2. Now I understand why the teachings from Sunday school and church about becoming more Christ-like never really resonated or seemed more like platitudes. There was never any context for how or why. Now the context is more clear for me as I understand that the God-part lives within each of us, and when we come to recognize that we are each an endowed in the deepest part of our beings with that God-part we are irretrievably changed and cannot go back(wards). And the change is no longer a choice but a joyful commitment, however frustrating it may be at times.

This was a very difficult lesson to break into a 35 minute talk
• I feel bad that all we’ll do today is talk about one view, we won’t get to the good stuff
• I hope you hear next week, either be here, or listen online
• I thought this week’s foundation was critical to our understanding
• Critical for us to begin shifting our view of ourselves so that we live a different kind of Christian life

To begin our discussion of the two views of people, I want to look at a word: “alienation”

That word is an interpretive centerpiece in the fields of historical analysis, philosophy, and social criticism
• Central in thinking about art, literature, film, and music
• The theme of alienation has been the lens through scholars have analyzed the 20th Century
• Anyone looking at Western society, seemed to bring up this word
• alienation

Analysts see the struggle of 20th Century in the West like this…
People asking the fundamental questions…
• what’s wrong w/ us?
We feel so separate, apart, isolated from others
• What’s wrong w/ us?
We feel estranged from our world, from our work, our people
• What’s wrong w/ us?
We feel powerless over our own destinies
We feel some impersonal institution, or government, or bureaucracy determines our lives, not we ourselves
• What’s wrong w/ us?
We don’t feel any unifying social norms in our society
No shared social behaviors
As individualism, capitalism, and the urban/rural dislocation of the Industrial Revolution happened…
• We became competitors w/ one another
• Life became the marketplace, and we were the competitors
• The village disappeared, the clan, the tribe
• And as competitors, we are separated from one another
• It’s a dog eat dog world; people are out for themselves
• We’re not in this together
• Alienation

Before the 20th Century, there had been established norms and values in society, but they began to crumble over the decades
• Students rose up against the values of their elders: alienated
• Individuals began to rise up against the values of institutions: alienated
• There began to be wholesale rejection of shared religious values
• Conventions, norms, began to dissolve
• A sense that our “we” was disappearing and in its place, there was more “me” or more “me-against-you”
• Again, Alienation

And the 20th Century saw a huge leap in social isolation
• a deepened sense of loneliness, aloneness
• more and more were unable to find a place to belong
• more single people, more alone people, more isolated people more lonely people
• Alienation

But one of the biggest ways we saw alienation in 20th Century…
• Modern people’s estrangement from their very selves…
• Individuals who could not understand themselves
• Could not appreciate themselves
• Did not like themselves
• People w/ deepening sense of shame: something is wrong w/ me
• Deep sense of guilt: I’ve done something very wrong
• People out of touch w/ themselves
• Alienation

If your major in college had been one of the liberal arts…
• History, literature, art, psychology…
• This alienation idea would be 2nd nature to you
• It’s the one of major themes of social analysis in the 20th Century

But why?
How did we get so alienated?
How did we start to feel so isolated from one another?
How did estrangement begin?

I’m going to suggest to you that one of the primary sources of this alienation, was the dominant “Christian” view of our humanity
• For years leading up to the 20th Century…
• and in the early decades of that century…
• the Church was the dominant voice in society
• the dominant shaper of worldview

And what the Western church had to say about people, I believe…
led our society into this deep sense of social and personal alienation

So…
Two Views of our humanity
(Today, only the first one)

In the past, you’ve heard me use the phrase, “becoming more human”
• I often use this phrase when I begin us in prayer
• I will use it in our lessons quite often
• And this phrase shows up so frequently, because I believe that in its most basic form, this is the spiritual path we walk…
• Becoming more fully human

As followers of Jesus, our spirituality is not about ascribing to some religious form or set of rituals. It never was.
• It’s not hoop jumping to get ourselves reconciled to God
• It’s not about earning the acceptance/love of God
• So what is it?

