I am going to bookend the Bible by going from Genesis to Revelations then back again (first to last book).
First a quick note on my take of Revelations It makes great Hollywood fodder, it is the most graphic book of the Bible, and one of the best written books of the Bible (although there are others). For most Evangelicals, it terrifies Christians. It is often read as a coming doomsday, actually, more accurately described as a dooms-decade, dooms-century or even a dooms-millennium- with the worst at the end, hence the fear. I read it with fear as a teen. It seemed ominous, bleak and something everyone would rather not be around for. Not that I would want to live through a decade like that myself.
In the Evangelical view, Revelation is going to happen to the world, then in a nuclear-Holocaust style finale, the Earth will disappear and Christians will go be with God in Heaven. This is pretty standard belief, so not agreeing with this (as well as doubting Gen. 2 is literal) really puts me into the black-sheep category/is she a real Christian? category.
Genesis 1 gives us God's creation account. N.T. Wright gave a public talk in our town, about the temple imagery of Genesis 1. The talk explained that to someone living during Second-Temple Judaism, the imagery and wording used in Gen. 1 would have lead people to recognize God's creation taking the shape of a temple, with Man and Woman sitting in the center, where one would find an idol in the pagan temples of the day.
If Genesis 1 shows us God's creation as a temple, with us as the image-bearers of God, then Revelations shows the cosmic surroundings of this temple. Revelations, according to Darrell W. Johnson's Book Discipleship on the Edge shows us "things are not as they seem". Revelations is not something that is going to happen to the world, it is something that is happening while Christians live. It is why Christians should pray (supported by Daniel's Angelic visitation), why we should not become discouraged in light of present circumstances and that no matter what, God has won.
In the book, Darrell points out that Christians are persecuted on two fronts, one, is from the outside - Christians in Domitian's Rome were being fed to the lions with earnest. The other, is from within the Church. There is a 'Jezebel' amongst one of the congregations, Satan has his throne there. This is the battle to keep Jesus on the throne, and keep what a Christian ought not to tolerate, out. The enemy is far more effective if he can convince Christians to accept compromise, since the church is often strengthened through persecution. Letting Christians mold their faith to fit the darkness of their age (whatever thinking that is strongly contrary to Christianity in a certain place and time - something that is usually different from place to place and time to time), is more effective in eroding the collective faith then forces from outside the church.
Now, I read Revelations as an idea of what is going on in the Spiritual Realm while life, and in Revelations it is mostly Roman life, goes on as we know it. While we live life unaware of the Spiritual forces and battles, Revelations shows us that God's power unfolds as does his judgment and wrath on wicked, oppressive rulers - just not in a time-line that necessarily is discernible to us (ie. convenient). As Darrell Johnson's book explains, it is not that Revelations gives us something new, it just retells what the Bible has been saying all along in a symbolic, epic form. It drives home points that have been consistent throughout the Bible, in vivid graphic images.
I now view much of Revelations as what was occurring in Rome while the Christians were being persecuted. It shows that God has not forgotten the injustices done to his church and the bowls of wrath will be poured out. Looking back in hindsight (20/20), by holding his wrath against Rome, Christianity not only became legal, it became the Empire's Religion. The blood was not spilled in vain, but no one in Domitian's day lived to witness this (Domitian was around in the 80s and 90s AD- Constantine was around in the 320s AD or so). It doesn't mean that the bowls of wrath aren't poured out, Rome was attacked by warring invaders, suffered pestilence and famine in those 200 years. Even after the Empire converted to Christianity, it was sacked by the Huns, never to return to it's former glory. I am sure Christians and non-Christan's alike suffered greatly for wrath unleashed on them, unwittingly, by their ancestors centuries before. Perhaps the Christians held off the wrath, perhaps that
is how God works, perhaps it was avoidable had the latter Church been as faithful as the early church, perhaps not. But what Revelations does show is God as the controller of all Nation's destiny.
Okay, so this is why I haven't been blogging. I am in Revelations and Daniel studies/ books etc. But I haven't forgotten Genesis 2. See, so much is devoted to Genesis 1. Genesis 2, NT Wright explained, is how God wants us to look at our role as his image bearers. We are to go out to his earth, and care for it, mold it, work it, and bring him offerings from it. We are the priests of his temple, so to speak. Adam is put in charge of the animals in Gen. 2, called to subdue the earth later on in Genesis. So our destiny is to go out and work in the world, and bring the fruit of our labours to lay before God.
