Redemption in a Postmodern Era
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Every once in a while I click into this music video program called Steel Roots on Inspiration TV. Basically, it's a Christian version of MTV circa 1990-- you know, when they aired music videos and not gag-inspiring low-budget reality TV of their own making. Young VeeJays intermingle music videos with commentary and interviews with different Christian bands. Decent idea in theory, right?
The other day my mother walked into the room, took one look at the screen and said, "What are you watching? That looks sick!"
A group of men wearing black eyeliner, their tattoo-covered skin layered in black leather, were screaming into a microphone while graphics on the screen depicted what appeared to be some kind of tornado followed by a girl locking herself into a bathroom and rolling around on the floor.
"It's Christian music videos," I replied.
"What's Christian about that?" she asked, aghast.
The next video that came on was of a band in a dark warehouse. Again, all wearing black, some with tattoos, banging hardcore on drums and electric guitars/bass. The lead singer, a girl with more eyeliner than most raccoons I've seen wandering in the woods, kept slamming her head to the side in a freakish sort of way that made her look, well, dead. Seriously, every three words and slam her head would pop off to one side and she'd roll her eyes a bit as if she was a doll whose head just got ripped off by some nasty little kid. Again, I couldn't quite tell what they were singing about, but the vision of her eyes half rolled into the back of her head stuck with me. (I just had an involuntary shiver.)
Then, a third band came on. A group of young guys-- definitely no older than mid-20s-- were dressed as soldiers wandering through a field and camping out. The lyric that kept repeating was "You're my favorite disease". One kid-- the lead singer I guess-- ended the video by running away from his buddies and kneeling on a hill. The most I got out of the song was that they were equating Messiah with a disease.
Huh?
Just to make sure I heard them right, I Googled "Christian music" and "My Favorite Disease" and found out that the song was written by a band called THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH and the lyrics to the last verse go like this:
Sometimes I feel like a monster
And times I feel like a saint
I'm on my knees
You're my favorite disease
And I love to way you kill me
Love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I still don't get it. Why is Messiah a disease?
Aren't diseases bad things?
Is Jesus a cancer to your system now?
Suddenly, cancer can be a good thing?
What?
I don't get it.
What I did get out of a half-hour of Christian MTV was that these bands are trying awfully hard to worship G-d while looking like every other secular rock band you see marketed today. Eyeliner? Tattoos? Bobble-heads? Comparing Jesus to death-causing agents?
Simply put, none of that makes sense.
"Oh, but you're being judgemental." I can hear the complaints now. "Are you going to judge a fellow brother or sister in Christ because they don't worship the way you do?"
No. If they want to scream into a microphone and render their worship unintelligible to all but G-d's ears, that is their choice. If they want to carve images and names all over their skin in total lack of respect for G-d's commandment not to, that is their choice. And if they want to parade around looking like death, acting like death, and comparing "the Light that gives Life" to death, that is their choice.
I am not the judge of the universe. The power of condemnation is not in my hands. Nor is the power of redemption.
I can't condemn someone for comparing Messiah to disease. But I can't redeem them and say it's a good comparison, either. Too often the "non-judgmental" wing of the Christian community is quick to condemn anyone who voices an opinion of disdain when it comes to radical decision making, especially among youth. To borrow a phrase from another era, the people who respond negatively to bobble-headed, mascara-laden disease praisers are often labeled as "The Man trying to get you down." They're tossed off as "traditional", "old", and worst of all, "opinionated" and "judgmental." "All truth is G-d's truth" many modern Christian writers, like Rob Bell and Mike Erre, like to say.
Yeshua is Truth. In fact, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But in repeating this axiom, many believers often interpret Yeshua as the Way to the Truth of Eternal Life-- and they stop there. Eternity is enough for them, which implies that once you've used your chance in this life to pick up your free pass, everything else you do and how you do it doesn't matter.
That doesn't make sense.
How many believers understand that Yeshua, their Messiah, also teaches the Truthful Way to live Life?
Actions speak louder than words.
If actions didn't matter, Yeshua never would have had to hang, bleeding in agony on a tree in a rainstorm.
If actions didn't matter, Yeshua never would have had to spend three years criticizing His own people for their unrighteous behavior and teaching His followers the way to eat, the way to pray, and the way to live their lives on this planet.
Yeshua's sacrifice is not a blank check you've been given to pay off the consequences of every bad action you take. Yeshua's sacrifice is the number one example of taking responsibility for the purpose G-d has for your life: To walk with Him in righteousness, even unto death, with full trust in the unseen fact of eternal life given through the grace of the only begotten Son of G-d.
