PERVERSION

Mm, you’d think this might be related to some kind of sex act, but you’d be wrong. Well, almost. Just dropped into my facebook feed is Dana Loesch’s shout-out of Westboro Baptist Church’s latest interstate foray. Next stop: St. Louis.

That’s right, the “church” that has become famous for its “God Hates Fags” posters and picketing of funerals of slain U.S. soldiers is coming here to speak from their unclean lips outside a few public and private high schools in the Metro area. As a Christian and a defender of the faith, not only does this make me go through the roof, it brings me unspeakable dismay.

Righteous Anger

The Bible says I don’t have purely righteous anger. It’s true; I do not. But this is as humanly righteous an anger that I can possibly muster, so I’m going with that. The folks from Westboro are perverts, plain and simple. They want to criticize what they see are moral wrongs in America--fine, only they’re not maligning moral wrongs—they’re maligning people who, for the most part, have nothing to do with the seat of their issue, for instance fallen soldiers and high school students.

“God hates fags?” Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God hates anyone. It does say that God hates the sin we commit and the sin-filled attitudes we carry with us through life. Well, since that covers the sum of humanity from the dawn of man, I guess if God hates fags, then God hates protestors from the Westboro Baptist Church, isn’t that right?

To be sure, I have little objection to comparing aspects of American society to Sodom and Gomorrah. However, this is what I do see: the theological assumptions underlying Westboro’s detestable protests are just as bad as their behavior. In fact, they are downright Islamic in their understanding of God. According to widely available online summaries of the Islamic conception of God, Westboro’s viewpoint, visually displayed in their “God Hates ___” posters, clearly shows striking similarity to the attitudes of Allah, as espoused by the Qu’ran. In the words of Dr. William Lane Craig, Islam has a “morally inadequate concept of God…God loves not the unbelievers; God loves not evildoers….the proud.…transgressors….the prodigal….the treacherous; God is the enemy to unbelievers,”(1) and has mercy only on those who believe and do righteous deeds. It seems that the person himself in a state of wrong behavior garners the actual hate of God.

Now, I don’t judge this theological view too harshly. It is a perfectly natural position to take as a natural outworking of a natural religion made by natural man, who is, naturally, sinful. It usually takes little effort to get most people to agree that the unconditional love of God shown upon people who do bad things seems itself foolishness and a moral travesty, yet this is a core aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a follower of Jesus, I am thoroughly convinced that this first misstep in theology firmly places the demonstrators of Westboro outside the camp of orthodox Christianity. To accuse them of defaming the name of Christ is too obvious. To denounce their attitudes and activities is too tame. Therefore, I do not hesitate to call this “church” a cult to which all Christian churches should distance themselves.

Righteous Angle

There will probably be some provocative media attention given to Westboro’s road trip to St. Louis. I wonder if the local media will ask orthodox Christians how they view Westboro Baptist Church? They would if they cared to balance the situation, but why am I concerned at this point?

I see a possible window of opportunity. In Westboro Baptist Church, we have a fair opportunity to study the effects of worldliness and perversion dressed in Christian language and Bible verses, something that Christians have paid far too little attention. We can examine what happens to people who hold to morality without God. We can point out the dangers that such groups have in hindering the message of Jesus and should humbly reflect on ways orthodox Christians have acted similarly in different ways.

Finally, I accept that true Christians are often put in the awkward and unenviable position of being seemingly ‘caught in the middle.’ Too many decent people will view the acts of the Westboro group with derision and make an implication of sorts toward true Christian churches. Others may pressure Christians to say that such groups have no valid point whatsoever, which isn’t true. The window of opportunity just gets bigger as I survey the options. Now is the right time for all followers of Jesus to make the gospel known in the clarity that we’ve all wished we had time for, ironically (and maybe pop another ugly pimple on the face of American Christianity). Let's get crackin'.

