Questions from October 2005 - Part II

Questions from October - Part II Subject: Is God really available? Brian: I turned my back on church and Christianity fifteen years ago because I didn't see in real life what I saw in the scriptures. That is, I didn't see real Christianity at work in the church. I met a pastor, Gary X, a few months ago at my son's hockey practice who befriended me not on a spiritual level, but on a platonic one. Our conversations usually led to Christianity and religion at my own prompting. Gary gave me your books, A New Kind of Christian, The Storey we find Ourselves In, and The Last Word and the Word After That. They have renewed my desire to be a Christian. I still have a problem with the extent to which God interacts in our lives as Christians. It seems as though He doesn't and that we hang on by faith to a thread of hope that the whole storey is true. My question is: Is God really available,or is there really relationship with Him? A: Thanks so much for writing. In many ways, I write for people like you, and it means a lot to hear that something is getting through. What you’re describing, I think, is learning how to experience or become more aware of God. Let me recommend three books: The Mountain of Silence will give you an Eastern Orthodox approach, The Sacred Way will give you a more inter-denominational approach, and Return of the Prodigal might simply give you a Biblical context, from a Catholic writer. I also talk about this a bit in A Generous Orthodoxy, but I think these other books would be more helpful to you now. You’ve heard enough from me! Subject: thanks I just wanted to thank Brian for his books. I have been a "christian" basically my whole life with a very strong desire to reach people and bring them into relationship with God. I have explored and participated in several different types and styles of ministry only to discover that none of them seem to "fit" me in the truest sense of the word. I have had limited exposure to books like Brian's that could fall into this category of "postmodern faith" until recently. A friend of mine handed me NKOC and my life hasn't been the same since. I'm just about through with The story... and am a completely different person. I will be celebrating my 26th birthday tomorrow and feel as if I'm starting all over again with a freshness that can hardly be explained unless one has felt it for themself. I finished reading a few chapters this morning and had to fight back tears as I heard Daniel say, "to the Bible and to the hobbits" and Neo responding with, "and to Christmas." Simple enough words but everything leading to them caused an erruption inside that couldn't be contained. So thank you to Brian, for his insight, vulnerability and passion. Thanks to all who have contributed to his putting together of this story we find ourselves in. And most of all thanks to the Master who has walked among his people for thousands of years pulling us into an undeniable future where we will truly see his glory fill the earth once again. A: Thanks so much. As you can imagine, this brings a lot of joy to me as an author to hear this, and as a Christian brother. Subject: hello Dear Brian McLaren, ?Just a short note to say hello - I expect that I'll be writing more later. ?I'm just finishing A New Kind of Christian and will look for another ?(probably the third one; I find the scientific basis for evolution ?dissolving with advances in cell physiology and biochemistry, so I've been ?told I might not enjoy the second one). It's been wonderful to see so well ?articulated ideas that have been bobbing up and down in my consciousness for ?a few years now, ever since my family & I I returned from working in a ?Muslim country. ?While working overseas and exploring new and exciting ways to express the ?gospel of the kingdom in a Muslim context, I would often "look over my ?shoulder" at my home church; from that distance I could see its a priori ?commitment to modernism/enlightenment thinking that was not part of Jesus' ?thought. ?I appreciate your references to Newbegin's writing/teaching, but I'm a ?little surprised that you do not quote E. Stanley Jones more - his writings ?are foundational to much of what is just now being put into place in a ?variety of Muslim contexts. ?Anyway, I need to get back to work. ?I appreciate what you've done. ?I look forward to reading more. ?I expect that I'll find more in your writings referring to missionaries' ?attempts at contextualizing the gospel, but if I don't then I'll write to ?you again - the Body of Christ in the West finds itself in a situation not ?too dissimilar from that of missionaries in a variety of different cultures. A: Yes, E Stanley Jones is so important. I read some of his work years ago and nearly forgot about it, then reread his piece on Christ and the Indian Road (forgot the exact title) and some of his book on Gandhi more recently. Many of us are discovering what he realized quite a while ago! Subject: Thanks Brian! Hello Brian, I just finished reading your trilogy, A New Kind of Christian, The Story We Find Ourselves In, and The Last Word and The Word After That. Your books have really affected my thinking and my life in a very positive way. Like Pastor Dan Poole, I too have been struggling with depression and a general sense of not feeling satisfied with my life. In recent months I've been unable to sleep through the night, and as a friend of mine told me, I was lost in the world. I prayed for help, and shortly after wards I found a good counselor, and a new church where the pastor turned me onto your books. From the introduction and the first