by Dennis McCallum

Objectification of religion is one of the most interesting tendencies demonstrated by religious people. It is also one of the most universal features of religion. As Norbeck observes,

“Great religions have indeed arisen as ethical or philosophical principles for the guidance of man, but once they have become the province of multitudes…they have met a common fate of objectification; that is, of being cast into concrete form so that they may be actively appreciated by the eyes, ears, or other sense organs rather than remaining only abstract ideas and beliefs.”

And again,

“Objectification in varying degree and form appears in all known religious complexes of primitive peoples and it has been outstanding in the religions of civilized societies.”

The student of history of religion must wonder why this is such a universal tendency. Any phenomenon that appears everywhere on earth, during every period of history, and in every known religious complex, must have some underlying explanations that are fairly common or general.

The purpose of this study is to survey some of the current and past explanations put forward for objectification of religion, and to evaluate the credibility of these views in the estimation of this author.

Reasons for Objectification

The first question that must be raised is whether generalized themes of the sort envisaged in this paper are really valid, or whether we are simply imposing an artificial framework onto the field of comparative religion. Parrinder complains that, “A good deal of tinkering has been done at the theory of religion, without coming to grips with the facts of religious experience.”

This complaint is no doubt appropriate, especially when one considers the very great number of blunders that unbridled speculation has produced. He also explains another problem,(the religious) “…state is externalized in rites which we can observe, but their meaning depends finally on an awareness of God and that men are dependent on him and must be resigned to his will. At this point the theologian takes over from the anthropologist.”

Authorities today increasingly agree that a deeper understanding is required of the cultures, economies, languages, and histories of each religious group before trying to compare them, and reach generalized conclusions, if, indeed, we can then reach such conclusions.

On the other hand, we must agree with Norbeck when he observes that,

“…very few comparative studies of primitive religion of any sizable compass have been attempted in America during the past two decades; and none has been attempted in England, where a common view seems to be that we must understand every detail of the social and cultural context of each religion from the native viewpoint before any kind of comparison is attempted… something which seems hardly attainable…”((Norbeck, Edward. Religion in Primitive Society, p. 267,268.))

Norbeck recognizes that if we insist on taking every religious system as a separate entity even to the extent that it cannot be compared to others (because the social context is different) we wind up in a shoreless ocean of unintelligible detail. Unless it is possible to draw some general conclusions, there would seem to be no basis for a study of comparative religion at all! Carmody and Carmody agree with this when they say,

“…we believe that the empiricism that misses such unity (between religious concepts) and mystery is at least an unwitting reductionism– an insistence that humanity is no more than as it behaves. Usually, that insistence indicates an impoverished imagination…”

Certainly, if we take care to qualify any conclusions reached, and to ascertain that they are truly representative, it is legitimate to seek for more or less universal themes underlying universal practices. This is especially true when we see some practices that are far too widespread and similar to be coincidental. Whether we look into the nature of man, or into the nature of man’s environment, (or both), there must be some connecting factors that explain these patterns of similarity.

by Dennis McCallum

Introduction

The defense offered by Steven in Acts 7 has confused interpreters as much as any passage in the book of Acts. In his excellent commentary on Acts, Howard Marshal says,

. . . the purpose of this speech is still much disputed. In form it is a lengthy recital of Old Testament history, discussing in detail what appear to be insignificant points and culminating in a bitter attack on the speaker’s hearers. What is the speaker trying to do?” [1]

later he complains,

. . .it is not clear what the theological point of the details is.” [2]

These are striking statements, coming, as they do, from one who demonstrates keen insight throughout the text of Acts. Yet, they are hardly unusual. Dibelius is much stronger,

The irrelevance of this speech has for long been the real problem of exegesis. It is, indeed, impossible to find a connection between the account of the history of Israel to the time of Moses (7:2-19) and the accusations against Stephen. . .The major part of the speech shows no purpose whatever. . .

and finally,

The most striking feature of this speech is the irrelevance of its main section.[3]

Gealy asks,

“. . . How are we to explain the fact that Steven does not really speak to the charges brought against him?”[4]

In fact, Gealy thinks that the whole text is so unrelated to the flow of the Steven narrative that 7:1-53 must be one of three conflated traditions, namely “an anti-Jewish polemic which Luke fashioned into a speech for his purposes.”[5] He thinks that the only point made in the speech is that the history of Israel is “a history of continual disobedience to God”.[6] Unfortunately, Gealy has missed the point of this brilliant speech. The speech is certainly not anti-semitic,[7] and the fact that Israel was disobedient to the law, though mentioned, plays a subordinate role in the thought development. It is only certain kinds of disobedience that Stephen focuses on. In fact, this speech is the lynch-pin in the transition between Christianity as a localized ethnic religion, and a universal body.[8] Stephen the Hellenist was able to see the implications of the Gospel to an extraordinary degree. [9] While there are confusing sections in the speech, there are also sections that are well understood by modern interpreters. Commonly accepted motifs are:

1. The history of Israel demonstrates ineptitude (on the part of the leadership especially) in seeing the hand of God and in recognizing His agents.
2. The Temple cultus has been misinterpreted all along, and should now be set aside.[10] These motifs are clearly argued in this speech. This author has no objection to either application. On the other hand, there must be more involved in the argument, because much of the detailed material in the speech does not address these two points. There is still a substantial body of detailed Old Testament material not included in the argument for these two obvious points. It is this extra material (some of it strange), that is the focus of this study

The Missing Message

The key to understanding the inclusion of seemingly irrelevant detail in Stephen’s speech is to realize that they deal with geography. The speech is overly concerned with geography, and with the people’s and God’s relationship to it.