I believe our spirituality followers of Jesus is a spirituality of becoming who we most truly are
• I believe it is a spirituality of fully realizing that which is already, and has always been within us
• Ours is a spiritual journey of awareness and realization…
• Of the wonderful, majestic, and Divine essence in which we are made

Becoming more fully human…
• becoming more aware of the glorious essence of who we are
• Realizing the Divine attributes vested in us at our creation
• awakening to the Truth, the Way, the Life that is in all of us
• And this, I call, “becoming more fully human”
• Becoming more fully our created selves

And part of this becoming ourselves, is recognizing and fulfilling the Divine yearning in each of us to truly belong
• To not be alienated and estranged…
• But to belong…
• To belong in the dance with God
• To belong to the human community
• To belong in the creation
• To belong in our own souls
• And to belong in our own bodies

And if we, the church think about ourselves as alienated…
• With the influence we’ve had in shaping the Western world’s way of seeing themselves…
• It is no wonder, the 20th century was characterized by alienation

Maybe you, like me, were reared on some primal images about ourselves…
• The images of being foreigners on this earth…
• Strangers, aliens, outsiders
• We are separated from our homeland
Our one and true home up in heaven

And as in, the Two Views of God lesson, if we start w/ this image of ourselves, it profoundly affects the Christianity we live
• And as in, the Two Views of God lesson, you can find scriptures that will support this starting image of ourselves

Some might be old enough to remember the old timey hymn (1965)
This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

This starting image goes something like this…

We live in a place that was once a beautiful garden
But now, Evil has come into garden; has corrupted and polluted it
• Whereas once it was beautiful, tranquil, pleasing, exquisite…
• Now it has been so polluted, has become so filthy that nothing other than corruption can be expected here
• The very DNA of the planet is corrupted
• Nothing other than corruption can be expected here

Again, think of passages in Romans where the word “corrupt” is used
Many scriptures feed this visceral image about the earth

And because the garden has been so polluted, its future is to burn
• It will be totally wiped out
• It will be totally destroyed
• Different groups differ on how and when that will happen
• But inevitably, the only future of the planet is destruction

And when it is destroyed, then we, the faithful, will depart for our mansion in the sky…

So, our posture on this earth is to be one of waiting
• waiting patiently until we go to heaven where we’ll find our heart’s true home
• We are not to get too connected to the polluted garden, these are just temporary digs for us
• We are not to unpack our bags
get too comfortable
• Because ours is the role of an alien outsider
• And we have a job to do while we’re here
• Our job is to get as many people as we can to know this message…
the garden is going to burn, only true followers of God will be taken away
Join us today in committing your hearts to God
Join us today and begin waiting for the garden to burn
Join us today in awaiting our hasty get-away
Otherwise you’ll perish along with the garden when it burns

As I said about our view of God…
Our view of our humanity profoundly affects the kind of Christianity we live

If our starting image of ourselves is one of foreigners in a strange land…
If our starting image of ourselves is that we’re just passing through…
If our starting image of ourselves is one of awaiting a quick get-away from a doomed planet…

…then the Christianity we live will have little concern for the planet
…will have little concern for redeeming the world we live in
…will have very little incentive to repair the earth

Why would we make things on earth as they are in heaven, if the earth is a sinking ship?
• I mentioned a phrase I heard as young person in the church…
• Why rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s sinking
• In a competition between evangelizing people and meeting their practical needs, evangelism always wins
• It’s simple triage. Do what is most important first
• We only have so much energy, so many hours in a day…
• Shall we spend them on helping people on this earth, or make sure they make it into the next?

Now of course this kind of Christianity is quite off-putting to people
• It makes us bad citizens of the world
• It makes us less concerned about polluting the environment
• It makes us less concerned w/ feeding the hungry
• It makes us less concerned w/ medical care for the sick
• Less concerned with rehabilitation for prisoners
• And sure enough…
• The surveys show that the more conservatively churched people are, the less concerned they are about these themes

Again, why would they rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic?

But, as we said last week, we check our geometric proof…

Line 1. We’re aliens on this planet… check (Bible verses to say so)
Line 2. This planet is going to burn, and the faithful will be taken away
Line 3. Don’t waste energy on a doomed planet, but get ready for next
Line 4. In a competition for our energies, evangelism wins over social concerns every time

However, the outcome is that we are alienated from the planet
And the Christianity we live doesn’t have space to really hear the words of Jesus

Now…

this is certainly not the only way Christian people have imagined their humanity
• and it is certainly not the only form of Christianity out there
• many, if not most, of the great social movements in history began w/ a very different Christian view of being human

