Hello my friends,

With this being the week of thanksgiving, many of you might be feeling anxious about being around certain family and friends. Gathering around a table with those who we have tension with or with those whom we don't get along can bring an extra level of stress to our lives. Know I'll be praying for all of us as we do and I hope you have such an enjoyable thanksgiving day.

I also want to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am for all of you. Each week, I get to hear from you, your journey, and your heart. You continue to give important feedback and encouragement. You have really helped to give this project a life all its own. That is such a gift. Thank you so much.

One of the traditions I have found especially meaningful is to discover the native land upon which we gather for our thanksgiving meal. Then before we eat, I like to acknowledge the native people groups who occupied the land before us, give thanks for them, and pray for God to help us bring healing and thanksgiving to the present wounds our history has caused. You can find the native land you'll be celebrating on through this map here, along with a lot of other helpful information. Where I live and work is on the native land of the Shoshone-Bannock people.

For today's newsletter, I wanted to share something rather unsettling that happened right before worship service at my church this last Sunday. Then I'd like to just reflect with you about the kind of theology that was behind it and how we might move forward from it.

But first, here are some resources you might find helpful this week.

Resources to Consider

-Original Blessing: Putting Sin in Its Rightful Place. In this book, Danielle Shroyer takes readers through an overview of the historical development of the doctrine, pointing out important missteps and over-calculations, and providing alternative ways to approach often-used Scriptures. Throughout, she brings the primary claims of original sin to their untenable (and unbiblical) conclusions. In Original Blessing, she shows not only how we got this doctrine wrong, but how we can put sin back in its rightful place: in a broader context of redemption and the blessing of humanitys creation in the image of God. I had an unsettling, yet not uncommon situation happen on Sunday right before service began.

-The Gospel In Chairs. In this short video, Pastor Brian Zahnd beautifully presents the differences between the view of the gospel with which the early church would have been familiar and the more modern view of the gospel we are most familiar with today. He uses simple folding chairs to describe the differences between the restorative view of the the gospel and the judicial, or legal view of the gospel. I have used this demonstration myself in sermons several times. It powerfully conveys the theological differences we often take for granted and invites us to ask ourselves, "which version of the gospel are we actually proclaiming?" I highly encourage you to take some time to watch it. I think you will find it really helpful.

-Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned. I just picked up this book my Brian McLaren and plan on reading it very soon. It addresses in public the powerful question that surprising numbers of people—including pastors, priests, and other religious leaders—are asking in private. Picking up where his other book Faith After Doubt leaves off, Do I Stay Christian? is not McLaren's attempt to persuade Christians to dig in their heels or run for the exit. Instead, he combines his own experience with that of thousands of people who have confided in him over the years to help listeners make a responsible, honest, ethical decision about their religious identity. Let me know if you have read or plan on reading this too. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Okay, onto today's content.

An Unsettling Start to Sunday Service

I was greeting people as they came into the sanctuary when a man walked up who I had never met before.

I welcomed him and he thanked me. As we began to talk, someone offered us cookies, which I had to unfortunately turn down because of my gluten intolerance. This led us to talk about the food regulations in America and how that might be contributing to allergies like mine.

The talk of the shady practices of big corporations like Monsanto then led to him talking about the state of the world and how there are so many signs of the “End Times.” I politely listened as he told me all the signs in our culture and even occurrences in the sky that he thought aligned perfectly with prophecies in the Bible. Then he excitedly mentioned how Donald Trump moving the American embassy to Jerusalem as acknowledgment of it being the rightful capital of Israel was such a major sign of the end times.

When he paused, I simply mentioned how important I thought it was to avoid having our theology of the end centered around nationalistic narratives, because if we do, we can begin to see the actions of earthly empires as God's way of ushering in the end times, even through their violence, all while minimizing Christ’s call to be his hands and feet as the church.

He then said, “really? well, then what do you think about what’s happening in Gaza right now?”

