "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word."

Christendom: "As soon as you enter into God's presence, people will see the difference in your life and find that excellent. So if the world hates you, you're doing something bad."
Christ: "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."

The Mockingbird's Song

The Mockingbird's Song
by The Burning Bush

Long ago there lived a young mockingbird named Eschel. Eschel was too young to find a nest of his own, so he lived with his mother.

One day as he was searching the forest for seed, he came across some other young mockingbirds.

Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Why don't you come with us?
Took Took Took
We will repeat the calls of the blue jay
Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Enough laughs for all.

Eschel did not understand. These birds spoke in an ever-changing song, but his mother never sang. And Eschel did not understand why they wished to repeat the calls of the blue jay.

Pooka, Pooka, Pooka,
You are a mockingbird, yes?
Dople, Dople, Dople
This is what we do.
Dorund, Dorund, Dorun,
This is why all birds envy us.
Teek Teek Teek
But you are still too young.

"No, no," Said Eschel. "Let me first get permission." And he flew back to his nest.

"Mother," Said Eschel. "Allow me to fly with some friends."

"Where will you fly?"

"To the blue jay. We wish to satire the blue jay." Said Eschel.

"Ah ..." Said, the mother. "How sad that my own son wishes to be like all the rest of the mocking birds ... Like the whole lot of our sadspecies."

"Mother, is this not our boast in life? That no bird can mock like a mockingbird?"

"It is our boast but also our greatest sorrow. For you see, no mockingbird is able to sing his own song."

"Could it be true?" Eschel thought to himself. "A bird that cannot sing a song of his own? How sad!" He said to his mother, "I do not understand that."

Eschel's mother spoke directly to him, "Son, you must not fly with the flocks of scoffers, or nest crookedly with the crooked, or join in the company of mockers. If you heed my words you will be happy."

The young mockingbird paused and said, "Yes, mother, I will obey you," Though he wasn't sure.

Several days later Eschel's mother said to him, "Son, I am growing old and it is difficult for me to fly. Please fly into the forest and find some food for us."

"Yes, mother, I will obey you," He spoke earnestly.

After he had traveled some distance he began to look for berries. The other mocking birds called out to him:

Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Why don't you come with us?
Took Took Took
We will repeat the calls of the blue jay
Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Enough laughs for all.

Eschel replied hesitantly, "Yes, lets do it."

The mockingbirds flew to the nest of the blue jay. They all hid in a closeby pine tree, and the oldest mockingbird called out.

"Tweeet! Tweet! Tweeeet!"

The blue jay began looking around.

"Tweeet! Honk! Honk! Tweet!"

The blue jay looked and saw the mockingbirds in the pine tree, and he lowered his head. The blue jay looked up again -this time at Eschel. Again, the blue jay lowered his head.

Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
That was superb.
Took Took Took
Let us pay our friend the owl a visit.

So the mockingbirds flew to the nest of the owl. They landed in a sycamore tree and peeked around the side of the tree at the owl.

The eldest mockingbird spoke softly at Eschel: "Well ... call out to him."

Eschel paused. Then he sang out:

Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!
Hoot! Honk! Honk!

Unlike blue jays, owls have excellent ears. The owl did not look around to find Eschel. He fixed both of his large, brown eyes on Eschel immediately.

The other mockingbirds took flight, but before Eschel left the sycamore he heard the owl answer back:

"Eschel!"
"Eschel!"
"Eschel!"

With every call Eschel felt as if the owl was setting aside every bird in history to call out to him. His call was not high and light like Eschel's own call. It was deep and he could feel it with his feathers.

Eschel imagined it was not the owl calling, but every flying creature who had ever lived in the forest.

"Come here, Eschel!"

Eschel flew down to the owl's branch.

"You can call out with that loud, young voice of yours ... or was that your voice?" The owl then said, "Do you also have ears to hear with?"

What was the owl asking? "Yes, yes. I have ears to hear with."

"Then hear me now, if you can. You are a mocking bird. The only song you know is the song of scorn, for you take what little solace these creatures have in the world and you mock them for it.

