"Slim Shady's crazy. Shady made me, but tonite he's rock-a-by-baby."
In the "When I'm Gone" video, Eminem appears at what is clearly an AA meeting.
In response to: "Is there anyone else who'd like to share with us tonite," Enimem launches into one of the most confessional raps/songs/speeches that I've heard. As Christians, we're supposed to confess our sins one to another. Eminem gets this.
He begins by telling us how much he loves his daughter--that he would "give an arm for her"--that he would "destroy anyone who tries to harm her." What happens when you then become the person harming her--you become the "main source of her pain," he raps.
"Daddy, where's mommy?" (They've been divorced two times.) He dismisses her saying that he's got to write a song and catch a plane. He tells her to "swing by herself."
Then, "you turn right around and, in that song, tell her you love her--and put hands on her mother, who's the spitting image of her."
Talk about a divided self--not doing what he desires (loving his daughter) but doing what he doesn't desire (leaving his daughter, even doing violence to her mother--the "spitting image of her").
Remarkably, Eminem arrives at the same place as St. Paul: "Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?" "Tonite, he's rock-a-by-baby."
In Christianity, we believe that self-improvement plans don't work. We believe that we are such inveterate sinners, so incapable of doing the right thing, that a death is necessary. St. Paul cried out for deliverance. Eminem cries out for deliverance.
St. Paul gave us the answer: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
How can this be the answer to the divided self?
Our divided selves react negatively to the law. When someone tries to tell us how to live our lives, we are prone, even programmed perhaps, to do the opposite. When our wives, bosses, even best friends try to tell us what we should do, we revolt! We hate the law!
How much worse is it then, when we believe that God is laying the law down for us to follow? We revolt that much more. Sure, some people may seem to outwardly keep the law, but their hearts are not in it, they're not in love with God. As Jesus said, if you look in their hearts, there is no goodness, only self-righteousness.
But, when we realize that Jesus removed the demand of the law--that we are free from "having" to keep the law, then we "want" to keep it. When we know that God loves us, irrespective of our actions, we are slain--maybe even "slain in the spirit," as the Pentecostals claim. We die, and a new person arises--a person who, through the grace of God, begins to keep the law out of love for God, not out of duty.
"All this time I couldn't see. How could it be that the curtain is closing on me. I turn around, find a gun on the ground, cock it, and put it to my brain. Shady's _____"
Then, at the instant of death, Eminem's eyes are opened. He awakes as if it has all been a bad dream.
"That's when I wake up, alarm clock's ringing, birds are singing, Hallie's outside swinging."
"I walk right up to Kim and kiss her, tell her I miss her. Hallie just smiles and winks at her little sister."
In real life, Slim Shady does seem to have died. Indeed, this song "When I'm Gone" was the swan song of "Slim Shady." Eminem decided to kill off this persona and try for a new life. According to Kim's mother, Kim and Eminem are back together. She says that both struggled with addiction for years, but seem to be clean. According to the mother, they intend to give their relationship another go.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Sunday, July 6, 2014
What Christians can Learn from Atheists
"Happy Clappy." I saw a fellow wearing this shirt the other nite, and it has stuck in my craw. Of course, maybe he was wearing the shirt in irony. If so, he understands the world. If not, he doesn't.
One problem (indeed the chief problem based upon my atheist friends) that atheists have with believing in God is that this is a messy, cruel world. If there is a God, why can't the world be better?The chief problem that atheists have with Christianity specifically is that we preach morality, but live differently. What can we learn from these very apropos criticisms?
First, during dialogue with a Jewish atheist friend, he told me that he had relatives who were victims of the holocaust. "How can your God allow such a thing to happen?" In my former days as a Southern Baptist, I would have said that God gave "free will" to man and, therefore, we are free to sin. But this can't explain the scope of the sin of the Nazis, of Stalin, and of Mao. Millions killed for no reason.
Now, I said: "This is a fallen world. Whether you believe in God or not doesn't change the character of this world. The question for me is whether there is a god who has a legitimate response to the world's fallenness. Like maybe empathizing with humans in their experiences in this world. So, maybe a God who would lock the gates to Eden so that we couldn't live forever in this fallen world. Like maybe a God who shortened man's life-span after the Flood. Like maybe a God who came into this world in the lowliest birth possible, in a backwater town, who was loved while he was healing people, but then ultimately was despised and killed for telling the church people that they were sinners. Would a god like that be responsive to the fallenness of this world?"