It is the argument of this paper that a mistake is being made by interpreters when the second purpose of Stephen’s speech is limited to answering charges regarding the temple. The nucleus of the thinking here is not only a response to the temple, but to the broader and more foundational concept of sacred space or sacred land.[11] Stephen will argue that the notion of sacred land, used by God in the past for communication purposes, was not, and should not be viewed as a limitation upon Him. “God can work just fine without the use of any sacred space,” is Stephen’s argument.

Only this broader understanding will account for all of the material in the speech, as well as explaining the strategy Stephen follows in refuting the charges made against him. One of the charges brought against Stephen was that he speaks against, “this place,” (6:13).[12] Marshal thinks that the accusation that Stephen blasphemed “this holy place” (tou hagiou topou toutou vs.14) is a reference to the temple. This may be correct, even though the examples he cites do not use the word topos, but naos.[13]

Whether the phrase refers exclusively to the temple, or to the sacred area around it (Jerusalem, Mt. Zion or even Israel) it seems clear that the greater question of sacred space in the sense of sacred land had come up in the debate earlier.[14] It would be hard to exaggerate the centrality of the sacred land of Israel in the understanding of the covenantal blessings at the heart of Judaism at this time.15 At the heart of ethnic-religious world views are the twin values of “Race and Space,” or to put it differently, “Blood and Soil.”

These values are hardly unique to first century Judaism. The same terms have been used to understand thought systems such as Nazism. Unfortunately, they would adequately summarize the ethos of much of modern western Christianity. These values can be dangerous substitutes for real spirituality, and may stand as barriers to a truly universal, loving, outreaching, and caring form of Christianity. Most of the book of Acts is concerned with God’s efforts to overcome the inertia that emanates from the unbalanced application of these two values in the name of religion.

By speaking to the issue of sacred space, including the sacred city and sacred land of Israel, Stephen’s speech lays a firm ideological foundation for the subsequent movement of the focus of God’s work away from both in the following chapters. Immediately, we find Philip putting into action the lateral movement that Stephen’s analysis of Scripture so beautifully justified.

Having asserted this theme, we can now briefly note how it is developed in the text of Stephen’s speech.

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/4112/feed 1 http://neozine.org/inside/4096 http://neozine.org/inside/4096#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:15:30 +0000 Smooth Jazz http://neozine.org/?p=4096 Both "marriage" and "family" are now redefined, according to the recent Judge Walker decision on California's Proposition 8.

]]> Californians not allowed to define marriage

Both “marriage” and “family” are now redefined, according to the recent Judge Walker decision on California’s Proposition 8.

In a surprising federal court decision, California’s Proposition 8 constitutional amendment upholding the state’s legal definition of marriage as the union of male and female was struck down.

Who can deny that marriage is the genesis of a family? When courts declare traditional marriage unconstitutional, they also declare the traditional family unconstitutional, by necessity. The federal judge said a traditional family is no better than a modern family with same-sex parents:

Children do not need to be raised by a male parent and a female parent to be well-adjusted, and having both a male and a female parent does not increase the likelihood that a child will be well-adjusted…

The gender of a child’s parent is not a factor in the child’s adjustment. The sexual orientation of an individual does not determine whether that individual can be a good parent.

Prop 8 opponents would certainly agree that both marriage and family must be redefined to include same-sex parents.

It’s weird to distinguish now between “traditional marriage” and “marriage”, as though “marriage” is a broader and more-inclusive than “traditional marriage”. It is a clear case of hijacking a word, the same way Christianity was hijacked and redefined by the Roman Empire. The surprising feature is that “California’s voters were told that they had no right to define marriage.” 

However the culture redefines marriage or families, Christians should not get confused. The male and female parents in a marriage are not merely a sexual preference, but complimentary halves in the birth of a family:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:27-28 (NASB)

Perhaps the only solution is for Christians to use a new term instead of “marriage”, since the word clearly has been hijacked, and no court decision will reverse that fact. Something like “godly union” or “bible-sex” might do the trick.

Read more about the judge’s decision at Christianity Today:

• Why the Proposition 8 Decision Matters
• What Is the Gospel Response to the Prop. 8 Decision?

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/4096/feed 6 http://neozine.org/inside/4049 http://neozine.org/inside/4049#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:45:55 +0000 NeoZine Staff http://neozine.org/?p=4049 Police officers descend on Christians passing out tracts.

]]> what is your opinion?

Police officers descend on Christians passing out tracts.

Watch this video from the Detroit area where eight police officers show up to arrest a couple Christians handing out Bible books near an Arab festival (not inside the festival). Tell us your opinion about what it means.

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/4049/feed 7 http://neozine.org/inside/4012 http://neozine.org/inside/4012#comments Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:37:12 +0000 Keith http://neozine.org/inside/4012 Institutionalized Christianity strays far from its noble, folk-hero roots. Is it still possible to find Jesus Outlaws in this consumer-oriented culture?

]]> an introduction and primer

Institutionalized Christianity strays far from its noble, folk-hero roots. Is it still possible to find Jesus Outlaws in this consumer-oriented culture?

Merry Men surround the true king in a simple but joyful celebration.

Ye olde English ballads of Sir Robin of Loxley depict the plight of Jesus People living under the tyranny of The System, whether by design or accident.  In Robin Hood:

1. The true King is surreptitiously deposed by the evil Sherriff of Nottingham.
2. The usurper oppresses the peasants with unbearable taxes and tyrannical rule.
3. Robin of Loxley, a noble yeoman, refuses to be victimized and He gathers “The Merry Men,” a band of outlaws.
4. They “steal from the rich and give to the poor.”
5. They become folk heroes by harassing corrupt church officials and scoffing at the Sherriff’s threats.
6. The Merry Men are difficult to snare because they care little for the material comforts of the Sherriff’s realm.
7. They build a community of Outlaw Love that is a festive and philanthropic life in Sherwood forest.

