Faith

Shocking, shaky, but sure

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You may have had occasion to feel that you were equipped to contribute to a discussion bait to a lecture.  In Christian circles every believer has the privilege to participate in the proceedings, even though in the vast majority of occasions there is little provision for the fully-fledgrd interaction that seems to have been the practice in the early church. . Every contributor needs to be aware of his or her status, member or outsider.  Every contributor needs to be ready to contribute to the general edification.  That being said all should be aware that building up one another can come in positive or negative terms.  The church is not a mutual admiration society, and the best efforts of anyone can turn out to be shocking , shaky and sure.

Shocking, shaky, but sure

All  must be sure that the anchor of their life and the basis for the  activity at hand is the sure foundation of faith in the Son of God.  All else can be expected to slide off into ditches and make shocking mountains out of molehills.  Speculation, the so-called inspired imagination, and the deep or shallow opinions may not make the cut for either accuracy, precision or the proper -Christ-centred – evaluation of the conscience. 

People saying “Amen” do not constitute a divine stamp.

So even if you are in the habit of mouthing silly slogans or quoting unhinged commentaries in an attempt to testify or edify the church, just remember that the Spirit will correct you at some point (if you are still paying attention to Him and the Bible) and the value of your contribution will be recognized only if it has a straight line to the Crucified.  Please do not be thinking that because one can read and offer an appreciation or write books that one is approved as a word workman.  A unanimous “amen” is surely not how God approves Christian words and deeds.

It ought to render you sleepless

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It does not occur to all the supremely endowed colonial and religious movements that it is a crime and utterly immoral to occupy land in God’s name, disenfranchise any part of the population, slander foreigners,  allow the abuse of  children, bully a superpower to fund terrorism, to flip the terrorist label over onto people who resist an illegal occupation and a crime to use a veto to shield criminals from accountability at the United Nations.

Conveniently there’s no 11th commandment that outlaws racism and bigotry

Being strictly textual, the United States and Israel can do whatever works to affirm their right to kneel on the necks of citizens and loudly proclaim the right to affirm themselves as law and order reformers.  What a load of hogwash!  That Israel has violated the rules of war and occupation in plain sight for seven decades does not give people pause is not surprising.  Perhaps people are pausing now that Israel is having to face the music over its superior defence systems, open discrimination,  corrupt leadership, and excessive sectarianism.  There may well be a political party for every territorial and theological interest.  The Holy Land is one of the last places one would expect to find violations of both human rights and humanitarian conventions. What would Moses say, if anything?

God’s law is not shelter from philanthropy and the pursuit of justice

Listen carefully and you will hear certain groups placing themselves beyond the reach of international law as if there was no single human race, no single planet of which we are caretakers.  We Christians can be charged with pie-in-the-sky fantasies but you will not find us denying our humanity, because in the final verdict of the divine tribunal every person relies on divine mercy, and many religious people will be decisively silenced by the conscientious conduct of non-religious people getting God’s approval. Justice for religious people will always be tainted by tribalism and self-interest.

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

John 5:45

Gratefully our passions are in check when we see opportunites to look down our noses at our fellow-citizens. We are not interested in indicting, condemning and destroying anyone. We are certain that Christ and Moses part ways in this arena. Injustice can be disguised as righteous indignation but God is neither mocked nor deceived,

The Prayers of the Faithful in the Vatican

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as I write this many eyes are trained on the Vatican and its attempts to mediate in the Palestinian Problem.  Theologians are most likely longing to hear the prayers of a Christian, a Jew, and a Muslim aimed at finding a solution.  The probability of anyone ever hearing what the three leaders actually say to their God is extremely low.  We can imagine though.  The Vatican Prayers (Vota Vaticana) are an intriguing innovation.  The only avenue of resolution is an appeal to Abraham which would involve each of the leaders to set aside the centuries of jockeying for validity.