chapter in A New Kind of Christian, I identified with Dan Poole. Although I am not a pastor ( I actually work in public accounting ) his struggle, questions, and need for change paralleled my feelings exactly. I have been introduced to Christianity before through the more "modern" evangelical mega churches ( to coin a phrase), it just never clicked for me. Your books brought me into the emergent conversation and something just clicked. Dan Poole asked questions that were I had allways asked, but I never knew that they were being talked about by others. To use the title of your book I started finding myself in God's story. I am still battling with some depression and insomnia, but I see positive changes ahead. Through the support of my family, friends, church, and a recovery group that I am involved with, my life has been slowly getting better. I just wanted to let you know your writings have been a part of all this. Like Dan Poole I have rethinking my vocation and through all of it I have been considering getting my masters in counseling, which I am excited about. So thank you. A: Thanks. My heart goes out to you with your medical problems with depression and insomnia. People close to me have these struggles, and so this is part of my life too. Subject: wow!! hello, my name is x, im a high school graduate in x canada, ?and i have just nearly completed your (brian mclaren) book 'a new kind of ?christian'. i just wanted to thank you so much for writing such a briiliant ?book. all i do is keep talking about it and giving it praise and recommeding ?it to all my friends, or aquaintences, or whoever!!! your book hit home with ?me on many different levels. im pretty new to faith and god and jesus ?christ, but ive been looking for some time now, and reading and trying to ?find god, and i believe your book has done that for me. i truely want to ?become a new kind of christian, and i think the whole postmodern ?poerspective is utterly brilliant and i cant get enough if it. i want to ?tell the whole world about it. im on fire for god and jesus because of it. ?thank you so much sir. thank you for opening my heart and eyes. A: Thanks! May God continue to help you grow as a real follower of Jesus. I hope we’ll get to meet someday. Subject: Orthodoxy Mr. Mclaren, My name is x. I work in a protestant Christian bookstore in Richmond, Virginia and as I was shelving books recently I noticed your book, A Generous Orthodoxy. Intrigued by the title I took a look and discovered to my dismay that your book did not deal in the slightest with Orthodoxy, Christian or otherwise. In fact you have misrepresented to a large number of seekers the meaning of the term Orthodoxy and in doing so, prejudiced them towards the real thing, if ever they do come across it. My hope is that this was unintentional, and indeed it must have been, because I feel if you had full knowledge of what this term implied you would have chosen a different one for your book. Orthodoxy, literally translated, means "right worship". Or, the correct way to worship. After the Roman Catholics left the One, True Church in 1054, this term was applied to the origional Church, and those who did not leave it. So we have, what is today known as the Orthodox Church, but was in the days before the Great Schism known as simply, the Church. In your use of the word Orthodoxy you have misrepresented its true essence. You as much say this in your book as you talk about your translation of the word. (on a side not are you not encouraging the sort of relativism, linguistically, that is so rampant morally in our culture. Language is, after all, the symbols we use to express life and truth. In distorting those symbols we lose sense of truth.) My great fear is that your "clever" title will serve to further distance those in the protestant faith, from discovering the depth that may be found in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, or to put it simpler, in the Church. If you find yourself to be curious as to what this Church teaches and the Truths she has to offer I encourage you to read "The Orthodox Church" by Timothy Ware. You have been featured in the past in books alongside Fredericka Matthewes-Greene. She herself is an Orthodox Christian. You may think of contacting her to learn more of what I speak. Thank you for your time in reading this. I pray that God will Smile upon your life and bring you closer to Him, as you travel down your path. In Christ, A: Thanks for your note. I believe there is a footnote in the book explaining why I didn’t talk more about Eastern Orthodoxy. I’m especially glad to include your letter because so many people of other traditions – fundamentalist, Roman Catholic, etc. – feel exactly as you do: they are part of the true church, and everyone else has missed the boat. Please know that I have learned a lot from your tradition, and I have great respect for both Timothy Ware and Frederica Matthewes-Green, along with Kallistos Ware, Alexander Schmemen, etc. Although I have not felt led either by the Scriptures or the Holy Spirit to become Orthodox in the tradition you are part of, I am grateful for your concern for me, and I’m sorry that you felt I was in some way misrepresenting you. Others in your tradition have told me they felt they felt my presentation was accurate and helpful, but as you know, it’s impossible to please everyone, especially in matters of religion! Subject: What do I do now? Dear Brian, In the past two weeks, I have read all three of the books in your "New Kind of Christianity" trilogy. I am in a time of spiritual crisis, and when I read the introduction of book 1, I felt