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Nathan_the_Pilgrim
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Name: Nathan
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Gender: Male
Interests: I am interested in the Kingdom of God, both present and coming. Much much more is entangled within such... but nevertheless, to see and experience His Kingdom in the place that my feet happen to be in the moment, is the number one interest I have at present.
Expertise: Spiritual formation and Soul Care... Eventually.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
MSN: landofgoshen@hotmail.com
Member Since:
7/29/2005
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| "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9
At the heart of Christianity in America, a term of separateness remains that distinguishes one particular camp of believers from the rest of Christendom. Historically, their zeal for absolutes and their boasts of experience, created an underlying subculture that was rightly expressed by overtones of Modernistic philosophy and individual piety. The nature of this subculture proclaimed loudly its beginnings in "Protest-ant" attitude, although seemingly without knowledge of being so. The individual became the centrifuge of the Gospel, and due to such, it separated the candor of the message from its beginnings in communal hope. But in all sincerity, what should we have expected? With such revolutionary thinking as was experienced in an era comprised between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, how is it that at this point in time this "Christianity" came as somewhat of a shock? I think it partly due to an ignorance concerning the fact that theology has been under girded by the philosophy of the era in which the Church presides/ed throughout the ages. Thus, this camp of separateness, oh yes rightly described by the term Evangelicals, were true and have been continually to their theology rightly forged in the open fires of Modernity; open fires that have almost presently been extinguished by postmodern thinking.
By submitting to this subculture, I had become the product of such.
What happens at the end of a movement? Change happens. And with change comes new thinking, hence, repentance. But repentance does not just mean a change in the way one thinks, but rather it also bears with it an emotion of guilt and remorse that beckons to be healed and restored.
I have had a crisis of faith.
A crisis of faith in my own mind denotes a time in which one thinks their theology (understanding of the God revealed in Jesus) as being rightly thought and experienced, only to be set in crisis by the One passing by. When the door to one's understood theology (knowing God), which is the end all goal of this journey, is called into question by Jesus walking in the opposite direction, a crisis of faith has been presented. "But Lord... surely he stinketh."
Simply put, it was not until I looked out over the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau that I said in my heart, "I hate my theology."
After many years of study in Church History, past and present, I now realize that we are in the midst of a New Evangelical Awakening. The term evangelical is one that finds beginnings close to an era in which new beginnings were the hope of many within society. Immigration to America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, described by some in their writings, was an exciting plunge into the unknown marked by a subtle hope for change. How then might the religion of such a society be described? Well, in studying the history, I think some words could be daring, adventurous, scattered, ecumenical, wild, untamed, morphing, different, rebellious, terrible, unordered, expected, and new. Actually, the term that most uniquely describes this would be evangelical. The label is unique in that it basically describes the whole of protestant faith, while at the same time remaining distinctive on several levels. Oh yes, it describes those who believe fully in the Gospel and that of conversion; thus evangelism is at the heart of evangelicalism.
Soteriology is a fancy word describing the fancies of Church discussion concerning the nature of salvation. Simply put, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus" and believe in Him with your heart, you shall be saved. Out of this comes a sub category of theology that is particular to the discussion of what it actually means to be "saved." I hear this term all the time and listen to many give forth their reason(s) as to why they believe they were "saved" at a certain point in time. The most humorous aspect of studying soteriology, especially within the protestant/evangelical movements, are the numerous definitions and ideas concerning what salvation actually means! At this point, I must laugh due to the revelatory change of my own mind and the many pictures that I have understood to think of salvation.
For example, have you ever wondered if you missed the rapture (an idea many evangelicals are turning away from)? If so, your understanding of salvation involves the sudden disappearance of many people and... it just might be "nearer than when you first believed."
What is the point? The point is simple: In listening intently to the evangelistic message of American evangelicalism, I wonder if there is truly being offered the true message of the Gospel. Hear me out! I refer simply to what I said, "The evangelical message of the Gospel." Most of the time it deals with a question: Have you ever made Jesus Lord and Savior of your life? If not, heaven is missed and hell entered. More so, have you "confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus" and thus, the ambitious snake of an instant society wins by the preaching of a different gospel, an idea all together lacking from the New Testament. I've watched many a time the praying of a prayer by young and old alike to receive Jesus into their hearts. But rarely if ever, have I heard spoken, the reality of a certain event in the presentation of the Gospel for evangelism.
Eight years ago, I confessed the Lord Jesus and believed...