Jesus People should be Outlaws, as the summer edition of the Zine points out, but this got all confused because somewhere, somehow, Jesus People lost their Outlaw Love.

The Lost Outlaws

Too many Jesus People are afraid of living in the Outlaw World

Too many Jesus People are afraid of living in the Outlaw World, even though it’s a big blast of freedom, as the Merry Men would testify. Jesus People are living like the poor, ignorant peasants, their souls crushed by the oppressive, daily grind of The System. Jesus People who forget the hostility in the spiritual realm imagine their suffocated spiritual lives are the fate of ignorant and helpless peasants.  Defeated peasants endure by a weekly ration of rather trite, spiritual bliss still allowed once-weekly, but what a poor substitute it is for the continuous joy and freedom of a Jesus Outlaw!

Such hapless victims can be (and should be) helped. Sometimes these poor peasants are simply young and ignorant believers who know little about their standing before the throne of the King of Kings. But even older Outlaws might submit to those superstitious, peasant-fears of lesser, dark powers scuttling around this realm:

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself…And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:33,38 (NLT)

Outlaws get super-confused and join law enforcement instead!

Some Jesus People who should be Outlaws get super-confused and join law enforcement instead! Their blunder is not vocational (an Outlaw can even be a policeman—and what good fortune  it is to have an infiltrator!), but an Outlaw who forgets the real identity can get pierced in the heart:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15 (NASB)

This is not a warning against distraction, nor punishment from an angry Father.  It means the conflict between God and “the world” (literally,”Kosmos”, or “The System”) is so pronounced, any divided affections become spiritual poison. It is a practical issue, not God’s revenge. Our tender hearts hold a finite emotional capacity, so every ounce that “loves the things of the world” subtracts from “the love of the Father,” by necessity.

Outlaw Love

The greatest confusion lies in two versions of “love” from two different worlds. Both versions of love produce love feelings, but in vastly-different ways, and their effects are polar opposites. One is a noble love, highly significant to others touched by it, and it builds substance–power may be a better word, but it’s too polluted with power-abuse. This substance is given by others to the one who loves. This is the response God’s love elicits, because lives touched and healed by God’s love respond with gratitude . It yields an ocean of love feelings besides gratitude, like loyalty, security and well-being, warmth and safety, deep intimacy, and all these are amplified by the significance people place on someone who authentically loves. In a cold and oppressive kingdom ruled by tyrants, what a treasure it is to meet someone with infectious love!

God’s definition of love results in authentic significance and all the emotions associated with the concept of glory:

They sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” Revelation 5:12 (NLT)

To “love the things in the world” also generates love feelings (and powerful!), but useless feelings for “things” and institutions “of this world.” The big jolt from Kosmos-love is a thrill, but actually deceptive, because it actually degrades and diminishes whatever substance (or power) we carry. God calls it lust, even if the whole world calls it love, as the passage goes on to say:

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1 John 2:16 (NASB)

These jolts of feelings leave the heart empty and lonely because they come and go so quickly, as it explains:

The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:17 (NASB)

Kosmos-love poisons the joy of freedom by reducing humans to slaves, always starved for jolts of love-feelings. Crack cocaine is insanely-addictive because it delivers strong feelings of love, addicts claim, but when the jolt disappears, the heart is an empty tomb. The obsession with video games or Web-surfing are not caused by evil technologies, but rather the investment of our finite affections spent on short bursts of emotions. A day of video gaming ends in feelings of how useless and draining it was…and no emotions remain for real relationships, beginning with God, where all love begins.

Emotional wars rage in the heart that “loves the world” when vocation consumes “the love of the Father.” When a job becomes a lover, it poisons the heart. Slowly, gradually, worn-out Jesus Outlaws are melded into henchmen for The System. It is an anti-love world system that reduces humans to machines, slaves passing time, producing slaves, and resigned to sub-human life.

Jesus Outlaws and the Outlaw World they build is defined by Outlaw Love, which is so strange, foreign, and nonsensical, it must be opposed by the spiritual powers and principles of this present darkness.

Outlaw Betrayal

The greatest tragedy of all is when Jesus Outlaws are taken hostage by The System.

But the greatest tragedy of all occurs when Jesus Outlaws are taken hostage by The System through their heart affections. The hostage actually becomes a traitor, and threatens their own kind! They call it the Stockholm syndrome:

The captive sees the perpetrator as showing some degree of kindness. Kindness serves as the cornerstone of Stockholm syndrome; the condition will not develop unless the captor exhibits it in some form toward the hostage. However, captives often misinterpret a lack of abuse as kindness and may develop feelings of appreciation for this perceived benevolence.

Too often Jesus Outlaws held hostage in their hearts become allies and advocates of the Kosmos, their own oppressors! To become a zealot or an architects for The System is a truly a hideous turn for a Jesus Outlaw:

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  James 4:4 (NASB)

Such hostile words! “Adulteresses! Hostility toward God!” They seem over-reactionary today only because Christianity in the Free World no longer breeds Jesus Outlaws.

Everything changes if you were a kid and your parents were suddenly dragged off to the arena and you were sold into slavery. Such a kid would become a devoted Jesus Outlaw. “You adulteresses!”  he would rightfully say to those who betrayed other Outlaws. It is not the cry of bitterness, but utter disbelief that any Jesus Outlaw could drink the venom of The System. Such is the grizzly picture given in Revelation of drinking this venom:

I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and [hateful words] against God were written all over it. The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of foul sexual abuse and the stench of her own sexual filth.  A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Gross Injustice in the World.” I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement. Revelation 17:5-6

When Jesus Outlaws drink out of that “gold goblet” they drink blood and the foul stuff that fuels of The System!

