C.S. Lewis on Scripture

"We may observe that the teaching of Our Lord Himself, in which there is no imperfection, is not given us in that cut-and-dried, fool-proof, systematic fashion we might have expected or desired. He wrote no book. We have only reported sayings, most of them uttered in answer to questions, shaped in some degree by their context. And when we have collected them all we cannot reduced them to a system." - CS Lewis in Reflections on the Psalms, p. 95.

C.S. Lewis, widely regarded thinker on all manners of Christianity, is the focal point in this short book written by Michael J. Christensen. The text conveys Lewis' rationale behind a number of issues is modern Christianity, including the inerrancy of the Bible. The book projects that while liberal theologians are apt to dismiss the Bible as being largely inaccurate and written by man, fundamentalists view the Bible as 'divinely inspired' with some, such as Calvin, regarding the process of being one of divine dictation.
Lewis, aware of these devisive camps, falls somewhere in the middle. His rationale was one of his scholarly pursuits in literary legends. Finding that the Bible is in part literature that conveys the ideas God wanted to tell mankind, Lewis also makes room for several numerological discrepancies between different accounts of the same stories. These differing accounts do little to undermine the message being conveyed. Thus, Lewis viewed the Bible as one consistent with the life that Jesus lead - he wanted to tell the people how to live, but left a lot open to interpretation.

Who is Jesus?

Greetings again friends. Today I'm writing about the last booklet I have in Grandpa's collection of literature from the Worldwide Church of God.

"Who Was Jesus" is a concise work by Paul Kroll, whom I know nothing about. The text is remarkably similar to explanations and arguments I've heard on the feasibility of the deity of Jesus of Nazareth, who lived and died about 2000 years ago.

Briefly, here are the main points:

1) There was a man named Jesus who lived in Nazareth in what is now part of the nation of Israel. Assassin's Creed players will find that this is North of Jerusalem, East of Acre, and South West of Damascus. This fact is attested to by not only the gospel accounts found in the Bible, but also by several ancient historians.

2). Jesus claimed to be God in human form. This makes him one of 3 things:

1. A Liar
2. Crazy
3. Actually God in human form

3). Jesus was put to death for claiming to be God. Let's look at what this means in terms of the last 3 options. If he was lying, why continue to the point of death? Surely he understood these guys were serious. I mean, what did he gain by dying for a lie? Moreover, in death his movement would have ended, particularly as the Bible - from a historical context - provides that his followers abandoned him as he was being executed, at least one denying ever knowing him.

4) The story of Jesus of Nazareth continues 3 days after his death. According the Bible he rose from the grave and appeared to his followers again. For the sake of argument, let's contend you don't allow the bible as actual historical fact on this matter and he either 1) stayed dead or 2) was never really dead. I'd contend that as a dissident condemned to death, the Romans would not have half-executed him. Historically, the Romans were quite good at putting people to death. This leaves the option that he stayed dead.

5) So if he stayed dead, what's the big deal? His followers had abandoned him at his execution. Why are there still Christians today? Early Christian leaders posited that if Jesus had not risen from the dead, this is all pointless: he was either a liar or crazy in claiming to be God, but was never to be seen or heard from again. No, these early Christians felt so strongly that Jesus had come back to life (as he had predicted he would) that they resumed following him at great cost - many of them lost their lives as well for this reason - but felt that our 3rd option, that Jesus actually was God to be most reasonable, and the movement that started with followers scared of losing their lives for knowing Jesus has expanded into one of the largest world religions, many losing their lives willingly for this cause.

Okay, so much for being brief. Some of this is from arguments I've collected over the years, not exclusively from this booklet, but the booklet does a good job of surmising the basic reasons why Christianity developed from its roots. I also recommend Dr. Greg Boyd's "Letters from a Skeptic," which is more erudite but goes deeper on similar points of why there is evil in the world and why then Jesus Christ is God in human flesh.

Until next time,
Matt

A Call to Communal Living

Recently I discovered a book amongst my tomes I acquired as a college parting gift from Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. A few years removed from that auspicious occasion, I read "Following Jesus in the "Real World": Discipleship for the Postcollege Years," by Richard Lamb. At first I was struck by the clarity in which the author summarized my oft frustration in finding relevance in a sea of unimportant activity. Much truth is said from building wealth and hoarding one's treasures not bringing joy, but rather the joy of Christ si where one's peace best comes from. Earthly treasures are at best, by definition, temporal.

The author cites time and again that followers of Christ are to bunk social norms, particularly western views of individuality and privacy and embrace a radical, communal living, as he has done, despite being married and having children. Pooling resources and sharing bedrooms in an effort to live frugally does carry opportunities to give further resources to others. While the notion carries merit, I suspect this living arrangement is not for everyone. And by everyone, I mean not for me. Perhaps that's my Western culture talking, but I'm sure I could find people who agree that this guy's idea is a little out there. Among those who wouldn't go along with this idea are the author's parents (p 210). If this had been mentioned in passing, I suppose it wouldn't bother me so much as the fact that the author returns again and again to this idea. While a lot of the book offers solid advice on getting involved in a local church and forming community with a small group in a bible study or outreach ministry, this communal living arrangement seems rather hippie-like. I suppose I should just write it off attributing it to him living near San Francisco.

Anyhow, this was a great book. Highly recommended for soon to be college grads or grads that are trying to find their way (me). Take the communal living with a grain of salt though, as with his hang-up on owning one's one VCR. (its a little outdated).

Matt