Spiritual vs. Religious

In a recent survey, 72% of people ages 18-29 defined themselves as “more spiritual than religious.” I want to make the case that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

This statistic comes from an interesting article link over at GenMin Connection. In that post Anthony Mullins links to an article about a survey by LifeWay Research that shows that the majority of people in their 20′s (about 60%-70%) do not read the Bible, go to church regularly, or pray with others.

As a principle of life I am very much in favor of reading the Bible, going to church, and praying with others. However, I am even more in favor of doing all these things in the knowledge of who you are as the adopted child of the Father in Jesus Christ.

The problem with religion is that it is always about appeasement, not adoption. In broad terms, there are two forms of this:

1. You must appease God by doing good works and following the rules.

2. Jesus appeased God for you and now you must do your part to appease God by believing that Jesus really exists.

I know I’m over simplifying, but I’ve also been a pastor long enough to know what’s going on in the minds of a lot of religious people.

I think about this issue in terms of my own kids. If my kids are going to read the Bible and think it’s talking about an angry God who wants to burn them up, but will relent if they say the sinner’s prayer, then I would truly rather them just skip the Bible reading for today. Their fallen human nature, just like mine and yours, is already susceptible enough to Satan’s lies about the Father – why reinforce it by reading the Bible incorrectly? If they’re going to go to church and hear their 1,000th sermon about “7 points on how to live the good life now” and not hear anything about their adoption into the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit, then I’d rather them go play golf.

I know I run the risk of sounding harsh and judgmental when I critique American Christianity in this way, but I truly have reached a point where this is my basic attitude about our current form of Christianity:

All these folks are my brothers and sisters in Christ and I know they, like me, are doing the best they can with what they know. But the vast majority of Christians in American do not believe or share the good news of Jesus as the Vicarious Man who shares the things of God with humanity and things of humanity with God (Rom. 5:18, Eph. 2:15, Heb. 2:11-13, St. Athanasius in Against the Arians, 3.39; 4.7).

I’d put it this way: I want my kids to grow up to believe in their adoption as children of the Father in the humanity of his Son Jesus. I want them to read the Bible from this belief and go to a church that preaches this truth. But if that doesn’t happen, then my second choice for them is that they would be spiritual and not religious. I’d rather them not get caught up in running on the religious hamster wheel of modern American Christianity.

That’s why I don’t think this “spirituality” thing is all bad and I’m not surprised that most twenty-somethings don’t want to have much to do with the Bible or the Church. I think the Holy Spirit is keeping them away from the Church, shielding them from our legalism and false doctrine, until such time as the reformation he has started among us has reached  a stage where we are truly ready to preach the good news of how the faith of Jesus Christ  has made humanity right with the Father and made us all the Father’s children forever (Gal. 2:20, Eph. 1:5, Col. 1:19-20).

~ Jonathan Stepp

The Unholy Trinity

The Holy Trinity is, of course, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Here’s what I’ve taken to calling the unholy trinity:

The belief in the all-seeing God who is unitarian, grouchy, and watching our every move.

The belief that Jesus came from this God (and was, in some ill-defined way, this God’s son) to create the potential for people to save themselves by their own faith. Jesus accomplished this mission by changing God from being angry all the time to only being angry some of the time.

The belief that we all better get busy doing church stuff to keep God happy. Jesus got him off our backs but he’ll get mad again if we slack off on personal evangelism, good works, tithing, etc., etc.

This unholy trinity represents, I believe, the basic theology of most Christians in the United States today. The exception would be those Christian who don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God. For them, the second point of the unholy trinity is that Jesus was a prophet who came to tell us what to do to make God happy and then left us to get busy doing it.

I don’t know about you, but I plan to steer far, far away from this unholy trinity, in all its many forms and manifestations. The only theology I want to hear, and the only ministers I will listen to, are those who speak to me of the Holy Trinity: the Father who has adopted, embraced, and saved humanity in his Son Jesus Christ and who has poured out his Spirit on all of us so that we might share in Jesus’ faith in the Father.

~ Jonathan Stepp

New Posts

Tim, John, and I have thinking lately about the amount of time we are spending on this blog and we are all feeling a need for a bit of a break. We have been posting every three days for over a year and would like to ease up the pace some. In addition, we want to be sure that in our lives of limited time and energy The Adopted Life gets the primary focus of our writing effort.

We’ve decided to keep Trinity and Humanity going but to decrease the frequency of of our posting, so you’ll still find new thoughts here but just not as frequently in the past.

