Save Me From Religion

The church is missing a theology of suffering and the cross
Religious people can no longer feel the earth beneath their feet
The can not see heaven descending like a cloud upon the earth
We can no longer feel the light of creation's glory shining on our faces

We can no longer dance the faith or keep up or in step with the Spirit
Can we taste the goodness of God on our lips?
Is the garden of paradise on our minds?
We have lost and forgotten the mystical, beauty, mystery, and the sacramental
Not only have we lost them but many a religious person stands against them
Please God, save us from religion

The Strange Bedfellows of Science and Religion

The history of science and religion, particularly Christianity, has been a strange relationship of convergences and divergences.  The birth of science came from the seeds of Christianity's curiosity of the mind, free exploration of ideas, scientific study, and the pursuit of truth.  Many early famous scientists were both Christians and scientists.  Even Darwin started off as a Christian even if his faith wavered or was lost in the end.  Now the strong majority of scientists are atheists.  What happened?

Naturalism and Darwinism have ruled science for some time now and this has made an uneasy alliance or strange bedfellows between science and Christianity.  What we have today is an assortment of strange looking creatures and monsters which have been produced by this uneasy alliance between science and religion.

1.  The first strange looking creature is the ostrich.  The ostrich is not an attractive bird and many would say its quite ugly with its big eyes, long neck, and disproportional body.  The ostrich hides its head in the sand when faced with fear or danger.  This ostrich approach has become possibly the majority one among Christians and people of religious faith.  Science is either ignored or denied as an ungodly discipline and too worldly for the more spiritual church.  Rather than all truth is God's truth and we can learn from both the revelation of the world and the revelation of scripture, the only acceptable interpretation of the world comes from a particular reading of scripture while all other readings are compromised or wrong.

2.  The second strange creature or monster is the Minotaur.  The minotaur is a very aggressive creature that is fighting a culture war against science and is losing.  This is the YEC view (Young Earth Creationists) that interpret the Bible literally and view evolution as the great enemy or great evil that needs to be vanquished.

3.  The third strange looking creature is the chameleon.  The Chameleon simply fits into its environment or society by looking and resembling it.  Here science rules biblical interpretation and no matter what science is being employed, it is simply read back into scripture as if the pre-scientific writers of the Bible actually intended to speak authoritatively on matters of science and even modern ideas today.

There are many more hybrids, crossbreds, and hideous looking transformations to numerous to count.  What I want to do is present a new model of understanding science by mysticism.  Christian mysticism has a Trinitarian structure of both unity and diversity as well as an incarnational core that can look like a monster to those operating in one of these other strange creature worlds of existence.  To them mysticism is not rational or logical enough.  Mysticism is too subjective and too interior focused for those who want a more factual and objective approach.  It seems neither the scientific community nor the Christian academy opts for this alternative approach.

Science and the church have both forgotten or abandoned their historical mystical roots.  Both originated from mystical encounters with the Creator interacting with His creation.  Both were raised up from the dust to shine like stars in the heavens.  Both were to ascend to heaven and the angelic realm.  But science and church theologians too often have reduced man to either simply being an intelligent animal or an animal with a spiritual soul living in a world to conquer and divide, kill or be killed, and bite when provoked.

If science and Christianity are to advance and evolve then both must surrender themselves to the mystical intuitions and cosmic Christ of the universe who interconnects all reality as all reality is joined to its Creator.  Can we see with new eyes the wonder, beauty, mystery, symmetry, and grandeur of the created universe?  Can scientist and mystic hold hands in appreciating that the universe is greater and beyond what we can ever think and imagine.  The future is waiting for a holistic model that joins science and religion together where neither one loses its individuality or uniqueness while they both converge into greater unity and oneness with the one who made them both.

Evolution

Scientists say life evolved from evolution.
Many Christians resist and say that's no solution.
     Life is in the blood and our DNA.
     But isn't there also life in the spirit and a spiritual DNA?
For life is more than chemicals and flesh and blood.
And all the questions of evolution can not simply be answered by the flood. 

Does science and religion have to conflict?
Must science and religion split?
     Some say that evolution is at the root of all evil.
     But are not people the real problem and what about the Devil?
Evolution is not the reason why in this world there is so much pollution.
What we really need is an all out Jesus revolution.

If evolution is real and all of life is in a process,
Our spiritual lives are to be transformed so we can help with this world's mess.
     Evolution and change may be life's building blocks.
     But the God who created the heavens should not be mocked.
Life is a cycle of many evolutions,
But Jesus is changing the world by His spiritual revolution.