Outlaw Education

In one brief moment, director Ridley Scott unveiled the hostility The System unleashes against Jesus Outlaws. We see a child peering over his mother’s shoulder at Russell Crowe in the movie Gladiator. Moments later, a lion casually begins feasting on the mother and child. It was an historical depiction of the Roman arena when Jesus People were savagely persecuted, and the crowd roared mindlessly. Crowe was a seasoned killer, a veteran warrior, but even he could not bear watching this savagery. Yet somehow these Jesus Outlaws faced death courageously, and no panicked shrieks were heard.

They died with astonishing nobility.

Is it possible that American Christians are growing so naive, they forget the savage hostility swirling around their families? If they could, the spiritual overlords of The System would feed women and children to wild beasts, still today.

Without question Jesus and his followers were serious Outlaws, hounded and persecuted by the police following orders from The Establishment. The historical facts are simply too well-known to ignore any more. Despite 2000 years of censorship and distortions portraying Jesus as a pillar of The System, most people today can see the crude Jesus puppets created by petty monarchs and emperors. (Remarkably, the claimants were often enemy-combatants, and everyone knew at least one side must be lying, but few ever thought perhaps both sides were lying—so Jesus was pro-Roman empire, a Nazi, an imperialist, pro-Britannia, pro-France, and now pro-America, according to the shifting rhetoric of the day!)

Click here to view the embedded video.

We don’t need the historical record to prove Jesus was an Outlaw (although it is a glaring record–and, incredibly, still suppressed and ignored in The System).  The evidence from the Bible alone is so overwhelming, it is astonishing that so many people still can be told it’s a tool of warfare and oppression! Everywhere we read Jesus pronouncing an Outlaw message echoed in the recent Robin Hood movie:

“The laws of this land enslave people to the king, and the king offers nothing in return!” Russell Crowe in Robin Hood

To believe Jesus laid out a blueprint for oppression or persecution is to pitch the historical record of Jesus in the trash. Of course, oppressive regimes did precisely that in order to hijack the “Christianity” name and use it to kill Jesus People who knew better. One famous example should demonstrate the incompatibility between Jesus and oppressive regimes. Consider how he undermines the economic power required by all regimes:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 (NASB)

What banker in The System would give such advice–unless the banker was actually an outlaw-in-disguise? More common in Institutionalized Christianity are bankers disguised as Jesus Outlaws!

The Disinformation Campaign

Jesus Freaks actually once believed, “do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth!” Old photos with long hair and bell-bottoms are embarrassing when the kids find them, especially if when explaining the old disillusionment with “treasure on earth.” Freaks-and-Harries packed their kids off to Yale and Harvard and preened them for life-in-a-cubical. When the old Outlaws get angry at their kids for apathetic career development, when they stick “treasures in heaven” in a dreamworld, is it difficult to suppress the rising sense of hypocrisy?

Some old Jesus Freaks are long-past suppressing their hypocrisy, and actively engaged in a disinformation campaign against younger generations of Christians. “Disinformation” described how the KGB in the Soviet Union lied about current events in the state-run press. Some old Jesus Freaks are now earning piles of money selling their hypocrisy, like Pop-writer Brian McLaren. He tells Christian kids to dig for “treasures on earth,” and he sneers at the folly of “treasures in heaven.”

When McLaren betrayed the Jesus Freaks because he enjoys much better pay turning Outlaw kids over to the Sheriff of Nottingham. He teaches The System is actually the friend of Jesus Outlaws, where they can make real changes, and where Jesus People belong:

Very often you end up with an anti-institutional bias among people involved in social movements. But then you look at, “What is an institution?” I would like to suggest that an institution is an organization that conserves the gains made by previous social movements…If the social movement succeeds, its gains are carried on by the institutions that currently oppose it. So Dr. King succeeded because President Johnson got some laws passed. Ghandi succeeded when systems and institutions were changed. McLaren, Berkley

Even a Junior or Senior High student knows the teachings of Jesus were not conserved by the Roman Empire, European monarchs, or Institutionalized Christianity. Far from being a force that “conserves the gains,” the historical message of Jesus was pitched by institutions hijacking the name “Christianity”.  Astonishingly, he credits President Johnson for M.L. King’s work, when King actually credited Jesus Christ and had tremendous struggles with Washington!

Dangerous

Their cause was so welcome, their love was so significant, and the oppressed population was so numerous, Roman Emperors were forced to outlaw Jesus People. God’s love is inherently seditious in regimes driven by fear.

To the present day, the most oppressive regimes on earth persecute, torture and kill Jesus Outlaws for no justifiable reason. The System cannot tolerate them! Outlaw Love undermines the dark fears that fuel all regimes, but tyrants dare not reveal their real irritation, so quiet, unreasoning violence elevated Jesus Outlaws to folk-hero status. It is baffling to understand how the Outlaws thrived under persecution—unless one considers the Robin Hood ballads, which evolved in-parallel with the real folk heroes who spread Outlaw Love repeatedly across England. As with Rome, the overlords of Britannia tried and failed to suppress them.

Clint Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in a surprisingly-accurate movie about a Jesus Outlaw who brought courage into a helpless community of peasants. In Pale Rider he played a mysterious “Preacher Man” who arrives at a town oppressed by a powerful landowner. The tyrant immediately recognized the danger of allowing a Jesus Outlaw to infect his realm:

“The Preacher Man is the most dangerous enemy. He brings them faith, and when people get an ounce of this faith, our efforts [to oppress the poor]  won’t be worth a Moose-tit!” Oppressive landowner in Pale Rider (loosely quoted).

Pale Rider is probably the only Hollywood movie where Jesus People are allowed to break the Hollywood mold of useless, crazy Christians.