As I was still welcoming others as they passed, I gently replied, “Honestly, my heart grieves over the human suffering there. I would really love for all the hostages to be released and for there to be an end to the fighting there.”

He then said, “You know, you’ve got to look at situations like that without your heart, because the human heart is evil.”

I then said, “I understand there are Christians who believe that, but as a Wesleyan, I don’t believe that at all.”

He said: “Adam and Eve sinned and plunged all of humanity into sin!”

I said, “my friend, that is a debate that has been going on in the church since Saint Augustine first began advocating the idea of original sin. As a Wesleyan, I begin at the beginning, the original blessing, where God made humanity in God’s image. While sin tarnishes and distorts that image, it cannot take it away.”

He said, “yes, but you’re discounting the fall. Humanity fell into sin.” Then he mentioned how I need to take the whole Bible together to avoid “slippery slopes” like these.

I said, “again, as a Wesleyan, I don't discount sin, I just don't start my theology at "the fall," but before it. I don’t believe sin is more powerful than God. To say that sin leaves human nature totally evil is to assert that it sin somehow more powerful than God and somehow trumps God’s original act of creating humanity in God’s own image.”

He said, "you don’t have to teach kids how to lie or cheat. They are born that way.”

I said, “as the father of a little 1 and a 1/2 year old boy, I just don’t agree with that either.”

He said, “just wait, you’ll see the evil in him.”

With that, the music started and people began finding their seats, so I politely told him I needed to head up front.

I was so anxious and unsettled over that conversation and my heart was just so sad. Even though I've had a million conversations like this one before, what made my heart break most about this particular conversation was that in the matter of a few minutes, this man not only called my precious little boy “evil” but he framed my caring about little ones just like my son who are dying in Gaza as "evil" as well. All in the name of God.

I kept praying over the conversation as I sang, praying that I would be able to let it go enough to focus on being fully present in service, but then I noticed he and his family leaving during the second song. Then they never came back.

My heart was divided. One the one side, I was discouraged that he felt like he couldn't stay for worship. On the other, it was so broken over what he said to me.

Why?

With conversations like this being rather common for me in my ministry, I often wonder what prompts people to come into a church they’ve never been to before and begin debating the pastor, especially minutes before service begins. Why does this behavior seem so acceptable to them? I just can't imagine doing that to someone.

It made me wonder what individuals like him imagine their reason is for even coming to church or what they imagine church to be. Is church simply a place to have what they already believe affirmed or is church a place where they want to come and have their assumptions challenged, their perspectives deepened, and seek to be made more capable of love? I certainly felt like he would have stayed if I hadn't disagreed with him.

Jeremiah 17:9

It also made me wonder if those who advocate such a theology re-read the scriptures they so often use to justify their theology to see if it is actually sound.

Take the passage this man referred to here: Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

I hear this text used so often to justify a theology of “total depravity” of all human beings and how all human beings are evil by nature. I hear this text used to justify ignoring what our heart is telling us, because it is evil. This leads to so many terrible outcomes like not being able to trust one's self or worse, not being able to love one's self well. If your theology starts with your heart being evil, why would you ever believe that you are worthy of love from yourself, let along God or other people?

When you actually take this verse in context, including the original Hebrew, a clearer meaning emerges. You can see that when we say "heart" in English, the Hebrew says "leb," which references the inner self, the core of our entire being. You can see that where we say “deceitful” in English, the Hebrew says "aqob," which is used in other places to mean rough terrain, crooked paths, and not easily navigated because it is polluted. Where it says “beyond cure” or in some translations “desperately wicked” in English, the Hebrew word says "anash," which simply means weak or sick.

In addition to this, as you will find throughout Jeremiah, chapter 17 is made up of back and fourth statements from God and the prophet. In many translations, you will notice that there is a statement from God in quotation marks in 17:8. Then the prophet asks the question in 17:9, so no quotation marks, then God has this beautiful response to that question in 17:10: “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

So to put it another way, the prophet asks “our inner world is so confusing, sick, complex, so who can actually navigate it or understand it at all?” Then God says, “I can. I can see and understand your inner world. I can examine how you navigate your thoughts. I will take all of your motivations, put them together, and take them into account.”

