The Thinklings

"The first and most important thing to say about John Dominic Crossan's work is that it is bad history."

- D.A. Carson

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Posted by Bill @ 12:41 pm CST
Filed under: The Gospel, Contemplation

As in "on the floor". Ever been there?

If you've ever been there, or are there now, read this by Jared.

It will floor you.

As I say to those who for some reason don't mind listening to me, all this stuff can't just be something we talk about.

The gospel is for the real world, for real people. It conquers real strongholds, restores real brokenness. It carries the real weight of the real world.
This is why I was disappointed to see a Christian musician I respect positively review a book by Marcus Borg on Jesus. Marcus Borg is an intelligent, engaging scholar. But his Jesus is dead. His Jesus only rose symbolically, or quote-unquote spiritually. His Jesus is only as powerful as you believe him to be. Or something.

The Jesus of the gospel is really alive. His actual body came out of an actual grave. I need that. I cannot put hope in a symbolic resurrection, because I couldn't care less about a symbolic rescue. My flesh and my blood cry out for redemption, because my problems, my brokenness, my sins are real. A dead Jesus gives me nothing, even if he's written about eloquently and inspirationally.

We crave real resurrection. The weight of the world is equivalent to a heavy cross pressing on flayed shoulders. The gospel must account for that. Everything else is just pretty words that help nobody.

I'm right there with you Jared. You just say it better than I, or anyone else I can think of, can.

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Comments on "Floored":

1. Jared - 01/29/2008 12:47 pm CST

Thanks, man.

2. Philip - 01/29/2008 3:01 pm CST

GREAT POST!

Question: How do we relate this to day to day living? I mean the fact is that Jesus doesn't rescue us from physical and other kinds of suffering. So aren't we as guilty as Borg, when we talk about Jesus' "salvation" as being spiritual only?

Let me put it another way. I recently had a church member ask me about a devotional she read about Psalm 18:30.

"God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection."

The Devotional writer said

," Do you ever feel threatened by the things of the world? Do you ever feel like you are under attack? It is these times, when you are under attack, that you need protection, and God is there to protect you. He may not protect you from physical harm, but he will guard your soul. The middle sentence in the verse states that "All the Lord's promises prove true." They are not just said to be true, but can be tested and proven 100% to be true. They always "come through" when they are claimed and applied to the lives of God's children."

Isn't there a sense that we are just as guilty as Borg spiritualizing the resurrection when we look at verses like this and say, "Well that just means that God protects you spiritually."

I'm grappling with this RIGHT NOW!!!! I need your insight, as I'm trying to draft an answer to this question.

Thoughts?

3. Blake - 01/29/2008 3:25 pm CST

I'm confused. Who was the person who did the review?

4. Jeff the Baptist - 01/29/2008 4:02 pm CST

Why is it that modern scholars can get away with arguments the Apostle Paul himself himself addressed in 1 Corinthians 15?

5. Jared - 01/29/2008 4:04 pm CST

Phil, it's not symbolic if God's people are actually doing the work of the kingdom and living out the gospel.

In my post I had that in mind (relieving suffering by, you know, actually working to relieve suffering), but I also had in mind the second coming and the resurrection of the dead, in which we will be given new bodies to live in a new heavens and new earth. That's not a symbolic rescue. It will be real just like Christ's resurrection was real.

I hold on to the hope of that, because if Jesus only symbolically resurrected then the future resurrection and second coming suddenly don't seem so promising.

6. Jared - 01/29/2008 4:07 pm CST

Jeff, don't you know that Paul was an unsophisticated premodern whose letters were probably changed by the church centuries after he wrote them anyway? ;-)

7. The Ancient Mariner - 01/29/2008 5:50 pm CST

"So aren't we as guilty as Borg, when we talk about Jesus' 'salvation' as being spiritual only?"

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

"Isn't there a sense that we are just as guilty as Borg spiritualizing the resurrection when we look at verses like this and say, 'Well that just means that God protects you spiritually.'"

No, these are two different things. One is recognizing that the protection and healing God gives us aren't always physical--i.e., we do still endure pains and suffering in this life. The other is taking something which has to be a physical reality in order to have real meaning (the Resurrection) and denying its physical reality. These are in no wise the same.

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