One faith, two faiths, three faiths four...Part Two

In part one we looked at many of the questions that could be construed as dividing points among Christians, and many of them are. But, does this divide Christianity itself into many faiths? Does Christianity present itself to be a monolithic religion while many splintered factions and denominations may suggest otherwise?

One argument that is frequently put forth is that Christianity at the core focuses on the "main and plain" doctrines (doctrine = "something taught"). Doctrines can be expressed in creeds, or summary statements of a belief that can quickly allows someone to distinguish between Christianity and other belief systems. The Bible itself contains creeds, such as found in Romans 10:9:

"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved"

One of the earliest creeds is the Apostles' Creed, dated to the 2nd century A.D. -

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Reading the creed, you can get a sense of both affirmations and denials. For example, in the creed we affirm the resurrection of the body, and therefore deny that the life beyond death takes place in a disembodied spirit.

Another significant creed is the Nicene Creed, dated at 325 A.D. Similar to the Apostles' Creed, it codifies Christian belief and focuses on the person of Jesus as a defense against a growing heresy (teachings hostile to a belief) called Arianism. You may remember the Nicene Creed from references in Dan Brown's book the Da Vinci Code. The book is a taught thriller (I read it in 2 days!) but historically a train wreck. That's OK if an author takes liberties with history but acknowledges as much, but Brown purports his book to be historically factual.

Why do I bring this up? Because creeds express explicit affirmations and implict denials, they are subject to attack. And that's OK! We must ask the question, if we cannot defend what we believe, why would we believe it?

Many churches today express their beliefs in creedal statements, often a variation of the Apostles' and Nicence Creeds, or derived from the Bible without deviance from the creeds. I'm not sure why, but Eastpoint Church popped into my head as I was writing. Take a look at the creed, or belief statement; from Eastpoint Church here. It seemed logical to me to then Google for a west point church! Sure enough, you can read Westpoint Fellowship Church's creed at this page. Let's continue Googling: of course there is a North Point church and their creed is short enough to copy and paste here:

We believe in one God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That Jesus Christ the Savior for all men and women who put their faith in Him alone for eternal life. We believe that those who receive this new life in Christ are called to be holy in character and conduct, and can only live this way by being filled with the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Bible and seek to establish our faith and actions on its teachings. We believe God's will for people everywhere is to know Him and that the purpose of the church is to tell the world about Christ through its worship, witness, and loving deeds.

Last but not least in doing our due diligence one would think we would fine a South Point church, and not to be denied...we did! Over at SouthPoint Foursquare Church we find these creedal statements.

It looks like to the four corners of the globe, well at least the United States we find creeds that have a little grammatical and organizational variance, but would square up with the Apostles' and Nicene creeds. the question then on the table is this: if Christianity is a monolithic religion with a core that can be identified through the Bible and creedal statements that become essential beliefs, how do we account for the differences among us? That will be the topic of the next post on this subject!

Book Review - Perfume: the story of a murderer

This is an odd little book which I spotted on a colleague's desk and was graciously loaned to me. In some ways repugnant, but in others strangely compelling it is a story of scent and the investment of layers of meaning derived from and attributed to the odors which make up the days of our lives. The book is graphic, gritty, gratuitous and gripping. I could barely put it down.

The subject of the book, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born into a bloody beginning in 18th century France. The trail of blood is never far from his life as he attempts to satiate his unbending drive to concoct the perfect scent. Because Grenouille has such a highly developed, even preternatural; sense of smell it is inevitable that this skill would be tied into the vocation of perfume making. The historical setting is very well done with descriptive terms that helped me feel that I was observing first hand the events described in the book. There is a movie made from the book, and although it employs several fine actors I will likely abstain from seeing it as I'm not sure that the sensate landscape from reading could be reproduced onto the screen.

As an example of the writing here's a paragraph I particularly liked:

"He was delighted only by moonlight. Moonlight knew no colors and traced the contours of the terrain only very softly. It covered the land with a dirty gray, strangling life all night long. This world molded in lead, where nothing moved but the wind that fell sometimes like a shadow over the gray forests, and where nothing lived but the scent of the naked earth, was the only world that he accepted, for it was much like the world of his soul."

On a lighter note as hard as I tried I could not escape the 1970's hit song "Dead Skunk" by Loudon Wainright as I read the book:

Crossin' the highway late last night

He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right

He didn't see the station wagon car

The skunk got squashed and there you are!

You got yer Dead skunk in the middle of the road

Dead skunk in the middle of the road

You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road

Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Take a whiff on me, that ain't no rose!

Roll up yer window and hold yer nose

You don't have to look and you don't have to see'

Cause you can feel it in your olfactory

I will admit that olfactory is one of my favorite words, and I also tender congratulations to the book's author Patrick Suskind for using the word judiciously and not liberally, as would be my tendency. I mean, how can you write a whole novel centered on the sense of smell and not use such a perfect word as olfactory on every page?