(1) William Lane Craig vs. Jamal Badawi: Debate on the Concept of God in Islam and Christianity (relevant portion begins at 7:30)

Please Passover the Salt

I had the rare opportunity to attend a Passover Seder on Palm Sunday with some good friends. Although Passover isn't officially for another month, Resurrection Sunday (Easter) is unusually early this year, and it makes some sense to observe Passover at this time rather than afterward. To any of my Orthodox Jewish acquaintances out there who might take offense, I am currently accepting invitations to attend your Passover observance and will happily discuss it with you then. :)

So I was there for four hours. This from the post-Baptist person who is used to hour-and-a-half services and 45 minute weddings. Curiously, with all the Haggadah reading, song singing, and FOOD, I hardly noticed the time flying by. I found the clear symbolism of the Passover Seder to the Christian faith extraordinary on both historical and spiritual levels. Few Christians have the awareness or the opportunity to experience a Seder and connect the divine rescue of the Hebrew people from Egypt with our own spiritual rescue from sin. Chalk up another blessing God has sent my way.

The following is a partial list of Passover symbols that I found to have direct application to faith in Jesus Christ:

The roasted egg, "HaGigah"
[from the Haggadah] For Jewish people, the egg is a sign of mourning, and a symbol of hope for spiritual restoration and resurrection. Just as the paschal lamb is free from blemish, pure and holy, so is the egg. White is a color that means purity and holiness. But we have sacrificed the lamb, the egg has been roasted, now brown, made dirty by our sins. But in the egg is the hope for spiritual restoration, as we peel away the brown shell, revealing the white egg underneath, again made pure and holy, resurrected.

For Christians, the peeling away of the brown shell is act of Christ as He redeems His believers, removing their sin. (Thank you, Rabbi Parviz, for redeeming the "Easter egg" for me!)

Parsley, "Karpas"
[from the Haggadah] Parsley on our table, this was hyssop in Moses' time. And our bowl of salt water represents the basin of blood (Exod. 12:22-23)...We remember that it was hyssop that King David cried out to be cleansed with (Psal. 51:7)...And it was hyssop that a sponge filled with wine vinegar was put on and lifted to Y'shua's lips (John 19:28-30).

[from the Haggadah] Hyssop is a green leafy plant with a long stalk. Symbolizing life and cleansing, the hyssop was dipped once into blood and lifted up to a wooden post for salvation from death, and once into wine and lifted up to a wooden post for salvation eternally. The raising of the hyssop to Y'shua was the last act of man before the last death of the Lamb.

Matzoh
[from the Haggadah] We now turn to a mysterious tradition. The Matzoh Tosh is one linen, with three compartments. A sheet of matzoh is placed in each of the three compartments. No one truly knows from where this tradition comes, but our rabbis teach that the Matzoh Tosh is a picture of Israel's patriarchy, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Some also teach that it is a picture of Temple worship, with the priests, Levites, and the Israelites. However, neither of these explanations are satisfied by the tradition. The middle matzoh is taken from the linen and broken...This then becomes the afikomen. A strange word whose origin is also unknown, "afikomen" is Greek and means "that which comes after," or "that which is come." This is traditionally interpreted as the last piece of food which may be eaten at the Passover."

At this point, Christians might recognize that the three Matzoh curiously symbolize the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the middle one symbolizing the Son is broken and hidden away in the realm of humanity. Later, when the afikomen is found and after the meal portion of the Seder has ended, the afikomen is broken into pieces and distributed among everyone present.

[from the Haggadah] (During the meal, the "afikomen" is found and the one who finds it is rewarded. Traditionally, this is when the child [who finds the afikomen] receives their [sic] first Hebrew Scriptures. That gift is given at the Festival of Shavuot, or Pentecost, 50 days after Passover.)

It is at this point during Jesus' last Passover that he breaks the afikomen and says to His disciples "Take and eat, this is my body." (Matt. 26:26)

[from the Haggadah] Y'shua takes the matzoh and says "take and eat, this is my body." He is being very literal. Matzoh is prepared in a very special way. It is rolled out into big sheets and a large wheel with pins in it is rolled over the dough. It pierces the bread so that heat will rise through the bread and bake it very rapidly. It is baked for 18 minutes, 18 being the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word "Chai," which means life."

[from the Haggadah] There is no yeast, it is sinless. It is the bread of life, and it has been pierced. The baking process also leaves marks or stripes.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. (Isai. 53:5)

[from the Haggadah] Y'shua knows that in a very short time, he will be taken from his disciples, he will be beaten and striped 39 times with a lash. His body will be pierced, but by his death comes our healing.

