MORE ON NEWGENESIS

In 1 Corinthians 1, we see a good illustration that helps to define "The Generic Christian." The problem in Corinth was not limited to there and then. It's no less a problem in Christianity today. The Church was born on Pentecost. Some time later, Paul came to the church at Corinth and found the church members quarreling over which of the apostles they should follow.
"I like the way Apollos preaches!"
"Yes, but Cephas' messages are easier to understand."
"No, no! Listen, we should all be following Paul!"
"Baloney! It's Jesus and Jesus only!"
Do you see what the devil was up to? "United we stand, divided we fall." That saying may have come centuries later, but it fit the situation in Corinth, and it fits the situation today - the way it's been since the Reformation. Christians are still arguing over which is the "right" church. History has seen a lot of blood spilled over one denomination versus another. Notice the connection (Or, I should say, "disconnect") with John 17:21ff. Even before the mess it Corinth, when Jesus (in John 6:66) taught something that seemed too hard to do, people started dropping out like gang-busters.

In an article I wrote about the Generic Christian I made note of certain criticisms which have been raised against Christianity. These criticisms may lead us toward some attitudes, qualities and behaviors that reveal what a Generic Christian is. For instance, the first criticism dealt with the very same problem I just mentioned in the Corinthian church. Sectarian divisiveness has been troubling Christianity for a long time. The transformation that comes to fill the heart and life of the new believer who has discovered a love affair with Jesus too easily gets drowned in a sea of traditions and authority, and do's and don'ts. That exciting life changing experience with God gets exchanged for a bunch of doctrinal knowledge. Groups of believers are led into groups that often form around some favorite doctrine that becomes a litmus test for fellowship. If you don't hold to it exactly, your Christianity is in doubt. Such attitudes have been responsible for giving Christianity a bad name. Instead of a vibrant, free, loving faith, the new believer finds the expectation of submission to authority and a religious rigidity that makes the church look and act like dead men, and the church succumbs to a case of spiritual rigor mortis. Yet the people in that group sees itself as holding to doctrinal prejudices which they identify as being in agreement with the rest of the "genuinely" Christian world. What "we" think certainly must be what God thinks.
This kind of thing doesn't just happen in cults.

The Generic Christian, then, recognizes that when it comes to the doctrinal statements of our faith, we don't know it all, and there is room for us all to grow and to allow others to grow, even if we are not growing in unison. "On the count of three, now, everybody say, "I believe..." The Generic Christian also recognizes that it is the Holy Spirit who feveals and leads us to the truths that describe God and His will, and reality.

The second criticism touches exactly on this matter - because we have been given truth in the form of revelation, which has, "once for all been delivered to the saints." But often what that means is misunderstood, and Christians are seen as shoving our own presumably un-provable ideas down everyone else's throats. God has revealed cufficient truth in the Scriptures. We are not called to make sure that other's believe it. As Generic Christians what we are called to do is share what God has done for, in, and through us - the testimony of the truth of our experiences with God, as evidence of the the reality of this immanent, but also transcendent Being. It's up to God through the Holy Spirit to impress that truth upon the hearts of others.

The third criticism leveled against us is: "Don't be yourself, be like us." In many Christian groups the impetus to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord, has taken the a form that goes like this: "Now that you're one of us, here's what you can do, and here's what you can't do." We all know (or should) that's called legalism - which, perhaps more than anything else, undermines the truth of the love of God, manifest in Jesus Christ. The Generic Christian doesn't need to do God's work for Him, by forcing everyone who comes into the church into the same mold.

We all know that we need to grow (who would want a baby to stay that way forever?) If we don't want to grow, there's some question whether we have really come into relationship with Christ, or the Holy Spirit, or God the Father. But it's also clear that everyone grows at their own pace, and some people need to grow in one way, and others in a different way. 1 Cor. 3:6 says, "I planted, Apolos watered, but God gave the growth. The Generic Christian lives out the list of "One-Anothering" behaviors we find in the New Testament: Love one another, bear one another's burdens, encourage one another, and many more.

The fourth criticism is stated thus: "I don't need a lecture. i want to discuss; and not in an atmosphere of theater, but in an atmosphere of love and concern for mutual well-being.But how do you do that in the context of the traditional church forms? (think how long we've been comfortable with that over the centuries) It's curious: in these days when so many are deserting the traditional church, there is supposedly a great interest in spirituality. People claim that they are spiritual, but not religious. They say they believe in God, and that they pray. Some churches have found that by dropping their denominational title they are attracting more people than those that advertise themselves denominationally.