as if I myself had written it. I am a X Catholic ordained deacon, have been for 13 years. However, at age 54, I feel as if I'm being straight-jacketed by my denomination. The problem is, I don't know whether it is better to leave to follow my heart and soul and beliefs, or stay to serve others. (Chip captures my dilemma very well near the end of book 3.) I have tried over the years to introduce more progressive, universal concepts to our church through our synods, but it has become to clear to me that our denomination is not interested in progress and self-examination. I feel that I am being so unauthentic that I want to scream...my reaction to mass has gone from neutrality to anger. There is so much...my daughter's suicide attempt and subsequent struggle... that has led me to question my faith. So far, I've been very, very good at "faking it" in my capacity as deacon, and I know I help some people. But is helping them while sacrificing myself enough? I need your strength and I'm finding that in your books. I hope to have your prayers. I would LOVE to hear you speak someday...looks as if I'm just missing your appearances in the SE Pennsylvania area where I live. Maybe next year? God bless you, man. You are affirming and inspirational. A: My heart goes out to you in your spiritual crisis and in your concern for your daughter. I think that when our children suffer and struggle, it is so much harder than if we were suffering ourselves. I will be speaking in Pennsylvania later this year, and I do hope we’ll get to meet. Please come and say hello. Thanks for your encouragement. My God give you guidance about how to a) stay in your current religious community without feeling inauthentic, or to b) find a way to move to something that would be better for you. I know these are tough decisions, and they only come “at the fullness of time” and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and some good friends. Subject: Turtle Hi Brian, I know from my own experience that sharing a presentation without notes can sometimes be a crap shoot as you know your slides by themselves will not tell the same story you added to them. As I am looking at the pomointronobridge.ppt file I am wondering what you would have said with those images of that poor turtle. Something to do with adapting to the environment we live in perhaps? Thanks for your time. I know you are busy, I just had to throw the question your way. A: I talk about how an idea can fit us (like that plastic ring) at one point, but then it threatens to kill us eventually. I refer to this photo in A Generous Orthodoxy. Subject: A new kind of christian Dear Brian I have just finished reading your book "A New Kind of Christian" and would just like to comment on how much I enjoyed reading it and how profoundly challenging I found it. I read "A Generous Orthodoxy" earlier in the year and it summarised for me some of my personal struggles. The books come at a very opportune time for many of us in the UK from the evangelical wing of the church who are not prepared to put up with inauthentic expressions of Christianity. I look forward to continuing on in our efforts to follow Jesus on our journey. With many blessings to you and your family on your journey. A: Thanks. I’ve learned so much from your compatriots in the UK, so I’m glad I can be of some return blessing. Subject: thanks Brian Dear Pastor McLaren, I LOVED your book, The Last Word . . . I especially liked your quotes of “Berton and Chase.” J Question: Have you ever considered preterism, the idea that God’s judgment is all past? “Hell” was only Gehenna, future to them but not to us. Gehenna was just Jerusalem’s garbage dump, a place where the dead bodies of unbelieving Jews like the Pharisees were burned in AD 70. (Josephus.) God is not now wrathful toward anyone. Matthew 23:33 “Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?” They didn’t. With the city of Jerusalem and its Temple, the Pharisee’s bodies were unceremoniously burned. They didn’t experience “eternal hell” but only Aión Gehenna. They experienced an age-lasting garbage dump. Would you like to write a book highlighting preterism? P.S. Concerning homosexuals, although I’m not, I can see how preterism, with its teaching on a past resurrection, might allow it: Matthew 22:30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” If there is now no marriage, then, to God, homosexuality isn’t a problem. Radical, huh? P.S.S. I heard your interview on "Voice of Reason" with preterist John Anderson. To bad last week’s program (Sept. 24, 2005) was anti-universalism. http://www.lighthouseproductionsllc.com/broadcast.htm A: Thanks. I was only exposed to this approach to eschatology in the last year or two. So far, as I compare the approach with Scripture, I think it has a lot to commend it. I really appreciate Andrew Perriman’s new book, “The Coming of the Son of Man,” and Tim King’s work through Presence ministries. Subject: Re: The story we find ourselves in Did you get Neo's story regarding genesis from Ishmael by Daniel Quinn? The ?similarities are spooky. Also I see so much of what you write leading onto ?writers like John Shlby Spong and Marcus J. Borg or at least it did for me. ?Do you feel that you were holding back at all on theology as to not cause ?too many waves? I know you said that Neo doesn't always relflect your views ?but I was interested because having recently moved from fundamentalism I am ?looking to seek new answers to old questions. Thank you so much for your books, A New Kind of Christian was instrumental ?to my moving from Fundamentalism (among Nancey Murphy, Michael Polanyi, ?Thomas