Is Christianity Trustworthy? Part 1: God in a Box

The question of whether Christianity is trustworthy was the topic of a series of Bethel University Chapel services in the fall of 2014, St. Paul, MN (where I live).

I was privileged to be one of the presenters.*

In the weeks leading up to the service, I thought this to myself:

Non-mandatory chapel, busy students . . . Mmm, out of 3300 undergrads maybe a hundred or so will show up. 

Not even close.

800 students turned out to hear my talk, not because I'm famous (definitely not), but because the question of trust is a potential deal-breaker for the faith of this generation.

With radical equality as a starting point, any particular religion or way of life -- including one's own -- is not privileged over any other.

Thus today's young people do not easily trust the tradition handed down to them from previous generations.

The main point of my talk was this: If we take Christianity on its own terms, it's trustworthy.

But if we say to God something like this:

"Unless you fit into my box, unless you prove yourself to me on my terms, I'm not going to believe in you . . . "

. . . we're likely to be disappointed.

More on that next time.

* Audio of the talk is here: (Trustworthy #10. Date: 9-26-14     30 minutes in length):
https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/college-arts-science-chapel/id920604392?mt=10  

Starting Points, Part 3

A critical question that penetrates to the heart of the starting-point issue (see my last two posts) is this:

What's the main authority in a person's life?

If it's Scripture, she'll be standing on firm ground. This is my position.

But if it's culture or personal experience, the ground is constantly shifting: cultural norms are in continuous flux, personal experience is highly subjective.

Neither are reliable guides in the long run.

Now a critic might object that Scripture is not the reliable guide it was once thought to be. Scriptural "justice" is actually unjust, Scriptural morality immoral.

I hear this objection often on campus.

Two responses:

1. The critic's objection still begs the question of how the shifting standards of culture and experience rightly judge Scripture.

Which culture? Whose experience?

Says who?

2. Many critics of Scripture don't know the Bible very well (though some do -- but even they can forget).

They fail to take into account historical context, authorial intent, the history of interpretation in the church, and the broad sweep of biblical ethics from beginning to end -- that is, from Genesis to Revelation.

Instead, they "proof text" their way to unwarranted conclusions using isolated passages. You can make the Bible say almost anything, using this method.

* * *

Stepping back, when I think of the two choices before me in which to place my trust: the enduring stability of the Bible or the constant changes of secular culture, I'll take my chances on terra firma scriptura.

Starting Points, Part 2

In my last post I distinguished between two initial starting points for Christian faith:

1) God and his revelation.

OR:

2) Personal religious experience.

It seems to me that #2 is, in the long run, susceptible to atheism.

Why? 

It's the difference between covenant marriage and a more transient cohabitation arrangement (living together). 

One is permanent, the other provisional.

When times are tough the person inside covenant marriage is likely to knock herself out in the pursuit of conciliation. She'll do whatever it takes to keep the marriage together.

In contrast, the person living with another has, by definition, less incentive to patch things up when the relationship is strained. An "out" is always on reserve.

The young people among whom I minister often begin with themselves rather than God -- that is, #2 rather than #1.

When they grow tired of the church or its tradition, or struggle with certain teachings in the Bible or feel put off by fellow Christians or wither under the critique of the skeptics, they say to themselves something like this:

"God no longer fits into my experience or beliefs. Time to move on and move out."

At first they have a feeling of exhilaration as the restraining cords of religion are cut away and they reassert control of their own lives. 

Self-empowerment is alluring, indeed, and an entitlement of western culture.

But perhaps at some point they will feel untethered, unmoored, unsettled, and will return a bit apprehensively to the church.

Then the prodigal (extravagant) Father will hasten to them with loving, open arms, welcoming them home to a place where they truly belong.