People of the Way

Human beings often fail to live up to their most important ideals. The failure to realize ideals is often a mixture of apathy, baseness, cynicism, self-interest and ego. Even in our increasingly secular culture there is a conscious desire for people to find a spiritual dimension to their lives.

Early Christians were first called the “People of the Way.” Christians are in essence members of a community of faith who follow a definite and certain path of the way of Jesus the Messiah. Church traditions sadly sometimes confuse the issues of the way of Christ. What if Christians, regardless of denomination, began to personally study the “WAY” of Jesus and seek to live it? What if you committed to live the way of Jesus? What changes would that make in your life?

Changing Relationships

What is the relationship between Christianity and the New World Order? 

The world is quickly becoming a single economic unit and that could lead to a single political unit. Some people see this as a terrible thing and others see it as a major blessing. As we are attempting to understand the almost incomprehensible essence of what it means to be a human being with an infusion of spirit, mind, and body in all of our relationships what difference will our faith make? There are so many ways of looking at what are the characteristics and problems of our relationships both human and divine.

The ideas and concerns which are the foundations of different peoples views of themselves and the world around them can appear decidedly odd to people from a different tradition. What is self evident and proper behavior to some of us is often an anathema to others; and we must understand that we need to open up our thinking to embrace and analyze the concerns of others, rather than simply insist that our ways of thinking and doing are the only reasonable ways.

What is critical in seeking understanding between Christian groups and indeed between Christians and non-Christians in this modern [ugh post-modern] world, with its increasing impetus towards globalization? One of the very real problems we face is the tendency and danger of reducing everything to a form of religious short hand. It is so easy to generalize our faith and then dump all our presuppositions, all of our assumptions, all of our prejudice and characteristics in to one big basket of simple faith.

We say amen when something we see or hear confirms our impression. We also become agitated or furious when something we hear is out of kilter with our personal beliefs. What are the truly basic beliefs of the Christian faith? There is a sense of beauty in the ideals of the total commitment and submission to God, the ideal Christian community, Justice and peace. It is sad that these same ideas are frequently corrupted to justify and legitimize the authoritarian and even brutal actions of people who contend that they are right. We must not confuse the ideal of the Christian faith with its misuse and abuse by people with political or power issues. This problem is not unique to Christianity as other religions are also hurt by mean spirited, power hungry, ego centric people who miss apply the tenets of faith to their own perverted needs.

Human beings often fail to live up to their most important ideals. The failure to realize ideals is often a mixture of apathy, baseness, cynicism, self-interest and ego. Even in our increasingly secular culture there is a conscious desire for people to find a spiritual dimension to their lives. Early Christians were first called the “People of the Way.” Christians are in essence members of a community of faith who follow a definite and certain path of the way of Jesus the Messiah. Church traditions sadly sometimes confuse the issues of the way of Christ.

One God or Many

From the time of Abraham the Israelites believed in a God they could not see. Abraham called him Elshadi or God Almighty. Moses called God YHWH or I Am. For centuries it was a struggle for them to worship only YHWH whom they could not see. Often they could be found worshiping the idols of their neighbors because they wanted to see their god. Their theology was such that they believed that YAWH was the god of Israel but that the other gods were just as real so they would worship them too.

Up until the time that Babylon conquered them and took them off to exile their old theology was that YAWH was one god among many. The battle for the loyalty of the hearts of Israel was between YAWH and the other gods of the land. Then they spent 70 years in Babylon with no temple and no public worship of YHWH. When you read Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel you discover that they had a revelation that YHWH was the only God there is. After that revelation Israel never again went to worship gods made with human hands.

They returned to the Holy Land with a new theology and a new dedication.

A Glass Angel

When I lived in Seattle I use to walk down the street from my church office and watch artisans at work. One of my favorites was a glass blower who made a great variety of glass objects. I was fascinated at the way he could take a glob of molten glass and turn it in to all kinds of things.

One day I stood transfixed as he made an angel out of a blob of molten glass. In his practiced hands an intricacy of quick movements he made the glass angel simply seemed to appear. It was marvelous to watch his magic of glass art happen before my eyes.

When he finished and put the angel up for display I asked if he ever made a mistake. He smiled and said that when you are creating art an imperfection may occur but you can work with it until it is part of the art. Sometimes what seems to be a mistake can become the most important part of the piece. He held up that angel and pointed out a bubble in the head. That was not supposed to be there but now it catches the sun and makes the whole face shine.

God creates each of us to be unique. What may seem to us to be a mistake can become the focus of our beauty. God takes our imperfections and works them into the patterns of our lives.

A Voice In The Night

In First Samuel Chapter three God called Samuel by name in the night. Three times the boy thought is was the High Priest Eli and went to answer him. After the third time that Samuel awakened Eli he told him that it may be God calling so Samuel should respond accordingly.

Samuel heard the call a fourth time and he answered, “Speak for your servant is listening.”  After that God revealed him self and Samuel knew the voice of God. How often do we hear the voice of God and do not pay attention because recognize who is calling us?

From "Misquoting Jesus" 2

An idea from “Misquoting Jesus” contends that scholars have long suspected that some of the letters in the New Testament attributed to Apostles were actually written pseudonymously by second generation followers of those men.

The writing of letters as a means of instruction was very important in the early Christian Church. Letters were copied and sent out to surrounding congregations. They helped make Christianity quite different from the other religions scattered around the Roman Empire. The scattered Christian communities were united by these letters, unified in a common literature.

Misquoting Jesus

I am currently reading a book by Bart D. Ehrman called “Misquoting Jesus” published in 2005. This is a scholarly book so it is not an easy read when you have to check that many end notes. It is a study about how our bible was written and rewritten by the copiers over the years. Some of it is disturbing but most of the revelations are about changes I have known about for many years.

It seems that men who copied scripture often did the wording to meet their own theological bent. Sometimes one monk would make a commentary note in the margin and later the man who was charged with making a new copy would include the commentary in the body of the text. We know this happened because we have found ancient manuscripts with out the changes in them.

More about this book later after I have finished reading the book.