The third cup of wine, "The Cup of Redemption"
Then [Jesus] took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matt 26:27-28)

[from the Haggadah] Y'shua was being very literal. Now the wine not only represents the blood of the lamb that was shed at the first Passover, it now is the blood of the Lamb that is to be shed at Y'shua's last Passover. His words could not be missed. This is Jeremiah's prophecy coming to pass! After all, whose body is it that is removed from the middle of a three-part unity, broken and wrapped in linen, hidden away only to be found again? And for those who would find him, resurrected, they would receive the gift of the Word, not just words on paper, but the Word written on their hearts and in their minds, the Word of the Holy Spirit, 50 days later at the festival of Shavuot, Pentecost.

The fourth cup of wine, "The Cup of Sanctification"
[from the Haggadah] I believe it was this cup that Y'shua was speaking of when he said, "I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." He is promising us that we will have a full cup of Sanctification awaiting us when we join him at that great feast in our heavenly home. Moses brought us through the waters of the Red Sea, into the wilderness, where God provided for us, sustained us, and gave us his Word, and finally led us into the promised land. And Y'shua has led us through the waters of our baptism, into the wilderness that we call life, that is both bitter and sweet. And God sustains us and provides for us, giving us his Word by the Holy Spirit, and promises that we too will enter the promised land, our heavenly home, where a banquet awaits with a full cup of wine to be shared with Y'shua.

The last part of the Haggadah describes the final cup of wine, reserved for the prophet Elijah
[from the Haggadah] And this final goblet, a full cup of wine for someone whom we have invited and pray will come, this is Elijah's cup. Every year, Jewish families will pour a cup for Elijah and leave the door ajar, hoping that he will come. Our tradition says that Elijah will come at Passover and will announce the coming of Messiah. [see Mala 4:5-6] And every year the people wait, losing their faith and not knowing that Elijah has already come.

Jesus told His disciples, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. (Matt 17:11-13)

[from the Haggadah] May you go forth and tell this story to the children of many generations, that they would come to believe and be saved by the blood of the Lamb, Y'shua HaMashiach.

I marvel at how many aspects of Jesus Christ's passion week on earth contains images of God's covenant with Israel at the Exodus from Egypt, aspects that many might think of as coincidences until one sees that there are too many of them happening in symbolic order to be purely coincidental. Of course, Passover makes incomplete sense without the Resurrection, which believers will celebrate this Sunday. And for me, the Resurrection takes on a deeper meaning through experiencing the symbolism of the Passover at which Jesus Christ's became its sacrifice.

Christianity is Incomprehensible

So it was my turn to lead a coffee-house discussion for The Journey's Midrash ministry last night. In the runup to our official start time, I chatted with one of our regulars who is an Orthodox Jew beginning with why he perceives that Christians don't follow the 10 Commandments and ending with the Christian worldview contrasting the Jewish worldview.

"Christians always say that it's important to follow the 10 Commandments! But you don't observe the Sabbath. Sabbath is from Friday night to Saturday night. You still think 'Do not murder' is nonnegotiable, don't you? Jesus never told anyone that they could change the day of Sabbath. He never did. Paul never did. Then why don't you follow the fourth commandment? Why don't you eat kosher?"

(He might as well have asked me if I'd stopped beating my kids yet or when I'm going to return the stolen money to the bank. Of course, if I even thought he was halfway serious about a reply, I would have gotten into more details as I will here.)

Believe it or not, the issue he is tapping on is as old as the time when Jesus walked the earth. Not that his questions aren't important; they are. But here I can either smooth out a wrinkle in understanding Christian ideas or I can make the wrinkle deeper. I only rest thankfully knowing that I do not determine that outcome.

Essentially, my discussion buddy wants me to explain the whole Christian paradigm and relationship between the Christian and the Law of God. Fine, if you have two years to devote to it, like the Apostle Paul did after literally getting knocked off his high horse and quit his job persecuting Christians. Otherwise, my brief explanation cannot do the subject enough justice, just to let the reader know. But you'll get the broad idea, hopefully.

Why don't Christians follow all the 10 Commandments as they are stated in scripture? This question bears much qualifying, so here I qualify away. This question really comes in two parts: the following of the 10 Commandments and as they are stated in scripture.

As to the first part, 'the following of the 10 Commandments,' I'll first reaffirm what I said to him last night. I don't think anyone on the planet ever follows the 10 Commandments--no Buddhist, no pagan, no agnostic, no monotheist of any variety (including Christian), no one. And that goes for everyone that has died as well. The correct response isn't "That's astounding! How can you pretend to speak for everyone on the planet?!" but "What the $%&@?" Because for 1), I'm not pretending. And 2), I didn't say it. This belief is one of the vertebrae in the backbone of the Gospel, the central theme of Christianity.