However, this view has hung on and hung on in certain sectors of the church for generations…
• It is a recurring theme in history
• And right now, in the conservative, American church
• This is a common, if not a majority view

And it has problems…

The Christianity that develops from this view of the human condition is a Christianity that millions of people are turning their backs on
• It makes for a religion of alienation
• It makes us alienated from the earth
• It makes us alienated from our environment
• It makes us alienated from our society
• It makes us alienated from our very bodies

Our earth, our society, our very bodies are all part of the cosmos
And the cosmos and all its worldliness is going to burn
• It is only the true essence of our beings that matters
• Only the spiritual essence of our beings is going to survive
• Only the spirit of the human being will go to heaven
• Everything else is going to burn
• So best not to get too attached to it
• Best not to work too hard fixing things up around here
• We’re just guests of sorts, not owners

The problem with this…
• It’s not a Jesus-way of seeing things
• Lots and lots of Christian people do see things this way
• But it’s not a Christian way of seeing things
• Not at all

This way of seeing our humanity crept into the church about 200 years after Jesus

• It came in the form of a competing religion called Gnosticism
• And when the gnostic religion began to mix w/ the Christian religion, the Christian leaders of the day warned of its danger
• They said that the Gnostic view of the human being was a direct contradiction of the teachings of Jesus
• Nevertheless, this religion began to mix into Christianity
• And even though Gnosticism itself died out…
• It infected certain sectors of early Christianity so thoroughly, that it remains in a Christian form today
• Like a flu virus, it periodically returns throughout the centuries, attacking our fundamental view of ourselves

Here’s what Gnosticism believed…
• Human beings are divine souls
• However, they are trapped in a world made by an inferior god
• And when Gnosticism discovered the God of the Jews/Christians, they said that this inferior god was the God of Abraham (Jehovah)
• They conceded that the God of Abraham made the cosmos
• But their view was that this creator-god was a lesser god
• The true godhead-god, sometimes called Pleroma-god, or fullness-god… this was the supreme god
• And this God was pure spirit
• And this god would have nothing to do w/ nasty physical matter

When Gnosticism began to mingle w/ the newly emerging Christian religion…
• It began to challenge the ancient Judeo-Christian view that the world was good
• whereas the Jewish/Christian view savored and loved the material world
• whereas the Jewish/Christian view saw God present in material world

this new Gnostic/Christian mix, began to see human beings through the lens of a spirit/flesh dualism
• Spirit came from the really-god, god
• Flesh came from the lesser-god, god
• Therefore, the material world was of lesser worth
• The material world was a necessary evil
• It was transient, wicked, temporary, and of very little value
• But the spiritual world… ahh. That’s where the value is
The spirit world is eternal
The spirit world is precious
The spirit world was real
And thus, was to be pursued

Matter and the material world…
The cosmos, the human body, the physical earth…
• These things were demonized in this Gnostic version of Christianity
• Spirit was good, matter was evil

And the human being…
Well that was the premier battle ground between these two great elements
The pure spirit of the human being was trapped in an evil physical body
• The body was bad
• So sexual appetites were bad
• So the desire for food was bad
Savoring the taste of ice cream, bad
• The desire for sleep was bad
• The desire for comfort, warmth, coolness, human touch…
• All bad, bad, bad

The body-consciousness part of humanity, bad, bad, bad
The spirit-consciousness part of us, good, good, good
• Salvation, according to this Gnostic/Christian hybrid, was found by being freed from the physical realm
• And becoming truly, completely focused on spirit

And a whole bunch of Western Christianity came under the sway of this Gnostic/Christian mix
• You see it in your religion even to today
• How many were taught that sex was nasty
• How many were taught that body desires are not to be trusted
• How many of us have thought that this bad, bad world was going to burn

How many of us have been dislocated from our own bodies
• Dislocated from our own physical desires, it’s bad!
• Dislocated from our environment, it’ll burn
• Dislocated from the material world, it doesn’t matter

In my upbringing, if you didn’t do a church-job, it was ok, but you really settled for second best
• Desires that were not spiritual desires were distractions
• Joys that come from pure savoring of the material world distrusted

And so where does our social sense of alienation come from?
I believe it comes from our alienation w/ the very essence of our beings