"Listen to me, Eschel, for I have learned many things in my time. The mockingbirds you travel with love to take gladness from the other birds, but the gladness they find is a lie and it is really a bitterness and an envy."

"Why is it bitter?" Asked Eschel.

"The cruelest of the mockingbirds wish they had their own song to sing, but they never find one because they are always mocking the birds, the owls, the forest, even heaven itself."

"What must I do?" Asked Eschel.

"Return to your mother. And do not join in the mockery of the mockingbirds. If you have no song to sing, learn to sing the song of silence, as I have learned."

"Before I leave, owl, allow me to ask only this question: 'If my song is a silent song, who will hear it?'" Asked Eschel.

"Leave me now." Said the owl. "And peace be with you."

Eschel left the owl and began to fly home. "I must gather some berries before I return or my mother will know where I have been." And he began to look for some berries.

While Eschel was looking for food, rain began to fall from the sky. Eschel did not take long to find a berry, but by the time he made it back to the tree there was a great downpour.

To Eschel's great astonishment he did not see his mother in the nest. He looked over one side of the nest, and then the other side, but he did not see his mother.

Eschel did not know where his mother had gone. She was becoming older and could not fly far from the nest. Where could she have gone? The ground below was now far beneath the water. Eschel wished his mother was back in the nest.

Eschel wept.

To the other birds it might have sounded like Eschel was not saying anything, but inside he was calling to himself, "How I have overlooked the good in others! How I have overlooked the oversight of my mother! How I allowed myself to be deceived by my friends!"

As the rain came down, so too did Eschel pour himself out to heaven. "Please, do not take my mother from me!" He said.

Late in the night Eschel fell asleep.

When Eschel awoke the nest was empty. And he said to himself quietly, "Yes, just as I took the good in my life as nothing, I now have nothing. This is all as it should be. I have what I deserve."

In the distance he saw a older mockingbird approaching. She was carrying food in her mouth, and it was his mother!

Eschel felt as though he was snatched off the earth and taken up into the heavens -as if some giant had seized him and lifted him up into the sky.

Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!

He called out.

Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!
Though I am the lowest of mockingbirds...
Freedid! Freedid! Freedid!
I have been extended all things!
Freebliss! Freebliss! Freebliss!
No song will ever convey
Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!
The joy that is now mine.

He told his mother about the way he flew with the other mockingbirds and how he had mocked the owl. His mother listened and responded:

"Yes, that is how it is for us mockingbirds. Most of us laugh, and the few who do not laugh weep because we have laughed." She paused and said, "But the song I heard you sing was something new to me -even in my age. Where did you learn it?"

"The owl did not teach it to me, but he told me how to hear it."

And so Eschel continued to gather food for his mother. As he searched in the forest he would occasionally sing,

Freebliss! Freebliss! Freebliss!
No song will ever convey
Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!
The joy that is now mine.

The other mockingbirds heard Eschel's song and they said to each other, "This fellow is making light of songs that are not sung by birds!" And they called out insults against him.

But every now and then another mocking bird would hear Eschel's song and say, "A song that is not from any other bird!" And they would teach it to the other mockingbirds.

And to this day, when you hear a mockingbird, he is probably singing the song of another bird, but every mockingbird has his own song which he may instead sing.

Laundry List Christianity

A close friend once said to me, "I don't understand how the unchurched can stay married. They don't have marriage seminars or accountability partners. I just don't understand how their marriages can last!"

Although I didn't say it outloud, my response was, "I am amazed any marriage can last through those seminars and so-called accountability groups."

I can't speak for all marriage seminars, but most marital advice I hear is along the lines of:

Sure, love is a good thing to have, but you also need to be very organized
or
...you also need vast intellectual resources
or
...you need to kiss five times a day and talk for at least two hours and sixteen minutes
or
...you need to have a biblical view of the sacraments and of eschatology

The other day I was visiting the wikipedia article on Gothic Fiction and I wondered to myself what some of these characters would be like in one of these seminars or in an accountability group.

