I need this

After a couple of years, I've decided to give this another go. Mind you, I've no idea how long this will last - maybe just this post?

I have so many thoughts that I feel I need to externalise them to keep from imploding.

So I finished a degree last year in Theology. Wow that's impressive. And I loved it - I found that I love learning, that I love writing, that I love teaching and discussion. I have also deepened a love, an adoration and fascination with Jesus, "the Word around which the world whirls" (ish).

I have a mind that constantly thinks and searches for meaning... and I've been finding a lot of foolishness, a lot of meaninglessness.

And I'm frustrated.

I currently work two jobs for The Salvation Army, I attend church with The Salvation Army. We do some very good work, and we have some good people. But too much of the time we are simply a frustrating joke to me, too blind to see our own Story of Jesus (not the Booths) for the incredible hope and mystery that it is.

And money... money. It enslaves my imagination and all those around me. I'm so tired of it. Student loan... travel... mortgage... retirement...

Something that I've struggled with for years now... is a dangerous thing to talk about. Hey, I'm supposed to be that guy who has God stuff and meaning-of-life stuff sorted... so what does this mean:

I believe in the Kingdom Come
When all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Oh my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Who Cares?

Journal of Aggressive Christianity
Issue 4, December 1999 - January 2000

Who Cares?
William Booth

On one of my recent journeys, as I gazed from the coach window, I was led into a train of thought concerning the condition of the multitudes around me. They were living carelessly in the most open and shameless rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare. As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see them all . . . millions of people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant - willfully ignorant in many cases - and in other instances knowing all about the truth and not caring at all. But all of them, the whole mass of them, sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the Throne of God. While my mind was thus engaged, I had a vision.

I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung heavily; through them every now and then vivid lightening flashed and loud thunder rolled, while the winds moaned, and the waves rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and foam, tower and break again.

In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then somesank to rise no more.

And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with it's summit towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock I saw a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the place of safety.

On looking more closely I found a number of those who had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders, ropes, boats and other means more effective, to deliver the poor strugglers out of the sea. Here and there were some who actually jumped into the water, regardless of the consequences in their passion to "rescue the perishing." And I hardly know which gladdened me the most - the sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the rocks reaching a place of safety, or the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole being was wrapped up in the effort for their deliverance.

As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were divided into different "sets" or classes, and they occupied themselves with different pleasures and employments. But only a very few of them seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea. But what puzzled me most was the fact that though all of them had been rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed to have forgotten all about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory of its darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all. And what seemed equally strange and perplexing to me was that these people did not even seem to have any care - that is any agonizing care- about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes . . . many of whom were their own husbands and wives, brothers and sisters and even their own children.

Now this astonishing unconcern could not have been the result of ignorance or lack of knowledge, because they lived right there in full sight of it all and even talked about it sometimes. Many even went regularly to hear lectures and sermons in which the awful state of these poor drowning creatures was described.

I have always said that the occupants of this platform were engaged in different pursuits and pastimes. Some of them were absorbed day and night in trading and business in order to make gain, storing up their savings in boxes, safes and the like.

Many spent their time in amusing themselves with growing flowers on the side of the rock, others in painting pieces of cloth or in playing music, or in dressing themselves up in different styles and walking about to be admired. Some occupied themselves chiefly in eating and drinking, others were taken up with arguing about the poor drowning creatures that had already been rescued. But the thing to me that seemed the most amazing was that those on the platform to whom He called, who heard His voice and felt that they ought to obey it - at least they said they did - those who confessed to love Him much were in full sympathy with Him in the task He had undertaken - who worshipped Him or who professed to do so - were so taken up with their trades and professions, their money saving and pleasures, their families and circles, their religions and arguments about it, and their preparation for going to the mainland, that they did not listen to the cry that came to them from this Wonderful Being who had Himself gone down into the sea. Anyway, if they heard it they did not heed it. They did not care. And so the multitude went on right before them struggling and shrieking and drowning in the darkness.

And then I saw something that seemed to me even more strange than anything that had gone on before in this strange vision. I saw that some of these people on the platform whom this Wonderful Being had called to, wanting them to come and help Him in His difficult task of saving these perishing creatures, were always praying and crying out to Him to come to them!

Some wanted Him to come and stay with them, and spend His time and strength in making them happier. Others wanted Him to come and take away various doubts and misgivings they had concerning the truth of some letters He had written them. Some wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the rock - so secure that they would be quite sure that they should never slip off again into the ocean. Numbers of others wanted Him to make them feel quite certain that they would really get off the rock and onto the mainland someday: because as a matter of fact, it was well known that some had walked so carelessly as to loose their footing, and had fallen back again into the stormy waters.

