Since it seems we should move on from talking about Religion and Politics, I think a more relevant subject deserves recognition this week. I can’t stand talking about politics anymore, anyhow. This election season has me completely worn out from listening to politicians blabber. What I’d like to talk about this week stems from a discussion we had on one of Michael’s posts a couple weeks ago that led to the question of who Jesus was. I don’t want to get into how Jews vs. Christians view Jesus like the previous discussion, but I’d like to explore how Emerging Christians see Jesus compared to Conventional Christians. Essentially, what makes us different and why.

“Jesus, I believe, saw that his contemporaries were stuck in their own suicidal system, driven by their own defective framing story. He proposed a radical alternative—a profoundly new framing story that he called good news. News, of course, means a story—a story of something that has happened or is happening that you should know about. Good news, then, would mean a story that you should know about because it brings hope, healing, joy, and opportunity. Jesus was saying, in essence, “There are a lot of bad stories in our world. But I have a good story that frames the bad ones, that puts them in a new light, that says they aren’t the last word. I have a good story that inspires healing and transformative action in our world.”

The preceding quote is from Brian McLaren in his book, “Everything Must Change.” This statement sets the stage for the questions he asks next; comparing the two views (I’ll paraphrase his words to keep this short).

The Human Situation: What is the story we find ourselves in?

Conventional View: God created the world as perfect, but because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we have evil and injustice.

Emerging View: God created the world as good, but human beings—as individuals, and as groups—have rebelled against God and filled the world with evil and injustice.

Basic Questions: What questions did Jesus come to answer?

Conventional View: How can individuals be saved from eternal punishment in hell and instead go to heaven? How can God help individuals be happy and successful until then?

Emerging View: What must be done about the mess we’re in? The mess refers both to the general human condition and to its specific outworking among his contemporaries living under domination by the Roman Empire (Kingdom of God vs. kingdom of man).

Jesus’ Message: How did Jesus respond to the crisis?

Conventional View: Jesus says, in essence, “If you don’t want to burn in hell, repent of your sins and go to heaven when the earth is destroyed.” This is the good news.

Emerging View: Jesus says, in essence, “God loves humanity, even in its lostness and sin. God graciously invites everyone and anyone to turn from his/her current path and follow a new way. Trust me and become my disciple, and you will be transformed, and you will participate in the transformation of the world, which is possible, beginning right now.” This is the good news.

Purpose of Jesus: Why is Jesus important?

Conventional View: Jesus came to solve the problem of “original sin,” meaning that he helps qualified individuals not to be sent to hell for their sins.

Emerging View: Jesus came to become the Savior of the world, meaning he came to save the earth and all it contains from its ongoing destruction because of human evil.

“The conventional view is very familiar to many of us; it is frequently defined as ‘orthodoxy’ and any departure from it as ‘heresy.’ It contains much of value; however, more and more of us agree that for all its value, it does not adequately situate Jesus in his original context, but rather frames him in the context of religious debates within Western Christianity, especially debates in the sixteenth century.”

This was just a small slice from Brian’s book and I encourage everyone to read it if you get a chance. Brian says he believes Jesus saw that his contemporaries were stuck in their own suicidal system, driven by their own defective framing story. To make what we are doing here with Trailblazer Ministries more apparent to people that don’t understand what we’re all about, I think we need to try to point out the differences that contrast the paradigms. It has been said amongst our group that if Jesus were to return to earth today and settle in for a while on the streets of Bozeman, he would probably be rejected for being too radical (or a “dissident”—from previous post on VR). For discussion I would like to hear other contrasts that people might have had with the conventional view and continue with six unintended negative consequences of that view. Jesus’ good news was and is better news than we have been led to believe!