This isn’t some statement about humanity being evil by nature as it is so often used. This is an affirmation of how complex and confusing and even deceptive and sick our own inner lives can be as human beings. It is an affirmation that from our inner lives can produce some really terrible things in the world around us and bring great harm to ourselves and others. Yet even when we just don’t understand why people do these things, or sometimes why we do them, God can and does understand. We can then trust that God will be just over us because God can understand us. This has dramatically different implications than how it is often used.

Perhaps this is why the ancient language expert, Eugene Peterson translated this passage this way in The Message translation: “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”

Where Is The Love?

I think the biggest thing I’m left with after Sunday is once again being reminded of how much we’ve gotten the gospel of Jesus wrong and how much harm that causes to others.

When our version of the gospel begins with humanity being evil and God being wrathful, how can that trajectory take us anywhere but shame and despair over who we are as human beings? How can that take us anywhere but to justifying even the worst violence and suffering as God’s wrathful way of obliterating such evil from us and our world?

When our version of the gospel begins with humanity as being nothing but sinful from birth, how can that not negatively impact our parenting, our friendships, and even our view of ourselves?

Isn’t the gospel supposed to be good news? Doesn’t our entire Bible begin with God creating humanity in God’s image out of deep love? Isn’t sin the evil thing God wants to save humanity from? Isn’t it illogical to somehow claim that simply because humanity is capable of sin that they are the same thing as sin? Isn’t it one thing to say that humans can sin and another thing entirely to say that humans ARE sin? Isn’t the very reason Christ came was because those image bearers were suffering under futility and death, which prevented them from fully living into their created purpose, and so out of great love, God in the flesh poured out God’s self to liberate humanity from that perpetual cycle of suffering?

Shouldn’t our theology begin with “you are loved” and not “you are evil?”

I have heard far too many stories from people and have personally experienced the harm of this kind of theology. It has such a low view of humanity, which has caused many people to feel like they have to abandon themselves completely in order to feel included by God and the church. Where they felt like in order to be fully loved by God, they must always be suspicious of their own thoughts and feelings because they are naturally evil and in opposition to God. Where they were made to feel that if their lives weren’t difficult and filled with suffering, they must not be living faithfully to God, because our hearts are evil and this life is evil, so living in opposition will cause suffering, which must be very good in God’s eyes. It is such an upside down view of salvation. One that places such a heavy burden of shame and hostility on people's shoulders.

To this kind of theology, to this kind of religion, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” -Matthew 11:28-30

Or as The Message translation so beautifully puts his words, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

As Irenaeus said in the 2nd century, "The glory of God is humanity fully alive!" Not fully convinced it is evil. The glory of God is humanity fully alive.

So, to all of you who have been treated this way and have been left rattled and wounded by this kind of theology as I was on Sunday, I want to tell you that you are not alone. You are not wrong for wanting to untangle yourselves from that kind of burdensome religion. In fact, you are better off if you do so. The way Jesus is offering to us is actually rest and freedom from that kind of oppressive religion into a life of unforced rhythms of grace with him.

After all, it is by his grace we are saved.

Now I'd like to hear from you.

What have been some of the most helpful ways you've found to navigate conversations like the one I had on Sunday? Are you finding yourself untangling from that kind of theology as well? Send me a message if you'd like to share!

Reminder: I have written a daily devotional for this year's Advent season that is intended to reflect on scripture and challenge us to prepare our hearts by thinking through what Jesus' arrival into the world at Christmas means for us and our world today. You can find out more details about this and a way to sign up for it here: Arrival: Daily Reflections For The Season of Advent. ​

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If you’d like to support it through a one time gift, you can do that here: one-time-gift.​

As always, thank you all for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every week.

I truly appreciate you all,

Ben

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