If you haven’t subscribed to John’s blog, The Shack Bible Project, I highly recommend that you do. John’s scripture paraphrases are a great way to see the Bible in the light of the Trinity and that is where John is going to focus most of his attention in the coming months. Tim and John will both continue writing for The Adopted Life on a regular basis and I will continue posting here at Trinity and Humanity from time to time. And, of course, all our old posts will remain here as an archive of what we’ve done over the last 14 months.

Thanks to all of you who are such faithful readers, and for all the enlightening and encouraging comments you post. If you subscribe by email you’ll get an update each time we post something new, and if you don’t subscribe you might want to check back every week or so to see what we’ve posted.

The next posting will be this Friday, it’s a little piece I’m working on called “The Unholy Trinity.” See you here on Friday!

~ Jonathan Stepp

The Logic of Hell

I know there are a lot of Bible verses that one can quote about the nature of hell. But I’ve just been thinking about the basic logic of the idea.

Why punish someone for doing something wrong? It has to either be for retribution or reformation. You’re either trying to “balance the scales of justice” or you’re trying to get the person to reform – to change his or her thoughts or actions.

So what does Jesus reveal to us about himself, his Father, and the Holy Spirit? Is the life of the Trinity rooted in retributive justice or reformation? It seems to me that adoption, salvation, forgiveness, the story of Israel, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the whole story of the Father’s relationship with the creation is grounded in reformation. The whole theme, logic, and life of the Trinity seems to be rooted in the idea of adopting what is created, healing what is diseased, and mending what is broken.

Therefore, how can a retributive hell make sense in the light of the nature of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? The only purpose I can see in the Father allowing suffering in our lives is so that we would reform – so that we would change our minds and believe the truth of who we are in Jesus.

As C.S. Lewis says in The Problem of Pain, the door to hell must be locked from the inside. At any time we can unlock the door and come out. The pain is there to help us change. Maybe that’s why Revelation 14:11 says that the torment of hell takes place “in the presence of the Lamb.” After all, the door to the pain in which we trap ourselves is hard to unlock from the inside. Maybe the Lamb of God lives in hell with us (Psalm 139:8) in order to help our reformation and lead us out to the Father’s house when the punishment has accomplished its purpose.

It seems to me that the Trinitarian logic of hell has to be reformative and purgative. Therefore hell need not be a permanent condition of any human life – whether now or into eternity. When we are reformed and purged then there is no longer any need for hell.

~ Jonathan Stepp

Drowning in pictures

My 7-year-old, Ian, gets theologically frustrated with me.  He asks me why Jesus died and how it saves us, and I reply with the various metaphors for how atonement works.  My 5-year-old, Brendan, enjoys the metaphors, because he thinks in pictures like I do.  Because of our conversations, he paints some odd pictures, which we sometimes discover strewn about the house.  There is one I especially like, a finger-painted picture of “Death Jail” next to a picture of the key that unlocks our jail cell.  There is also a helicopter in that picture, but Brendan says it has nothing to do with the atonement; it just seemed a good space to put a helicopter.

Anyway, these talks are not entirely satisfying to Ian, who is very left-brained and can spot illogic 10 miles away.  When I float off into word-pictures about the atonement, he says “DAD, I don’t want to know what it’s LIKE; I want to know what it IS.”

Can I give him what he wants here?  I honestly don’t know. 

Back in the day, Anselm had a similar issue.  He dealt with it by taking one of the metaphors (the legal courtroom drama) and saying “This is not a metaphor.  This is what’s actually going on in the atonement.”  The thing is, I don’t think that turned out very well, because that metaphor breaks down in several important places.  Just like how my “Death-Jail” (Christus Victor) metaphor breaks down.  Just like any metaphor would.

In my reading of Torrance and others, I sense they are trying to talk about the atonement beyond mere pictures.  Torrance is a scientist, after all.  Whatever metaphors and images he uses, he uses them so that we will stop looking at the picture and come face-to-face with the Reality.

When we talk about Jesus adopting us by assuming our humanity and healing it from the inside-out, is THIS the Reality that the various word-pictures are trying to describe?  Or is this just another metaphor?

I’m trying to stretch my my mind today, but I may be getting a cramp.  Help!

Where Two or Three are Gathered

Jesus said that where two or three of us come together in his name, he will be there. (Matt. 18:20)

I used to often read this in a very minimalist way. It filtered through my mind something like this: “well, if two or three people is all you can get then I guess that’s okay, don’t be too upset, I’ll be there even though it looks like a pitifully small gathering.”