There is good character development also. Of particular interest to me was a perfumer named Baldini - a blustering, bumbling, bombastic bozo who develops an affection for Grenouille and takes him under his wing to teach him the trade.

There are three major parts to Grenouille's story. He begins as an outcast from society, and in the middle of the book is an interlude that sees his withdrawal from soceity, then in an interesting plot twist he is introduced into and accepted by society. Ultimately I have concluded that the subject of the book is not Grenouille, but his nose! Suskind is a great wordsmith, and I think his concept and commentary of the olfactory sense (oops - there I go) is wrapped in the story.

The story ends though in a macabre way that left me puzzled and irritated. I'll not be a total plot spoiler but I was not satisfied and even perturbed about the final events that transpired.

Other than then ending which left me flat, an enthralling read overall.

Charlie and the Chief

In Seattle, they utilize technology in dealing with car thiefs. They have "bait cars" that are equipped with GPS and auto shutoff devices. When the door is opened the clock starts ticking to disable the car remotely and then apprehend the thief. Occasionally though something does go wrong, as you can read here.

Well, in an unamed small Oregon town things aren't quite that sophisticated. May I cite an example? A few weeks ago some of Charlie's officers walked through headquarters and said to Charlie (captain) and the chief "hey we're going to a drug buy, wanna tag along?". "sure" they said, I'm surmising anything to get away from the paper pushing. They jumped into a marked unit and followed the parade to the location. Charlie and the Chief (sounds like a sitcom) backed their unit into an alley facing the street. The seller got spooked though and roared out of the location, his Honda civic spraying gravel like watermelon seeds from a Rotary club picnic contest.

With lightning quick reflexes Charlie and the Chief blasted out of their concealment, bubblegum lights a-flashing and tires a-smoking as they took off in hot pursuit. I'd like to say that their coffee spilled all over them and they spit out donut bites but that would be unfair stereotyping. They had left their coffee and donuts on their desks. The other units pulled out behind them like ducklings obediently following their mother through dangerous waters.

Alas, a difficulty was encountered! Charlie could not find the toggle for the siren! Silently they sped searching for signs of a siren switch. Now, this is a family blog so I must be careful but let me just say that the Chief, as he leaned over Charlie (who was driving erratically at high speeds) to search under the dashboard for the switch aroused curious speculation from the trailing officers.

Charlie was positioning for a PIT (precision immobilization technique), or as I like to refer to it as a TVI which is not a reference to a television action show but stands for tactical vehicle intervention, wherein 'tactical' ramming is used to strategically maneuver a car or truck off their direction of travel into a spin to bring the transgressor to a halt. I'll concede that I too have precisely immobilized a car, but it was my own car when a deer placed itself in my path. But that's another story.

However, before Charlie could enact his PIT the perpetrator decided to give up and spun into a large gravel area adjacent to the road. Charlie and the Chief roared in behind him, brakes churning a curtain of dust, gravel and discared cigarette buts into a patina of perilous possibilities as the other offices all roared into the cloud after them. In a moment of time we can imagine cop cars careening, officers with guns gesticulating and a scared suspect subdued.

Charlie and the Chief never did locate the siren switch. The officers determined that there is a moral to this story - never let an administrator do field work! Still, if I were ever to get arrested Charlie's the one that I would like to do it. Donuts and all.

One faith, two faiths, three faiths four...Part One

Four faiths make a religion and so do many more?!?!? You probably won't get the reference unless you were a kid in the late sixties and watched "The Banana Splits".
Tip: scroll to the bottom of the page at the link and look at the theme song lyrics.

January 7, 2006 - The Wall Street Journal published an article by Daniel Golden that describes how Wheaton College was delighted to have assistant professor Joshua Hochschild teach students about medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas, one of Roman Catholicism's foremost thinkers. But when the popular teacher converted to Catholicism, the prestigious evangelical college reacted differently. It fired him.

The article goes on to describe how

"...Mr. Hochschild's dismissal captures tensions coursing through many of America's religious colleges. At these institutions, which are mostly Protestant or Catholic, decisions about hiring and retaining faculty members are coming into conflict with a resurgence of religious identity. Historically, religious colleges mainly picked faculty of their own faith. In the last third of the 20th century, however, as enrollments soared and higher education boomed, many Catholic colleges enhanced their prestige by broadening their hiring, choosing professors on the basis of teaching and research. As animosities between Catholics and Protestants thawed, some evangelical Protestant colleges began hiring faculty from other Christian faiths." (emphasis added)

Now you may think that this post will discuss the differences between Protestants and Catholics but I'll table that for a future discussion. What I'd like to address is the last sentence regarding hiring faculty from "other Christian faiths". Why is this so curious to me? The first thing I thought of when I read the article was the words of Jude (no, not "hey Jude"), the new testament writer Jude):

"Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints." (emphasis added)

Look at Paul's admonition to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 13:5):

"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?" (emphasis added)

My point is this - that Biblical faith is singularly expressed, not in a plurality or variants of faith that in some way "add up" to Christianity. I'll cite one more example, again by Paul in Ephesians 4:4-6:

"For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all." (yes, once again emphasis added!)

