There’s a great story about the earliest church–Peter’s in jail and about to be executed. The church is having round the clock prayer for his safety. Late one night the prayer meeting is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger at the gate. The servant who answers is so surprised that she leaves the man there and runs back to tell the prayer group.
Peter’s at the gate! She declares and everyone thinks she’s nuts. “How could it be Peter–he’s in jail; that’s why we’re praying for him.”
What strikes me is the humor of this whole event. Peter is anxiously knocking at the gate, the servant girl is telling the pray-ers that the answer is waiting outside, and the pray-ers are certain that God surely wouldn’t be able to answer their prayers in this way.
It’s a great story.
It occurs to me, however, that if it were only a story, Peter wouldn’t have to be kicked awake by the angel (really, that’s what happens), the girl wouldn’t haver forgotten to let him in, the church wouldn’t have so obviously doubted their own prayers and everyone would have come off looking a whole lot better.
It’s just one of those ’stranger than fiction’ moments that helps me to remember that the Bible accounts are way too awkward to be someone’s fabrication. Score one for revelation!
Victor
Among the many things that Christians bicker about is the age of the earth. There are those who say it’s very old–not at all incompatible with the broadly accepted time lines. Others say it’s got to be no more than 10,000 years old. You see, smack dab in the middle of the 17th Century, James Ussher added up the ages of all the people listed in the Bible, factored in a little Greek and Roman history and decided that the earth was created on the evening preceding 23 October 4004 B.C. Granted, the guy was a serious scholar, but his conclusion was just that: his conclusion; not biblical revelation. Scholars today recognize that the list of ‘begats’ has gaps in it, so the internal data in the Bible is insufficient to give a chronology of creation.
It’s just not a big problem for God. He knows when he set things in motion and since he didn’t give a date in the Bible it must not have been all that important to him. Unfortunately, some very well-meaning Christians have been mislead into thinking that loyalty to Ussher is the same as loyalty to the Bible. Somehow, they would tell you, if you don’t trust the good Bishop Ussher, you must not trust God.
The second point of departure–as if Christians needed something else to argue about–is how long is a day? Often a day is 24 hours, but sometimes it’s longer like it was in The Day of the Jackal; or like when the Bible talks about A Day of Vengeance. People who know a lot about Hebrew (the language the first part of the Bible was written in) has a lot less words to describe time periods than English. So it’s not being a naughty Christian to accept the possibility that day could mean a period of time–sort of like today.
So it seems like to me, the really important thing is how did the earth come about, not when. It seems a bit silly to bicker about something the Bible doesn’t worry about, when there’s a ton of evidence supporting the idea that the earth isn’t an accident.
What do you think?
Peace.
Victor
I was kinda sad the other day when I read that the Vatican decided to make a real clear statement about who’s the church and who’s not. In my own particular branch of Protestantism my wife and I have spent the last couple decades trying to calm down those Protestants who are sure that Catholics think Mary is a god and statues are idols. I really like to look for common ground. So when it’s reported that we’re not really churches and pastors aren’t really allowed to offer communion–it makes me sad.
I think it just reinforces the stereotype that Christians are a bunch of spoiled kids fighting over each other’s toys. Seems like if we could just keep the Person of Jesus Christ at the center of discussion this other stuff wouldn’t be so important.
Sometimes i think the greatest impediment to finding Jesus are people who claim to have ‘found Jesus’. Nietzsche said: “the last Christian died on the cross”, and Mark Twain said: “If Christ were here now, there is one thing he would not be–a Christian.” I think religion has subverted the Jesus movement, and misinformation about what a Christian is, has poisoned a lot of hearts.
Some questions (please respond):
- Is the idea of church a lost cause?
- Is it inevitable that whenever a group of Christ-followers get together they’re going to sour the freedom that Jesus tried to bring?
- What is the essence of an authentic Christian and what makes him or her any different from those who don’t claim to be Christians?
- Is the church a lost cause–what should it look like/feel like if it were what it’s supposed to be?
Recent Comments