But what if Jesus meant this saying in a very maximal way? Perhaps it should be read like this: “where there are two or three, that’s where you’ll find me; I’m not as interested in crowds of thousands. The big crowds look impressive, and have a certain religious appeal – but I assure you, the stadium events have received their reward in full. If you really want to see me, gather in groups of just two or three and watch what happens.”

These two ways of reading what Jesus is saying have especially struck me as I look at the resurrection accounts again this Easter.

In each of the four gospels the first, powerful appearance of the risen Jesus is to just one, two, or three people. Later, when he appears to larger groups the appearances are often tinged with doubt – as with Thomas in the Gospel of John or on the mountain in Galilee in Matthew’s account.

Where is the risen Jesus? By his own account, and by the witness of the apostles, he is to be found most powerfully in the smallest of communities.

~ Jonathan Stepp

The Shroud of Death

As our Easter celebration continues over these 50 days, I thought I’d rerun this post from a couple of years ago:

Isaiah predicted that humanity would be set free from death and Jesus fulfilled that prophecy.

In Isaiah 25:6-8, the prophet said:

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine- the best of meats and the finest of wines.

On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;

he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.

“On this mountain” is a reference to Mt. Zion, the hilltop on which Jerusalem sits and it was there that Jesus, the incarnate Son, won his victory over death and set humanity free through his cross and his resurrection (Col. 2:15, Heb. 2:14-15).

By his death, resurrection, and ascension the incarnate Son fulfilled the prophecy given to Isaiah: he destroyed the shroud of death that covers all peoples and nations, thus setting all people and all nations free from death.

As Paul says in Romans 5:18, “the result of Christ’s one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all humanity.”

The gospel is the good news that, in Christ, humanity has a new beginning and that we will live forever in his resurrection!

~ Jonathan Stepp

Is your conscience evil?

Mine is. At least sometimes. The letter to the Hebrews encourages us to “draw near [to Papa] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Heb 10.22 – KJV). Apparently, an evil conscience is a problem we all have, but from which Jesus has provided an escape.

Now, a conscience is not an innately bad thing; in fact, it’s quite a good thing. Reality is full of boundaries, and my conscience is my sense that I have crossed one, that I have violated reality, that I have treated someone in a way that is not appropriate to who and what they are. The conscience, in this sense, is what psychologists call “healthy shame.” It’s a whole-body feeling that says “I don’t like what I just did.” Not feeling healthy shame is the mental illness that afflicts sociopaths.

But my shame can become unhealthy when, instead of evaluating my behaviors, I start evaluating ME. I stop saying “That behavior is not acceptable,” and I start saying “I am not acceptable.” Big difference. Psychologists call this “toxic shame.” Toxic shame is the sense of being fundamentally flawed and beyond hope of repair. And if I believe I am bad, I will repeated “prove” that belief by doing bad things.

This is the evil conscience in action. It starts with my fallen humanity, with Adam’s delusion ringing in my ears: “I am unacceptable and must therefore hide in the bushes.” I proceed to filter my whole life though that belief. When I do something hurtful, it is proof of my belief. When I do something good, I find a way to explain it away as an irrelevant anomaly. If someone hates me, I accept it as further evidence that I am bad. If someone loves me, I think “If they only knew the real me…”

I hope this kind of thinking sounds utterly foreign to you.  I pray that is the case.  But if my description of this problem rings true for you (as it does for me), hear the gospel now:

By the will of God, you “have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10.10). Jesus did the work of making you holy, and then “he sat down” because the work was DONE (10.12). He did the work of making you perfect forever (10.14), and then he stopped working. Your evil conscience will make it hard for you to believe this, but he has already washed you clean of the dirt you’ve gotten on yourself by whatever foolish choices you’ve made in life (10.22b). This is the truth, whether you believe it or not. Therefore, join with Jesus in the work of aligning your heart with this truth (10.22a), through the daily hard work of accepting the truth and rejecting lies. In this process, you will be filled with the assurance of faith that draws you ever-deeper into the life of the Father, Son and Spirit.

How to Overcome Sin, Part 2

So, again, based on Who Jesus is in His own Person, you can be encouraged that there is a way to overcome sin in your life! It won’t happen apart from Jesus but, because of who Jesus is and who you are in him, it will happen, and has happened!

But, what about overcoming sin in the HERE and NOW? Is that possible? Is my only hope for overcoming some of my gross sins only a future hope and not a present one? I’d like to get rid of some of my bad thinking and bad habits now! Is there any PRESENT HOPE for seeing sin overcome in my life?

