Horribly depressing thoughts for the day

I'm sorry that I only blog when I'm depressed. That doesn't mean that I'm often depressed, it just means that depressing things give me the energy to rant. I have three or four happier blog posts on the go but they require more research than a good old-fasioned rant. And I've been saving this one up for weeks...

• Jesus said, "Judge not, lest you be judged." We've often taken this to imply that it is forbidden for Christians to be judgemental. I know I come across as judgemental here from time to time, and I worry about that. But that's not what it says. It says, if you're judgemental, deal with the consequences. Welcome the consequences. Because judgement is convictive and corrective. It is forensic in the sense that it puts the light on areas that need improvement. Examine me, God, and know my heart; test me like metal, and know my mind. Tell me of any idolatrous ways in me, and guide me into everlasting ways. (Ps 139:23-24)
• Our current missions structure sucks. Denominational missions suck, because they introduce and reinforce division.
• But non-denominational missions suck, because they aren't. They may start off non-denominational, but soon they plant a church and some people put particular emphasis on gifts of the Holy Spirit, and some don't, and there's a disagreement about how to run church. So we formulate a policy. Then someone has a child; should it be baptised? In the interests of unity, we formulate a policy. Soon we have our own rules about how our churches run - a sort of weak theological soup, so bland that nobody is excited enough to disagree with it - and hey presto, we've got our own denomination.

  The point is that, in Western Protestantism, the church was increasingly fractured into a great variety of denominations which, phenomenologically speaking, were not decisively different from missionary and other religious societies. Denominations, too, were organized on the voluntary principle of like-minded individual banding together. They were, in a sense, para-church organizations.

  - David Bosch, Transforming Mission

• Church-to-church missions suck, because they ghettoise, and we only deal with people like us, and miss out on the rich diversity that characterises the Kingdom of God. Where there is not Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, foreigners, savages, slaves, free... but all of these, and in all of these, Christ. (Col 3:11)
• But independent missionaries suck, too, because they frequently lack accountability and oversight and authority, and we weren't ever meant to go this road alone. So I went to Jerusalem, according to a revelation, and set out the good news I preach among the Gentiles, privately, to those who had a good reputation, just in case I was running my race in vain. (Gal 2:2)
• Evangelical Christians, you piss me off. You use "evangelical" as a code-word for "real". This is sectarianism in the worst sense of the word "sect". Japan has 3% Christians, but only 0.5% Evangelical Christians. The other 2.5% are not Christian enough for you. They might have faith, but they don't have an "evangelical" faith. That is, not a real faith. Just being Christian is not enough. Is it enough for Christ? But someone comes preaching a different Jesus to the one we preached, and you receive a different spirit to the one you received before, and a different gospel than the one you accepted, and you put up with that, but I reckon that I'm not any worse than these "super-apostles" (2 Cor 11:4-5)
• Next week is the 489th anniversary of the failed Reformation. Was it of God? The aim of the Reformation was to reform, as the name implies, the Catholic Church. Instead it caused division, misunderstanding, and mindless, mindless factionalism. And yet the Catholic church is still one. Who won that one? As a reformation, I think it scored minus several million out of ten. And now I say to you, withdraw from these men and leave them alone, because if this will or this work is of man, it will break into pieces, but if it is from God, you will not be able to break it apart. (Acts 5:38-39a)
• Thankfully Protestantism is fundamentally self-limiting. If I know that the Church is divided into tens of thousands of sects on the basis of what they believe "the Word of God says", I will be a lot more cautious about what I declare that "the Word of God says". And I will look for a higher authority than myself, a magisterium about what the Word of God says. And where will I find one?
• That said, I've just had an argument with the director of my misssion about whether or not they should accept Catholics. He thinks they shouldn't. I thought they should, but now I agree with him. But for different reasons. He thinks they shouldn't accept Catholics because there's something wrong with the Catholic church. I think they shouldn't accept Catholics because there's something wrong with the mission. As evangelicals, they'd stop converting the damned heathen and spend all their time converting their co-workers. Christ indwells you, they say. The guiding principle of the mission is that we respect the other person because we respect Christ who indwells them. But of course, Christ only indwells them if they have an "Evangelical" faith. Of course.
• You see, ecumenicalism is where the rubber hits the road in Christian witness. Am I prepared to love and accept those who are in a different tribe to me? Multinationalism is easy, because the reality of Western hegemony in missions makes it easy to claim to be multinational even when you're not. Non-Western partners are sufficiently polite that they'll adapt to you anyway. But ecumenicalism? Shit, this is where that whole thing about loving your enemies comes into play. And basically, we can't do it.
• Speaking of Western hegemony, this whole thing about Christ indwelling you is wonderfully Western anyway. If Christ indwells me, it means that I, the emancipated individual of the Enlightenment Age, can do anything through the power of the Holy Spirit. In "Learning about Union with Christ", there is not a word about the Church. Why should there be? You have Christ - you can do it alone!
• Of course the position here is not that blatant. There is a move from the individual conception of union with Christ to what I call the "several" conception of union with Christ. Remember those tenancy agreements you had to sign when you were sharing a house? You were "jointly" and "severally" liable. A "several" concept of union with Christ says that each one of us has Christ indwelling us. This is closer than the individual conception, but still completely wrong. The Biblical and patristic understanding is that we are "jointly" indwelled. If Christians "severally" have the fullness of Christ in them, they shouldn't be able to disagree. But they do! The usual cop-out here is that one of them is broken; they're not hearing God properly, they're not "walking closely with God", or whatever. Why not blame the model instead? Maybe if you did some research, you'd find it owes more to the Western modernist philosophy than it does to Christianity.

  Through participation in the same Christ we all become one body, possessing the one Lord in ourselves.

  Athanasius, contra Arianos

You know, I depress myself sometimes. But then, I remember - it would be nice to be able to do this job with perfect people. But there aren't any. Not even me. And although I feel like I want to give up, love compels me. The Beatles said "All you need is love." That's a profoundly theological statement. St John would have been proud. Mission is broken, but I love my fellow missioners. The church is broken, but I love my fellow churchgoers. Christianity is broken, but I love my fellow Christians. And I love the Japanese, so I'm going to get out there and do the job. It's not perfect yet, but I can wait for that. Love compels me.

Full version - 8 Comments