For the Jewish religion, this was tangible offerings. They tithed everything, income, livestock, spices etc., God gave, they worked and were to give it back to God. In Christianity, we don't have a temple, or priests and nor are we to have tithes. Yeah, I know. Every Christian feels obligated to tithe. But that is not what our Kingdom is about. We are to be the sacrifice. Whoa. The image-bearers are to follow Christ. Christ's whole life was a sacrifice. Not just his death. What we do, who we marry, who we minister to, pray for, care for - is it for our benefit, or Christ's glory?
Most Christians in the world view North American Christians as wishy-washy. We don't really suffer persecution, we don't make huge sacrifices in our lives. We find following Christ difficult. We are sort of like the camel. He found it harder to go to Heaven then through the eye of a needle. I know this is considered to be alluding to one of the gates into Jerusalem, but take it literally for a second. I don't think a camel would walk into a needle very willingly. Camels eat very needle-y cactus **, so they are tough. But I am thinking once they keep pressing into the pain, they may quit.
I am guilty of this inside complacency. I have a mortgage so I can own instead of rent my house. It's an investment for retirement, so I may have a good reason. I also have a piece of land, that is clearly not for investment purposes. This is where we will build our cabin, our place (me, mine, ours, not yours). But our cabin, if built well, could be our retirement home, so we are planning for the future. Safe, secure, you know we won't be killed early due to witnessing or converting someone. Not here, we are safe, so we need to live like we are safe. We need to spend these years amassing for the next years. I guess if you're a martyr it makes retirement planning easy.
This is where I need to figure things out a bit more. It is not a this or that is OK or not. It is a what is my purpose for being here. To feel a calling, or live as a sacrifice? Mostly, I was taught to find a calling. What is it? What should I do? Where will God lead me? Who will God give me to marry? But that may not even be what it is we are here for. Maybe we are here to see a need and respond, whether we can afford to or not. Maybe we are called to own little, possessing brings many burdens. Maybe we are here to own lots, and give it away. If the paradigm shifts from we are a called people to minister for/to God over to we are a sacrifice for God then a lot of suppositions change with it.
I haven't really figured it out. It is just things I mull over.
**(I know they eat very needle-y cactus because the camel I was riding in India went up to one, being a horse rider I would never let him take a bite of food while I was on his back, but how was I to know he would actually eat the most prickly, stingy cactus of them all? He got his snack, I got to fight him the rest of the camel trip - 3 days of warring with a snitching snacker!)
First a quick note on my take of Revelations It makes great Hollywood fodder, it is the most graphic book of the Bible, and one of the best written books of the Bible (although there are others). For most Evangelicals, it terrifies Christians. It is often read as a coming doomsday, actually, more accurately described as a dooms-decade, dooms-century or even a dooms-millennium- with the worst at the end, hence the fear. I read it with fear as a teen. It seemed ominous, bleak and something everyone would rather not be around for. Not that I would want to live through a decade like that myself.
In the Evangelical view, Revelation is going to happen to the world, then in a nuclear-Holocaust style finale, the Earth will disappear and Christians will go be with God in Heaven. This is pretty standard belief, so not agreeing with this (as well as doubting Gen. 2 is literal) really puts me into the black-sheep category/is she a real Christian? category.
Genesis 1 gives us God's creation account. N.T. Wright gave a public talk in our town, about the temple imagery of Genesis 1. The talk explained that to someone living during Second-Temple Judaism, the imagery and wording used in Gen. 1 would have lead people to recognize God's creation taking the shape of a temple, with Man and Woman sitting in the center, where one would find an idol in the pagan temples of the day.
If Genesis 1 shows us God's creation as a temple, with us as the image-bearers of God, then Revelations shows the cosmic surroundings of this temple. Revelations, according to Darrell W. Johnson's Book Discipleship on the Edge shows us "things are not as they seem". Revelations is not something that is going to happen to the world, it is something that is happening while Christians live. It is why Christians should pray (supported by Daniel's Angelic visitation), why we should not become discouraged in light of present circumstances and that no matter what, God has won.
In the book, Darrell points out that Christians are persecuted on two fronts, one, is from the outside - Christians in Domitian's Rome were being fed to the lions with earnest. The other, is from within the Church. There is a 'Jezebel' amongst one of the congregations, Satan has his throne there. This is the battle to keep Jesus on the throne, and keep what a Christian ought not to tolerate, out. The enemy is far more effective if he can convince Christians to accept compromise, since the church is often strengthened through persecution. Letting Christians mold their faith to fit the darkness of their age (whatever thinking that is strongly contrary to Christianity in a certain place and time - something that is usually different from place to place and time to time), is more effective in eroding the collective faith then forces from outside the church.
