Monday, August 21, 2006
Have grappled for years with the terminology describing Jesus' death as being substitutional in nature -- for the sins of mankind. This is such a huge, symbolic concept that I think a lot of people who otherwise would come to Christ stumble over it.
Recently, I have begun thinking more of Jesus' death as being caused directly by man's sinful nature. Using this as a logical stepping stone, I think it is easier to see the substituional nature of the event.
After all, why did Jesus die? He died because man is full of pride, and we like to be called rabbi, teacher, priest, emporer, ruler. We like to have the illusion that we have power over others and over our own circumstance. A prophet calls attention to the fact that all of these things are meaningless -- illusions of our own making and products of our own attempts to put ourselves in the seat of God. There is but One to whom we should bow down before. There is One who wields real supreme power.
The fact that Isreal tended to kill and persecute its prophets is a consistent theme in the Old Testament. How much more quick and certain would be the death of the one who is transparent to God -- the doorway, the Lamb. This One so directly called into question the common, secular order -- and the secularism of the Temple order -- that he called immediate attention to the depth of human sinfullness.
And this sinfullness reared its head, and struck out and killed Him. Jesus' death was substitutional because in the inward struggle between that of God and that of Satan, one must ultimately win -- it is a them-or-us confrontation. Our collective evil killed Jesus, so by virtue of this, Jesus died for our sins. Our sinfull nature thinks of and can see only the carnal -- the outward -- and that is what of Jesus we managed to kill. The Indwelling Power of God that was in Jesus -- the Christ -- is everlasting and could not be killed. We destroyed the giftwrapping and left the precious gift for all of humankind.
The transactional nature of the cross flows from this causative relationship -- but is not a mere intellectual argument but rather something that must be known experiencially. The fact that the crucifiction can work in our hearts to cleanse us of the very same sin that lead us to kill Christ -- that is an element that can not be explained in some awkward fashion by a layperson like me. Others as well can do a better job of pointing out the relationships between events surrounding Jesus' death and prophetic passages in the Old Testament. Others can make a hard theological case for the redemptive nature of the Cross.
I can only point in the direction my heart has wandered ...
In the Light of Christ,
~ Charles Rathmann
Monday, August 14, 2006
www.leytecd.org
My associate Perf DeCastro has organized a group of Philippine musicians located in their home country and elsewhere for this benefit CD. All proceeds go to help victims of the Leyte mudslide in the Philippines
Details on the disaster ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Southern_Leyte_mudslide
I have had the pleasure of working with Perf on another musical project, and know the Light of Christ is shining through his efforts for his countrymen. Buy a few copies and be a part of this effort!
Friday, August 11, 2006
No, this is not along the same lines of MLK Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. Although I feel his reference to "the mountaintop" is Mosaic in nature and refers to the fact that he was delivering a prophecy to the American people.
But that is a topic for another day.
No, this post refers to a literal dream I had, while sleeping. This has been residing in me for a week, and I have some interpretations for the dream that perhaps you can critique.
In my dream, I float into what looks like an immense hotel lobby. People come and go into elevators at the far wall. But in the foreground, is an immense bed, perhaps 200 feet wide, with dozens of people sleeping in it. I recognize many of these people from my youth, and as I hover over them, I reach out to one of them and wake them. I tell her she is certainly going to die. She is confused, and drives me beneath the bed. It is at this point that I wake up.
My initial thought is that this dream suggests that I feel the need to deliver a prophetic message, but that I have yet to develop the power to do so. Or perhaps a message may be received by some but not others.
I am too much of a frugal German (every nationality seems to have its reputation for being cheap, and I will not abuse the Scottish here) to pay someone to interpret my dreams. But those of you who are tender to the Spirit ... what thinkest thou?
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
ABOMINATION!
I saw this graphic on another blog by someone who identifies himself as a "confessing liberal Quaker."
The blogger in question was writing on Christian socialism, which for me is a contradiction in terms. Socialism after all involves using coercion to steal from one party and give that stolen property to another more "deserving" party. Of course the delineation between the deserving and undeserving is subject to the same capriciousness that affects all secular, human-focused institutions.
But let us consider this image that seems to compare Che Guevara to Christ.
Che Guevara ordered the execution of countless of his countrymen when he was in charge of La Cabaña prison in Havana. He imprisoned anyone he considered an "anti-revolutionary," and personally dispatched many of his political enemies with a bullet to the back of the head. He advocated nuclear war.
Consider this advice that Guevara wrote to Cuban soldiers fighting in Angola:
"Blind hate against the enemy creates a forceful impulse that cracks the boundaries of natural human limitations, transforming the soldier in an effective, selective and cold killing machine. A people without hate cannot triumph against the adversary."
Contrast this will Jesus' instistence that that we love our enemies, and that his followers were seeking a Kingdom not of this world, and therefore would not fight in this one.
Exactly why any Quaker or other Christian would want to identify themsleves with this thug is beyond me. But it is interesting how many secular political activists will project their beliefs upon Jesus -- regardless of how misguided their beliefs may be. It is also interesting how members of hte "religious left" can look and feel exactly like members of the "secular left" as they drift away from the central doctrines of Christianity and the guidance of the Inward Teacher. But any comparison between Guevara and Christ does not warrant any further response, so I will fall silent.
More Reading:
http://seekingthelight.blogspot.com/
http://www.nationalreview.com/nordlinger/nordlinger200501050715.asp
http://www.rejesus.co.uk/expressions/faces_jesus/gallery/che.html
http://www.cyberexorcism.com/2004/11/jesus-of-nazareth-vs-che-guevara.html
In the Light of Christ,
~ Charles Rathmann
