Today I hoped to tackle some questions "sent in by the audience" but didn't receive any. So decided to look at what I suspect are some of the questions people are asking, or maybe felt too polite to ask.
Question 1:
"Isn't Christianity a lot of boring old mumbo-jumbo?" Why should I bother with Church when it's so boring?
I'm afraid to admit that sometimes Church can be Guilty as charged! But it shouldn't be!
The Church has managed to pull of a major miracle by turning wine into water. Jesus' life and work was all about the "Kingdom of God" - and that meant healing for the broken, freedom for the enslaved, justice of the oppressed, a challenge for the greedy and the oppressor. It all sounds pretty exciting, exhilarating, far from boring. Too demanding, maybe; but boring?
And Jesus said his "Kingdom" was like "New wine" that was still alive, fermenting, growing... but the church has turned "the Kingdom of God" into religion, turned excitement and challenge into manageable routine, turned wine back into water. So, if the Church has given you the impression that Jesus and the faith that bears his name, Christianity, is boring, I can only apologise, and assure you that it doesn't have to be that way.
A few years ago a guy from Edinburgh – in fact he’s a Christian and goes to Barnton Baptist Church – was into serving a charity by driving trucks full of aid to Eastern Europe. As an ex-fireman he realised that the emergency services in some Balkan countries were inadequately equipped and trained for dealing with road traffic accidents – even to the point of having nothing better than crowbars and screwdrivers to get victims our of smashed cars. The result was a project that got loads of Scots working together to buy up retired fire engines, restore them and donate them to eastern European countries, driving them over and training local rescue workers in the right techniques. That has been a hugely demanding but also exciting project. Definitely not boring!
Question 2
Isn't Christianity just a bunch of myths? Why should I sign up for something that means I have to leave my brain at the door?
There are a number of things to say about that. We're going to have to think hard, so keep your brain in gear!
Firstly, let me give you a philosophy lesson... The "scientific method" of finding things out uses what is called "Inductive reasoning." It begins with observations about specific things that happen in the world, and creates a general rule. Someone observes that water freezes at 0ºc under normal pressure. That is observed over and over again. So we have a rule that the freezing point of water is 0ºc. That is reached by the scientific method.
Once you have a rule, you can use it to answer questions about specific events, like, "What will happen if...?" and "What made this happen?" What will happen if I use water (without any antifreeze) to cool my car and the water cools down to below 0ºc? It will all freeze up. That's called Deductive reasoning. It's about predicting outcomes. On the other hand, if I take my car to the garage because it is leaking water, and the mechanic tells me the radiator has split open, he might say that happened because there was no antifreeze in the system and the water froze up. (That, for those who are curious is called Abductive reasoning.) It's concerned with determining causes. Now when you encounter a book that talks about the miraculous, the supernatural, if you have a rule that says "There is no such thing as the supernatural", then you are going to explain the so-called supernatural in some other way. You are going to say that the book was written by simple, credulous people.
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| Albert Einstein receiving US citizenship |
But what about those places where there seems to be a direct conflict between the bible and science? Where the Bible apparently says one thing and science says another?
We need to get rid of the idea that the people who wrote the Bible were somehow stupid. The book of Genesis contains two different perspectives on creation: two different versions of the same story. Did the person who put them together in the same book not notice? Or maybe he did it intentionally. Where did Cain - Adam and Eve's son - get his wife from? A favourite question from people who are trying to knock Christians off their perch. But do you think for one moment the literary genius who wrote Genesis never noticed the problem? He is unperturbed by the fact that there were other people in the world, besides the people mentioned by name... that should tell us something - he isn't writing a scientific textbook but a history with "God-story".
So, maybe there isn't so much of a conflict as you think. The bible - properly used - and science - properly used - dovetail together, telling different parts of the same story. As one wise poet wrote long ago, "the heavens are declaring the glory of God" (Psalm 19. 1)
Question 3
What is the relevance of all this to my life?
There's one more thing about stories like Adam and Eve. In the way they describe the human condition - the terrible sense of loss of Man thrown out of the Garden, the idea that we are made for something better - they have a ring of truth. We just know - we instinctively feel - that we are different from the animals, that there is something "missing". It seems being human involves seeking a deeper dimension. When you see a bunch of teenagers getting drunk in the local park you just know they were made for better things, When you see a Somali refugee child too weak to flick the flies away from her face, you just know she was made for better things. A human death is a tragedy. Loss is loss because there was something better.
When Jesus turned water into wine - it was more than a neat conjuring trick. It was care and love for the practicalities of life for a poor and embarrassed young family: it was highly relevant to that young bridegroom's life. It was a reminder that the kingdom of God is meant to spill out through our lives to bring refreshment, healing and hope for us and for our world. It's meant to be life changing and it's meant to be world changing. It takes us back to live with the purpose and dignity we were made for; it promises a reversal of all the injustice and pain in our world. It's highly relevant.© Gilmour Lilly September 2011
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