"You're so stupid with your comments and web page about progressive theology. You don't have progressive theology; you have perverted theology." This was the comment that greeted me when I opened my e-mailbox a couple of weeks ago. I imagine that Peter and the other early Christians had many similar insults directed at them as they sought to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to their fellow citizens. The religious authorities said to them, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching!" Peter's reply was, "We must obey God rather than any human authority" (according to the NRSV; what it lacks in rhetorical flourish, it makes up for in non-sexism!). Progressive Christians are definitely a minority in today's Christian community, as evidenced by the growth of megachurches, which usually offer a very conservative theology, and the sales of books like the Left Behind series, which takes as its starting point both premillennial dispensationalism and biblical inerrancy. Fundamentalists are good at publicizing their theological positions, and they have every right to do so. Progressives can learn from fundamentalists and emulate their methods, where they are consistent with our own beliefs and values. In particular, we need to learn to express our opinions with boldness (as well as with love). A Kudzu cartoon from a few years ago features a debate between a fundamentalist preacher (modeled on Jerry Falwell) and a secular humanist. The fundamentalist's opening remark is, "Mr. Goodvibes, as a confessed secular humanist you're a godless commie and a pantywaist, am I right?" To which Mr. Goodvibes replies, "I suppose, Reverend Fallout, that would depend on your definition of 'pantywaist.'" The moderator, the Rev. Will B. Dunn's comment is, "The 'Jerry Fallouts' of the world always mop up the 'Mr. Goodvibes.'" Progressive Christians may have a natural tendency, like Mr. Goodvibes, to look for common ground and be accommodating rather than confrontational, but we should never be afraid to state our beliefs in a straightforward way, especially when confronted with those with different opinions. Maybe we will convince others of the validity of our positions, and maybe we won't, but in either case, we must obey God in all we do and say.
The scribes responsible for the creation of the Leningrad Codex of the Hebrew Bible in 1008 C.E. loved their work. You can tell they did when you examine the care they used in writing the text, the playfulness evident in the annotations in the margins, and the joy that is expressed in the beautiful "carpet pages" at the end. Their work on the manuscript was an expression of praise to God. The Hebrew title of the book of Psalms is "Praises," and the book itself ends with perhaps the purest song of praise in the entire Psalter, Psalm 150. Every line advocates praising God, no matter where you are, no matter how you do it. We tend to think of praise as something we do primarily with our mouths, in the words we say. However, when the psalmist urges worshipers to praise God with trumpet, lute, harp, dance, and more, he is reminding us that true praise involves action at least as much as it involves words. Jesus said that people would recognize his disciples "by their fruit," that is, by their actions. Words are important, but divorced from action, they are empty. The scribes of Codex Leningradensis praised God by the care they paid in transmitting and illustrating the biblical text. We can praise God by being teachers who care about the education and personal lives of our students. We can praise God by mowing our older neighbor's grass. We can praise God by encouraging our co-workers after a hard day at the office. We can praise God by donating money to a worthy cause. We can praise God by loving our families and spending time with them. Praising God by our actions has a greater effect than merely praising God with our lips. With this thought in mind, let all that has breath praise the Lord!
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was a faithful martyr, as were Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rachel Corrie, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and many others who have died for righteous causes, such as peace and justice. But Mother Theresa, Albert Schweitzer, Nelson Mandela, and Jimmy Carter are faithful martyrs as well, at least according to the original meaning of the word. "Martyr" comes from the Greek word martus, which means "witness." It is the word the author uses to describe Jesus in verse five of today's reading from Revelation: Jesus Christ is the "faithful witness." We usually use the word "witness" today to describe someone who has seen something, as in a witness to an auto accident. However, martus here and elsewhere in the New Testament means someone whose life bears testimony to something remarkable. Like Jesus, we are all called to be witnesses to a remarkable God who has done amazing things for us. Most of us will not be called upon to give up our lives, though that's possible. Many of us, however, will be called upon to sacrifice our time, our money, our comfort, or our anonymity to be a faithful witness to God's good news. If we are aware of many who have gone before who have paid the ultimate price to testify to the truth, can we shirk our responsibility to be witnesses as well?
For another discussion of this passage, click here.
A popular card game sometimes goes by the polite name "I Doubt It" (although it usually goes by a less polite name referring to the excrement of a male bovine). The idea of the game is to get rid of all your cards before the other players by placing them a few at a time face-down in a pile in the middle of the table while saying what you've played, as in "one six," or "three queens." If another player doubts that you're telling the truth about what you've discarded, she can say "I doubt it"; if she's right and you were lying, you have to take all the cards in the stack, but if you were telling the truth, she has to take all of them. Thomas doubted the other disciples when they told him they had seen the resurrected Jesus. Their story was just too fantastic to believe. But Thomas had to eat his words and admit he was wrong when he himself had an encounter with Christ. Thomas is often criticized for doubting, but is being overly gullible better than being somewhat mistrustful? What do we think about people who have sold all their possessions and gone to sit on a hill waiting for Christ to return on a particular day? Is our role model the person who blindly follows the teachings of a religious leader, despite his better judgment? Do we believe everything we hear on television or read in e-mail chain letters? Skepticism is a good thing, as long as it doesn't push us too far into cynicism. God gave us brains and God wants us to use them. Of course, God also gave us the capacity to believe, even when we don't know all the details. Being proven wrong in our doubts increases our faith, but when we're overly gullible and the things we've been told turn out not to be true, we begin to lose faith. God wants us to be rigorous thinkers--about matters of religion, about our worldview, about ethics, and about politics. We need to learn to sniff out lies when we hear them. We shouldn't be too quick to believe the fantastic, though we should always be willing to admit we were wrong, too. Thomas was a thinker, a skeptic, and a believer. We would do well to emulate him.
For other discussions of this passage, click here, or here, or here.
