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Science and Faith

[-11-08]

The Ideals of Christian Conservatism
It was only when I came to university that I first came accross conservative Christians. I'd come accross conservatives at school - there were many from the country and I'd freqently be embroiled in arguments despite having little political insight. One particular occasion involved being the only available person to stand agains on a debate regarding fox hunting despite never having taken part in a debate. Anyway, when I got to uni I was surrpised (even a little shocked) to find that there were Christians who were outwardly conservative. I couldn't get my head round it and, to be honnest, I still can't.

After many long complex conversations I found the explanation to this conundrum. And interestingly enough Stephen Fry uncovered it in Texas during his BBC series "Stephen Fry in America" last night. It's this:

So the idea is to earn as much money as you can so that you can give it away in charity. The prime example being Bill Gates.

In an ideal world, sure, but how well does it work in practice? When have I earnt enough to give it away? If I hold off I could earn even more and then give more away... I just can't see it working. For every saint who does give millions how many other are there who hide behind the idea but give none.

What might Jesus' opinion be? Try Mark 12:41-43
[03-11-08]

A Christian Perspective on The Inevitable US08 Election Rant
From Mark 12:29-31:

I was musing this morning realised that this verse describes the difference between the Republican and the Democratic party. The Republicans stand proude, declaring their Christian faith (yes, not all are religious) and extolling how important it is to follow Jesus/God and that is the most important thing.

Meanwhile the democrats are busy loving their neighbours as much as each other, making sure those who need it have enough. Sure some are faithful, but that's not the important message. The focus is to love each other.

So Jesus says these are the most impotant commandment - singular. Not 'both of these are important, pick one', but together this is what you do. As you'll gather I'm on the side of the democrats. And this fits. Because while I am a follower of Christ (and currently working for the Church) and truly love God, I would far rather love and help one another as I simply feel this is more important.

I guess the argument against me that my perhaps more conservative brother and sisters would hold (and do argue), is that if everyone followed the first then naturally everyone would follow the second also. If we all became Christians then life would be heaven. Litterally.

My problem with this argument is reality itself - not everyone will become a Christian, and not all Christians are nice people! And while we still live in this real world we have to sort out and love everyone else, especially those who can't do it for themselves. "What ever you did for the least of my brothers...", "...and the last will be first", "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners".
[02-11-08]

Truth vs. Faith
Many months this issue of truth and faith came up in a conversation with my brother. I'm still mulling it over and have not coaleced my thoughts in to a coherent understanding. But its something that continues to come up in my new role as Chaplauncy Assistant.

Here are some thinking points:

• Jesus declared himself the 'truth'
• is there just one truth?
• what is truth?
• is truth personal or global?
• with so many differences just within the belief of Christianity, how can we claim we have the truth.
• is truth simple or complex - what should it cover?
• Why do we need truth - is it not simply a construct to control and include/exclude.
• How can we have faith if we know our faith is true

I keep coming back to this undersanding that God is simply beyond understanding. Sure Jesus came as a way to God, and Jesus was God, but that does not mean God was Jesus.

Yikes, what I'm saying there is that God is not entirly contained within Jesus, i.e. God is bigger than Jesus and thus God can not be constricted to the confines of the Human. I think we frequently try to do this as we focus simply on Jesus and leave God behind. Jesus is after all far more tangable than God and so this attitude is totally understandable.

Yes I believe Jesus is the way. Jesus is awesome and his message is revolutionary (why I am Christian). But he was around for only a finite period of time and as such could not have explained the entirety of God's awsomeness. It's silly to believe that Jesus would have had the time, in the same way that it would have been silly for God to sit Moses down and try to explain evolution. God understands humans, he made us after all. So he understands how to reach us. And if that's the case then I can accept that he can reach us through Jesus and in other ways.

I'm not saying that all faiths are equal or lead to God (though I'll not exclude that), but I don't want to be so arrogant to assume that I possess the truth of God.