And the answer as revealed in the Person of Jesus is “YES!!!” And the reason such a wonderful statement can be made is not only because Jesus resisted our broken humanity while in it, but that after His Resurrection, the Holy Spirit of God the Trinity was sent to all flesh as the Spirit of Christ! Acts 2:17, John 14:16-20!

Wowsa!! Do you get that???! To embrace that humanity has been embraced by God in the Humanity of Christ, and to embrace that when Jesus died, we died, and when he rose, we rose, 2 Cor 5:14-15, and to embrace that the Holy Spirit was sent to us in our present brokenness, MUST mean real grace from the Father to live as Jesus lived, STARTING NOW!

Now we can see why the New Testament speaks at all of the levels of overcoming sin that it does! At the most basic level, despite our repeated transgressions and sins, we see fundamentally that we overcome sin by remembering Who Jesus is and Who he is as the Vicarious Man standing in for each of us! That is, when we are tempted to think we don’t belong to the Father because of wrong thoughts and deeds, we overcome this sin by participating with Jesus by the Spirit in remembering who we REALLY are in Jesus despite those sins! John 16:33, 2 Cor 5:17-19, 1 John 2:1-2, 3:9, Romans 8:1!

On another level, Jesus and the New Testament claim that because the Real Holy Spirit of God the Trinity was sent to us as the Spirit of Christ, we can REALLY obey the Father not only in thought, but in Jesus’ Words and Deeds!  Rom. 6:12-14, Titus 2:12, I John 3:18-22 and virtually every epistle of Paul, especially in the 2^nd half of each letter AFTER the Gospel of our Adoption and Inclusion in Jesus has been proclaimed!

Finally, there is a sense in which we will only see sin entirely overcome in our personal and distinct selves in our Adoption and Union with Jesus, only when we have put off these mortal bodies! Rom. 8:18-30, 1 Cor 15!

These are the three levels in which you can see sin Truly Overcome in your life in the Reality and Power of Jesus’ Resurrection!!! Happy Easter and Resurrection Season to You!

~ Timothy Brassell

Holy Week

Here is a letter I mailed to everyone in my congregation this past weekend:

Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Good News Fellowship,

Our Holy Week of celebrating Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection is here at last. During this week each year we gather to worship on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, to share a meal on Holy Saturday, and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.

Why do we put so much effort into this time of worship? It’s not easy. Everyone has to do extra work: the worship team, the folks who prepare the communion table, those who place the decorations, and those who do the cooking – just to name a few. Holy Week takes us away from our normal routine of work, television, and going to the gym. Is it worth the effort to come to church four times in four days?

I believe that it is. The story of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection is at the heart of the good news that we live to share. Jesus’ story is good news because it is also our story. We died with Christ. We rose with Christ. When he comes we will share in his glory (Col. 3:1-4). Celebrating, remembering, and reminding one another of how Jesus has delivered humanity from sin and death is our number one priority this week.

These four days of worship enable us to re-live and re-tell the story of Jesus’ Victory:

Holy Thursday (Thursday, April 1, 7:00 p.m.) We gather with Jesus and his disciples in the upper room and see that the Son of God stoops down from heaven to serve and care for us. He affirms humanity’s adoption by washing our feet and sharing our humanity in his body and blood.

Good Friday (Friday, April 2, 7:00 p.m.) We stand in awe of the cross of Christ and watch him die. And yet we call this day a “good” day because it is the day of Christ’s triumph, when he defeats Satan, destroys death, and victoriously rescues adopted humanity from captivity.

Holy Saturday: (Saturday, April 3, Dinner at 6:30 p.m.) We hold vigil with Jesus’ disciples, waiting to see what will happen next, as Jesus gives the whole world its true Sabbath rest in him. We keep our vigil together in a fellowship meal, celebrating as Jesus’ death causes death itself to pass over all of the Father’s children: from Adam and Eve to the end of the world.

Easter Sunday (Sunday, April 4, 11:00 a.m.) We stand with Mary, Peter, John, and all the others, as they bear witness to Jesus’ triumphant ascent from death and hell. We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection because we know that if he is alive then the whole world is alive in him. As we all died because of Adam’s sin we will all be made alive because of Christ’s resurrection.

I am excited to re-live this world changing story in our worship together this week and I pray that the Holy Spirit will, through these times of worship, give us all a vision of how much our lives are caught up in the Father’s love for us through his Son Jesus Christ.

In the Love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Pastor Jonathan