Consider Bronte's anti-hero from Wutherington Heights, Heathcliff. He was the one who desired a woman so strongly that he basically destroyed everyone who kept him from her. And then he destroyed the lives of their descendants.


What kind of advice would he receive at these so-called seminars?

If someone hurts your feelings, pretend like you don't care. Instead of making real enemies, make pretend-friends.

If your actions don't win approval from others, that's a red flag. You need to do more things that others approve of.

Be aware of other's rights. And don't physically hurt anyone.

In my mind, I can just imagine Heathcliff saying, "I was hunting down those who separated me from my Catherine, but now, instead, I will hunt down and destroy the lives of these phony people."

And of course people have responded in such a way. One recalls the murderer of John Lennon carrying a copy of The Catcher In the Rye. His point was, John: you're not fooling anyone. But most likely someone could have shot Mark Chapman and called him a phony too.

Punish the phony people. Check...

When I consider these seminars and speach-writers I think of those ancient sophists who sold knowledge at a price. Socrates used very simple, gadfly questions to demonstrate the educated had no advantage when it came to finding Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.

And the same must be asked of love. Does one grasp love better or become more loving by having more information? Or by reading more books? Or by following lists?

Is it not the case that these advantages are nothing and even a little child can easily discover love?

Consider the following passage written by an older Copenhagen judge, Vilhelm. Perhaps during his years as a husband he has caught a glimpse of the essential task in loving.

In education what matters is not that the child learns this or that, but that the spirit is matured, that energy is aroused. You often talk of how splendid a thing it is to have a good mind. Who will deny the importance of that?

And yet, I almost think one makes that for oneself if one wants.

Give a man energy, passion, and he has everything. Take a young girl, let her be silly, hysterical, a real chatterbox, imagine her falling deeply and sincerely in love and you will see that the good mind comes of itself, you will see how shrewd and cunning she becomes in finding out if love is requited; let her be happy in love and you will see ardour bloom on her lips; let her be unhappy and you will hear the cool reflections of wit and understanding ...
Vilhelm, Either Or.

His point is clear enough. People with full and meaningfull lives also seem to be rich in understanding, but an education itself is secondary to the task of living in a full and meaningful way.

In one of Plato's dialogs, the Meno, Socrates reflects on the way the seminar leaders of his day are unable to teach virtue. If virtue cannot be taught by human teachers he surmises that it can only be taught by the gods.

In the same way, the followers of Jesus Christ do not become disciples of love by listening to the peddlars of self-help lists and degree programs. To this end the Apostle writes, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God".

All the requirements hang on those two love commands. The final question everyone must answer to themselves: "Is love enough for me?". As soon as a person answers negatively he has opened the door to the laundry list lifestyle.

Airport Religion

I occasionally wonder if people who travel by plane have a different style than everyone else.

How would I describe airport travelers?

Fast-paced. Chic. Coffee-drinking. Rich. Affected. Glamorous. Cosmopolitan. Intellectual.

Is there something about an airport that influences people to behave this way? Hard to say. I myself am not even sure if my observations have come from watching others or myself.

My confession is this: I have styled myself in the very way I have described. I did this mainly in college, but at other times as well. You know the style I am referring to?

'Yes, yes, I must hurry to get to my gate. I (must appear as though I) have an important meeting to be at by six. Important people will be there. If you study my appearance you will find I (appear to) make a lot of money. But if you asked me to tell you the unfathomable salary I (seem to) make, I will scoff at its triviality. I am so tired and life is such a burden. (Have you seen my Oxford sweatshirt?)'

I admit there would be a comical aspect to this if (only if!) I were laughing at someone else. Unfortunately I merely recall my behavior and think, "How deplorable!".

I do not find it necessary to define the line I crossed. This would be like trying to determine at what point a joke becomes funny. By that I mean analysis often serves to deprive an act of its true significance.

But does anything else happen in an airport?

'Oh yes, I am familiar with such-and-such a region. I went to school there you know at such-and-such. You think Iraq should have been handled that way? Well here's my profound idea. Can you believe the incredible bravery of such-and-such a political party?'

