-8-
Shifting
"Words" to Responsible Actions
The
problem with so much of our theology today is that it often reduces personal initiative
to simple words of faith or prayer. Many of our theological positions
psychologically shift the personal responsibility for one's actions and the
consequences of those actions in society. They replace personal responsibility
with "God's saving Grace" - or, blaming human shortcomings on
a supernaturally powerful evil force commonly known in Christianity as Satan.
Not
only is the psychological impact of emphasis on words a threat to religion, but
it impacts the secular collective psyche of our Western Cultures as well.
We
can see its influence in the "them" we hear people blaming for
all our problems: as in the government, the media, the liberals, the
foreigners, or the conservatives. In fact, blame for the ills of a society are often placed upon anyone who believes differently from
us. This blame someone else mentality is implanted in
us by theologies which imply that only God is to get credit for the good. If we
as individuals are not suppose to take credit for the good, what possible
incentive would we have to accept responsibility for the ills of our world? So
theology makes that easy for us by blaming all evil upon the devil, or at
least, in allowing us to use our religious beliefs to justify our projections
of weakness. For to often, religious faiths, have us
looking outside ourselves for blame, credit, or solutions for so many problems that are-mankind's making. In fact, they
are often of our own making!
The
major psychological problem with this is
that this "projectionist" seed is planted in the religious
attitudes that we indoctrinate our children with. Such being the case,
sometimes even when the religious belief is lost, the crutch of habitual
projection is assimilated into the ego personality and remains for life.
If
we look at Western Christianity objectively, in its true Christian influence
upon the reality of our societies, it has become little more than the
proclamation of empty words. One cannot read the words of the Gospels, and
claim with any credibility, that the ideas, which Jesus preached, are the
priority of an American Society, which so often makes claim to being Christian.
We have utility companies which shut off poor people - are they not sometimes
Christian owned? We have merchants who deceive, sometimes cheat, and often use
gimmicks to get people to buy things they do not need - some of which are in
fact Christian owned. We have Christian clergy, claiming to heal people over
the television, promising, God will bless ten fold any offering made to the
church - and these same men are out and out condemning people they arbitrarily
say are God's enemies. Then there are the magnificent churches, which are
built, maintained, and treated as God's throne - even in the poorest of areas;
and in their shadows children live in need, fear and despair! Can any one of us
honestly say; this is what Jesus envisioned when he delivered the Sermon on the
Mount; or carrying his cross at
While
one cannot blame Christianity for our, problems (and this is certainly not the
intent here) we can see that much of the "magical thinking" and
"projectional mentality" that is in the
mind-set of so many in our western cultures is instilled in us (or at least
fueled by) many of the theological concepts which exist in Western
Christianity. It may not be the religions which are so much the problem, but
rather, the theologies that place so much emphasis upon words and beliefs that
they have lost sight of the "affects" of those words in the reality
of religious faith. Could the worship of Jesus ever produce a result that might
equal the one that could be produced in emphasizing the emulation of, Jesus?
The
group Nirvana sums up the hypocrisy nicely
in a line one of their songs:
'Who needs acts, when you got words'
(Nirvana, PLATEAU, from the
album "Unplugged" in NY)
This type of thinking is exactly where one
would expect many of our projective theological ideals to lead. While such concepts
as God's love, Her forgiveness and His Mercy are a sound Image of the Deity,
presenting this ideal that we earn such through belief alone can be
psychologically dangerous; especially for, those types of people looking to
cast blame upon others. Teaching children to expect Jesus to come and remake
the world, or even adults for that matter, plants a suggestion that no matter
how much we abuse this planet that in the end it will "all" be made
'right. It allows for a projection of personal responsibility for those that
may consciously or subconsciously wish to justify their own lack of
responsibility.
If
we examine many of our theological concepts from a psychological viewpoint, we
will see that other potentially dangerous seeds can also be planted. For
example, goodness or courageous acts of humanism such as those of Mother Teresa
are often seen as "saintly," or as special in the eyes of God because
of doctrines, which proclaim human natures weak, and easy prey for evil.
Wonderful acts of human compassion are seen as unusual, as going beyond the
call - beyond the "normal" standard that people should be seeking.
Many of the theologians, especially those who follow Augustine, rationalize
corruption, sin, evil, poverty, and all our human problems as being a
consequence of our weak human natures and our first parents
sin. Children are often told it is hard to be good; which begs the question, why is it any harder to be good than bad?
One
has to wonder: if we abandoned such negative aspects of our theology, looking
for the positive messages of revelation over the "Projectionist"
speculations, might not the world be a better place? Perhaps if we treated each
other with the love and respect that Jesus taught; instead of, verbally
proclaiming our belief in it, maybe we could lessen some of the injustices in
our world.