Where Outlaws Thrive

People who read the Bible and see how Jesus brought freedom to spiritually-oppressed people are drawn into his Outlaw world. For centuries it was clear to Jesus People they were Outlaws. They still work in nooks and crannies, like Outlaws. The beliefs they spread, the communities they build, and the places where they gather are the hallmarks of Jesus Outlaws:

• Their savior was an executed outlaw, who told them to “pick up a cross and follow me…”
• They gathered in catacombs and shabby facilities, caring little for the massive, expensive temples that dominated pagan religions.
• They used secret symbols to identify each other.
• They settled legal matters internally, rather than relying on the courts: “It is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” 1 Corinthians 6:7 (NASB)
• They historically thrived as an Outlaw movement, but faded away when they joined the lawmakers.

Jesus Outlaws don’t make sense to average citizens, yet they hold an attraction. This is what Paul experienced:

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;
to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NASB)

People may not understand why Jesus People are such outlaws, but they detect noble intentions, like “an aroma from life to life”. But oppressors immediately fear Jesus Outlaws, like “an aroma from death to death” (and they know why).

Crackpots who form militia groups and claim to be Jesus Outlaws are fakes, easy to spot: they build cowardly, fear-driven communities resembling terrorist camps. They claim to fight tyranny, but do nothing to help the oppressed. They perpetrate fear like other regimes, not the compassion of Jesus Outlaws. Their leaders are oppressive authoritarians like all the other tyrants embedded in The System. They end up as weak counterfeits because they use unbiblical and defective models.

Jesus Outlaws are successful when they look to the New Testament and follow Jesus, the original Outlaw. The Bible gives detailed blueprints for building a positive, redemptive mission led by courageous and cool folk-heroes:

• 2 Cor. 6:1-10
• 2 Cor. 4:7-12
• Rom. 8:36-37
• Heb. 13:12-14 à 15!!!
• Heb. 12:26-29
• Heb. 11:13-16
• Heb. 10:34-39

Implications

There are two solid questions arising from this introduction and primer into the Outlaw World:

1. Jesus People must decide if it is worthwhile to become Jesus Outlaws.
2. Jesus Outlaws must understand their strategy as outlaws.

These are the questions to be addressed next time.

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/4012/feed 8 http://neozine.org/inside/3984 http://neozine.org/inside/3984#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:32:18 +0000 NeoZine Staff http://neozine.org/?p=3984 New trends taking hold in the American Evangelical Church are shifting priorities and blunting the sharp edge of the Gospel message.

]]> weak stereotypes, weak ministry

New trends taking hold in the American Evangelical Church are shifting priorities and blunting the sharp edge of the Gospel message.

by Douglas Shearer

The Metrosexual Man

Few people deny it any longer: men have lost their way here in America.

Close to three generations of boys have been raised in homes without fathers, with no one to show them what it means to be a real man, and with more and more of them gravitating toward one of two stereotypes: the Metrosexual Man or the Cage Fighter.

A Metrosexual Man stereotype looks like this:

• A man who styles his hair with the same fastidious attention of a woman;
• who enjoys shopping in high-end boutiques;
• who helps organize earth-day rallies;
• who has become adept at living in a world that caters almost exclusively to the needs and sensitivities of his wife or girl-friend.

The Cage Figher stereotype looks like this:

• A man who makes muscle and brawn the mark of his manliness;
• who revels in raw brutality;
• who spurns even the hint of compassion;
• and who treats women as little more than objects of sexual gratification.

The macho Cage Fighter

Both stereotypes are rooted in a culture that has become “effeminized.” The Metrosexual is nothing more than an accommodation – an abject surrender on the part of some men to a trend they feel helpless to reverse. The Cage Fighter is an in-your-face rejection of the Metrosexual, but like their foppish counterparts, they know they can’t turn back the clock; but they can’t bring themselves to embrace it.

Neither, however, recovers what men know intuitively they’ve lost and want so desperately to recover: their manhood!

A Male-Hostile World

The traits that once defined manhood–like muscle, courage, stamina, boldness, self-confidence, independence, resolute determination, a black and white sense of right and wrong–those traits are out-dated in a postmodern world. This brave new world now revolves around networking, communication, cooperation, tolerance, concession, and a nurturing mindset–traits which women, not men, instinctively cultivate. These trends over the last several decades have produced unwelcome results:

• a world inimical to a single Messiah;
• where there are no black and white distinctions;
• where compromise and tolerance are admired, not disdained;
• where there are no causes worth dying for; and, lastly,
• where “Don’t rock the boat!” is the order of the day.

But “rocking the boat” is exactly what the Gospel always does, if preached with conviction. That’s because the gospel:

• Arises from a single messianic vision;
• links salvation to one faith, and denies credibility to any other.
• makes black and white distinctions;
• is a cause worth dying for – a truth the Bible proclaims without apology.

If this sounds extreme, consider John 3:16, which is quite possibly the most frequently-quoted, most-beloved verse in all the New Testament. Why? Because the truth it declares is God’s love:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

But the passage also includes truth which is repugnant to our post-modern sensibilities:

• We were born under the sentence of death;
• that life is little more than a brief interval between a conviction already rendered and an execution about to take place;
• and the world is nothing less than a prison housing the condemned, except that…
• God has provided only one means of escape – mercy through faith in Jesus Christ.
• But anyone who spurns God’s mercy and turns his back on faith in Christ will surely perish.

That’s a tough message! It has never played too well, but much less-so today than ever before.

Got Any Preachers Left?

In order to communicate a such difficult Gospel message, a church needs to honors the traits and values that produce real men, not metrosexuals and cage-fighters. If the world no longer needs real men, the church still does. If the world turns men into anachronisms, the church can’t afford to do likewise. The church must acknowledge her desperate need for them now, more so perhaps than ever before.