But it was not to be so

God created every dimension of the cosmos in our Creation Story
• And over each dimension, he pronounced that it was good
• Our bodies, God liked when they were created
• Out our taste buds, our enjoyment of food, God said it was good
• Our genitals, and the fire of sexual desire in us, it was good
• the way our eyes enjoy beauty, and our noses enjoy good smells, our story tells us, is good!
• And God likes that we liked these physical, material pleasures

God never said that only the spirit part of us was good
The whole kit, the whole caboodle, all of it was good

And yet, because of this Gnostic/Christian view of our humanity…
• We are alienated from ourselves
• Alienated from one another
• Alienated from our planet

Now…
when it comes to pastoring people, this Gnostic/Christian mix is a disaster
• I tell people all the time to look for the sacred in the material
• But that dimension of the Divine has been stolen from us
• God and creation? We can’t see it
• We hear the words, but the experience has atrophied
• Read of a boy in Sunday school recently, saw God in the woods
Had a profound spiritual experience in the wind in the trees
told his SS teacher, but she thought he ran the risk of the heretical religion of pantheism (God is limited to being the created world)
So she rebuked the child
In this child’s memoirs, that was the beginning of the end
He left Christianity and became a neo-pagan, where his sense that God could be found in material world was validated

But our religion has taught us that we can sense the Divine in the food we eat…
• In the trees that give us air to breathe
• In the bodies of our lovers
• In the smell of our children (except teenage boys, no god there!)

The sacred is to be found in our bodies, in our senses
• In our muscle, and ligament, and bone, and blood…
• God inhabits those very material parts of our humanity

When we say that God is as close as close can be…
• That includes our bodies, includes our lungs, and in our legs, and in the air we breathe, the food we eat

The material/spiritual split was never Jesus’ idea
Never was part of our tradition

So, when it comes to helping people on the spiritual journey, one of the huge obstacles that must be overcome is our commonly shared view…
• How could God ever inhabit me?
• This bad, bad fleshiness that I am?
• How could the divine ever inhabit me?
• How could the HS ever indwell my awful, sinful, traitorous housing of flesh?
• Because the material world feels bad, bad, bad

And when we are alienated from our own bodies, our own planet, core realities of the spiritual life are rejected
• How could I be truly spiritual, I am so much a body
• How could this world demonstrate God, it’s matter and will burn

But let me say quickly before we close…
Next week we’ll see…
• Alienation from the earth
• Alienation from our bodies
• Alienation from the environment
• Alienation from the planet…
…this is not the religion of those who follow Jesus

In fact, the spirituality of those who follow Jesus is one of increased belonging
• A spirituality of becoming more truly ourselves, is a spirituality of fully realizing the beauty that is our entire being
• Our body consciousness is just as much a part of our Divine being as our ego and spirit consciousness

And as we advance on the spiritual journey…
As we become more fully human…
• We realize about ourselves that the essence of who we are is glorious
• We realize that the Divine attributes vested in us at our creation includes our bodies, our world, our trees, our breath
• And that residing in the very essence of who we are is Divine life, Divine spark

And that the spirituality of following Jesus doesn’t create alienation…
• No, it leads us to a deeper sense of belonging…
• Belonging in this dance with the Divine
• Belonging to the human community
• Belonging in this creation, this planet, this world
• Belonging in our own souls
• And belonging in our own bodies

And as we come to this awareness…
Jesus’ words about caring for this earth make sense
But I’ll continue on this theme in next week’s lesson

We saw that the gods that emerges from these two divergent starting points couldn’t be further from one another
• And the way of living the Christian life that each of these views of God precipitate couldn’t be further from one another

The one creates a Christianity of requirements that must be met
• Rewards that accrue to us if we meet the requirements…
• Punishments that accrue to us if we do not

This view fosters religion focused on the great reward of the afterlife, but devalues the state of affairs in the here and now
• Focuses on the getting ourselves and others to heaven
• But doesn’t give much weight to Jesus words to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the prisoners, etc.