We
live in a world that can split the atom, can go the moon and beyond; yet, we
cannot eliminate starvation from our societies. We live in a world where the
medicine can transplant a heart to save one child, while hundreds may die of a
disease because they cannot get a simple and common vaccination. We complain
and feel for some children at Christmas because they do not have toys under the
tree; while in other places children are being killed in the crossfire of war.
Are these things what Jesus intended when he told us that what we do to each
other is what we do to him? Are the theologies that are feeding our religious
beliefs providing us with the incentive to change; or, have they become a justification
for what we are? Is the Gospel about changing our ways; or, a justification of
what we are? If one answers "change"
then the theology based upon those
Gospels must encourage change instead of providing justification. If it is to
be responsible, theology (and the faith based upon it) must examine its
teachings from a psychological perspective to ensure its speculation encourages
actualization of one's beliefs over mere assertion.
And
when it comes to the actual words of scripture, we often give them a meaning in
today's religions, which were never intended by the original writers or
speakers of the "Word". To give several examples:
Abraham
is called "a man of faith" in the Bible. Today, we tend to define
faith as an intellectual assent to a creed, but, as we have seen, the Biblical
writers DID NOT VIEW FAITH IN GOD as an abstract or metaphysical belief. When
they praised the faith of Abraham, they are not commending his orthodoxy (the
acceptance of a correct theological opinion about God), BUT HIS TRUST (In God),
in rather the same way as When We Say that We have
faith in a person or ideal. In the Bible, Abraham is a man of faith because he
trusts God would make good on His promises, even though they seemed absurd.
(Karen
Armstrong, HISTORY OF GOD, Ballantine Books, 1993,
pl7)
OR
The
word which describes that attitude he [Jesus] sought to stimulate has a
somewhat archaic and old-fashioned ring in its traditional English rendering,
which is "repentance". But like the Hebrew term which it represented,
the Greek 'metanoia,' habitually translated in this fashion, signified much
more than we understand by the term [sorrow for sin]. THEY INDICATE A COMPLETE
CHARGE OF MIND AND HEART AND ATTITUDE, A TURNING FROM THIS WORLD TO GOD.
(N.
Grant, JESUS, AN HISTORIAN'S VIEW Of THE GOSPELS, 1977, p45)
In
both of the cases cited, the words, which had been decreed, had no meaning
anything like today. Faith was not asserting a belief and repentance was not
sorrow or atonement for sin. Faith was simply trusting in God, and repentance
was changing one's heart. One could not simply say they were sorry but had to
change their ways. These words came to life in truth only when they acted
upon; when the individual actually trusted God; or, when the individual changed
his heart. The pronouncements of these words, or the faith in
them proclaimed by the believer, had nothing to do with the message they
conveyed. Theology, in its evolution, has changed the meaning of
faith to be understood as adhering to a particular idea of God; or, repentance
as being sorry for our sins. In both cases, we can profess in words the
"faith" or the "repentance" without the actualization that
was intended.
While
Paul, and numerous theologians after, emphasized the Redemption of Christ,
faith in Christ, or salvation in Grace; Jesus proclaimed personal
responsibility expressed in our actions toward one another. Jesus proclaimed:
And to all he [Jesus]
said, "If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave the self
behind; day after day he must take up his cross, and come with me.
(Luke
9:23,24)
These words clearly remind us that God's
Kingdom is in our personal responsibility. They imply that we are
all messiahs, each with our own cross to bear. The cross is in the acceptance
of responsibility for one's self and how our actions affect others.
Theology,
particularly a pure Christian theology, needs to guide its clergy and
ultimately those who utilize the implications of its
ideals toward a faith that expresses itself in action; for the truth lies not
in words, but in what is produced by the
word. If we are going to cite the words of our ancients to proclaim our
beliefs, we must be sure to retain the original meanings and the actions
intended.
The
whole salvation which Jesus preached, the Kingdom of God about which he spoke,
are not in the words that be spoke - or in the words we proclaim about him. The
Christian ideal is in the living of its philosophy of love, tolerance, human
compassion and concern. Without
the actualization of these ideals of Jesus, our words of faith are empty and
without merit. True Christianity is much more than a belief, it must become d
philosophy by which we live by. Thomas Jefferson said it nicely:
Had
the doctrines of Jesus been preached as pure as they came from his lips, the
whole-civilized world would now have been Christian.
(To Benjamin
Waterhouse, June 26, 1882)
The
doctrines that flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension
of a child.
(To John Adams,
July 5,1814)
From
the message itself, to the very prayers that we pray, and unto our theological
speculations about God; the emphasis is much greater on the words we proclaim than in
the accepting of responsibility for what we do. Jesus told us to "pick up
our cross," while and Paul proclaimed we only need believe Jesus did that
for us. This latter message has overshadowed Jesus' directive in Christian
Theology ever since.
