diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | faith/faith_is_from_hearing.rst | 141 |
1 files changed, 70 insertions, 71 deletions
diff --git a/faith/faith_is_from_hearing.rst b/faith/faith_is_from_hearing.rst index 9df493f..c76ba42 100644 --- a/faith/faith_is_from_hearing.rst +++ b/faith/faith_is_from_hearing.rst @@ -17,38 +17,38 @@ Faith is from hearing This is one of the very famous verses in the New Testament, and if you were among Christians at least for some time, I am quite -sure, that you have heard a sermon on this verse at least once. -In the missionary oriented churches, like ours, we have a sermon -on this always every year. +sure that you have heard a sermon on this verse at least once. In +the missionary oriented churches, like ours, we have a sermon on +this always every year. A warning and disclaimer first. I have to warn you, this sermon -won’t be probably be harsher and more negative than it is usual -in this church. I won’t name any names, but there will be +won’t probably be harsher and more negative than it is usual in +this church. There won’t be any names used, but there will be criticism of some things I really don’t like. I apologize to -anybody who would have tendency to be offended, please, don’t. -Take it as my one-time repayment for all time when I had to -suffer through sermons which I didn’t like. +anybody who tends to be offended, please, don’t. Take it as my +one-time repayment for all time when I had to suffer through +sermons which I didn’t like. I would be willing to summarize those sermons on this verse into one certainly exaggerated schema: faith to our poor unbelieving neighbours comes from hearing of what you should be telling them. In order to be able to provide them the word of Christ you need -to study the Bible more. And put it mildly the fact there are so -many unbelievers all around is your fault, because you are too +to study the Bible more. And to put it mildly, the fact there are +so many unbelievers all around is your fault, because you are too lazy and too ashamed of God to move your behind and share the most important news of your life with them despite the danger of being ridiculed by them. Shame on you, and get up from that chair and go spread the gospel! -Such sermons are prayed by people who have personally found being -a missionary their all-life calling, and usually they are cheered -by those in the audience who feel likewise. Rest of the +People who have personally found being a missionary their +all-life calling usually preach such sermons, and they are +cheered by those in the audience who feel likewise. Rest of the congregation feels dutifully ashamed of themselves. Some of them -are ashamed to the level that they actually try some one-time +are ashamed to the level that they actually try some a one-time desperate action, which being one-time desperate one, will fail, and so the total result is that those who were already persuaded -are enjoying their persuasion, and the rest is even more ashamed -of themselves. Next year, whole exercise repeats. +are enjoying their persuasion, and the rest are even more ashamed +of themselves. Next year, the whole exercise repeats. To ease the atmosphere a bit, let me show you this video, which is very relevant to this verse, and let me then continue with @@ -61,13 +61,13 @@ I. Hearing So, the first thing is that the faith is from **hearing**. That such huge area, which I think is very important and under-covered -in the Protestant practice, that I could talks hours just on each +in the Protestant practice, that I could talk hours just on each of these sub-areas: hearing of God on the personal level, silence, and the tradition of the Desert Fathers in Egypt, hearing and listening in the pastoral care and interpersonal conflict resolution, or hearing as the foundation of the mission. -We don’t have those hours, so I will just remain on the very high -level and I will have just few notes on the subject. +We don’t have those hours, so I will just remain on a very high +level and I will have just a few notes on the subject. Let me just another self-defence disclaimer: I am very proud to be a Protestant. I am proud to stand in the tradition of Martin @@ -75,15 +75,15 @@ Luther, Pilgrim Fathers, Czech Brethren, and many others who lived radically their lives of faith. It doesn’t however stop me from seeing weaknesses of our tradition. -Painting with very broad brush and drawing just very large +Painting with a very broad brush and drawing just a very large picture, I would suggest that the strongest part of the Protestant tradition is a purposeful action. The heroes of our faith are great preachers like Martin Luther, Jan Ámos Komenský, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, William Wilberforce, William Booth, Dwight Moody, Charles Spurgeon, Hudson Taylor, Eric Liddell, Billy Graham, Watchman Nee, Loren -Cunningham, Oral Roberts, Reinhard Bonke, and many many others. -These were the people of action, organizers of large missionary +Cunningham, Oral Roberts, Reinhard Bonke, and many others. These +were the people of action, organizers of large missionary organizations, courageous people who step into dangerous and unknown territories, people whose action changed the world. And we have every reason to be proud of this tradition and to be @@ -96,55 +96,55 @@ and it can start to be also a burden. What would you do if you were a deacon in your church charged with managing donations of the congregation for the various -missionaries and you’ve got an application from young failed +missionaries and you’ve got an application from a young failed school teacher, whose only mission statement was “to hug the dying poorest in the streets of the poorest city in the world”? Not building a hospital or hospice, just hugging them. Or what about the missionary who failed in his mission because of his mental illness, but he wanted to start painting pictures completely different from anything anybody painted before him? -How high these would stand on the list of the church sponsored -missions? My deep suspicion is that they would probably never got +How high would these stand on the list of the church sponsored +missions? My deep suspicion is that they would probably never get much if anything from your congregation. Congratulations, you -have just rejected to support Mother Theresa of