Now, I read Revelations as an idea of what is going on in the Spiritual Realm while life, and in Revelations it is mostly Roman life, goes on as we know it. While we live life unaware of the Spiritual forces and battles, Revelations shows us that God's power unfolds as does his judgment and wrath on wicked, oppressive rulers - just not in a time-line that necessarily is discernible to us (ie. convenient). As Darrell Johnson's book explains, it is not that Revelations gives us something new, it just retells what the Bible has been saying all along in a symbolic, epic form. It drives home points that have been consistent throughout the Bible, in vivid graphic images.
I now view much of Revelations as what was occurring in Rome while the Christians were being persecuted. It shows that God has not forgotten the injustices done to his church and the bowls of wrath will be poured out. Looking back in hindsight (20/20), by holding his wrath against Rome, Christianity not only became legal, it became the Empire's Religion. The blood was not spilled in vain, but no one in Domitian's day lived to witness this (Domitian was around in the 80s and 90s AD- Constantine was around in the 320s AD or so). It doesn't mean that the bowls of wrath aren't poured out, Rome was attacked by warring invaders, suffered pestilence and famine in those 200 years. Even after the Empire converted to Christianity, it was sacked by the Huns, never to return to it's former glory. I am sure Christians and non-Christan's alike suffered greatly for wrath unleashed on them, unwittingly, by their ancestors centuries before. Perhaps the Christians held off the wrath, perhaps that
is how God works, perhaps it was avoidable had the latter Church been as faithful as the early church, perhaps not. But what Revelations does show is God as the controller of all Nation's destiny.
Okay, so this is why I haven't been blogging. I am in Revelations and Daniel studies/ books etc. But I haven't forgotten Genesis 2. See, so much is devoted to Genesis 1. Genesis 2, NT Wright explained, is how God wants us to look at our role as his image bearers. We are to go out to his earth, and care for it, mold it, work it, and bring him offerings from it. We are the priests of his temple, so to speak. Adam is put in charge of the animals in Gen. 2, called to subdue the earth later on in Genesis. So our destiny is to go out and work in the world, and bring the fruit of our labours to lay before God.
For the Jewish religion, this was tangible offerings. They tithed everything, income, livestock, spices etc., God gave, they worked and were to give it back to God. In Christianity, we don't have a temple, or priests and nor are we to have tithes. Yeah, I know. Every Christian feels obligated to tithe. But that is not what our Kingdom is about. We are to be the sacrifice. Whoa. The image-bearers are to follow Christ. Christ's whole life was a sacrifice. Not just his death. What we do, who we marry, who we minister to, pray for, care for - is it for our benefit, or Christ's glory?
Most Christians in the world view North American Christians as wishy-washy. We don't really suffer persecution, we don't make huge sacrifices in our lives. We find following Christ difficult. We are sort of like the camel. He found it harder to go to Heaven then through the eye of a needle. I know this is considered to be alluding to one of the gates into Jerusalem, but take it literally for a second. I don't think a camel would walk into a needle very willingly. Camels eat very needle-y cactus **, so they are tough. But I am thinking once they keep pressing into the pain, they may quit.
I am guilty of this inside complacency. I have a mortgage so I can own instead of rent my house. It's an investment for retirement, so I may have a good reason. I also have a piece of land, that is clearly not for investment purposes. This is where we will build our cabin, our place (me, mine, ours, not yours). But our cabin, if built well, could be our retirement home, so we are planning for the future. Safe, secure, you know we won't be killed early due to witnessing or converting someone. Not here, we are safe, so we need to live like we are safe. We need to spend these years amassing for the next years. I guess if you're a martyr it makes retirement planning easy.
This is where I need to figure things out a bit more. It is not a this or that is OK or not. It is a what is my purpose for being here. To feel a calling, or live as a sacrifice? Mostly, I was taught to find a calling. What is it? What should I do? Where will God lead me? Who will God give me to marry? But that may not even be what it is we are here for. Maybe we are here to see a need and respond, whether we can afford to or not. Maybe we are called to own little, possessing brings many burdens. Maybe we are here to own lots, and give it away. If the paradigm shifts from we are a called people to minister for/to God over to we are a sacrifice for God then a lot of suppositions change with it.
I haven't really figured it out. It is just things I mull over.
**(I know they eat very needle-y cactus because the camel I was riding in India went up to one, being a horse rider I would never let him take a bite of food while I was on his back, but how was I to know he would actually eat the most prickly, stingy cactus of them all? He got his snack, I got to fight him the rest of the camel trip - 3 days of warring with a snitching snacker!)
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