The
emptiness of our words has been reflected throughout our Western cultures for
hundreds of years. The promises of the White man to the Native American were
quickly seen as empty words - as we broke treaty after treaty, sometimes before
the ink was dry. We used our Bibles to defend slavery for over a
century, singing our praises to God on Sunday and forcing the slaves to pick
the cotton for the rest of the week. The prejudice and bigotry in American
society is an intricate part of our history as well as that of our roots in
Christian Europe. Much of our Christian theology has to accept partial blame
for the acceptance of such hypocrisy. We can find nothing in the words of Jesus, who has been
proclaimed the "Son of the Living God" to support the idea that we are
saved simply by our faith. While Paul proclaimed this message, Jesus of the
Gospels did not. In light of the Christian realities of today one might ask:
Why would Paul's message have more influence on Christian theology than the
message of the "Son of God"?
And
in our societies of today, the concept of empty words is alive and well even
outside religion. It may be argued about religious beliefs contributing to the
cause; but most of them do little to discourage such hypocrisy in our everyday
world. For example, our politicians will say anything to get elected;
including, things like remaking the family, changing morals, or giving us a
better way of life - whether they have the power or intend to do so or not.
Advertisements make outrageous claims and imply things like we will have a
happier life, or get a prettier girl if we use their products. Some commercials
are actual out and out lies! Sportscasters, weathermen, newspapers and
magazines print all kinds of "words" which can sometimes be misleading
at the least, and in fact lies at their worst. And we have the great
manipulators of words who can take them out of context; or, twist them to mean
what they were never meant to imply. All this is accepted into the mainstream
of our lives without many questions.
Churches proclaim outrage at immorality,
irresponsible sex, drug use, violence, and greed. But in reality we use sex to
sell our products, violence to entertain ourselves, advertise pills for every
ailment, and pay homage to those with wealth they will never need. Religion,
for the most part, remains silent about such contradictions.
And how many of us as individuals bend the truth to fit our needs?
Saying things like: "The check is in the mail," when we mean I'm
going to mail it. Or, how about calling in sick so we might
enjoy a sunny day. Or, telling our children to tell someone on the phone
that we are not home, when in fact we are right there!
The
point is, we put so much emphasis upon what we say in today's world, both
religiously and secularly; yet, there is little emphasis on the substance or
reality of those words.
While
at a glance our examples might seem trivial, any first year psychology student
will tell you of the dangers of sending contradictory messages to children -
which is what we as a people are
doing. Theology's responsibility is to foster beliefs which religion can then
use to change unhealthy social trends. It cannot do that when words are the
salvation it offers. The power of God is not the proclamations of faith. The
power of God is an ideal becoming reality. If someone were to tell us they have
been to
Any
student of religion can see that religion directly and indirectly influences
the social structure and culture of a people. And if we look at the myths and
revelations that seem to transcend our human bondage, (What Jung called
archetypes) we will often find a psychological message; messages that were
given before we had psychology. If these psychological implications can be seen
in the revelations themselves, theology cannot argue the point that these
psychological implications are part of its religious responsibility.
The
theologies that formulate religions which emphasize: words Of faith,
words of prayer, the singing of praise in word, the spreading of the word, the
assertion of faith in word, the incarnation of the word, redemption by the word,
or eternal life through the word; without any clarification of the
fact that: if we do not "LIVE" what we proclaim - it makes us nothing
more than hypocrites and liars. Such theologies act in the manner of the "false
prophets" of which Jesus warned.
Words
are nothing more than words, and the idea Of Christ as ‘Logos’, which loosely means "the word" is misleading. The 'Logos' is the
enlightenment by the word, which means, if the word does nothing to change
reality there is no enlightenment. The word remains a word until it becomes the
'Logos' through actualization by us. When John tells us "the word
became flesh," he is not talking about sounds that are spoken; but
rather, the ideas and concepts, which Jesus lived according to God's will. In
other words: It's how God would live as a man!
If
Christianity lived in the words of its founder, the last century would have
been filled with great strides in the solutions of basic human problems.
Christianity, combined with scientific knowledge and economic strength, should
be expanding human opportunity and equality; ending war and poverty; help us to
become environmentally responsible; and be the incentive for universal
brotherhood (even for those who do not share the belief). A living Christianity
would promote a faith through questions that lead us to truth, while providing d sound
psychology whereby its faith encourages people to ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEMSELVES! Jesus didn't preach to have men
worship at his feet, he spoke hoping to change peoples
hearts; knowing, the changing of human hearts could ultimately change the
world.