Now, if I ask you to really really fast name as many Christian faiths as you could you might immediately say Catholics and Protestants. You might even start listing different Christian denominations. I like to write little jingles in my head, and to the chagrin of my colleagues sometimes even sing them! I might jingle out something like this -

Lutherans, Church of Christ and Quakers, what we all have in common is faith in our maker. Assemblies of God and Southern Baptists too - we all believe that Jesus died for you."

I should write commercials. Or maybe not. But lest I be charged with oversimplifying the issue let me be honest and admit that within Christianity, yes WITHIN CHRISTIANITY there is much difference in the expressions of faith and belief.

In the book Why I am not a Calvinist, Jerry Wells and Joseph Dongell write that

"The differences among evangelicals are not trivial, and we doubt the judgment of Carl Henry when he suggested that our differences amount to "disagreement...over a limited number of passages (Carl F.H. Henry, God, Revelation and Authority) We can point to numerous issues, spanning the entire scope of scripture that spark fervent debate and often separate us into distinct colonies of worship, ministry and witness"

How's that sound for "one" faith? Well, again in the interest of striving for some objectivity as I want to be fair and not mislead anyone into a uncritical Christian "party line" let's look at a list of these so called 'differences' that Wells and Dongell collected:

1. The eligibility of women for ordination in pastoral and teaching ministries without restriction.
2. The relationship between church and state, and the viability of a specifically Christian legislative agenda for a largely secular modern democracy.
3. The nature of a wife's submission to her husband.
4. The moral status of state-sponsored violence, whether in the form of declared war, restricted peacekeeping military action or capital punishment.
5. The intersection between modern science and the Bible, with focus on the prevailing theories of the Big Bang and biological evolution.
6. The fate of those who have never heard of the gospel and of those who have only seen or heard only a distorted presentation or modeling of it.
7. The theology of the sacraments, especially baptism - it's proper mode (immersion only?), its proper subjects (infants or believers?) and the sense in which it imparts grace.
8. The appropriateness of divorce and remarriage.
9. The scope and function of spiritual gifts.
10. The degree of corrective discipline administered by a congregation to its wayward members.
11. The normative spiritual profile of the Christian life with the possibility of a real moral transformation, victory over sin and genuine Christ-likeness.
12. The viability of a clergy/laity distinction.
13. God's end time program.
14. The role of Satan and the demonic as personal, intentional and particular forces in the experience of believers.
15. The nature and scope of exorcism.
16. The nature of eternal punishment and the doctrine of Hell.

Want more? Wells and Dongell go on to expose some other of the finer points of doctrinal disagreements within the church:

1. Are human beings so fallen that they must be saved exclusively through the unilateral and unconditional action of God?
2. Is it possible for human beings to resist (successfully) the saving approaches of God's grace?
3. Does God enable all persons to respond positively to the available light?
4. Can any who were truly once redeemed through faith in Christ fail to receive final salvation?

Now with my degree in theology and especially post degree studies on my own. I have an opinion on most of the above points in both lists. But the question is, should we (Christians) ultimately divide over these differences and opine that Christianity is a religion of many faiths? Stay tuned for more thoughts coming to a blog near you soon ....

Best Bumper Stickers

I enjoy creative bumper stickers, especially theological ones:

Business Trip - Lancaster

In a previous post I wrote about a business trip to Honolulu, Hawaii. Not a bad place to go for business. Recently I went on a business trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Not a bad place to go for business, but as one might think, there are slight cultural differences.

We flew into Harrisburg via Cincinnati and then drove about 30 miles to Lancaster. As we descended I felt a tingling in my skin. I did not realize it but we had passed directly over Three Mile Island! I hoped that the residual radiation combined with being bitten by an insect would give me super powers (think Spiderman) - but alas twas not to be.

However, I did take a cue from good ol' Dr. Teller. As Don Delillo recounts in the novel Underworld, allegedly Dr. Teller (architect of the world's first atomic explosion) feared the effects of the blast even from his viewing site 20 miles away he felt it prudent to apply suntan lotion to his face and hands. Dunno if it really works, but I'll confess to a little bit of temptation to have a TSA approved container of Coppertone in my carry on.