We will never understand, certainly not fully, why the world is so messy. Yet, Jesus' life reflects that He understood and indeed entered into life in this fallen world. When Jesus' empathy is proclaimed, He becomes dear to fellow sufferers. When Jesus' empathy is proclaimed, the self-righteous can let down their guard and embrace their own failings and pain. Then, Jesus becomes a god who is approachable in our pain.
Second, Christianity is not primarily about morality. As a good friend said: "Christianity is not really about morality--morality is just a byproduct." As one of my sons said: "The Bible isn't a rule book. It tells us who we are--sinners; and who God is--our redeemer." Christianity isn't a religion with standards or rules to live by. Instead, Christianity sets impossible standards for living--"be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." But it gets worse. Even if you were able to live a life of perfect actions, unless your heart was fully selfless, it still wouldn't be good enough. This is where Grace steps in and shuts the mouths of the outcasts (shut with thankfulness) and the self-righteous (shut with disbelief that they are not righteous). Grace is the only possible answer to the impossible standards espoused by Jesus.
If we take Jesus at His word, we come to understand that we are ALL SINNERS, in need of God's GRACE. When this is the message coming from Christian pulpits, instead of moralism, the atheist critique that Christians are hypocrites will lose its bite.
One problem (indeed the chief problem based upon my atheist friends) that atheists have with believing in God is that this is a messy, cruel world. If there is a God, why can't the world be better?The chief problem that atheists have with Christianity specifically is that we preach morality, but live differently. What can we learn from these very apropos criticisms?
First, during dialogue with a Jewish atheist friend, he told me that he had relatives who were victims of the holocaust. "How can your God allow such a thing to happen?" In my former days as a Southern Baptist, I would have said that God gave "free will" to man and, therefore, we are free to sin. But this can't explain the scope of the sin of the Nazis, of Stalin, and of Mao. Millions killed for no reason.
Now, I said: "This is a fallen world. Whether you believe in God or not doesn't change the character of this world. The question for me is whether there is a god who has a legitimate response to the world's fallenness. Like maybe empathizing with humans in their experiences in this world. So, maybe a God who would lock the gates to Eden so that we couldn't live forever in this fallen world. Like maybe a God who shortened man's life-span after the Flood. Like maybe a God who came into this world in the lowliest birth possible, in a backwater town, who was loved while he was healing people, but then ultimately was despised and killed for telling the church people that they were sinners. Would a god like that be responsive to the fallenness of this world?"
We will never understand, certainly not fully, why the world is so messy. Yet, Jesus' life reflects that He understood and indeed entered into life in this fallen world. When Jesus' empathy is proclaimed, He becomes dear to fellow sufferers. When Jesus' empathy is proclaimed, the self-righteous can let down their guard and embrace their own failings and pain. Then, Jesus becomes a god who is approachable in our pain.
Second, Christianity is not primarily about morality. As a good friend said: "Christianity is not really about morality--morality is just a byproduct." As one of my sons said: "The Bible isn't a rule book. It tells us who we are--sinners; and who God is--our redeemer." Christianity isn't a religion with standards or rules to live by. Instead, Christianity sets impossible standards for living--"be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." But it gets worse. Even if you were able to live a life of perfect actions, unless your heart was fully selfless, it still wouldn't be good enough. This is where Grace steps in and shuts the mouths of the outcasts (shut with thankfulness) and the self-righteous (shut with disbelief that they are not righteous). Grace is the only possible answer to the impossible standards espoused by Jesus.
If we take Jesus at His word, we come to understand that we are ALL SINNERS, in need of God's GRACE. When this is the message coming from Christian pulpits, instead of moralism, the atheist critique that Christians are hypocrites will lose its bite.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
What Christians can learn from agnostics
Recently, I have taken Jesus at His word on a couple of matters. First, Jesus says that all of the Scriptures are about Him. Second, Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed is salvific. Wherein lies the nexus between these seemingly disparate comments from Jesus? An interpretation of the Bible that is Christo-centric, and nothing else. Not inerrant, not as a science book, not as the great Holy Book. Rather, an interpretation of the Bible that upholds the discontinuity of Christ--a discontinuity which many agnostics see, but many Christians don't.