So these people used to meet and get up as high on the rock as they could, and looking towards the mainland (where they thought the Great Being was) they would cry out, "Come to us! Come and help us!" And all the while He was down (by His Spirit) among the poor struggling, drowning creatures in the angry deep, with His arms around them trying to drag them out, and looking up - oh! so longingly but all in vain - to those on the rock, crying to them with His voice all hoarse from calling, "Come to Me! Come, and help Me!

And then I understood it all. It was plain enough. The sea was the ocean of life - the sea of real, actual human existence. That lightening was the gleaming of piercing truth coming from Jehovah's Throne. That thunder was the distant echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people shrieking, struggling and agonizing in the stormy sea, was the thousands and thousands of poor harlots and harlot-makers, of drunkards and drunkard makers, of thieves, liars, blasphemers and ungodly people of every kindred, tongue and nation.

Oh what a black sea it was! And oh, what multitudes of rich and poor, ignorant and educated were there. They were all so unalike in their outward circumstances and conditions, yet all alike in one thing- all sinners before God - all held by, and holding onto, some iniquity, fascinated by some idol, the slaves of some devilish lust, and ruled by the foul fiend from the bottomless pit! "All alike in one thing?" No, all alike in two things - not only the same in their wickedness but, unless rescued, the same in their sinking, sinking . . . down, down, down . . . to the same terrible doom. That great sheltering rock represented Calvary, the place where Jesus had died for them. And the people on it were those who had been rescued. The way they used their energies, gifts and time represented the occupations and amusements of those who professed to be saved from sin and hell - followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The handful of fierce, determined ones, who were risking their own lives in saving the perishing were true soldiers of the cross of Jesus. That Mighty Being who was calling to them from the midst of the angry waters was the Son of God, "the same yesterday, today and forever" who is still struggling and interceding to save the dying multitudes about us from this terrible doom of damnation, and whose voice can be heard above the music, machinery, and noise of life, calling on the rescued to come and help Him save the world.

My friends in Christ, you are rescued from the waters, you are on the rock, He is in the dark sea calling on you to come to Him and help Him. Will you go? Look for yourselves. The surging sea of life, crowded with perishing multitudes rolls up to the very spot on which you stand. Leaving the vision, I now come to speak of the fact - a fact that is as real as the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the cross, as real as the judgment day will be, and as real as the heaven and hell
that will follow it.

Look! Don't be deceived by appearances - men and things are not what they seem. All who are not on the rock are in the sea! Look at them from the standpoint of the great White Throne, and what a sight you have! Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them. And He is calling on you to jump into the sea - to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump? That is, will you go to His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?

A young Christian once came to me, and told me that for some time she had been giving the Lord her profession and prayers and money, but now she wanted to give Him her life. She wanted to go right into the fight. In other words, she wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. As when a man from the shore, seeing another struggling in the water, takes off those outer garments that would hinder his efforts and leaps to the rescue, so will you who still linger on the bank, thinking and singing and praying about the poor perishing souls, lay aside your shame, your pride, your cares about other people's opinions, your love of ease and all the selfish loves that have kept you back for so long, and rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying men and women.

Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so. There is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it may mean more than this. It may mean death. He who beckons you from the sea however, knows what it will mean - and knowing, He still calls to you and bids to you to come.

You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises - very much of heaven on earth. Now then, go to God and tell Him you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you. You must do it. With the light that is now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears, and the beckoning hands that re now before your eyes, you have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue them.

Now what will you do?

Copyright © 2000 Journal of Aggressive Christianity

Reply to Sam's post

Yeah, sorry to agree but you are right.

I'm not sure that I would go so far to say that music is the primary symptom of our insulated sub-culture, but it is a big part.

I had an interesting conversation with a dude who's fully into the holiness attitude in Christianity (as we all should be) but in such a way that he refused to go to parties or listen to secular music or whatever to avoid temptation. He does not have any friends who were not Christian.

What is the Gospel and who is it for?

We cannot shut ourselves away in our little/big churches and homegroups and simply pray for the lost. Prayer must be coupled with action - the most consistant result of the Holy Spirit entering into the lives of believers in Acts was mission - evangelism!

And if we don't evangelise, do we truely love our unsaved neighbours? Do we truely love God? Do we have the Holy Spirit? Are we saved at all?

And with 'Christian' music (as that is what I'm supposed to be commenting on) if we have the greatest story ever known in all of creation, and if we have divine inspiration from the Holy Spirit, should we not write and play the most magnificant music in the world? We used to.

Update

I really feel guilty for letting Rachel down. It is American Rachel? Yes? She's all the way over in America and she spends her time looking at whats happening on this page and I am constantly letting her down.

And then Sam Burrows confronted me on the fact that his blog links to mine with the tagline "Jacob has things to say" and not updating clearly contradicts this.