The 2nd view, based on an image of God as Lover, I said I believe to be a better, more full, more complete view…
• This view starting with the image of God the Lover, ends up demanding justice for all people on earth who God so loves
• This view hears Jesus teaching on the Kingdom of God, and repairing the earth, and has a framework to embrace it and live it
• This view causes us to see ourselves in the context of God’s purposes to redeem this planet…
• Not abandon it, burn it, and rescue a handful of faithful from it

That was last week’s lesson on 2 views…
In our next few lessons, we’ll be looking at the teachings of Jesus, and I want us to see, another two views…
• This time, two spiritual views of human beings
• And again, I will suggest that one of these views is better
• And I will suggest that the deeply ingrained interpretations we’ve made about the nature of being human…
• Doesn’t accurately reflect the heart of our religion
• Doesn’t accurately reflect the heart of Jesus
• Don’t accurately reflect the heart of God

But since I’m doing these lessons, under the rubric “2 views”…
• I thought I’d give a little mid-stream introduction
• Obviously, we began these lessons already w/ 2 Views of God…
• But I thought as I was preparing this 2nd installment, that I should give a little of the “why” behind them

Here’s something you should know about me…
My Myers-Briggs personality profile is ENFJ
• One of the first things listed about ENFJ personality types is this…
• “Values above all things harmonious human relationships”

Now, if you want to undercut harmonious human relationships…
• The best thing you can do, is poke somebody in the eye about their view of God, their view of Jesus, their view of people
(the 2 View lessons I’m going to do)
• Religion fosters differences
• And in polite society, anybody w/ a lick of sense, has learned not to poke people’s core religious beliefs in the eye

But here I am doing it.
• Me, the ENFJ, the harmonious human relationships, guy
• I did a lesson on two views of God
• And said (in a very schmoozing kind of way)
Hey, that view of God you’re familiar with…
I don’t think it’s a very good view!
Here’s one I think is better

And now, I’m about to do another lesson on two views of people
• Hey, the nature of the human being you learned in church…
• I don’t think it’s a very good view at all
• And here, I think this one is better
• I’ll poke a stick in the eye of one view of the human condition…
• And I’ll suggest one I think is superior

What a social faux-pas
Doesn’t this guy have any manners?

But it doesn’t stop there…
When I finish this lesson, I’m going to do a lesson on two views of Jesus
• And no surprise, I’ll poke a stick in the eye of one view and say that another is superior

And if I’m still standing, I’ll do one after that on 2 views of the Bible

And in each of these endeavors, this harmony-loving guy is going to…
(in as schmoozy a way as possible)
• Argue that our traditional ways of seeing God, Jesus, ourselves, and maybe the Bible…
• Are getting us into trouble
• Are drawing us away from the heart of Jesus
• Are polluting Christian spirituality
• And are making our souls sick

Why would I do this?
I know what makes for harmonious human relations
And messing w/ people’s religious comfort zones isn’t it!

But I’m doing this series of lessons on the basis of a singular belief I’ve told you about several times
• I believe that Christian spirituality is sick
• The evidence is all around us
• The symptoms are as clear to see as clear can be
• But for some reason, vast swaths of Christian people aren’t seeing it
• Many are, but most are not
• We’re going along like we’re ok…
And we are decidedly not ok

Think about this with me for a minute…
• Think back to 10th grade, when you took geometry
• Think back to the time you had to do geometric proofs

In the first weeks of the semester you were taught assumptions
• Here’s the nature of a point, a line, and of parallel lines
• Here’s the nature of angles against a straight line
• Here’s the nature of angles that make up a triangle
• Here’s the nature of this, that, and the other thing…

Then after you were taught the nature of the assumptions…
• You were taught to prove things on the basis of the assumptions
• Line 1: such and such is so
• Line 2: therefore, such and such is so
• Line 3: therefore such and such is so
• And line 4: this proves that angle ABC is congruent to XYZ

Then you were taught to go back and review the assumptions
• To review your logic on each of the lines
• And then to feel confident that the conclusion was true

I have a friend with a strong, strong dislike for Islamic Fundamentalists
• It could be said her dislike borders on detestation

Here’s how her geometric-proof thinking goes…
• Line 1: Islamic fundamentalists are taught jihad
They see me and my loved ones as the infidel
They have a low regard for the life of the infidel
They are fanatical enough to take their own lives to end mine
Their scriptures, their imams, their tradition make this so
• Therefore, Line 2: their religion is a false one
• Line 3: Islamic fundamentalists are spreading their religion
They are converting people at a faster rate than Christians are
They are scouring the earth to make disciples
And when they do, they make them as crazy as themselves
They are stealing people away from peace
They are stealing people away from the true God
They are stealing people away from heaven
They are stealing people away from divine purpose
• Therefore, Line 4: they are wrong, they are malevolent, they are evil
• Therefore, Line 5: I despise Islamic fundamentalists
And I do so as a child of the True God
I do so as a follower of the True religion
I do so as a follower of God incarnate on the earth, Jesus