Cheers, see you all on Thursday,

Ryan

Building from last week’s titillating discussion of Religion and Politics, I would like to continue with some thoughts from the former president of the Czech Republic, Valclav Havel. He became a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the bloodless end to communism in Czechoslovakia. Many similarities can be found from Havel’s circumstances in Czechoslovakia in the 1980’s to our present political situation in America. Here is an excerpt from his essay, “Power of the Powerless”:

“The original and most important sphere of activity, one that predetermines all the others, is simply an attempt to create and support the independent life of society as an articulated expression of living within the truth. In other words, serving truth consistently, purposefully, and articulately, and organizing this service. This is only natural, after all: if living within the truth is an elementary starting point for every attempt made by people to oppose the alienating pressure of the system, if it is the only meaningful basis of any independent act of political import, and if, ultimately, it is also the most intrinsic existential source of the "dissident" attitude, then it is difficult to imagine that even manifest "dissent" could have any other basis than the service of truth, the truthful life, and the attempt to make room for the genuine aims of life.”

Havel and his colleagues were not dissidents just because they thought it was a novel idea at the time. In the pursuit of truth, they were thrown into dissent by a personal sense of responsibility. “You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”

What similarities do you notice with Havel’s circumstances in totalitarian Czechoslovakia and our current political scene in America? I think Havel’s tale of the green grocer and my neighbors that proudly display their Obama or McCain posters have a lot in common.

Do you notice any similarities with the Velvet Revolution and the rise of Emergent Christianity?

I think this discussion comes full circle back to another discussion we had here at this blog over a month ago with our friend Nick. Nick, I hope you’re still following our developments because we love your feedback. I think for the benefit of people like Nick that would rather not be associated with the term “dissident,” we need to be a little more apparent on what we are doing here and why a “Velvet Revolution” is necessary to return popular American Christianity back to the genuine pursuit of truth. If it were true that “the failure of the revolutionary philosophy is ultimate and fatal,” as Nick puts it, then we might as well give up and go back to our obedient conformist ways.

“All revolutions begin with a few people recognizing the lie and beginning in small ways to live the truth in the face of the system.” (Fr. Emmett Jarrett, TSSF)

I came across this video, and it looked interesting.


The Ordinary Radicals - Trailer from Jamie Moffett on Vimeo.

Just FYI if anyone is considering buying a new pet, I'm trying to find homes for these two dogs from Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter. They're both really cool dogs, as are all of the pets at HOV, and I'd be happy to help anyone who is interested in adopting them. Both dogs come spayed/neutered and vaccinated:



NightTrain:




NightTrain is my buddy! If I had space for him, I would have taken him home weeks ago :-)

He's easily the best looking dog in the shelter right now, and I'd hazard a guess that he is a purebred malamute. NightTrain came into the shelter as a stray, and he tends to be shy around people. He is still coming out of his shell, but with consistent care, he would make a great pet. He loves to go for a run, and at 5 years old, he would make a great companion for someone looking for a high-energy pet.

Ruwitz:

Ruwitz is a well-mannered old gentleman. At 10 years old, he's looking for an easy-going home where he can lounge around - preferably in front of a warm fireplace :-) He's still very active for his age, and enjoys going for leisurely walks outside and rolling over to have his tummy scratched. He's well-behaved, housetrained, and good tempered both on the leash and off. Ruwitz would make an excellent companion for elderly dog-lovers, or anyone looking for a mild-mannered pet.

Hi everyone,

I am currently in the process of updating our "Trail Notes" newsletter. For those of you aren't familiar with the newsletter, it can be found by going to our website and clicking "Trail Notes" at the top. If anyone has any contributions for the October-November newsletter, please send them to me at: trailblazerministries@ymail.com

(His) Peace,
Michael

I'll keep this short but our next discussion will be:

Myth, Lie, or Half-Truth?: Religion and Politics Do Not Mix

What role do Christians have a responsibility in when it comes to political activism. I'm talk more than just McCain-Obama, but social issues as well. To often Christians remain neutral and let our country and world take it's own course, because "God is in control."
We will discuss "change" from a Christian perspective, and why we need to be well informed about social issues.