In other words, your bad choices have been forgiven but you and you alone have been redeemed. Now, how you walk the walk is up to you, but G-d's forgiveness doesn't imply that you are suddenly held unaccountable for your actions. Yeshua didn't die on the execution stake to make everything okay. He didn't walk this earth as a rebel and leave His followers with a great commission to be like everyone else.
In fact, understanding and putting full faith in His forgiveness and grace implies acknowledging not only that you have done something wrong, but that you have dishonored G-d by doing so. So, why is it that so many believers hold onto the notion that since they've been forgiven, they can do whatever they please and Messiah makes it all okay?
Since when did the Son of G-d become a band-aid for your un-G-dly behavior?
There is such incredible zeal among young believers to live out their faith in Messiah in total and complete honesty. But they can't go around claiming everything is redeemed for Christ and call it kosher.
I once attended a worship service where the leader decided to follow a good hour and a half of praise music with "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles. My dad and I, the big Beatles fans we are, stared at one another with a mutual expression of, "What are they doing?"
"Yes! Love!" the leader proclaimed, "All we need is the love of Messiah!"
Yeah, but that's not what the Beatles were talking about when they penned the tune in 1967. They were talking about "free love," a love rooted in drugs, promiscuous sex, music, and the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I know. I saw the Anthology. So did everyone else who stood there, more than a little aghast.
As believers, we are so enamored with the truth that Yeshua's sacrifice has allowed G-d to forgive our past wrongs, to redeem us from our sins, that we tend to not only claim that redemptive power over our own lives, but over everyone and everything that we love.
But, we can't redeem.
We can't make it better.
We can't render the actions and work of others as just in G-d's eyes.
We can pray for people and we can pray that the truth we hear in music, in movies, and in all work produced is more powerful and pervasive than the lies that often accompany those truths, but we can't go around calling everything good.
It's a great thing to look for the good in this world, because Scripture states that, "Every good thing is from above." But, condemnation and redemption go hand-in-hand. You can't have one without the other and both belong to G-d. It's good that you don't want an attitude of condemnation pervading your believing community, but just as you recognize that you don't have the power to condemn everything as bad, you have to recognize that you don't have the power to redeem everything as good, either.
When the Beatles sang "All You Need is Love" they were singing an anthem of the Hippie movement. They were four guys with torrid private lives who openly used illegal drugs and participated in pagan religious activities. You may understand that G-d is love, but their love god was someone or something completely and utterly different.
When a rock band cakes on eyeliner, clads themselves in tattoos and black leather, and stares at a camera with eyes rolled to the back of their head, they might be singing about G-d (although that's even left to question) but they look like pagans.
When musicians talk about Messiah in terms of disease and death they use the antithesis to characterize the thesis of their professed faith.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, "'Everything is permitted,' you say? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. 'Everything is permitted?' Maybe, but not everything is edifying." How does looking, sounding, and analogizing like the secular world translate into being an effective witness for the truth of Messiah?
Paul goes on to write, "Well, whatever you do, whether it's eating or drinking or anything else, do it all so as to bring glory to G-d." In other words, Paul isn't saying that your actions will glorify G-d no matter what you do, he says that what you do should be motivated by the goal of glorifying G-d.
Does dressing, acting, or talking like you're dead glorify G-d?
No.
Does espousing a secular nature while professing Biblical belief glorify G-d?
Better yet, let me ask you this: Is our G-d the G-d of confusion?
Then why do you portray your faith in Him in such confusion?
Labels: Christianity, condemnation, Jesus, Messiah, redemption, rob bell, Steel Roots, Yeshua
posted by Shoshana @ 8:38 AM
Rethinking Christianity & Living Rabbinic Judaism
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
My reading list never ends. Currently, 2 books popped into my sphere:
Provocative Faith by Matthew Paul Turner
Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
I just finished the former and started the latter. I find it interesting that these young ministers are calling for a cultural re-think of faith in Messiah. What especially drew me to Bell's book were his uses of Jewish Biblical terms: tassels (tzitzit), Torah, and Shalom. I'm looking forward to seeing how he correlates these elements of Jewishness with his redefinition of Christian culture.
Essentially, what I'm sensing from this literature is a desire for a more living, vital faith. It's as if these young men know G-d and want to live their faith in Messiah, but they know that traditional Christian church culture isn't the way to do it. They want a practice that is less religious and more lifestyle-oriented, and they want it to be real and relevant to the way Messiah lived when He walked on earth. Is this a trend towards Biblical Judaism? I can only report on what I see, and when I see young people questioning church practices using Jewish terminology, I can't help but wonder about the direction of the culture of faith in Yeshua/Jesus with more than a little anticipation.
In the meantime, I've also completed Mark Kinzer's paper, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism: Three Years Later. In comparison to the two texts mentioned above, it seems that Kinzer's thinking is just as regressive as Turner's and Bell's is agressive.