This stuff comes straight from Jesus Himself.
1) Take the bourgeois nobleman who approached Jesus asking what he must do to be saved: Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:16-26, NIV)

Jesus sized up this young buck who thought he had heaven all sewn up and with one arrow hit him in the heart, where he kept the glaring target of his affections and exposed that not only did he love his possessions more than even God Himself, young master had failed to follow even one commandment from the time he opened his mouth to speak.

2) Jesus, who spoke to multitudes of people, told them this bold statement about who is acceptable to God: For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20, NIV)

And the Apostle Paul, one compelled to believe in Jesus even as he was persecuting Him.
1) No one follows the Law of God perfectly or even imperfectly: For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:3-8 NIV)

2) He even draws from the Jewish scriptures the state of the human heart that makes it impossible to follow the Law: What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."
"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. (Romans 3:9-19 NIV)

I could toss out several more examples, but this suffices for now. All people are God damn sinners, says the scriptures (check Romans 3:23), and I'm not being profane by saying that. The entire Christian paradigm is utterly unnatural. The idea that human beings are endemically, pervasively, and permanently sinful and unable to follow even one law, let alone ten, let alone 613 from five minutes after waking in the morning is an idea that is uniquely Christian and uniquely radical. It's outrageous. In fact, I believe the average Christian person probably doesn't even believe this on a day-to-day level. Yet Scripture says nothing else about the human condition except for this.

Second, Christians actually do follow the 10 Commandments even though it seems we don't technically appear to do so (or 'as stated in the scriptures'). Again, our first example comes from Jesus:
1) At His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, the woman protests the supposed elitism of the Jews and of a correct place of worship of the Almighty, claiming that the mountain of the patriarch Jacob is the true historical place of worship. Jesus responds, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24 NIV) Here, Jesus sets the precedent that ritual worship of correct time and place give way to worship in earnest, in spirit and truth.

2) Jesus even instructs the Pharisees, "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:13 NIV) Jesus calls up a Jewish verse, Hosea 6:6, to point out that God (note that Jesus here stands in the place of God to speak about what His purpose is on earth) desires the inner self in worship, not simply ritual observances.

And again, more by the Apostle Paul.
This is what it means to live under the law as a Christian: Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. (Galatians 3:23-25 NIV)

What does this all amount to? God wants his worshippers to worship in earnest, in spirit and truth. With the advent of Jesus, worship will not only take place collectively, but individually as well, not on just one day of the week, but constantly. Muslims make much ado about praying five times daily and worshipping at appointed times more often than Jews or Christians. They don't take into account that Paul commands Christians to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and that "whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with [Jesus Christ]." (1 Thessalonians 5:10). Life itself is worship and prayer, not just the span between sunsets on Friday and Saturday.

Are the 10 Commandments ignored then? Again, Paul writes, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! (Romans 6:15 NKJV)

Ah, grace. The one word at the plumb core of Christianity. Now, people who have not experienced the specific grace of God that leads them to believe in Jesus Christ will have difficulty understanding the exact concept of grace. In a nutshell, grace is the mercy and forgiveness of all our sin, from the innermost being to the most superficial carelessness, bought by God placing judgment onto Jesus Christ Himself instead of onto us. Grace is for the undeserving, and all of humanity is undeserving; that is the whole idea of grace. We need it, because nothing else will do.

For the person seeking to understand Christianity from the outside, this is incomprehensible: God gives us grace to worship Him with our hearts first and then with our hands and doesn't demand it the other way around. God even approaches the Hitlers of the world with grace, and accepts such unworthy souls into the kingdom of heaven. If you're tracking me at all at this point, you might well be thinking "God, that is heinous! There is no blinking way that a person like Adolf Hitler would ever be acceptable!" Like I said, grace is unnatural and evades our comprehension, because it is divine.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (1 Corinthians 1:20-30 NIV)

Still looking for some "rule" for Christians to follow, perhaps to validate the 10 Commandments? Jesus condensed them into two: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV)

And for those of us whom God has not (yet) knocked off our horses and met in a divine face-to-face throwdown, the grace of Christ is strange, even offensive to those who have thought of God differently and is foolish to the cynical world at large. Incomprehensible? Exactly.