So there’s my friend’s geometric proof…
Line 1  Line 2  Line 3  conclusion
• And if she goes back and checks her assumptions, they’re all good
• Yep, they want to kill my people and take over the world
• Yep, their religion is false
• Yep, they’re aggressive in taking innocent people down w/ them
• Yep, they’re keeping people from the true God
• Yep, I despise them for doing it

Now, my friend knows Jesus told her to love her enemies
• So she tries really hard to separate the “them” from their religion
• Tries really hard to separate the person from the belief
• Tries really hard to separate the culture from the individual
• And tries really hard to love the sinner and hate the sin

But for her efforts…
And for all her vocabulary gymnastics about loving sinner not sin…
• For all her efforts to see them different from their actions/beliefs
• She despises Islamic fundamentalists
• And when she watches her favorite news channel, her bowels get in an uproar, her bile gets worked up…
• When I get her on this topic, it’s clear: she despises these people
• And she feels justified as a follower of Jesus doing so

However, for all the accuracy of her assumptions (Lines 1-4)
Her conclusion is at odds with one fundamental reality
• The Jesus she follows, tells her that if she follows him…
• Something will happen to her that will change her conclusion
• Despite accuracy of each of her assumptions, in the end, Jesus tells her, she will love Islamic fundamentalists
• Even if they spitefully use her, Jesus teaches her, there will be a motivation of compassion that will cause her to pray for them

So even though the assumptions might be as logical as logical can be…
• The fruit of her assumptions indicates that at least one of them was wrong, wrong, wrong
• A  B  C, but along the way something got twisted
• The fruit of her inner state of being tells her so

When Jesus taught us how to know if religion is good or bad, right or wrong, he gave us a litmus test by which to know…
• See if the fruit your religion bears is good or bad
• Then you’ll know if your religion is good or bad

SLIDE: Mt. 7:16ff [paraphrase]
By their fruit you will recognize if a religious leader [or belief] is good or bad. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? No, of course not. Good trees bear good fruit, and bad trees bear bad fruit. This is how you can know [if your religion] is good or bad. It’s in the fruit that it bears.

We often treat our religious beliefs like geometric proofs…
Line A is good, check it… yep, it’s good
• We have scripture to back us up
• We have tradition to back us up
• We have what our parents taught us, our youth pastor
• The books we read back us up…
Yep, Line A is good

And our belief on line B is good too. Check.
As is Line C and so forth

However, the fruit of Christian spirituality in our generation is spoiled
• I’ve given you many paragraphs over the lessons of the last months
• These highlight the illness infecting Christian spirituality in our time

Which means, no matter how certain we are of Line A, B, and C…
• We need to go back and check
• Where did we go wrong?
• Where did we get off track?
• Which assumptions did we make that were wrong?
• We know something is wrong, just look at the conclusion…
Look at the fruit

And this is why, this normally harmonious guy, goes around poking eyes
• Hey, we need to look at the assumptions in line A
• Hey, if we buy line B we act/live this way, or that way
Which, by the way, Jesus said not to do!
• Maybe Line B deserves a reexamination

If we do not do this, our religion will die a slow death of suffocation
• We will suffocate under the toxic fumes of our false assumptions
• Poisoned by truths that are not true, we will slowly die off
• It’s happening already, we just don’t seem ready to face it

Spoke to a young pastor this week, 25 years old
• Starting a church for a generation of college kids
• Their children, he said, will be 4% Christian if trends continue
• We long ago ceased to be a Christian nation
• Christianity in our nation is dying
• Christian spirituality in our nation is sick
• It is to us to go back and see what is infecting us

So we’re doing a series of lessons on reexamining the belief-lines
• Two Views, I’m calling it
• 2 ways of thinking about these dimensions of our religion
• 2 ways of being followers of Jesus

Whenever I talk this way, I always feel the need to be encouraging
And here’s my encouragement…
• The sickness of our spirituality is nothing new
• Throughout history this kind of sickness infects the people of God all the time
• Happened w/ the Jews before Christ
• Happened w/ Christians since the time of Christ
• And in each case, we have recovered

The world economy is in bad shape right now
• But if history is any indicator, it will survive
• Some, betting on history, are buying up stock, waiting for an inevitable return of economic good times