So I've had many requests piling up in my email inbox on topics of conversation - people needing help with their marriage, someone who is addicted to the 'women's day' magazine, and one young man who wants to know about the benefits of 'postmodernisation' and my band 'Phat Mantis' (not the mammory glands of an overweight male, but an awesome insect).

But quite frankly, I cant be bothered now. Maybe later.

College is started up so im sure I'll procrastinate on this soon enough. In the mean time, I've got a party to go to woot woot and Sam B and I are rebelling against the 'tropical' theme and going as superheroes, claiming ignorance.

Thanks for reading, I could not have done this without you, etc etc.

Summer Job Wanted

To gain funds for several things, including student fees for continuing education.

I have had experience working with

Kids
People with intellectual and physical disabilities
Aluminium Joinery
Painting
Landscaping
Pets
Building/Demolition
Meat packaging

Rates negotiable.

Essay

This is an essay that I got heaps out of writing. I hope you guys get stuff out of reading it.

What does the book of Job teach about God, suffering, and wisdom?




The book of Job is an extraordinary book. Quite often it is seen as merely a book on the problem of pain, but its real meaning is quite complex - it goes far beyond just explaining a common fact of human existence. Its real depth lies beyond the problem that suffering brings, as it teaches the reader some incredible realities of God and His nature, as well as an example of a righteous response in the middle of this calamity. It also gives some very interesting insights into the real essence of Wisdom, which is another key theme in the book.


God:

Throughout history, humankind has always had an inclination to compartmentalise God. The tendency to put God ‘in a box’ has been present throughout the history of God’s people, and has always led people away from true faith in the limitless God to dependence on religion.
This is reflected in the book of Job through Job’s friends and later when Elihu came on to the scene: they each claimed they knew how God works, that they understood His ways, and that they could therefore deduce the reason for Job’s suffering. They each seemed to rely on the teachings of tradition, and then used these ideas to analyse the very ways of God down to a tee. Their reasoning was quite reasonable - they believed that God is Just and all powerful, so they therefore concluded that any suffering experienced by an individual is the righteous judgement of God and it is therefore deserved.
Job found that the trouble with this theology was that it didn’t match up to what he was experiencing. Job was a righteous man and he knew that he himself had not done anything to deserve the dreadful suffering that was inflicted upon him, and he also held fast to his belief that God is Just. Job was then left with an incredible tension between God’s Righteousness and his own innocence.
Job’s friends were worshipping an all too pleasant and predictable god - they built their gods from their own reason. As for Job, all his preconceptions of God had been shattered, and he was confronted with the terrible truth that God is wild. Job learns that God is not tied down by humankind’s thoughts or reasoning, nor is He limited to religion - either religion that He establishes Himself, or that which is inflicted upon Him. The reality of this is seen in Job’s response to his encounter with the very real and living God:

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (42:2).

“Job shatters idols in people’s minds and leaves a realistic picture of God.”[1]

We cannot completely understand God. We can begin to understand His ways, but we cannot predict His movements. God is far beyond us - we cannot comprehend Him - He is bigger than our words and theories. Rob Bell puts it like this:

“The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. We are dealing with somebody we made up. And if we made him up, then we are in control.”[2]


Suffering:

Job’s paradoxical theology that he chose to struggle with was probably the hardest part of his suffering that he had to endure. Through Job’s noble integrity, he did not give up his belief in his own innocence, and he did not give up the fact that God exists and that He is just. Job’s biggest sorrow was the apparent meaninglessness of his innocent suffering (from his own limited point of view). Out of his anguished frustration, he attempted to call God into account:

“If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who watch over us all? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?” (7:20)

Job’s response to his undeserved suffering is what pleased God. It seems that God was wanting Job to maintain his righteousness, but also (more importantly) to maintain and grow his faith in Him.
A key point that W. McDermet makes in his article “Suffering and the Righteousness of God” is that suffering can be the catalyst for real religious experience.[3] It seems that in Job’s situation, he had not known God beyond the knowledge of second-hand encounters, but in the deep, dark pit of suffering he meets God first hand:

“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (42:5)

The result is that Job sees his own suffering as insignificant in the light of God’s power and glory.
The writer does not attempt to explain the meaning of suffering; in fact the only theories found in the book (which also reflect modern conventional religious thinking) are those constructed by Job’s friends and Elihu, who are in the end condemned by God because they are wrong (42:7). Instead, the writer focuses on different responses to this suffering. Several responses are put forward in the story, (to turn away from God [2:9], to ‘explain away’ the problem in hollow ‘pious’ philosophies [as can be seen in the comments of Job’s friends], or to forsake integrity by Job lying to himself that he actually did deserve the punishment that was being inflicted upon him) but Job’s response is the only correct one in God’s eyes. Job holds on to his trust in God, even though by all accounts from his limited perspective God has abused that trust and defeated him to absolute misery.
From the book of Job, we learn that suffering is an inevitable part of human life and we are not given any substantial insight into the reason for this. However, we do learn that the appropriate response to this suffering is Faith - a deep faith in God, trusting Him that He is good and that He is just: that He is working everything to His perfect will.