The posturing, the speculating, the acting ... in a word, the deception. But who is more deceived?

A man dresses as to convince others he is a noted broadway performer. Are the people who mistake him for a celebrity deceived or is it somehow the case that he has effectively deceived his own self?

Let us set this peculiar question aside and perhaps examine another question. What if this airport posturing were taken to larger proportions?

I shudder to consider of a charity run by people in airports or an oligarchy run by the most stylized travelers.

What if the 'airport style' were made into a religion?

The first thing to be settled would be a religious text. Why not select a book commonly bought and shown off by airport travelers? Of course, the Da Vinci Code!

In the film version we find Tom Hanks (how famous!) playing the role of a prestigious scholar. He travels to the Lourve (how refined and cultural!). He gets into trouble, but it's okay because surely his brains will save him in the end. He teams up with a beautiful woman who must surely love him if he is as educated/cultured/famous as they make him out to be.


Now the Da Vinci Code -as I understand it- is a gnostic text. Gnosticism is essentially the worship of knowledge. Why do people worship knowledge? The answer is difficult for me to find until I consider my past experience in worshipping knowledge.

Lording it over others.

Yes, it is true that if you visit a university or mueseum or city hall you can find lawyers, curators, and professors who make it their supreme goal to let you know just how much they know.

But these men are ordinary know-it-alls in comparison to the walking "high brains" of the airports.

The end goal is to secure as much approval from others as possible. And many people do approve of Dan Brown, among them are the people who work at Sony Pictures. They love it that so many paying customers want to learn how to be snobby intellectual elites.

Dan Brown's 'interesting' and 'fashionable' views include how there were no miracles, heavenly action involves sexual promiscuity, and how earnest men and women at the monasteries are actually killers. Surely society will always be in debt to him.

In the past people thought about religion in terms of loving one another and the seriousness of death. These are the elements Dan Brown (and the gnostics) want to rescue us from.

There were no airports in the Bible, but there have always been men who associate with each other and attempt to boast and show off their accomplishments, their education, their wealth, their social status, etc.

One such group in Jesus' time was the Pharisees. My own view is that these people would have loved airport travel. Consider the following passage from Matthew 23:

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi'."

The aspect I hate the most about the Pharisees is simply this: they remind me of everything I hate about myself.

Indeed they highly valued the approval of other people, and the more they valued the crowd's opinion, the less they approved of and valued their own lives. I believe this is what Jesus was referring to when he said, "... but inside they are full of dead men's bones."

To that extent I can identify most definitely with the Pharisees. I say to myself, "Surely I walked in the counsel of the wicked! I have stood in the way of sinners! I have sat in the seat of mockers!".

The final aspect I present about the airport religion is its doctrine of restlessness. People in the airport are always, always in a hurry.

According to Jesus the Pharisees traveled over land and sea (I'm sure they would have preferred air travel) to win a single convert, and when they did this he became twice as much a son of hell as they were.

Although a man who loves God may travel often (as did the Apostles) he is, in another sense, grounded like a tree planted by streams of water. He does not long to be some place else.

This is the calling God has put on every person dissatisfied with the religion of this world. When a person finds the life Christ has to offer, he may in one sense hunger, but in another sense he will never hunger again.

In conclusion I see no inherent problem with air travel. The problem only introduces itself when a person becomes more worried over his or her appearance than having an actual self.

How much better to choose an actual self ... and to love others as they are.

Peter's Implicit Faith

Immediately after this, Jesus told his disciples to get into their boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he stayed to get the people started home.

Then afterwards he went up into the hills to pray. Night fell, and out on the lake the disciples were in trouble. For the wind had risen and they were fighting heavy seas.

About four o'clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water! They screamed in terror, for they thought he was a ghost.

But Jesus immediately spoke to them, reassuring them, "Don't be afraid!" he said.

Then Peter called to him: Sir, if it is really you, tell me to come over to you, walking on the water."

"All right," the Lord said, "Come along!"

