Tuesday, 12. February 2008, 14:03:56
salvation, History, Christianity, afterlife
The study of salvation is a difficult and contentious subject with many pitfalls ranging all the way from millenialism to duelism. But before we head into the nitty gritty of Salvation history or even today's different Christian variations, it might be helpful to deconstruct the popular useage of the word saved.
"Saved," like many words can mean a variety of different things in different contexts. We could compare the title of a television show from the nineties,"Saved by the Bell" to the way "saved" is used as a Christian word signifying salvation from death itself. In the early 2000's a comedic movie named "Saved," deconstructed the way that Christians use the word saved in a very humerous fashion. Although many Christians didn't enjoy it and took it as a direct attack, it does a great job of showing how Christian catch phrases mean nothing after a few million uses.
Next post:
---Look for Deconstructing John 3:16 Being born again? are we as confused by this phrase as Nicodemus?
Monday, 11. February 2008, 15:37:33
salvation, Christianity, New Discussion
Blogging has been a difficult matter for me. I have been unable to find the time to get a few words down on paper. Nevertheless, I will once again set forth to blog on a more regular basis.
Here is the plan:
I will post over a long period of time many of the ideas that I have been having about Salvation used within the Christian context and how that relates to life now and into the future. Since this is a long term goal, do not expect that it will be finished within a few posts. Don't necessarily expect each following post to deal directly with the issue of salvation but rather each post will in theory attempt to deal with some facet of the Christian view of Salvation.
Before beginning, I need to first attempt to explain what I expect to find through my searching. With my good friend
Tim I want to first affirm that salvation is "always more and never less." Salvation thus is not solely about a renewed life after death, but Salvation also speaks to the physical, spiritual and social salvation that Christ works out through his Church. Further, if the research warrants, I submit that the salvation after death was, for Jesus, a mere bump on the full salvic landscape, at least by the amount of time that he spent on that facet of salvation.
I would rather you know my preconceived notions than make you try to guess them through future posts. Feel free to comment at any time throughout, since I would rather that this were a dialog than a monologue.
Friday, 9. February 2007, 14:04:54
salvation, truth, life
So one of the key questions that has come up for me recently has been the question of salvation. When Jesus talks about salvation, what is he talking about? Is he was actually referring to salvation from eternal damnation and that alone? If that is the case, the church should not be about community, except as a reason to get unsuspecting sinners in the door to save them. Its the whole lifehouse motiff. If Christianity (church) is like a lifehouse saving people from an otherwise unsatisfactory eternity, than the church in america should probably be doing less humanitarian aid and more salvation teaching.
It would be efficient for a church to have a sanctuary where you could fit thousands in and indoctrinate them into salvation if that is all that matters. You probably also would tour the country in a spectacular way to wow others into the kingdom. It would also be efficient to not worry about people a whole lot after you saved them, cause: "hey, they're SAVED."
This is the current and powerful theme that is expressed by the praxis of the Evangelical Church even if they don't necessarily discuss it. We don't care about people, we care about our good feeling when one more "sinner" decides to save their soul from hell, and we credit their "salvation," as our merit.
Community is the antithesis of this idea, rather it is the bond holding us together because we are human. As a Christian who believes that community is a large part of the gospel, I believe that people are worthwhile because God created them. If this is true, then as first a Christian and secondly an american, I am grieved as much by the deaths of Iraqi's as I am by the deaths of the american soldiers.
My belief is that a large part of the gospel message of Jesus was about this kind of revolutionary living, not some future disembodied bliss. We are to love our enemies because they are people. This is salvation both for them and for us.
Thursday, 8. February 2007, 18:50:56
salvation, Community, church
So responses from the last post seem to indicate that in fact, as I had suspected/feared, the church's only purpose is community. This of course throws into sharp relief the church in America where the "apparent" purpose of church is to trick you into becoming a conservative, Christian by entertaining you to death (see church growth movement). The church I attend is an alive and kicking sometimes pseudo and sometimes real community, but beneath it all, it still seem like we are trying to convince ourselves that the church is relevant at all.
Now I am not saying that I really disagree with the comments to the previous post exalting community to canon status, but I do question the motivation for doing so. I really want to agree that community is what Church is all about, but historically, it never has been. The Church has always given a nod to a unity and community through the Eucharist (communion as we call it in our church), but does calling the wafer and juice "communion" make its distrubution communal?
So probably the heart of the matter is definitions, since community can mean an extraordinarily large number of things. For instance, isn't the Catholic reason for church, "community" through the sacraments as salvic elements?
Nevertheless, I realize the community that we are discussing is quite a far cry from that of the church of Rome.
So ok, I buy the community thing, partly for utilitarian purposes (I like community), but I want to know then how salvation (if the church does in any way contribute?) fits into church as community. The real question I have is why go to church, be it at a home, sanctuary etc. if in fact the totally heathen bar up the road has some good people that you could join for a good communal beer on friday nights?
WIDGETIZE