Ideas really are bullet proof, at least according to popular culture. And in short, what I'm about to write on is nothing new in thinking, except that it seems most evangelism (very generalized statement) is missing this most important aspect of the Gospel itself! When it comes to belief, it is of vital importance not to allow your philosophical assumptions and understandings to pollute the truth that has been believed upon. Simply put, if you think Jesus cannot walk on water due to your Modernistic denial of all things metaphysical, then you have dictated a philosophical view upon your belief and thus, have not believed at all. If you understand Jesus as a white Anglo-Saxon of a Baroque stature, then your belief in a Man who said, "I am the Bread of Heaven," will be highly skewed. If you think abundance somehow merits the Blessing of Abraham, then you will not rightly believe Jesus when He said, "One thing you still lack..." Nathan what are you saying?? If you think salvation is "confessing the Lord Jesus," namely making Him Lord of your life so that you might go to Heaven when you die, then you rightly mistake Jesus when He said, "Unless you are Born Again you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." By your thinking, you believe Jesus here to be speaking of entrance into heaven after death, but miss the point entirely! The beauty of the Gospel itself is in fact it's simplicity. The death, burial, and resurrection of the Son of Man, Jesus. It is simple because it is True! In not rightly reflecting on the Gospel, there does exist in Evangelicalism, what I call an "ignorance of resurrection." The idea that someone over two thousand years ago rose from the dead, to die no more, is an affront to the mind of man and not something to be taken lightly!
Eight years ago I confessed the Lord Jesus and believed... that He was still alive, God having raised him from the dead.
In the world of Academia this understanding of the resurrection is not lacking (I speak as a conservative in Theology, at least on this point). Nevertheless, at present when the Gospel is offered in the community of life that actually matters, very rarely is the simplicity of Jesus having risen from dead presented in a way that allows for the hearers to truly grasp the RADICAL truth of the message! Without a true belief in the resurrection of Jesus, I do not understand how anybody can grasp the practicality of the Kingdom of God. I was asked today to define the term Kingdom of God. The question was stated in order to hear my response concerning my view of what it means to be a part of what the Lord is doing in the earth. I thought it a joyous moment in trying to define the idea that I have concerning the Kingdom of God. I defined it as this:
"A restoration of humanity and the earth in relationship to God, having experienced the resurrection of the Dead, soon to be fully realized!"
The greatest error that is presented in not simply viewing Jesus as having Risen from Dead is represented in the Evangelical hope of escaping this world, only to be relocated to heaven forever and ever. It's not that the terminology of the resurrection is not used in most circles, but that the idea still remains as Platonic in nature. By this I mean that there seems to be an attitude of an underlying anger and hatred for culture, the present world, and anything not directly associated with some type of Evangelical function. More aptly put, I think Evangelicals are sometimes more concerned with speaking out against the "immoral actions" of Democrats (many equate Republican with Evangelical) as opposed to helping stop injustice, such as helping refugees in various parts of the world. I understand the need to stand up for righteousness in a "wicked and perverse generation" using the power of words; nevertheless, spouting off condemning remarks, contemptible words, and political jargon in hopes to "save some for life after death" is not what the New Testament offers for hope in restoration and resurrection.
"I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Me might be saved."
It is my belief that the Evangelical Church is about to experience and unprecedented move of social reform, focusing on the living Gospel, and much less on the Socratic one. The need for a theology of resurrection and one that focuses on the coming Kingdom as "putting the world to rights," as Tom Wright so aptly describes, should be of high priority in the Church. The answer is the Gospel; the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The totality is much more--a Living God, who still speaks today. Jesus has come and made the world anew by way of the Cross and in His resurrection, we his followers have experienced the world made right, at present now waiting with a realized eschatology of social justice in hopes of the dawning of the Day in which the Resurrection is fully realized on the earth. The Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation. But salvation is not an entrance into heaven, but heaven as an "entrance" into the earth.
When I saw the death camps of Auschwitz-Berkenau, I said in my heart, "I hate my theology." Pietism does not make sense in such a place. Neither does it fit in light of genocide in the twentieth century and that at present. If Christians are not concerned with the evil and injustice of the world, than I question the sincerity of their belief. It was during this time that a new theme and question arose in my heart: "Nathan, how much is one life worth to you?" It was not a question of finding converts or "bringing people to Jesus," but in the face of grave injustice am I willing to see the worth of life or will I turn a blind eye to the culture of materialistic bliss. One who does not care for the spiritual will more than likely bypass need in the physical. If there is no greater love than to lay one's life down for his friends, than what is to be said of a Christianity that ignores the plight of "grave" injustice in the world?