It takes a real man to face up to the truth of the gospel – and then actually proclaim it.  To do so runs counter to every norm of 21st Century decency. It requires men willing to stir up some anxiety, even if they are accused of tearing apart the fabric of society. This has happened before:

And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These who have turned the world upside down are come hither also . . .Acts 17:6

It does occur often enough: believers get hit with an unremitting barrage of insult and slander.

What the future portends is much more ominous: actual life-threatening persecution, the kind that can be sustained only by those with a character and temperament founded on the traits and values that produce real men.

Fighting For Something

For men to be men, they need a cause worth dying for. This is how we’re made.  It’s embedded in the spiritual and emotional DNA to fight for a cause larger than life itself, a cause that transcends careers, even families. Without it, men become self-destructive and walk away from their responsibilities, leaving women to clean up the mess, bring home the bacon, and raise the children without fathers. This is exactly what’s been happening for the last fifty years or so.

I’m 69 years old. I’ve been married 47 years to a woman who’s every man’s dream. We enjoy each other passionately and still hold hands when we’re together. I’ve walked with the Lord for over 50 years. I’ve been senior pastor of an evangelical church for close to thirty years. I’ve raised two sons and two daughters – each of whom loves the Savior, is married, and is raising a family. I have fourteen fun-loving grandchildren that I dote on without apology.

I know what it means to be a man, and have no trouble explaining it. I know what men have lost and what it will take to recover it. And it’s certainly not an occasional weekend in the mountains drinking Bud around a campfire.  (Although, if kept in reasonable bounds, I find nothing wrong with that!)

What’s needed is a church:

• that trumpets the values that produce real men;
• that encourages women to lend their support to those values, to turn their backs on the metrosexual and cage-fighter stereotypes, and to deny to both even a shred of legitimacy;
• that tells men unabashedly that the gospel is a cause worth dying for;
• that gives men a cause worth every sacrifice they can make in its behalf;
• that asks its men to step out in faith and preach a real gospel – because preaching a real gospel will produce real men.

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/3984/feed 16 http://neozine.org/inside/3944 http://neozine.org/inside/3944#comments Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:21:03 +0000 Keith http://neozine.org/inside/3944 Can we please set the name of Jesus forever free from Christianity?

• Jesus was not a Christian,
• He never established a religion,
• He was gone long before they invented the “Christian” label.

]]> the oppression of the Religious Establishment

Can we please set the name of Jesus forever free from Christianity?

• Jesus was not a Christian,
• He never established a religion,
• He was gone long before they invented the “Christian” label.

The Religious Establishment

What is called “Christianity” today was created by two millennia of emperors, monarchs, political parties and organizations that hijacked his name to fit their agendas. In order to perpetrate this hoax, real believers in Jesus were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed–along with countless other dissidents and innocents.

Can we finally speak freely about the huge gap between Christianity and Jesus? These facts should be spread far and wide:

• Christianity is rich, but Jesus was poor.
• Christianity is dirty, but Jesus is respectable.
• Christianity is complicated, but Jesus is easy to understand.
• Christianity is superstitious, but Jesus challenges educated minds.
• Christianity is hypocritical, even hostile, but Jesus is kind.
• Christianity was built by the military, but Jesus taught peace and forgiveness – doesn’t this bother anyone?
• Christianity is a religious world the real Jesus avoided.
• Christianity means good behavior, but Jesus means spiritual life.
• Christianity loves rules, but Jesus broke the religious rules.
• Christianity means “blind faith”, but Jesus lampooned blind faith.
• Christianity is the Establishment, but Jesus was persecuted by it.
• Christianity means rituals, but Jesus just fellowshipped with friends.
• Christianity suppresses women, but Jesus honored and educated women.
• Christianity keeps a clean house, but Jesus hung out with social outlaws.
• Christianity means singing, which Jesus never taught or practiced.

It all means there’s something wrong with Christianity, but Jesus is cool. Jesus set people free from the Religious Establishment by exposing its ignorance:

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.” Matthew 6:7 (NLT)

Think about it—why is God the only one people talk to by “repeating…words again and again”? Is He deaf? Did God give us robotic minds? We don’t “babble on and on” with people we care about, we dialog!

The power of the Religious Establishment depends on selling people home-grown, superstitious chants that “babble on and on.” Jesus set people free by showing us how to talk directly to God, without religious interference:

“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” Matthew 6:6 (NLT)

Think about it—if you can “go away by yourself” to pray, who needs the Religious Establishment any more?

Even the secular world understands our Creator gave us freedom.

The foundation of all freedom comes from the Creator, as our own Declaration of Independence says:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.

Foremost among all rights is the right to communicate directly with our Creator, without religious interference.  It means you are personally significant to your Creator. But Religious Establishments have always captured that significance by standing in between people and God.

Jesus brushed aside religious chants and gave us live communication with God. He returned significance to ordinary people. Now anyone can talk directly with the Creator, without interference.

This is the freedom Jesus brought:

“If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NASB)

The freedom Jesus taught threatened very powerful people, so they killed him to protect their establishment. But they could not kill all the Jesus People who wrote down his words. Freedom from religion spread like a virus.

Oppressed by the Religious Establishment

When Roman temples emptied and Roman priests lost their jobs, they started killing anyone who believed in the freedom of Jesus, but they still could not stop the growth of his freedom.

Jesus People met in the catacombs (graveyards) beneath Rome, and they were OK with that. They never built any church buildings. Christianity changed all that. (Wikimedia Commons)

So great is this freedom, it nearly destroyed the Religious Establishment in Rome—until it adopted the name “Christianity” and claimed ownership over the Jesus Movement. But these claims must be false, because Christianity and Jesus are wildly different. Christianity became the Religious Establishment, and the proof is clear: Christianity brought back the same old superstitious chants that “babble on and on”.

