Lessons Learned During a Crisis

As someone who loves history and making connections between humanity and history, I find myself reflecting upon those commonalities that we as humans experience and why we do what we do. History shows us that crises have come and gone and that regardless of their origin (European nations wanting to flex their newly found military might and establish new territorial borders in WWI, or a sociopath wanting to reestablish his country’s standing in the world and eradicate all others in the process in WWII), crises throw us into chaos but eventually find their own homeostasis.

Individual crises are similar as they challenge us to find a new normal. Losses such as the death of loved ones or the loss of a job challenge us to understand a new way of living without that part of our lives or person who was important to us. Losing my eighty-year-old father at the age of twenty-eight was both expected and yet unexpected as I learned from an early age that it was not a matter of if but when my father would pass away. His debilitating stroke when I was fourteen exposed me to the idea that death was an inevitable part of life even before my young brain could process what that meant.
The lessons I learned during that time of loss, grief, and faith crisis have stayed with me into our current world crisis as learning moments often do. Unfortunately, we as humans do not always learn the needed lessons the first time around and usually have to learn and relearn lessons through future crises.

Lesson 1: We are learning about our own self-importance and how unimportant and important we are at the same time.

• While every life is important and part of an interconnected web of relationships, our self-absorption and individual demands for sympathy are tempered at a time of global crisis. We are all struggling in various ways, and many are suffering during this time. None of us has the “market cornered” on suffering at this time, though some of us are legitimately hurting and struggling more than others.
• While we are not as important as we tend to think we are, we are still learning how much we need human contact to survive.

Lesson 2: We are learning that can find new ways of having and being church.

• While the gathering of fellow believers is important on some level, we are learning that gatherings do not have to constitute a mass of people in order to fulfill that need.
• While help from a variety of places is needed, whether the government or our employers, we are learning that the church can and should return to its biblical roots of caring for each other.

Lesson 3: We are learning about priorities and learning to differentiate between desires and needs.

• While we enjoy watching sports, going to movies, going to Disneyland, going to concerts, going to the beaches, and going out to shop or dine, we need human contact, a sense of purpose, and continued growth.

Lesson 4: We are learning that the desire for individual homeostasis and self-preservation can overtake the need to care for our fellow humans.

• While we are learning how to manage during this crisis, we are learning that it is not just important to survive; how we survive and whom we hurt or help is actually most important.

Lesson 5: We are learning that our interconnectedness as humans goes beyond technological advances in history, and the web of human relationships has always existed.

• While our needs matter, the needs of others matter just as much. (What happens “over there” (wherever “there” is), will eventually affect us “over here.” Remember that it wasn’t until America was forced into WWII through Pearl Harbor, until we actually had “skin in the game,” that we entered into a World War that had already decimated Europe and was seeing millions of Jews slaughtered.)

Lesson 6: I am learning, and continuously re-learning, that God is more concerned about what is happening in me than He is what is happening to me. And that He is using what is happening to me to help shape what is inside me.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:31-33, NIV).

May we re-learn quickly these important lessons and love abundantly in the process.

https://www.sum.edu/lessons-learned-during-a-crisis/

Life Lessons from the Book of Job

The Law of Cause and Effect, which says that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction, is a reality that is illustrated throughout life. 

We operate our lives around this way of thinking, attributing causes to actions ourselves or others took, always trying to answer the fundamental question of why various things happen, especially when a cause is not readily apparent.

Pacifying the “gods”

Throughout religious history, people attributed the root cause of all events to pagan gods. In ancient times there was a belief that sacrifices to pagan gods would appease them if things were not going well in life. One would offer a sacrifice to a particular god who controlled a certain area of life, hoping to pacify the god for whatever one had done to cause their disapproval.

In Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, rather than believing that life’s experiences were at the hands of a God or gods, they believe that things that happen to people are the result of karma. We are familiar with this term “karma,” and use it often as a substitute for the law of cause and effect. The twist, however, with karma is that the karmic belief says that everything that happens in life can be attributed to the actions of people, the consequences of what we have done in this life or in previous lives (reincarnation).