And
beyond the call of Christianity too, the message of God is the same. If any
religion is to serve God and the
people of the next century, its theology must recognize the human
responsibility that came with the gift of consciousness. Such must realize that
the spoken truth is in its manifestation in reality, in other words: the
ACTIONS BECAUSE OF THE PROFESSION OF FAITH. No Christian theology can ignore
these words from the Sermon on the Mount:
Beware of false prophets, men who come to you dressed as sheep
while underneath they are savage wolves. You will RECOGNIZE them by the FRUITS
THEY BEAR. In the same way, a good tree always yields good fruit, and a poor
tree bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit.
And when a tree does not yield good fruit it is cut down and burnt. This is why
I say YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUITS.
Not everyone who calls me "Lord, Lord" will enter the
Kingdom of heaven. But only those who do the will of the
Father. When that day comes many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in your name, and in your name perform many miracles?"
Then I will tell them to their face, "I NEVER KNEW YOU; out of my sight you
and your wicked ways!
What then of the man
who HEARS these words of mine and ACTS UPON THEM? He is like a man who had the
sense to build his house on rock. The rain came down, the floods rose, the wind
blew and beat upon that house; but it did not fall because its foundation was
on rock. But what of the man who hears these words of mine and DOES NOT ACT
upon them? He is like a man who is foolish enough to build his house on sand.
The rains came down, the floods rose, the wind blew and beat upon that house;
down it fell with a great crash.
(Matthew 7:15-27 /
this same lesson repeated in Luke 6:43-49)
Jesus' principle charge against the
religious of his age was hypocrisy: that
is, saying things they themselves
did not live. Christianity has fulfilled its charge to preach the Gospel to the
four corners of the earth, but it seems there is something wrong because we
don't seem to see the fruit that we should be seeing. The Gospel is proclaimed,
but, little of it applies to the everyday realities of our world. We may not be
able to govern according to the Gospel (at least in the present religious
interpretive sense); but its message of love should be reflected in business,
communities, entertainment, political ethics, and all of every day life - for
anyone proclaiming themselves Christian.
Many
of our churches can easily condemn prostitution, or homosexuality, based upon
the bias of their theology. But how many churches point out the evil of a
business letting a faithful employee go simply to increase its profit? Where is the Christian ethic when a company closes which a
community has served and depended upon for years? What might God think would be
a fair wage as verses an exploitation of workers? What
about basic health care for low income workers, in fact all workers? These
problems are the reality, and when religion fails to be applicable to reality
it needs to be reexamined. These are the kinds of issues that Jesus intended
that his followers pay heed to.
Theologically,
the reason the universe exists is because the Word of God ACTUALIZED. Without
the physical Creation Event God's word would be echoing through empty space.
The Word was incarnate in Jesus because Jesus lived in reality the message he
proclaimed! Faith only allows us to see the word, its
the ACTUALIZATION of the word which is our salvation, just as it is the
actualization of God's Word that gives us life!
It is only when we act upon what we say; when
it affects the reality of our personal lives as well as the society we live in;
when the culture truly reflects the proclaimed beliefs of the community; when
the religious morals apply to everyday life, business, science, and government
- only then, can theology claim they are proclaiming truth. Until then, such is
only words!
The challenge of responsible theology for the next
century is to stimulate human consciousness to the point where we can solve the
problems facing our world. Just as good science brings about positive and
healthy change, an increase in one's understanding of one's self, and a
bettering of our word; so too, it should be with a truly responsible theology.
We are much older and more capable children of God than were our ancestors. We
have a much greater ability to determine our social and economic structures. We
also have direct and indirect input into environmental outcomes. We are now, by
far, much more a part of the world community. And we now, like never before,
have a tremendous potential to predict and study the consequences of our
actions.
Theology needs to begin shifting the
emphasis from what God is going to give, or do, for us; to what God has already
done for us and what it is we can do to express our appreciation to God. It is
time for religion to encourage our pursuit of what we can do for God; instead
of, encouraging us to ask God to do for us.
If
our theological trend continues to urge us to "pray" and wait"
for God, the prognosis for mankind is not good. Such theology is like the
selfish child with boxes full of toys yet looks with envy upon the single toy
of the child next door. God has already showered us with the gift of life,
which is often, more than we deserve. If there are greater things still, does
it not make sense that the best way to earn this is by cherishing and being
responsible toward what has already been given? We still need God's help and
there is no reason for theology to abandon this concept. What needs to be done
is put the "help" in its proper perspective. Too often when we pray for God's help, we are asking
Her to do it for us. To help and to guide, means: to aid one in their own
effort! Thus: "God helps those who helps
themselves" becomes a cliché that the theologian, clergymen, and faithful
should apply to their every prayer. God provides the map but it is we who must
steer our own ships!
NEXT CHAPTER-9-Providing a Balance
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