Those who understood the difference between Christianity and Jesus were persecuted and driven underground for millennia. They are the Jesus People, who never killed or persecuted anyone in the name of Jesus, ever! They would rather “turn the other cheek,” as Jesus taught.

Jesus People never wanted anything to do with religion or its fat bureaucracy or superstitions or religious rituals. All those buildings they call “churches” have nothing to do with Jesus, because He rejected temples and holy places, like this:

“The time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem…But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.” John 4:21,23 (NLT)

This was the Declaration of Freedom From Religion, freedom from the Religious Establishment and all its material wealth.  The building-owners get angry when their superstitious beliefs get exposed, and they killed Jesus for this reason.

Jesus people are not defined or owned by any institution, because membership in God’s family is a free gift. He loves all people and makes it possible for anyone to communicate with God anywhere, “In Spirit and in truth.” This was declared in the earliest writings of the Jesus People:

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NLT)

It means nobody has to join the Religious Establishment or any other organization to communicate with God. Anyone can join together with Jesus directly, so “everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.”

Everyone agrees Jesus was an important teacher (even if they don’t know why). Clearly what makes Jesus so important is his promise of “eternal life.” He not only brought us freedom from religion, but also freedom from the fear of death.

The uneducated and underprivileged classes called this “the Good News!” The Religious Establishment replaced “Good News” with “Gospel” (a religious-sounding word which nobody understands, but it supposedly means the same thing, except that it really doesn’t in most people’s minds).  Christianity is so complicated after centuries of religious debates and wars, few would call it “Good News” today.

Jesus People, speak up! Freedom from religion is buried today in meaningless creeds and debates over special brand names of Christianity. What happened to his freedom?

Spread the word! Jesus came to deliver us from the Religious Establishment.

Spread life! Tell people everywhere that Jesus merely came to set us free from the fear of death!

Spread freedom! Tell people everywhere that Jesus made it possible to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth” without the Religious Establishment standing in-between.

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/3944/feed 7 http://neozine.org/inside/3931 http://neozine.org/inside/3931#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:44:46 +0000 NeoZine Staff http://neozine.org/?p=3931 Go register for XSI here, and read about the breakout sessions here.

]]> register early for big discounts!

Go register for XSI here, and read about the breakout sessions here.

Joel and Joe discussing options at the XSI -- but their tardiness caused much unecessary stress!

Breakouts Schedule Available Online

Get a clue! Think about it! XSI is claiming this year’s Summer Institute has the largest selection of Breakout Sessions. A complete schedule of breakouts is now available at www.xenos.org/xsi/sessions.htm.

Early Registration Ends July 6th

[warning]The early registration tuition rate ends July 6th. If you’re planning to attend the conference, be sure to register by the 6th. [/warning]

Online registration is quick and secure at www.xenos.org/xsi/register.php.

Breakouts Schedule Available Online This year’s Summer Institute has the largest selection of Breakout Sessions we’ve ever had. A complete schedule of breakouts is now available at www.xenos.org/xsi/sessions.htm

Early Registration Ends July 6th The early registration tuition rate ends July 6th. If you’re planning to attend the conference, be sure to register by the 6th. Online registration is quick and secure at www.xenos.org/xsi/register.php

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/3931/feed 1 http://neozine.org/inside/3909 http://neozine.org/inside/3909#comments Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:27:32 +0000 Keith http://neozine.org/?p=3909 Jesus Freaks were naive and doomed to fail, says conventional wisdom. If so, may we have more failures!

]]> (and to this doom they were appointed?)

Jesus Freaks were naive and doomed to fail, says conventional wisdom. If so, may we have more failures!

Today it seems unthinkable that masses of young people might come flocking to Christianity, but not long ago it was a great movement. Quite the opposite is true today, of course – young people are stampeding out of church organizations as soon as they can, never to return. Their primary complaint is the hypocrisy.

Research shows 'hypocrisy' one of the leading reasons why they leave

Perhaps the mass exodus can be traced back to when Jesus Freaks became Yuppies. It is fair to say they reversed themselves in two significant ways:

1. They spent enormous sums of money building the same Church Institutions they once despised.
2. They stopped witnessing about Jesus to the secular world and focused on preserving their own families and careers.

Disillusionment may have more causes (like the Postmodern doctrine of truth), but the Jesus Movement offers the young a legacy of hypocrisy, which cannot be easily-refuted. Who can deny the Jesus Movement was originally a backlash against Institutionalized Christianity? If so, where are the Jesus Freaks today, if not embedded deep inside these institutions? Is this not the epitome of hypocrisy?

“Betrayal” is a harsh but accurate description of the collapse of the Jesus Movement. The betrayal is easily-documented, and we will document it, but even more hideous, it is easily-exploited by waves of cheesy pop-writers offering “revolution” to Millennials bored with complacency. Pseudo-revolutions pale in comparison to the impact of the Jesus Movement. Jesus Freaks—if any radicals remain alive—must seize the initiative before they lose all credibility. Jesus Freaks need to embrace the convictions that once drove their movement.

A Freak Movement?

Jesus Freaks once eschewed Institutional Christianity and gathered in homes, on beaches, in old warehouses and just about anywhere except buildings marked with steeples. Their gatherings were shabby but enthusiastic, like rootin- tootin’ cowboys on a cattle drive, and they drove masses of youth into the arms of Jesus.

The rootin' tootin' wild wild west

Those who think the Jesus Movement was a naive experiment destined to fail must explain how they won so many youth for Jesus. Far more difficult is explaining why today’s superior institutions are driving so many youth away from Jesus.