The theology reflected in the Old Testament goes one step further and ascribes blessings and suffering as a punishment or reward from God rather than the whim of various gods. Success in whatever way it is measured, was a sign of God’s approval or reward; ill health, poverty, and loss of life, were a punishment from God.

Within this belief that says when things are going well, we are having success, or we are experiencing good health, there is a basic assumption that somehow, we are in right standing with God or that God is blessing us. Material blessings became a sign of God’s blessing, and difficult times reflect the opposite, a sign of God’s punishment.

Job’s Counter-Narrative

Yet, the book of Job in the Bible tells another story, the purpose of which is to address this theology. The story of Job seems to be making this statement: “When things are going well, it is not necessarily a sign of God’s approval, and when things are going poorly, it does not necessarily indicate God’s punishment or disapproval.”

In this narrative, Job was deemed a righteous man (Job 1:1) yet still suffered one tragedy after another. His story seemed to defy the prevalent theological expectation of God at that time, challenging this basic assumption: if Job was so righteous, why was he suffering? The answer from his friends was that Job must have sinned, and God must be punishing him.

Moreover, such a theology of God sees material blessings through the lens of karma and places a high premium on what we currently have or are experiencing; my current blessed state in life is a result of God’s favor upon me, or, my current difficult state in life is because God is displeased with me. Our current state of affairs is the measure of God’s blessing, all the while ignoring the potential of what our current condition may be preparing us for in the future, or how our past choices or the actions of others may be affecting us.

Success, then, is equated to God’s approval of our lifestyle and actions; struggle, poverty, ill health, or challenging circumstances signal that once again, we have displeased God and He is punishing us.

We make similar assumptions about the prosperity and suffering of others: when someone is doing well, when churches are thriving, or when countries seem to be prosperous, their actions and the actions of their leaders have met with God’s approval. As a sign of this approval, God is blessing them or allowing their success, wealth, and growth.

This type of theology does not merely reside in the Old Testament; it can be seen in John chapter 9 and the story of the blind man who was healed by Jesus. Jesus’s disciples famously ask, “who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind” (Jn. 9:2, NIV). Jesus wastes no time in correcting this view (which can also be seen in his sermon the mount and the sermon on the plain in Matthew 5-7 and Luke 7) by asserting, “neither this man nor his parents sinned,” “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (9:3, NIV).

Our Reality

And so, like the disciples, we still struggle to see beyond the material to the spiritual, beyond outward fame and success to the deeper issues. Our struggle is always with the present challenge, and the present blessing or success. We think the good times can’t possibly end, and we fear the bad times never will. We also think the times of both good and bad reflect God’s attitude and actions toward us.

Can wealth and prosperity bring glory to God? Absolutely. Does it always? No.

Can suffering, tragedy, loss, and poverty bring glory to God? Yes. Does it always? Definitely not.

While there is a law of cause and effect, not everything can be simplified so easily. And not all events in life have the stamp of approval or disapproval by God.

This much we can say for certain: beyond the outward struggle or outward rewards, God is attempting to do something inwardly, something that will bring glory to Him and reveal His Kingdom, His goodness, and His love. Through the good and the bad, God wants us to reveal His works, using all things for good, as the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:28.

Thomas the Doubter, Peter the Liar, and Judas the Betrayer (Excerpts from "Shaken Faith")

Thomas the doubter, Peter the liar, and Judas the betrayer—biblical figures who reflect personal moments when faith is shaken to the core. Defining moments that either turned them toward God or saw them fall away from God.