Firstly, to compare the three texts is somewhat difficult, given that Turner and Bell wrote for a broad audience of everyday readers while Kinzer's work is penned for the realms of the Messianic and Christian academic elite. While Turner's and Bell's books contain clear, solid argumentation backed up by real life examples and scriptural citation, Kinzer's work is laden with language and argumentation fed by quotes of fellow academics and completely lacking in any Biblical citation whatsoever. The tone and style of these pieces clearly indicates their intended audiences, which causes me to question the motives behind Kinzer's work in particular. After all, if the radical cultural changes he proposes are so right-on for the movement as a whole, why not bring them to the people of the movement in a pallatable fashion? Why hide these assertions among the upper-echelons through the careful (and often confusing) use of academic language?
Secondly, while Turner and Bell question the structure and methodology of contemporary Christianity, Kinzer uses the structure and function of the contemporary Christian church as the basis for a historical analysis of the relationship between Judaism, the Jewish people, and the Christian church/faith. In true postmodern fashion, Kinzer ignores the facts and implications of 2,000 years of history and instead uses today as the launching point for the future of the Messianic movement. Can we really wipe away 2,000 years of history and start fresh when we all still wear the scars of our past?
Thirdly, while Turner and Bell are seeking to redefine their faith-identity through the Word of G-d, Kinzer is relying on the man-made authority structures inherent within the Christian Church and Rabbinic Judaism to develop a Messianic identity. Turner and Bell are seeking to break down religious structures that inhibit believers from walking in their faith, while Kinzer relies on the very same man-made structures to redefine a halacha with Yeshua.
This year, I attended Rosh haShanah services at my local Reconstructionist Temple. Why? Honestly, my boss offered me his ticket and the time off from work. Appreciative and always up for a cultural experience and a chance to interact with my fellow Jews, I took him up on the offer. Three and a half hours of solid liturgy later I sat on a hard wooden pew and felt as if my jaw were going to fall off. Despite the admirable levels of commitment exhibited by the packed house, it took all I had to retain the deep sense of joy I have in being a Jew.
Despite the incredible number of times the word Yeshua was prayed in the liturgy, Yeshua was not invited into that room. It was as if someone threw a wedding but the groom never showed up. And, honestly, I wasn't even meaning to be Biblical in my analogy; there is just no other metaphor to explain the sheer sadness of it all. There was the bride, waiting and waiting, not realizing that in all her preparation for the biggest day of her life, she'd forgotten to do the one most important thing of all: Say 'Yes' to his proposal. There she was, playing bride the way little girls play house or play dolls. All decked out, she rehearsed the part with the same mix of joy and sadness inherent in any teenage girl's dream; that spark of hope damped by that twinge of reality. It was sad. It was creepy. It was weird. Three and a half hours of liturgy recited by a cantor, mumbled by an audience as familiar with Hebrew as they are with Chinese.
Afterwards, we all walked down to the river to cast our sins into the waters. At first, I realized that I hadn't brought any bread and secretly rejoiced in the irony that Yeshua had already washed my sins away. Then, one of the ladies came up to me with a slice and a smile. I returned the wish for a good yontif and took the bread with a nod of thanks. Tearing it up, I joined my people in casting off the sins of Israel into the mayim chayim. It reminded me more of feeding the birds than anything else.
Messianic services are filled with joy. We dance. We sing. We play tambourines and a host of other instruments. We wave tabrets, flags, banners. We wear talits. The ceremony of worship is all color and light, shouts and singing, clapping and dancing. The most movement I got in this service was davvening lightly during the two 5-minute periods of silent prayer and reflection.
Have you ever truly thanked G-d for knowing Yeshua? I have. I did it a lot this Rosh haShanah. I'm still doing it. Thank G-d, I know Yeshua. Thank G-d I'm not the bride left wondering. Thank G-d I'm not relying on day-old bread to take my sins away.
No one is more important in my life than Yeshua. Not many people understand that, including believers. So many believers get to the point where Yeshua becomes so familiar that they respond to His Name like robots receiving a computer prompt. The leader says "Praise Messiah!" and the congregants respond, "Amen!" when they're really thinking, "Is it time to eat yet?" or "I have to go walk the dog!"
Try attending a Rabbinic service. I guarantee you, your Messiah will take on a whole new place in your life and your way of thinking. Once you know what it is like to live the difference, you will love Him more than ever.
Baruch haShem, Yeshua.
Have an easy fast...
Labels: Christian, High Holidays, identity, Mark Kinzer, matthew paul turner, Messianic Judaism, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism, rob bell, Yeshua
posted by Shoshana @ 9:07 PM