Innumerable times I have heard pastors refer to the Bible as "holy," "inerrant," "the word of God," "infallible," etc. This view creates problems, not the least of which are: 1)a view that God has revealed that the earth is only 6000 years old, when science reveals otherwise; 2)a view that the U.S. was to create a Jewish homeland which has led to further unrest in the Middle East (by the way, I'm a supporter of Israel, just not on Biblical grounds); 3)a view that Jesus (because of the way that God is described in the OT) could favor a first-strike war against Iraq; 4)a view that led to the Crusades; and, most importantly: 5)a view that we are to look to the Ten Commandments as a way to please God or to honor God. These views have led to a lack of credibility for the true message of Christianity--that the one true God loves everyone right where they are--in the midst of their sin--and died on the Cross to redeem sinners and this sinful world.
Why can't we Christians see this when others, indeed many agnostics, can? Do the agnostics have faith when we Christians don't?
Based upon my conversations with some agnostics, they read the Bible as telling the story of a man who was discontinuous. One of my agnostic friends wrote a paper in which he discussed the love ethic of Jesus. He said, essentially, that Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves is too radical--that it can't work. He's absolutely right--we can't love our neighbors as ourselves. In other words, Jesus doesn't love like man--Jesus loves too much. "If a man strikes you on one cheek, turn the other towards him to be struck." "If a man asks you to carry his burden for a mile, carry it for three miles." "Forgive others 7 times 70." And, seemingly an insane command: "Love your enemies." Agnostics believe that there may be a God, but, if there is a God, he is wholly different from man. Is this faith which is the size of a mustard seed? What's more, if agnostics were to commit themselves to God, they would be committing themselves to the right God--the friend of inveterate sinners, not the God who "helps those who help themselves" or the God who blesses the righteous.
The OT is not replete with stories of faith--instances where the OT saints got it right. (Nor is the NT--Jesus' disciples ran away and hid.) Instead, the OT is full of sinners--Abraham who tried to give his wife up for sex to save his own life; Abraham who took his wife's handmaiden, rather than waiting on God; Isaac who similarly gave his wife up to save his life; Jacob who stole Esau's birthright; David who was an adulterer and murderer. So, maybe Jesus got it right when he said that faith the size of a mustard seed is salvific, because we are taught that Abraham is in eternity with God, along with Isaac and David. So, maybe, just maybe, there is hope even for self-righteous, sinful Christians, like me, because all that is required is faith the size of a mustard seed.
Innumerable times I have heard pastors refer to the Bible as "holy," "inerrant," "the word of God," "infallible," etc. This view creates problems, not the least of which are: 1)a view that God has revealed that the earth is only 6000 years old, when science reveals otherwise; 2)a view that the U.S. was to create a Jewish homeland which has led to further unrest in the Middle East (by the way, I'm a supporter of Israel, just not on Biblical grounds); 3)a view that Jesus (because of the way that God is described in the OT) could favor a first-strike war against Iraq; 4)a view that led to the Crusades; and, most importantly: 5)a view that we are to look to the Ten Commandments as a way to please God or to honor God. These views have led to a lack of credibility for the true message of Christianity--that the one true God loves everyone right where they are--in the midst of their sin--and died on the Cross to redeem sinners and this sinful world.
Why can't we Christians see this when others, indeed many agnostics, can? Do the agnostics have faith when we Christians don't?
Based upon my conversations with some agnostics, they read the Bible as telling the story of a man who was discontinuous. One of my agnostic friends wrote a paper in which he discussed the love ethic of Jesus. He said, essentially, that Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves is too radical--that it can't work. He's absolutely right--we can't love our neighbors as ourselves. In other words, Jesus doesn't love like man--Jesus loves too much. "If a man strikes you on one cheek, turn the other towards him to be struck." "If a man asks you to carry his burden for a mile, carry it for three miles." "Forgive others 7 times 70." And, seemingly an insane command: "Love your enemies." Agnostics believe that there may be a God, but, if there is a God, he is wholly different from man. Is this faith which is the size of a mustard seed? What's more, if agnostics were to commit themselves to God, they would be committing themselves to the right God--the friend of inveterate sinners, not the God who "helps those who help themselves" or the God who blesses the righteous.
The OT is not replete with stories of faith--instances where the OT saints got it right. (Nor is the NT--Jesus' disciples ran away and hid.) Instead, the OT is full of sinners--Abraham who tried to give his wife up for sex to save his own life; Abraham who took his wife's handmaiden, rather than waiting on God; Isaac who similarly gave his wife up to save his life; Jacob who stole Esau's birthright; David who was an adulterer and murderer. So, maybe Jesus got it right when he said that faith the size of a mustard seed is salvific, because we are taught that Abraham is in eternity with God, along with Isaac and David. So, maybe, just maybe, there is hope even for self-righteous, sinful Christians, like me, because all that is required is faith the size of a mustard seed.
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