Calcutta and -Vincent van Gogh. Many people don’t know, that because of his +have just rejected the support for Mother Theresa of Calcutta and +Vincent van Gogh. Many people don’t know, but because of his madness he had to leave the mission field and thus he became just one of the most influential figures in the history of the Western Art. Vincent van Gogh is just one of many representatives of how Protestantism completely missed on art. I was saying that the -biggest Protestant tradition is the one of the purposeful action. -The problem is that the true art doesn’t have any purpose. It is -much closer to the Jewish (and Catholic!) idea of sacrifice. -Artists gives to God his best without much any knowledge what the -God will use his gift for. If ever for anything. From the first -class masters who really changed the history of art and who were -openly Protestant I can think perhaps just about Johan Sebastian -Bach, and he was a Lutheran (who are much closer to the -Catholicism than any other branch of Protestantism perhaps with -the exception of the Anglicanism) and most of his commissions -were from the Catholic German princes anyway. And since then the -relationship between the greatest Protestant artists and Church -was usually tight at best. One example of many. When they asked -Johnny Cash in his last interview before his death (who would -certainly qualify in my opinion as deeply believing Protestant -Christian and first class artist breaking new ground in his -field), whether he was a Christian artist, he resolutely rejected -the idea saying “I am not a Christian artist, I am an artist who -happens to be a Christian.” I believe he meant by the Christian -art that which is purposeful, music and other forms of the -artistic expression which are meant to serve to help Christians -to worship, to create beautiful churches, but which is not true -art in above mentioned terms of the purposeless sacrifice. - -I could talk about the avoidance of pain in the so called +biggest Protestant tradition is the one of purposeful action. The +problem is that true art doesn’t have any purpose. It is much +closer to the Jewish (and Catholic!) idea of sacrifice. Artists +give to God his best without much knowledge of what God will use +his gift for. If ever for anything. From the first class masters +who really changed the history of art and who were openly +Protestant I can think perhaps just about Johan Sebastian Bach, +and he was a Lutheran (who are much closer to the Catholicism +than any other branch of Protestantism perhaps except for the +Anglicanism) and most of his commissions were from the Catholic +German princes anyway. And since then the relationship between +the greatest Protestant artists and Church was usually tight at +best. One example of many. When they asked Johnny Cash in his +last interview before his death (who would certainly qualify as +deeply believing Protestant Christian and first class artist +breaking new ground in his field), whether he was a Christian +artist, he resolutely rejected the idea saying “I am not +a Christian artist, I am an artist who happens to be +a Christian.” I believe he meant by the Christian art that which +is purposeful, music and other forms of the artistic expression +which are meant to serve to help Christians to worship, to create +beautiful churches, but which is not true art in above mentioned +terms of the purposeless sacrifice. + +I could talk about the avoidance of pain in the so-called Christian Art, but that would be another very long digression, which I will spare you. -What I mean is that by avoiding hearing we loose one huge part of -the Christian spirituality, which could lead to our voice be more -authentic in the rapidly changing new world we are entering. +What I mean is that by avoiding hearing we lose one huge part of +the Christian spirituality, which could lead to our voice being +more authentic in the rapidly changing new world we are entering. II. The Word of Christ @@ -163,21 +163,20 @@ context of the New Testament interpretation it is usually understood to mean not the universal God’s word written on the paper (which is :language-el:`λόγος`), but more the God’s utterance, God speaking to the specific situation, specific -moment, and for the specific person. Other way how to explain -this distinction is to point to what’s normally called “knowledge -in one’s head” and “wisdom in one’s heart”. It is rather simple -to increase the amount of knowledge in our heads, it just -requires well developed what our German brothers call -:language-de:`das Sitzfleisch`, the muscle used for sitting. - -It is much more difficult and painful to obtain the wisdom in -one’s heart. In fact, it is one of the most important parts of -our whole-life Christian growth. It requires living through the -God’s ordained experiences, to overcome one’s pain, hurt, -let-downs. It requires asking for forgiveness and forgiving -others. - -What shall we say then? Is the study of the Bible useless and we +moment, and for the specific person. Another way to explain this +distinction is to point to what’s normally called “knowledge in +one’s head” and “wisdom in one’s heart”. It is rather simple to +increase the amount of knowledge in our heads, it just requires +well-developed what our German brothers call :language-de:`das +Sitzfleisch`, the muscle used for sitting. + +It is much more difficult and painful to get the wisdom in one’s +heart. In fact, it is one of the most important parts of our +whole-life Christian growth. It requires living through God’s +ordained experiences, to overcome one’s pain, hurt, let-downs. It +requires asking for forgiveness and forgiving others. + +What shall we say then? Is the study of the Bible useless, and we just need to live through our life and learn by the school of hard knocks? By no means! I am the last person in the world who would discourage any academic effort. Son of the university @@ -187,7 +186,7 @@ Of course, we need to have the head knowledge of the world from the Bible. We desperately need to get true God’s view on the world, what’s right and what’s wrong, and we can get those only from the Bible, because certainly the world won’t teach us from -the God’s perspective. +God’s perspective. Moreover, I believe, that studying of Bible is one of the pre-eminent God’s methods how to speak to us, how to give us |