There may be plenty of spiritual hunger out there, but it is being channeled in a hodgepodge of different ways. One Christian writer has spoken of the need for Christians to be a confessing people who commend the Gospel to others. Just as we should confess our sins (and everyone commits sin,. because we are fallen, and needy), The Generic Christian's approach to evangelism has less to do with pushing ideas into other people's heads, and more to do with confessing. Juse as we should confess and be repentent regarding our sins, we are also called to confess that we are Christians; to confess that we belong to God; that we believe the Word of God; and that we are, to the best of our ability, attempting to follow Jesus; and also that we fail again and again. But God is gracious, and picks us up and sets us back on the path. And not only do we confess all that, but we commend it to all.

That brings me back to my question: How do we make what we are all about, available to the world around us? In addition to the title, "The Generic Christian," I think we need a second focal point, which is the overarching term I have used in this blog: NEWGENESIS. You can see that it points to a new beginning. I was thinking on paper recently about NEWGENESIS. tryhing to think about how that term could connect with those who are spiritually hungry, but skeptical - even cynical about the word "church." I came thus far, to this: "NEWGENESIS: A place, or situation, for the pursuit of spirituality for those who don't resonate with the word "church,: but where knowing God, and experiencing God, and practicing the love of God, is what we're reaching for...Together. A time for discussing and mutual sharing of spiritual experience and growth, to encourage one another along the way.

One of the things most everybody thrives and grows on is relationships. The primary stgarting point and focal point for deeper spiritual life is found in relationships. What everybody needs is to find the source of all spirituality via relationship with God. Of course, that relationship, sort of by definition, depends on God's initiative. On the other hand, God will not refuse that relationship to anyone who really, deeply wants it - which implies, of course, that it must be on God's terms, not ours. But it through that relationship that we find both the experience and meaning of love.

However, I think we tend to set up roadblocks to keep these things from happening, even when God would be ready to come into our lives in concrete, personal ways. Roadblocks can come in many shapes and sizes. It might take the form of a difficult person, or something we don't want to do, so we say, "I'm not doing that." But that's where God is - so we miss the connection and the meeting, and the blessing.
So we have to take the roadblocks out of the way. We all need a NEWGENESIS, because we tend to do something that is not really productive.

Blaise Pascal pointed it out very clearly. He said that, unfortunately, we live right now; right now is where life is happening. Right now is where we make things happen. But most of us don't focus on the now. Our focus is either on the past, filled with regrets, or what if's, orwhat could have been. All of that is already past, and there's little we can do about it. Or, our focus is on the future, full of wishful thinking, and I-hope-so's and fantasies. Jesus instructs us not to let now slip by, out of regret for the past or fear of the future. He is here, and He is now, and always, and that's where we can do something,

SCRIBES AND PHARISEES

Of all the people who crossed paths with Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were the ones who gave Him the most trouble. Recently I had one of those "Eureka moments," when something that should have been obvious all the time, wasn't, but now is.The scribes (being about the only ones who knew how to read and write), were the people who did all the record keeping in society. Need a clay tablet of your birth certificate? Go see so and so, the scribe. Need a papyrus contract drawn up...You know who you gotta see! And then, the Pharisees! Want to find loopholes in the Torah? You got it! The Pharisees were masters of the legal loophole, always keeping everybody in line, waving fingers in their faces, ready to pounce on the slightest infraction or the law that somebody else might commit. I don't know about you, but one of my pet peeves is bureaucracy and bureaucrats. They are those people who were driven to go by the book. No deviation (except when they're the ones who need to get around the law) They lived by rules. That's how they came to know all the loopholes. That's why Jesus was so upset by them. Their approach to life was rules, rules, rules. But no compassion, no leniency. (think: woman caught in adultery; not to mention the unanswered question of where the guy was who was caught with her). One of the things about that is what we see in the world today. Modern American legislators (not to mention all those in other places on earth, from the local level right up to the Congress, have the same problem. The law is the law is the law. No mitigating circumstances. The law can't handle grey areas - only black and white, true or false. There are no alternatives. Have you noticed how, in very critical areas of American life, where there is obvious need for reform, correction, going back to the drawing table, getting rid of things that don't work, like, for instance, in the field of education, or, perhaps above all, government, we have so often legislated ourselves out of the possibility of change - because bureaucracy is rigid, written in cement - no deviation. The rules are the rules, and they can't yield to need, or good sense, or any other sensible thing that might lead to real, useful reform. There is too much at stake, too many vested interests in the status quo, and both an inability, and an unwillingness to entertain serious transformation. Change? No. no, You can't do that, it's against the law. Change the law? No. no you can't do that, too much red tape involved, and what would the congressmen and senators do if they couldn't get all those perks? The best we can hope for is talk about the problem, but it's against the law to do anything about it.