"The story of Peter reflects the possibility of getting up and moving beyond our crises and our failures, while the story of Judas reveals to us the danger of allowing ourselves to be swallowed up by our crisis and giving up on our faith. Lastly, the story Thomas provides a clear glimpse of "coming to believe" and giving up old paradigms that no longer "fit."[1]

The crisis itself does not cause us to abandon our faith; it is our decision in those moments of challenge to either cling to or let go of God.

https://www.facebook.com/shakenfaith

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[1] Sanejo Leonard, Shaken Faith: What you Don't Know (and Need to Know) about Faith Crises and How They Affect Spiritual Growth, (Eugene, OR: WIPF and STOCK, 2015), 114.

Faith Must be Deep (Excerpts from "Shaken Faith")

“Figuring out concepts on our own is not always something we enjoy doing. The path with the least resistance is usually what we are looking for; the mindset is, “where is the shortcut to whatever it might be, and tell me exactly how to get there.”

Yet, if our simplification of the gospel message is our main way of communicating these ideas, our faith and the faith of those we lead will be shallow, thus only wading in simple ideas of a complex God. True faith grows and changes as we grow in our understanding of God, and this is faith and faith crises: a challenge to our understanding and preconceptions of a complicated and paradoxical God who is both knowable and unknowable at the same time.”[1]

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            [1] Sanejo Leonard, Shaken Faith: What You Don’t Know (and Need to Know) about Faith Crises and How They Affect Spiritual Formation (Eugene, OR: WIPF and STOCK, 2015), 106-107.

What we don't know can hurt us (Excerpts from "Shaken Faith")

"Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and what we do not know is better than attempting to know and have all the answers. However...it is in our humanity, our being that is made in the image of God, to ask, question, challenge, and to know. Though there are things we cannot know and will not know...our curiosity and endeavor to learn and question are what allow us to innovate, develop electricity, build and fly airplanes and create...."[1]

Where do questions about God, life, and its complexities fit into a 21^st century faith model?


www.facebook.com/shakenfaith

 

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[1] Sanejo Leonard, Shaken Faith: What You Don’t Know (and Need to Know) about Faith Crises and How They Affect Spiritual Formation (Eugene, OR: WIPF and STOCK, 2015), 6.

Shaken Faith: What you don't know (and need to know) about Faith Crises and how they Affect Spiritual Growth

I'm very excited to announce the publication of my book, Shaken Faith, through Wipf and Stock publishers.
This book is at least three years in the making, including the initial dissertation foundation, and the many months of interviews, research, and reshaping of this work.
My prayer is that this work becomes a resource to those in crisis, a place of rest to those whose faith is weary from struggle and wrestling, and a beacon of hope to those who have lost or fear losing their faith.
Faith is resilient, and through it God is at work, reshaping us to better see Him and His work in our lives and in the world.

https://www.facebook.com/shakenfaith?ref=hl
http://wipfandstock.com/shaken-faith.html

Capitalism or Socialism? An Attempt at a Biblical View...

With the political environment as it is today, and the financial state of America being what it is, political dialogue on both sides is shaped by saying that the other side is wrong, possibly even immoral, and certainly “un-Christian,” especially as it relates to the topic of capitalism vs. socialism.

No Objective View

Yet in all the political debates, (and being the political wonk that I am, I listen to most of it), I rarely hear an honest debate on the merits of each side’s view. I’ve never heard an objective person, with no bias or motivation to sway the discussion, debate the pros and cons of each position. However, what is a greater tragedy, is that I rarely hear someone debate the issue from an unbiased Biblical stance; well, here is my effort to do so.

Capitalism: Good or Bad?

The first question that comes to mind when I hear of the debate over capitalism and socialism, and whether one concept is more “Christian,” “moral,” or simply better than the other, is, “Are all types of capitalism bad?” We know that capitalism can exploit the marginalized of society; we may even have a personal story or first-hand experience of someone’s greed crushing a part of our lives. Yet, is capitalism itself bad? Moreover, saying that capitalism is always wrong or immoral indicates that when any person makes money or becomes rich, he or she does so at someone's expense; is this always true? Is it possible to make money in an honest and ethical way, so that no person is exploited?

Socialism: Good or Bad?