Conventional wisdom attributes the rise and fall of the movement to forces beyond human reach, like fate. But these explanations are defective:

Did the Jesus Movement arise from unique social conditions tied to the student protest movement of the 60s? Undoubtedly, social conditions were ripe for the Gospel, but the Jesus Movement continued throughout the 70s, beyond the Viet Nam war and the radical student protest movement. More important, it is a mistake to think Millennials today are disinterested in social revolution. Pseudo-revolutionaries are gleaning fortunes from such restless audiences, and many young dropouts are simply fed up with institutionalized complacency. It is a tragedy that anyone should have to leave to find authentic revolution when Jesus Freaks could simply revive their original convictions.

Was it a sovereign movement of the Holy Spirit? Without doubt the Spirit called young souls from across the nation, but it is sadly mistaken to believe the Spirit is unwilling to move in young hearts again. The Methodists and Moravians proved the Holy Spirit will sustain centuries of spiritual harvest, even if some seasons are less-fruitful than others.

Was it an unruly mob destined to crash and burn? No doubt it was chaotic and even a dangerous breeding-ground for cult activities, such as the Children of God, or The Way. At the same time, Jesus was raising competent leaders to pull together the rabble under the authority of His Word. Leaders like Ray Stedman were already in-place, and new leaders like Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel were stepping up. At Xenos the same mixture of prepared and new leadership brought sanity to bar-room brawls filled with new believers.

Classic scene of baptisms were seen across the nation.

Perhaps the Jesus Freaks enjoyed a “freak” moment in history, never to be reproduced. If so, we can join hands with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and sing, “We are helpless!”

Before resigning the entire Jesus Movement to fate, it is worth considering the great mysteries of God, because Jesus gave these to help us understand the movements of the Kingdom of God in history.

The Mystery of the Kingdom

Jesus taught a series of parables in Matthew 13 in which He predicted with remarkable accuracy the growth of His Kingdom on earth, and these parables are a compass that helps explain both the demise of the Jesus Movement and the potential for kindling the fires of Revolution today. He said these parables were “a mystery” to be handled with great care:

Matthew 13:11-12 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.
For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

In other words, some were allowed to understand the “mysteries of the kingdom” more and more, while others would grow increasingly confused and eventually lose all understanding.

Think, people, think!

He then explained these parables privately to His disciples, but not every parable was explained (or at least the clear explanations are not recorded). This alone should warn us He intends to keep some of this a mystery (the Greek word musterion means “hidden”, like a good mystery novel, not “confusing” or “mystical”). Those of us who love the “mysteries of the kingdom” and all they entail should be quite reticent to consign it all to a fate accompli.

Certainly the disciples were still befuddled by The Mystery long after this discussion in Matthew 13. They still did not understand much later when they asked, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Their question betrays their confusion. They were still thinking of The Kingdom in purely Jewish terms, and immediate in nature, even though Matthew 13 clearly teaches The Kingdom would be a global, Gentile phenomena occurring over time.

Perhaps they understood after the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), or maybe after Paul’s Missionary Journeys, and with the help of Paul’s writings. Somewhere they did understand Gentiles would be involved in The Mystery of the Kingdom. This delayed understanding explains this fascinating interplay at the end of Matthew 13:

“Have you understood all these things?” They said* to Him, “Yes.”  Matthew 13:51

This can only be tongue-in-cheek humor from Matthew, the author, poking fun at himself and his friends. It is certain throughout the Gospels and Acts they were slow to understand “the mysteries of the kingdom.”

They are difficult to understand, and Jesus explained why:

Matthew 13:13-15 (NASB) “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
“In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘you will keep on hearing , but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive ;
For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear , And they have closed their eyes , Otherwise they would see with their eyes , Hear with their ears , And understand with their heart and return , And I would heal them.’

He added the “mysteries of the kingdom” brought great delight for those making the effort to understand:

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” Matthew 13:16

One thing is clear in this passage: His Kingdom is truly counter-intuitive in its behavior and growth. And closely-associated with this fact is a clear warning — it is possible for some to grow blind and deaf about these mysteries, so that “even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

Losing It

“I Found It!” was a highly-publicized Campus Crusade campaign in the waning days of the Jesus Movement. Those words were plastered on billboards, T-shirts and bumper stickers everywhere and became so well-known, a counter-campaign of bumper stickers announced, “I Lost It!”  The intent was to incite questions from non-Christians, “What did you find?” This would open a conversation about Jesus, or so the reasoning went.

Maybe it was a corny campaign, but it certainly does highlight an era when young Jesus Freaks wore lots of Jesus bling and spoke courageously about their faith (perhaps, at times, with bold ignorance, but with sweet sincerity). This writer was too cynical to join the “I Found It” campaign, of course, but a bumper-sticker once adorned his ‘74 Civic declaring, “Christians have more fun” (cutting off the pun, beneath: “in heaven!”).

For all our sweet sophistication and learned experience, few have “graduated” from those primitive Jesus Freak days into a far more fruitful and beautiful movement. Today what kind of bumper stickers would be more prevalent? Something like this…

The new message

Truly Jesus Freaks exchanged “I Found It!” bumper stickers for “I Lost It!” badges of honor.

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/3909/feed 5 http://neozine.org/inside/3884 http://neozine.org/inside/3884#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:44:05 +0000 NeoZine Staff http://neozine.org/?p=3884 Teaching handouts, clarifications, and background notes were all added to The Poison of Ingratitude, a vital issue for those trying grasp the biblical concept of Love Ethics.

]]> New teaching materials for Love Ethics

Teaching handouts, clarifications, and background notes were all added to The Poison of Ingratitude, a vital issue for those trying grasp the biblical concept of Love Ethics.

Follow the links:

• See The Poison of Ingratitude, the original Love Ethics article on thankfulness.
• Download teaching or discipling materials in PDF Format ( the handout, or teaching notes) or MS Word 2007 Format (the handout, or teaching notes).

]]> http://neozine.org/inside/3884/feed 0