Isn't it such a wonderfully human trait to be arrogant enough to believe that we own the truth. Come as Children, with simple faith.
[17-10-08]

Jewish Christian Muslim Interfaith Conference
I'm on my way back from a conference in Brighton bringing together Chaplaincies from all over the south coast to talk about interfaith dialogue in the context of Chaplaincy and higher/further education. Brighton gave a great report on how their Chaplaincy has been developing inter-faith relationships over the past six years to the point where they have joint services with many different faiths.

A lady from St Ethelburgers gave us a good talk on how to encourage and facilitate dialogue within multi-faith groups. Following lunch we had a great talk from a lady from Gender Trust about the challenges of trans-gender people. We used this as a basis for developing a dialogue around gender and identity.

I think that the chance to meet chaplains from different universities together as a group was excellent. I was there representing both Southampton and SCM, and what struck me most was the openness of the attendees to maintain dialogue and the sad but frequent comment that their main trouble came from the various Christian Unions who oppose inter-faith or actively seek to target those of other faiths for conversion. One chaplain who considered himself as an evangelical Christian lamented how he is not invited to speak at CU simply due to his association with inter-faith activities.

While I am not passing judgement on CU or UCCF, I was deeply proud to be there representing SCM. I am also deeply proud of the Southampton SCM group which I believe, while not perfect, is really acting on its principle of inclusively.

Inter-faith does not mean to loose ones faith, nor to pollute it or water it down. Dialogue is about listening, learning and growing in faith while sharing with those of other faith (or religion if the word 'faith' is not appropriate) traditions. The outcome should be in breaking down the barriers of ignorance and fear that get built so easily when we think that we own the 'truth'.
[17-10-08]

Sharing Faith cont.
Later in that same week I had a quite inspiring conversation with a new mature student nurse. We talked about church, about faith, about being environmentally conscious, about harvest festival, and experiences. At no point did we discuss the nature of Jesus' death, not his divine/human nature. It simply didn't come up, it didn't need to come up. We had different opinions but that didn't seem to matter. We shared our faith and I believe it was worship.

Neither of these conversations do I believe was right or wrong. It doesn't work like that. I feel the second brought about growth in both parties whereas the first resulted in the conclusion that he would and could not worship God if I were present. This I find deeply saddening about conservative viewpoints - that simple the presence of people with other views and experiences threatens their faith to the point where they believe that only in isolation can they achieve the purity to worship God without compromise.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a UCCF staff worker and she remarked how she is so excited with her job because she gets to talk to students about Jesus every day. This challenged me. It made me worry that as I don't find myself talking about Jesus all the time I must be missing the point. But then I realised that I am talking about him, but I'm talking about God and about faith, experience of church and spirituality and all the other things as well as Jesus. He is important. No one is more challenging then him. But I don't find myself hitting people with Jesus as soon as I start a conversation.
[13-10-08]

Inspiring Sport
I'm not a big sport fan, but Mark Barrett's sermon today at Bethesda Methodist Church in Cheltenham was quite inspiring. The main point was to finish the race - which is quite apt for me considering my current state of finishing my PhD, which has seemed like a marathon effort. His sermon was illustrated with stories of sporting un-heroes, those who did not win, came last even, but for them it was the completion of the race that counted above all. While I'm not big on sports I do enjoy the Olympics, but what I find fascinating about sports - which are so often focused on the winning - is those odd stories it creates where unexpected people overcome amazing odds to achieve so little, yet so much.
[12-10-08]

Sharing Faith
Yesterday I bumped into an old friend from my CU days and we had a long discussion about the principles of faith. Well, the principles of his faith. Basically it boiled down to a discussion about the doctrine of atonement, in particular 'penile substitution'. This is the understanding that Jesus literally took on every sin, in particular my sin (being as I am totally sinful in the sight of God) and died from God's wrath. I kind of hold this belief, but not to the point where I'd want to shout about it. Whereas my friend was very convinced that this is the very crux of Christian faith, and must be accepted to be saved. I'm not wanting to comment on this theology, but it was an enjoyable conversation that made me think.
[30-09-08]