As an example of cultural differences, as we arrived in Harrisburg area there were a few vehicles on display in the baggage claim area. I found that somewhat unusual and wondered why an AIRPORT would promote CAR advertising. Well, one of them was a nice Lexus but the other - wow, it was a tractor. And one heck of a tractor. Painted traditional John Deere green, but it looked oddly attractive - visualize a kross (ha ha ha) between a workhorse Kubota and the racy lines of a Kaliber and you'll never look at the north forty (or is it south forty?) in the same way again.

I was very careful with my pro-nunc-iation in Lancaster. You see, I was born in Lancaster, but not Pennsylvania. My emergence into the world took place in Lancaster, California. Now, as every good Californian knows Lancaster is pronounced "lan-caster", like "plan-castor". However in Pennsylvania it is pronounced "lan-custer". I did not correct the Pennsylvanians who continually pronounced it the wrong way.

I had a cold, and it manifested itself by turning my left eye bright red. I felt OK, but greeting the client I felt like cyclops. I thought it would be kinda cool to wear an eyepatch, but then I would have started to talk like a pirate:

Arrh, matey - so ye be buyin' an online banking solution? Well let's talk about yer implementation over a mug o' rum. We'll make them other vendors walk a little plank, won't we? Shiver me timbers if I don't show you why we be bee-in the best. Yo ho ho and all that.

Well, the meetings went OK even though I was a bit self conscious. During one session my boss asked to borrow the rental car keys, under the pretext that she had left her power cord in the hotel room. She swears that she really did forget it, but let it also be memorialized in this post that she also took advantage of the opportunity to find a hard rock station, crank up the radio, turn heater fan to full, put my seat all the way back, and turn on the windshield wipers to "warp speed". Yes, I was caught by surprise.

One evening after work my colleague John and I ventured out for dinner. I say 'venture' because I'm kind of a fuddy duddy when I travel, usually staying close to the hotel. But John said something like "let's just drive around until we find something". Wow, I felt the tingling sensation of the recklessness of youth filling my mind with endless possibilities like windblown tumbleweeds drifting through the vast Mojave desert of my youth. We'll just drive! Yeah, we got all night in a rental car in a strange town (strange as in foreign, not in people. And not foreign as in foreigners but foreign like unusual. Not that the town was unusual...I give up).

And drive we did. We just motored around, got on the pike (on the west coast we have highways, back east they call them 'pikes') and headed north. Or south or it might have been west, perhaps east. But we were driving! In a rental car! In a strange, foreign, unusual town!

As we wandered, a moment of creepy eeriness descended like fog covering the grounds of the haunted mansion. We had driven in a big circle and right back to the client's office! Wow. OK, we drove around some more and found this awesome restaurant called Hayden Zugs. From mass media marketing musings we obtain these observations:

Haydn Zug’s, located in Historic Lancaster County Pennsylvania, offers fine dining in a colonial atmosphere. A member of the prestigious Dirona Association of fine dining establishments, Haydn Zug’s has been offering fine dining since 1969. Today, the restaurant boasts an award-winning wine cellar that has been memorialized in Wine Spectator magazine.

I don't really care about that. What I care about is the incredible steak, indescribable beer, intoxicating bread, and the cutest little itty bitty containers you have ever seen. It was one of those places where they take your coat and give you a little ticket to claim it. The Taco Bells I have frequented do not have that service, although some of them do have people that will take your coat if you are not looking. If you were to go to Lancaster you MUST eat there.

The Trip Home

John and I parted ways at the Harrisburg airport, with me heading to Cincinatti for my connecting flight to PDX and he going through D.C. On the plane was a small group of what I perceived to be soldiers. They seemed so young, and each of them carried a manila envelope with what might have been their orders. They did not appear to be seasoned travelers and somewhat unsure of themselves. I couldn't help wonder if they were on their way to Iraq. I have no idea if they were even in the service but I said a prayer for their safe passage through the war if they were. I dozed off but then woke up during our descent into Cincinatti and began to converse with the guy in the seat next to me. Turns out he was a Commander and General of a Marine Corps Division. Wow! Although our time was limited we hit it off and he gave me his address and contact info in Atlanta. Hope to see you someday again!

At last I began the long flight home from Cincinatti. I hate flying west. Not just because of bucking the headwinds from the jetstream, but also watching...the...sun...set....forever. Now, I like seeing a sunset as much as the next guy. But when you are chasing the sun it drags on and on and on... Finally, as the sun sank into the horizon the waning rays caught the wing and it shimmered like a sumari sword severing the currents of air as we passed through daylight into twilight. Little towns emerged far below as their little lights became visible. Made me think of that song by - I think - St. Etienne (or maybe Ivy) with the lyrics "stars above us, cars below us". Ah, a poetic moment.

And there you have it - Dave visits Pennsylvania.