Riddles of the Universe

I have been reading a fascinating book by Pavel Florensky called At the Crossroads of Science and Mysticism.  This got me thinking about the deep mysteries of the universe, the many ways we discover and know things around us, the impossibilities, mysteries, and riddles of life all around us.  There has been an unfortunate divide between science and people of faith.  We have tried to split and separate the world of nature and the world of the Spirit.  For too long we have tried to pit logic, reason, and Greek philosophy against things we can't or don't understand.

No matter how many Christian philosophers and theologians try to explain the mystery of the Trinity and the incarnation, they will always seem like mathematical  absurdities and impossibilities to some people.  Christian mystics have a way of breaking pass the impasse between both of these ways of discussing reality but there have been way to few who have stood in the gap or have tried to mend the broken bridge between these two competing viewpoints.

The interesting advances in science is it too must now deal with mystery, paradox, and what seems impossible or contradictory.  Whether the scientist is studying the smallest atom or the largest galaxy, things do not fit neatly into rational logical patterns.  Electrons can be "here" and "there" at the same time.  Back holes and neutrinos and even the chaos theory brings challenges of unpredictability and mystery into the equation.  Logical contradictions like matter and anti-matter not canceling each other out and light as both a wave and particle still does not make sense to minds that want their brains to figure everything out.

The answers to all these complexities and riddles is not reductionism or separation but a holistic approach that combines nature with spirit, mystic with theologian.  When we discover that the real excluded middle has been God all along who is both the Creator and sustainer of the both worlds of nature and spirit then reality begins to line up even if our minds can not fully comprehend it.  We enter into oneness with our Creator and riddles become places we celebrate and laugh with the universe.

If You Can't Take the Heat, Then Get Out of the Kitchen

When people think of the relationship between science and religion, one more thinks of warfare than friendship.  People seemed forced to choose between science guiding their life or religion.  Can't it be both?  And unless we are careful, one can turn religion into a science and science into a religion.  Neither of these two options are good!  If one listens to atheists who mock Christian fundamentalists and fundamentalists who mock atheists, they both read the Bible democratically and literally!  One calls the an theist a fool which is ironic since the Bible was writen to religious folks.  And atheists who also read the Bible with a crude literalism try to make the Bible look foolish which is ironic because the Bible is God's love letter to humanity, not hate-mail to those who don't believe in God!

So now we find ourselves in a culture war with atheists using science as a weapon against religious ideas and people of faith using the Bible as a club against the irrelgious folks!  And God help those crazy folks caught in the middle who believe in science and religion or evolution and creation.  What we have in today's culture wars are scientists who are telling their colleagues who happen to  be Christians, "get out of the kitchen if you can' take the heat" when it comes to science and Christians telling other Christian scientists, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen" when it comes to the Christian faith.

But isn't science really concerned about "how" questions and Christian theology with "Why" guestions?  Can't they both be partners in dealing with every day realities of life?  For example, isn't a kettle boiling because burning gas heats the water?  The kettle may also be boiling because somebody wants a hot cup of tea.  Do we really have to choose between these two answers?  Doesn't one have to do with natural causes and actions and the other with intentionality and purpose.  Can't they both be true at the same time like light is both a wave and a particle?

Subversive Spirituality

JESUS WILL NOT BE DOMESTICATED - John Piper

What church do you go to? I like to respond, "I go to the church that loves one another." We think that going to the right church, believing the right doctrines, and being part of the right religion will save us one day. Jesus comes to bring us heaven today. Jesus comes to offer us God's love now. Without God's love, we are noise makers in an already loud world. When all is said and done, remember, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).

The End of Religion?

RELIGION FOR RELIGION'S SAKE, IS IDOLATRY - Abraham Heschel

Everybody wants to write the obituary of the church but God will always have a remnant and those who are faithful. A book I just started reading is Bruxy Cavey "The End of Religion." He has a nuanced view of religion but basically Jesus coming does away with the religious system. It's no longer about rules, guilt, rituals, and tiredness but rest in Jesus. But doesn't James say there is pure religion? Maybe it's not religion in itself that is all bad but bad religion that Jesus came to abolish? Maybe there is something religious or spiritual in each of us that Jesus came to fulfill?

At the end of the day, maybe the bottom line is not whether we are religious (although Cavey makes an interesting case for being irreligious) but HOW will we be religious? Did Jesus simply challenge religion or did he want to do away with all religions?