The second question that comes to my mind is, “Are all forms of socialism bad”? We know in Acts 2:42-47 that the first century church participated in socialism. Yet, it was not an imposed socialism, but rather a voluntary act of sharing and giving to all in need. An imposed socialism can take away a person’s incentive or ambition to work hard if they are never able to earn more than they do, and it can reinforce laziness in others, as Paul says, “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.”[1] Yet, overall, it seems that socialism at its core does not want anyone to be left out of society, and desires to see even the poor and marginalized have something.

Biblical Thoughts on Money

Yet if we look at this discussion from a broader framework, without getting into the nitty gritty of politics, like whether a person’s taxes should be raised, whether we should have welfare programs, and how much involvement the government should have in our lives, how does the Bible in general talk about the concept of money?

Jesus tells his disciples to “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[2]

However, though Jesus encouraged his disciples to give up money, some of his women disciples were the ones funding his ministry, with money.[3] And we know that Paul praised those churches who voluntarily and generously gave to his ministry (which also takes money to run).[4]

Lastly, it was also Paul who said that it was not money itself that was evil, but rather the love of money that is the root of all evil.[5]

The Bible itself, though explicitly warning against exploitation of others, focuses more on how we react to money than whether or not we have it.

Jesus: Capitalist or Socialist?

It has been noted that Jesus spent more time talking about money than he did talking about prayer.[6] Unfortunately, this leads some on both sides of the argument to try and draw a guideline regarding money based upon Jesus’ words: Jesus was a capitalist because he acknowledges that the poor will always be with us;[7] Jesus was a socialist because he told various people to sell all that they had and give to the poor.[8]

[1]  

Yet I contend that painting Jesus as either a capitalist or socialist with such broad strokes misses the point, and that is that money itself is amoral, and therefore it is simply what we do with it and how we get it that creates its value, whether good or bad.

Dallas Willard in his classic Spirit of the Disciplines book makes this statement, “But it must be noted that such failures [to give when we should] concern the use of goods, not their possession;”[9] i.e. it is not merely the possession of money that makes one’s actions regarding money either moral or immoral, but rather the use of the money.

Jesus’ Kingdom: a New Supra-Political Reality

Additionally, asking if Jesus was or would be a capitalist or a socialist presupposes that Jesus would have aligned himself with any governmental structure that elevated the “kingdoms of this world.” Jesus was never interested in building upon an established earthly kingdom; he came to establish a completely new kingdom, his own. Jesus’ kingdom calls people to a political position that is above the concerns that plague the current political system, a supra-political party. This does not mean that we alienate ourselves from political parties or society, but it does mean our perspective must come from a different place.

Again Dallas Willard, says it best, “The state is emblematic of all those worldly power structures [both Republican and Democratic and any other human political party] based on oppression and the power of pain and death. The real presence of Christ as a world-governing force will come solely as his called out people occupy their stations in the holiness and power characteristic of him, as they demonstrate to the world the way to live that is best in every respect.”[10]

Therefore, I wonder if we are missing the point, focusing on whether capitalism or socialism are right or wrong, good or bad, and therefore how we can further these two concepts in our society. I wonder if the broader question is how can we as a society further Christ’s kingdom and his social, moral, and monetary values?

Can we re-frame our paradigm in this political climate by primarily seeing ourselves as not either Republican or Democrat, capitalist or socialist, but rather disciples of Jesus’ kingdom? I wonder what that would look like….

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[1] 2 Thessalonians 3:10, NRSV.

[2] Luke 12:33-34, NIV.

[3] Luke 8:3, NIV.

[4] Philippians 4:15-16, NIV.

[5] 1 Timothy 6:10, NIV.

[6] Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, (Intervarsity Press, 2008).

[7] Matthew 26:11, NIV

[8] Matthew 19:21, Luke 12: 33-34, Mark 10:21

[9] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding how God Changes Lives, (San Francisco: Harper One, 2008), p. 194.

[10] Ibid., p.239

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