Kuhn, Marcus J Borg, Daniel Quinn, etc). A: It’s interesting you’d bring up Ishmael. I read it many years ago, and it did open up new ways of reading Genesis for me, as did Alan Dershowtiz’s “The Genesis of Justice.” There’s a lot going on in Scripture – and it gets more exciting and rich for me every year. My sense is that although there are major differences between Borg, Spong, and myself, there are similarities too, notably that we feel the status quo isn’t working. Subject: A response to Brian's article "It's All About Who, Jesus?" A response to Brian's article "It's All About Who, Jesus?" (Leadership ?Journal, August 31, 2004): I read Brian McLaren's article recently and agreed wholeheartedly with the ?point he made. It caused me to take notice of the words I am given to sing ?during "Worship Time." There is definitely a large percentage of praise ?song lyrics that do not talk about the Lord and His attributes at all. ?Rather, many lyrics, as Brian puts it, "often congratulate ourselves on how ?well we respond to God's grace." He makes some excellent and provoking ?points. I attend Biola University. Yesterday, one of my professors made the same ?argument, using the song "Above All" as a particular example. This caused ?me not only to e-mail Brian's article to my professor, but, after rereading ?the article, also to rethink my position on the issue. I can say that my ?perspective has changed a little bit. Let's consider the following lyrics: "I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. ?My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. ?Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together." It seems that Brian would consider this type of song to be completely ?selfish, because it really says nothing about God. It is also very ?individualistic. However, these lyrics are straight out of Psalm 34. I can ?think of another narcissistic praise song that was inspired by Scripture: "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart; ?I will enter His courts with praise. ?I will say this is the day that the Lord has made; ?I will rejoice for He has made me glad." In both of these instances, the lyrics speak not of God, but of how "I" ?intend to worship Him. And yet, I would argue that many praise songs are ?written in such a way because Christians generally look to the Psalms as ?examples of how to praise God. Without denying the shallow nature of much ?Christian music, I think we need to evaluate what makes the Psalms ?meaningful and valid expressions of praise. If we could worship God by ?reading one of the Psalms, couldn't we worship Him by singing one of the ?Psalms? Of course, another way to view this argument is that, because of our ?self-centeredness, we tend to choose portions of the Psalms that talk about ?"me" and "us." This could be a valid point. It's good for the church to be ?self-critical, to make sure we are not being mindless about the way we do ?things in the name of Jesus. A: Thanks for your thoughtful note. I think, as you say, that there’s nothing wrong with saying “I” or of worshipping God by expressing our commitment and intention – of course! The problem comes when a high percentage of our songs are about this, and a low percentage are about God’s character, etc. In many settings, zero percent are about God’s concern for justice – something of real concern to me lately. Subject: Please read me, if you have time. 2 Wow where to start. I am so excited about people like you. Your find on "Christianity" or Jesus or even God is so beautiful. Your books are so on time for me. I have read your "A New kind of Christian" And am currently in the middle of "A Generous Orthodoxy" and "The story we find ourselves in." Haha they are so good! Thank you so much for sharing your viewpoints with everybody! "Blessed to be a blessing to others." You truly are a blessing to me, and to the world! Oh and by the way if this does not got directly to Brian Mclaren please be sure that it does. I am sure you get so many E-mails that are similar if not worded the same as this. But I am truly blessed and excited about where God is taking our world!! Please keep up the conversation, I hope that peoples rude remarks and horrible attitudes don't discourage you too much. I wish I could meet you in person and just shake your hand. Forgive my weirdness, because I work graveyard shift and haven't gone to sleep yet. But I am truly grateful for your work in the "Kingdom" or even yet community. I actually live in Utah right now, and there is just about no one else who has even heard of "post-modernity" or Brian Mclaren or Leonard Sweet. So it is truly a weird thing to be reading your books because I get so many weird looks when I try to explain what they are about!! Even if I am so in the dark about it myself. One more question. Have you always been a theologian? (I am sorry about the spelling.) I so wish I was but, the truth is I am not and I sound so dumb when I try to sound like one. But I long to be, I think to be a thinker is a blessing, and maybe sort of a curse! Well if you get the time and could E-mail back I would think that would be so cool! If not I want to encourage you to keep the faith or whatever!! You know what I mean. If you have time E-mail back at: Oh yeah I think this will be sent to you from my moms E-mail. Thank you so much for your time! I hope that this letter finds you well! Thanks! A: Thanks for your encouraging words – especially since you haven ‘t had any sleep! I have been a pastor for 24 years. Before that I was a college English teacher. I’m glad the books have been of help to you. Keep walking in God’s light!