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.

Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and rescued him. "O man of little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" And when they had climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.

The others sat there, awestruck. "You really are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.

Matthew 14:22-33 The Living Bible

Continuing on in the theme of the life and letters of Peter, I found this account in Matthew about an experience Peter has with Jesus.

I have been reflecting on this passage because I am trying to grasp what Calvin meant by claiming, "Faith is implicit".

This story includes a number of frightening accounts: severe weather conditions, an approaching figure that could be a ghost, and a man walking on the water.

Now consider Peter. Peter is so confident he calls out to Jesus and asks to walk with him.

In my way of thinking Peter seems to have an extraordinary amount of faith. He even goes over the side of the boat and begans walking toward Jesus.

On the other hand he sees the waves and becomes terrified.

Perhaps as a man discovers the trust he has in God he also discovers the distrust he has in God. In this story Calvin's words stand out to me: "In all men faith is always mingled with incredulity."

Note the moment at which Peter begins to sink. He looks at the high waves and begins to go down.

Isn't this just like doubt? It is like a sinking. However much a man may doubt, he may doubt even more. As the human eye fails to find hope in a situation he can continue to fail in finding hope. Presumably Peter could have landed at the bottom of the sea, but is there any limit to the depths of one's doubt?

The Apostle writes that as believers in Christ we are to walk by faith and not by sight. In the same way that Peter's human vision, his reasoning capabilities, his understanding of the storm failed to give him hope, so too our human measures are totally unable to give us the confidence God desires for us.

To have faith we must see what is invisible, we must think about ideas that cannot be thought, we must understand what cannot be understood.

As a child I went with my parents to a concert at Willow Creek in Chicago. I was puzzled by the way the singers would sometimes close their eyes while singing. "Don't they want to know what's happening around them?" I thought. They seemed to do it more on the slow songs.

My mom would explain it to me: "They close their eyes because they're shutting the world out. The things they feel inside are so tremendous and profound that their physical sight only distracts them."

In some ways the Sea of Galilee account is like a story of two Peters. On the one hand we have a Peter who is aware of Christ, his dominion, and his love for Peter. The other Peter is only aware of the height of the waves and the storm. The second Peter sees what is visible, and the first Peter sees what is invisible, and, as the writer of Hebrews notes, what is invisible is eternal.

Another aspect of this passage is how God views our doubt.

"O man of little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?"

Some people view doubt as a kind of evidence. "You should doubt it, and eventually you will find it cannot be doubted." They say. But everything can be doubted. Those who take up doubting with any seriousness soon discover it cannot be exhausted.

If doubt cannot prove anything one way or the other, then why turn to it? Why did Peter doubt Jesus?

Perhaps Peter just liked doubting Jesus. Some people like chocolate icecream and others like strawberry icecream, but often neither can explain why they like one flavor over the other. Perhaps Peter just liked to doubt Jesus. Perhaps we all like to doubt Jesus.

Something tells me that we do not distrust Jesus just because that seems preferable to us. And so Jesus' question remains:

"Why did you doubt me?"

Certainly there are times when I think I am close to God. I'll have a moment where God seems to speak particularly to me. Then I get on an airplane and it begins to shake. Or some high bills come in the mail. Or I get no grade for a project I turn in. I get anxious and before long I find myself asking with Paul, "Why? Why do I do what I do not want to do?".

How does God view our doubt?

Kierkegaard answered this question in his work Philosophical Fragments. Every situation where one may doubt one also has the opportunity to not doubt as well. This possibility is a constant in all our circumstances, and this possibility is essentially our duty before God.


Praise God that unlike everything in Hollywood or the fantasies of men he has given us stories of people we can identify with! When I read passages like this in the Bible I quickly recall my shortcomings, but God also provides me with a glimpse of how wonderful our relationship can become.

God was able to use an up-and-down character like Peter in great and mighty ways. Like a scultor working with marble, God was able to develop Peter. This development involved learning that we should not be followers of what our physical eyes tell us and also that He has provided us with the chance to trust Him always.