June 29th, 2007
So Rob tells us all about Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, specifically the part where Jesus is talking about the law ‘and eye for an eye’ and he says
But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matt 5:39)
Which is arguably one of Jesus’ most quotable moments. It’s fundamental to some people’s understanding of who Jesus was. If someone hits you, stand there and take it, don’t hit back, don’t do anything. The message bible even translates what Jesus said as this. But last night, Rob explained it in a way I’d never heard before.
In Jewish culture at the time of Jesus people had a ‘clean’ hand (right) and a ‘dirty’ hand (left). The right hand would be used for greeting people, eating, working and all manor of task you couldn’t really use your left for as your ‘dirty’ hand was often engaged in matters of personal hygiene and it was considered unthinkable to use it for anything but it’s intended, very specific, job.
So when you hit someone, you’d obviously only ever use your right hand.
There’s something else about the culture at the time that you need to know. It was a highly class driven - Everyone knew their place, and everyone had their place. So the way you hit someone depended on who you were to them. A master hitting a servant for example would only ever slap them, they would never ever use a fist as this would validate that servant as an equal. And if all the other servants are watching, well, you’ve got yourself anarchy on your hands.
So if someone strikes you on the right cheek, with their right hand… They’re not making a fist.
No, they’re slapping you. They’re saying ‘you are not worthy of a fist’. In other words, they’re better than you. And in Jesus’ time, the most likely people to think they’re better than you are the conquering Romans.
So turning the other cheek is an act of defiance, it’s saying ‘you cannot take my dignity’. It’s saying ‘take your best shot, but this time as an equal‘. Jesus doesn’t go for the hit back or do nothing approaches, no, he goes for the third option. The option which takes infinitively more courage and imagination than the first two.
And this is how Rob Bell started his hour or so talk, I’ve no where near done it justice here. There’s what I think I knew about Jesus, and there’s what I find out when I actually look at the scriptures and what they’re saying in the context of the society of the time. Jesus wasn’t a passive, weak individual. He was a subversive, who stood up for the oppressed, weak and poor. I for one want to find out more.
Rob Bell continues his tour in Glasgow on 30th June. If you can, go check him out.
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May 18th, 2006
You may have seen these guys Kissing Hank’s Ass. If not, have a watch, it’s funny and well written (although, it does contain swearing, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, don’t watch).
The story is written by the Rev J Huber an atheist with some pretty definite views on the whole idea of God. Reading his FAQs you get the idea that this guy is not only very opinionated but also fiercley intelligent. So why then am I raving on about a video that obviously mocks what I believe?
I’m writing about it because it matches exactly the attitude I had to the whole religious thing before I became a Christian. I can relate to the frustration that people feel that someone might believe in this God that doesn’t make sense, He doesn’t add up, and yet people still follow Him.
I’m also writing about it because I think it’s the impression that many people have of Christians today. We’re the guys that stand on the street corner shouting the odds, prophesying hell fire and damnation. And it’s true, some of us are. But I also think there are many more Christians that are out there, helping people, putting themselves in difficult and dangerous situations because they’ve dedicated their lives to making peace and following the ideals of Jesus.
So yeah, the bible is important, and it is confusing, but the message of the new testament remains the same. Have a look at Matthew 5, it pretty much sums up the whole idea for me.
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February 6th, 2006
Lets forget religion for a moment. Forget what the world tells you about faith or science and ask yourself the question: Do you honestly believe that we are no more than a bag of bones and other assorted stuff that all fits together to make us human? Can you conceive that there is absolutely no more beyond what we can smell, touch, taste, see and hear? If the answer is an absolute genuine ‘yes’ to this, then stop reading. You’re excused. Go off and play somewhere.
For the rest of us, I want to explore why we think this. Is it inbuilt by a creator to lead us on a life long search for him? Or is it a result of evolution, that this longing to believe in something bigger than us, something after death is somehow an essential survival tool that gave out ancient ancestors the edge of the people who didn’t believe.
It’s arguable that the worlds oldest “religion” was Animism. This is a general term to describe the belief in spirits, ghosts, gods call them what you will. Essentially other beings that have a hand in the affairs of man, and by extension a belief in the human soul which survives the body after death. It’s everywhere throughout history, I can’t think of any historical cultures where faith or a belief in something, anything, wasn’t a central feature. It seams to me that throughout the whole of human history we have been seeking “god” in some form or another.
So on the one hand we have a creator. The maker of heaven and earth, that gave us life, free will and an inbuilt desire to find him. If indeed god is the God of the Bible, then an overwhelming theme of life is love. Free will gives rise to the potential for evil. So God takes a risk, he creates these beings that He can love and then sets them free. If they come back to Him then He’ll have love in return, not obedience out of fear. But He also gives them a fighting chance, He plants the seeds of faith, the inbuilt idea that there is indeed “something more”.
On the other hand we have evolution. Darwin tells us that all life on Earth evolved from some simpler form of life over a period of millions of years, certain traits dying out and others surviving based on how well those things equipped a creature to not to get killed. (I know this is a massively simplified version, but for the purposes of this post please bear with me.) So what of things like faith? Could we have evolved a need to believe in things because it gives us an edge over the other guys? I suppose it gives us hope, and hope is a powerful thing.
It’s a bit of a weird one this. I’m now not 100% sure of the point I was trying to make, if indeed I had one in the first place. All I know is that the search for the human soul is not an easy thing, and I don’t think I’ll ever have any kind of an answer until I die.
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