The Gospel is our hope and discipleship is by far the answer. Essentially that is the point of this post. We really do think that salvation is merited at a defining moment, instead of looking toward the resurrection, an idea that merits a lifetime and journey of knowing Christ. In that lifetime and journey, the individual is transformed not in a moment, but in time. It would seem that the more a community develops spiritual devotion unto Christ, the greater the impact of societal change wherein that community is located. If in fact, the spiritual devotion is just that and not something foreign to biblical thought. The community of faith involved in the sacramental traditions (again, an idea taken from the Bishop) of the Church is the key by which Christ can come and transform our communities in which we live. Maybe that is the issue. Maybe there needs to be more of an emphasis upon sacramental teaching that involves elements unique to this world, as opposed to a rejection of such traditions due to our "Modernistic" mindset that we have labeled "evangelicalism." For those still attuned to kicking tradition in the teeth, I say partake of these traditions and you just might receive new teeth in that "Day."
This is not to reject or come against evangelicalism. I am an evangelical. Nevertheless, a new horizon is upon us, one that beckons radical devotion to a Gospel that is capable of bringing salvation, the reality of the resurrection of Christ and the death of God on the cross, to a world in need of radical transformation from the inside out. There needs to be a shift in thinking, one that embraces culture by remaining as one is, but by living as one that "is not yet." If the Apostle Paul had the knowledge to write, "That I might know Him and the Power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death, that I might attain to the resurrection of the dead," than who are we to have full assurance of going to heaven if we as the Church of Christ ignore the present plight of injustice in the world. More aptly put, possibly in line with the thinking of Deitrich Bonheoffer, though spoken through the mouth of David Crowder:
"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."
"...that I might attain to the resurrection of the dead." | | |
| A post for most,
even for those.
So they don't erase the page ;)
New Blogs coming soon.
The French
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| Ok, I can sum up the last post namely in this: It has nothing to do with real estate and everything to do with a "Chosen people, a Holy Nation."
The French
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| Well I am currently in Israel. However, in Barcelona, Israeli security confiscated my laptop and will have it shipped to me in a day or two. So I am not able to write a lot on here. I have much to write and many pictures to post when I get my laptop back. The tour group arrives tomorrow and then we will begin our study tour through Israel. Keep watch for some good posts coming up. Remember to say, "LeChaim!!" whenever possible :) The French | | |
| The trip to Poland proved to be spectacular. I have much reflection to do, but at this point feel that my going to Israel is of importance and even more so that I am that much more prepared for such a pilgrimage. Kazimierz Wielki, the Great King of Poland, who lived during the 14th century, had many reforms that he is well known for. However, one of his greatest contributions to Poland was his acceptance and protection of the Jewish people, whom he allowed to settle in the country of Poland. The district in which we stayed was named after him and is known as the Jewish quarter. It was interesting, before we went to Auschwitz, four of my sheep had not seen the movie Schindler's List, so they wanted to to watch it before we went to Auschwitz I-II. So they watched it very late in the morning... It was eerie for them because the very district in which we were staying, the very flat they were watching the movie in, is the very place in which thousands of Jews were pulled from the comfort of normal life and taken to the Ghetto of Krakow. At 3:00 in the morning, hundreds of people were down below in the bars in pubs laughing, joking, getting drunk, living life... all the mean while, my sheep were listening to these sounds while watching the horror of what happened so many years ago. I got to climb to Kazimierz's castle leading several Polish friends late at night by the light of a burning torch! HA! Prophetic I think. All in all, life changing and I will miss those people very much. Even more so my team.So I hopped on a train heading for Berlin. This is very interesting. I went from Krakow, Poland to Berlin, Germany. I have a friend who lives in Germany. His name is Chris  and he spent a year with my family in America as a foreign exchange student. But before I get to that, I had a nine hour train ride to Berlin. I spoke with two young ladies who, must have been by the Lord, were studying film in Poland. Now anyone who knows me, knows that is right up my interest road. All in all I had two very divinely appointed conversations. He beginning by my asking of what they understood of the resurrection, after a good portion of time getting to know each other. The resurrection is by far the kicker. It is either absurd or real... and if it's real, it changes everything about the way one perceives the world. I made it to Berlin and something else caught my attention.Poland was destroyed not just from the west, but also from the east, during WWII. Both the Germans and the Russians. I was greeted at the airport by Chris, my German friend, and by Leo, Chris's best friend, who is Russian studying abroad in Germany. I found this striking and full of Grace. Not to mention I had attached to my bag the star of David, which I picked up in the Salt Mines of Poland.  So I spent the day seeing Berlin, at least what could be seen in a day. I saw the Berlin wall and sat in an economics class with Chris at the very University that Einstein used to teach at.  Berlin is a beautiful city, but in desperate need of an awakening. Take that for what you will.  Now I am currently in the Brussels airport waiting for my flight to Valencia, Spain. When I was flying I was listening to some Old School Third Day while observing the view from below and I perceived that the Lord spoke to me.
He said, "It's Mine; all of it."
I agreed; although most do not.
The French | | |
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