Wisdom:

Although Job’s friends initially meant well in their ‘comforting’ of Job, they soon resorted to explaining the reason for Job’s suffering through their own, human knowledge. Their ‘wisdom’ had been rooted in tradition and impersonal, black-and-white philosophies and so was very limited. Job saw right through their deficient proverbial wisdom because they were inaccurate observations of the very real life that was tormenting him.
In Job’s desire for Wisdom he looked not to his friends, but to God Himself - the source of all true wisdom (28:23-27). Job understood that Human wisdom was limited, and could not answer his deepest questions. Job thus repeatedly cried out to God for a reason for his suffering (Job 31), but received no answer, even when God came in the storm and challenged him.
True wisdom is from God, and cannot be divorced from God. Wisdom without God is only Human intelligence, and is therefore foolishness in comparison. Job’s friends were right theoretically, but only in a very vague way practically. There is so much more we cannot know, so we need to put our trust in God, who sees all and knows all.

“We strongly link ‘wisdom’ with ‘reason’ and man’s analytical faculties. Biblical wisdom, however, is not captured by man’s analytical powers… but comes from the commitment of a man’s heart to his Maker.”[4]

In this case, Job did not have the bigger picture - God had made a ‘wager’ with Satan to show that humanity could still love Him apart from His blessings. So Job was on trial - was his faith genuine, or did he only love God for what He blessed him with? However, Job could not see this, so he sought God’s wisdom for the reason of his suffering.
As we learn from Job’s poem on wisdom:

"The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding." (28:28)

This fear was not present in the people described in the book of Job. Job’s friends confined God to their theories, and Job developed a type of arrogance that led him to demand an audience with the Creator. However, God successfully instilled this fear in His faithful servant Job and his friends by the demonstration of His wild and terrible nature, and so led them to depend on Him and not in their own inferior wisdom.



Like Job’s friends, I believe a lot of the modern day church has confined our God to neat, clean theology. I believe that we need to learn from the book of Job the mystery of God. We need to steer away from our overwhelming dependence on the fixed rationalism of our culture, and embrace the paradoxes of reality.
As a result of the church ‘figuring out’ God, we now take God’s Grace and Forgiveness for granted - we all-too-often seem to depend on the religious rituals for our righteousness (eg. Communion, Prayer, etc), thinking that God is required to ‘uphold His end of the bargain’. This is a dangerous way to live - God is not a tame God, and cannot be obligated to any such ‘bargain’, except by His own choosing, by His Grace. We cannot depend on these constricting theories of who God is or the rituals - it is dependant on God’s Mercy.
Without our heart religion is meaningless, and that is what we need to keep in mind.

When encountered with the problem of pain, either in theory or in direct experience, we should not try to explain it away or attempt to ‘defend God’. Instead, we should do our best to allow these experiences to increase our faith and trust in our Heavenly Father.
It is a complex problem with no simple answer to it (and probably no answer at all this side of eternity), and it is something that all people everywhere have to deal with. It seems that this would be the reason why McDermet says that the book of Job “is the one which in every age is felt to be modern”[5].

Last of all, and I believe most importantly, we need the Fear of God. We too often preach a God who is too soft - all ‘nice’. This is not the God of the Bible - God is Love, but He is also Holy, which makes us enemies of God without our redemption through Jesus Christ. In acknowledging the great mercy of God, we should do whatever we can to allow The Holy Spirit to purge us of sin so that we can be unhindered vessels for God to use unlimitedly.
In this healthy fear of God, we will gain true wisdom, which requires that we depend on our eternal and limitless Creator.






Bibliography


Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005

Drane, John. Introducing The Old Testament. 2nd ed.
Oxford: Lion, 2000

LaSor, William S., David A. Hubbard, and Frederic W. Bush,
Old Testament Survey 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1996.

McDermet, William W.. “Suffering and the Righteousness of God,”
Encounter 40 (Aut. 79): 421-29

Henderson, Steuart, “Wisdom at the Dunghill,”
Newsletter - Foundation for Christian Studies No.5 (Mar 1976), 1-4

Yancey, Philip. The Bible Jesus Read.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1999


[1] William S. LaSor, David A. Hubbard and Frederic W. Bush, Old Testament Survey, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1996), 495
[2] Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 25
[3] W. McDermet, “Suffering and the Righteousness of God,” Encounter 40 (Aut. 79): 423
[4] Steuart Henderson, “Wisdom at the Dunghill,” Newsletter - Foundation for Christian Studies No.5 (Mar 1976): 3
[5] W. McDermet, “Suffering and the Righteousness of God,” Encounter 40 (Aut. 79): 422