I’m betting on history too, speaking to as many young people as I can find, waiting for an inevitable time when Christian spirituality will return
• In the scripture the image used was a diseased tree
• The tree always gets diseased
• And the diseased tree always gets cut down and burned
• But out of the stump of the cut down tree, a shoot of new life always comes
• And that shoot always restores the life/vitality

So, I do a lesson as a way of preparing us, and for you to prepare your children for the inevitable return of spiritual vitality, spiritual aliveness

And the signs are all around us…
• There is a rising tide of authors, ministers, speakers out there…
• They are leading the church toward a shoot of new life from a dying stump of a sick religion
• They are telling their readers, teaching their children about a way of seeing God
• A way of seeing Jesus
• A way of seeing their spiritual journey
• That invites them to be alive, to be awake, to connect w/ God

I want to join my efforts in leading NRCC w/ this larger flow of God’s Spirit in the West
• Alongside them, I want to be a voice for my grandchildren
• I want to prepare the way for a generation who will experience the life and vitality of following Jesus
• I want to blaze a trail for them to follow
• A way to be the people of God that will once again ring with life, health, vigor, and will shine with radiant light

And on their behalf, I’m willing to do what I don’t like doing
• I’m willing to be un-harmonious
• I’m willing to have people think ill of me
• I’m willing to shake up our thinking
• And I’m willing to do lessons on Two Views that poke people in the eye

I’ve been talking to college kids a lot lately
I buy them food…

Actually, you buy them food
It’s the money you give our community I spend to get a chance to talk to them

Usually, I invite someone I know to introduce me to people I don’t
• And I ask them questions about their religion, their spirituality
• And I tell them I’m a Christian minister, and I’d like to hear from them why the Christian religion isn’t relevant to them

And here’s what I never hear…
• Well that spiritual stuff, we just don’t believe it anymore
• Rationalism, secularism, enlightenment have removed the need for superstitious, spiritual belief
…I never hear that!

What I do hear is this…
• We’re very interested in spirituality
• We’re very interested in how we can develop on our own spiritual journeys
• However, we don’t have much direction
• We tend to loop back around the same thing again and again
• We don’t seem to make as much progress as we’d like

And so naturally, I ask the question, I ask them what they think about Christian spirituality
• And this is where it gets amusing…
• You know, I hear them say…
We’ve not thought about putting those two words together
I don’t think about Christianity having much to do w/ spirituality
I thought Christianity had more to do with what you believe
What doctrines you subscribe to
What you believe about Jesus, what you believe about God
And what you’re supposed to do and not do to be a good person

When these kids think about spirituality, they are looking for some way that something bigger than themselves intersects their life
• Some way that the transcendent touches them
• Some way that the mystical, or the magical touches them
• Some way that they are made into better people
• Some way they find a power to be better, to do better

But when they are motivated by these very spiritual impulses…
• The message they have picked up about the church does not lead them toward it
• A belief system is not the same as a spiritual path to follow
• Line A belief, leading to Line B belief, leading to Line C belief…
• Leading to conclusion, doctrine, statement about the way things are…

They don’t believe this will make them a better person
• So off they go to yoga exercises, chanting, meditation class
• They’re trying to tap into something that will help them to be and do better

And the funny thing about this, is that Christian people are in the same boat
• we’re also looking for a spiritual path to follow
• we’re also looking for a way to be and do better
• but the critique from outside observers…
• the path we’re on isn’t helping
• the beliefs we found our paths on, aren’t working
• they see us, they see our paths, and they thank us kindly, but go elsewhere

so what is it about our beliefs that makes for this anemic, feeble spiritual path
• well, one of the things is the way we’ve interpreted our core, foundational beliefs
• the way we think about the very nature of God
• the way we think about very nature of ourselves and other people
• the way we think about the person of Jesus we follow
• the way we think that Jesus saves us
• the way we think the Bible leads us
• the way we think prayer helps us

so, with these introductory remarks, I’ll pick up next week and begin to speak about 2 views
• 2 views of our selves
• 2 views of other people
• 2 views of the human condition

We’ll look at how Jesus talks about being human
We’ll look at how the ancient wisdom writer of Ecclesiastes sees being human
We’ll look at how the early Christians were derailed by a heresy
And how that viral heresy continues to infect us today