Will Pope Francis call on the Father of our Lord Yeshua as Christians are expected to do ?  Will the Israeli President invoke Yahweh of the Sinai Covenant, Abrahamic (land and progeny) covenant, Davidic (monarchy/messianic/dynastic) covenant, or Zionistic (return to Palestine) covenant and promise?  Will the Palestinian President pursue the human rights prospects or the superiority of Islam?  The potholes are huge.

If the prayers are a silent exercise it would seem to defeat the purpose.  These men have declared that they will appeal to a greater power and we have seen what the dependence on a greater power have brought to the Middle East and beyond.  What lies beyond is most likely to be a new centre for the arguments for the future of Jerusalem.  The scariest prospect is the emergence of a new syncretistic expression of the three faiths.  We can expect a announcement that JudaChrislam is born, not as a clearly defined new religion, but as a working model for creating harmony in preparation for the last deception, namely, that mankind can solve spiritual problems without a transparent dependence on God.

We may see Jewish superior claims to Canaan, and an Islamic appeal to variants of the Biblical record of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It is the Pope who will hold the trump card with the approval of the vast majority of earth’s governments.  All he has to do is decry the inhumanity of the Palestinian problem.  The parties will have to work out something, anything, or all will be seen to be window-dressing and a waste of time.

One cannot fail to see that Islam is heading for a new caliphate, and it will have no respect for Judaism or Christianity.  Islam is the revision of all religions and Mohammed gets the last word.  The rise of ISIS (the Islamic State now pushing up across Iraq and Syria) is a threat to peace.  Pope Francis cannot fail to condemn the violence with which Islam rules.  He must insist on Jerusalem being a citadel of human creativity, co-existence, and freedom.  But how?

The report is that Francis has stressed that he is not seeking to jumpstart peace negotiations, but merely bring the two sides together to pray. He said he had arranged for a rabbi and a Muslim cleric to lead the prayers, along with him. (http://metronews.ca/news/world/1049062/vatican-israel-palestinian-peace-prayer-june-8/)

The Vota Vaticana are bound to be a personally edifying experience, and we wait to see whether a political pathway emerges, because prayers and votes have always been in tension.  People, even in nations with a strong and even declared religious governance have been unable to decide whether they want a theocracy or a pluralistic and humanistic government and society.  Will Moses’ disciples give way?  Will Muslims agree to a government that is mixed with non-Islamic tenets?

Sinning and hitting the mark are the only two outcomes.  There is no grey area.  Hitting the mark calls for personal honesty, the integrity of each leader’s claims, and an unabashed trust in what is good.  We pray, we hope, but ultimately we will vote.  The presidents have taken an unprecedented step to pray together and it would seem that the prayer leaders will have to package their prayers more to the liking of their partners than to God. God cannot fail.  Humans do.  God cannot be blamed for centuries of hatred and bloodshed or for the failure of men to work together within their differences.

I say let us pray for Jerusalem’s peace and may God have His way in uniting humanity under a banner of honesty, integrity, and trust.  A prayer that focuses on these three ways of life are bound to be a hit.

As I publish this months have passed since the Roman Pontiff and the Presidents of Israel  and the Palestinian Authority met to pray.  However awkward, comical, or self-effacing their prayers may have been I dare not say that the answer to the prayers of the faithful are denied because we see only more hostility and violence between the parties in Canaan.  If the attempts to bring the Palestinian problem to  UN vote is thought to be an answer to prayer one only need listen to the bombast form the Israeli PM and visiting US legislators.  The direction is nowhere!  It is not enough to pray.  Long prayers have been a cloak for abuse, greed, and self-centered pride.  Short prayers also may be shallow and mere words.  What is needed is courageous action.  Funny how those willing to kill for land are afraid to die for peace in the land..  When I say that the faithful will rise from their knees and proclaim their claims inappropriate and that there is an authority beyond their religious enclaves we will see the answer to the prayers of the faith.  Pipedream?  No.  A prayer of  the hopeful.