Los Alamos Church of Christ
Last week we
began a new journey. We began
studying our theme for 2010… A Reason for Hope. We started by studying 1 Peter
3:15.
1 Peter
3:15 But in your hearts
set apart Christ as Lord. Always be
prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the
hope that you have. But do this
with gentleness and respect.
As we studied
this verse, in the context of 1 Peter, we discovered not only are we to be
prepared to give a reason for the hope we have within us, we found out the right
attitude to do it. Even in a
culture that was antagonistic toward Christianity, we found that we are to be
gentle and respectful as we share our hope. We made connections to Peter's
culture. Peter's people lived with
ridicule and abuse and accusations about causing "all the problems in the
world." In our connection to that
culture, we found that a gentle and respectful answer to why Christ is sacred in
our hearts, can disarm our critics and give us a good night's
sleep.
1 Peter
3:16 keeping a clear
conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in
Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
Last week, I was
excited about our new theme. Last
week, I was thrilled to be able to go on this journey into why we believe what
we believe. Last week, I was pumped
about learning how to give a cool and convincing answer to my hope in
Christ!
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But this week, I
am bummed. I hit a snag right at
the beginning of our journey. Many
of you know I like to go rafting; many of you have gone with me. Sometimes you are cruising down the
river and the raft gets hung on a rock just below the surface. And you are stuck and you have to hop up
and down and shift your weight from one side of the boat to another; sometimes
you have to get out of the boat and push it off the snag. This week I had to get out of my
metaphorical boat and push this sermon off the rock on which it was
stuck.
There seems to
be two ways to do our theme… A Reason for Hope. As I began to gather resources for this
series my raft suddenly, and violently stuck on which way was I going. Occasionally, when you are rafting you
will come to a fork in the river.
Frequently, when we are rafting down the San Juan River; our favorite
river, there are sand bars and you have to choose which side of the sand bar you
are going to go. You can't always
see which side has the best current and if you choose poorly, you can get really
stuck. That is why I am
bummed. There is this sandbar in my
metaphorical river and I didn't know which side to choose.
Let me share
with you the two choices about how to do apologetics. We learned a new word last week apologetics. Don't confuse apologetics with
apologize. We never apologize for
our hope. But we do need to know
apologetics. It means; from
Wikipedia:
"Christian
apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational
basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose
the perceived flaws of other world views."
And that was
what I was excited about doing, until
a got snagged! As I began to gather
material and download books to my Kindle and gather up books off my shelf and
read articles on the web, I discovered there were two divergent tracks as to how
you go about "Giving a reason for the hope you have". Let me explain both and you can see why
I am bummed.
The Story
Track
The first track,
and the reason my metaphorical raft got snagged, is what I am going to call,
"The Story Track." One line of
reasoning says the way we should share our hope is to share our story. Each of us has a story. Each of us has been called into the
story of God. From Creation until
Jesus returns to this earth to renew creation, there is a mega-story. From the day Adam and Eve bit from the
Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, God put into place a story. It is the story of Noah, and Moses and
the paidagogos, and the 10
commandments and David and Isaiah and predictions of a Messiah and the Advent
and miracles and the crucifixion of Jesus, and the story-twist of the
Resurrection and the church and us.
There is this amazing story of God and we are a part of that story. The Story Track says share your
story. Tell who you are to
God. Recount why you are a son of
God. Proclaim what God has done in
your life. That is how we give a
reason for the hope that lies within us!
The Story Track
folks say, "Times have changed.
People aren't interested in arguments. They want to know if it works for
you. They say we live in a
post-modern world that is post-debate and post-logic and post-scientific. No one wants to know your reasons. They want to know your story." After all we do live in a culture that
enjoys stories; 603 movies were released into theaters in 2007; 53,590 fiction
books were published in that year! Not to mention how many TV shows are
made. We live in a culture that
forms much of its opinions and beliefs and makes much of its religious decisions
based upon story. If we are going
to influence our culture, we need a good story to share. Thus, say the Story Track advocates!
"Wow, I guess I need to work on my
story and teach the congregation how to share our story powerfully. Is that the way I need to move my
metaphorical raft?"
But there is
another Track: The Logic
Track
The folks on the
Logic Track argue the opposite.
They say we need to know why we believe what we believe. We need to have our arguments
thoughtfully ordered. We need to
use the brain God gave us. Logic is
still amazingly powerful. Listen to
William Lane Craig as he
advocates for the Logic Track:
"In my opinion this sort of thinking could not be more mistaken.
The idea that we live in a
postmodern culture is a myth. In
fact, a postmodern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly unlivable.
Nobody is a postmodernist when it
comes to reading the labels on a medicine bottle versus a box of rat poison.
If you've got a headache, you'd
better believe that texts have objective meaning! People are not relativistic when it comes
to matters of science, engineering, and technology; rather, they're relativistic
and pluralistic in matters of religion and ethics. But that's not postmodernism; that's
modernism!"
William Lane Craig's point is well taken. We are only interested in story when it
comes to religious or moral matters.
"There is no truth about God or religion." But there is plenty of "truth" in
everything else! "All religions
lead to the same place" is a silly metaphor. I want to go to Dallas to visit my
grandsons. Which road do I
take? "Well, it doesn't really
matter just pick the nicest road you want enjoy traveling upon." We aren't
post-modern when it comes to our GPS's. We aren't post-modern about anything but
the one thing that matters the most.
When you sit down at your computer, are you post-modern? "I will use my enlightened since of self
to learn how to use Windows 7. It
doesn't matter which keys I press as long as I am sincere in pressing them."
You can hardly get it to work when
you are sincere or not! We want medicines to cure us? How are they discovered? Logic and reason. We want our cell phones to work. How do they work? Logic, reason and technology. We want to be able to solve the
environmental problems of the world.
How do we do it? We find an
IBMer. You've seen the
commercials? I keep forgetting you
don't watch TV.
William Lane
Craig goes on to point to the dangers of giving into the Story
Track:
"Christianity
will be reduced to but another voice in a cacophony of competing voices, each
sharing its own narrative and none commending itself as the objective truth
about reality, while scientific naturalism shapes our culture's view of how the
world really is."
If all we share
is story; if all we tell is "how it works for me"; if all we only advocate our
preferences then we are back to the Theological Salad Bar. "Choose Jesus. He's delicious. Don't get the Soup of Broccoli
Hinduism. It's nasty." We aren't advocating that Jesus is the
best choice at the Salad bar. We
are stating Jesus is THE reason for hope; gently and with
respect!
So, you see why
I am bummed. I like touching people
with powerful stories but I want to tell people the reasons, the logic, the
foundations for who I am. I want to
be in The Story of God. But I need to be able to show there is a God! So, how did I choose? How did I get my homiletical raft
unstuck? Which side of the sandbar
do I choose; Story or
Logic?
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Let's go to
scripture and see which way the Bible chooses. I am a Bible guy, what does the Bible
advocate? It didn't help. The Bible uses both story and
logic. Look with me at two quick
examples from Acts. Acts should be
the logical place to look for how hope is shared.
Acts
17:17-18 So he reasoned in the synagogue
with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by
day with those who happened to be there.
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him.
Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He
seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching
the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
They go on to
invite him to preach and guess what kind of sermon he preached? A Logic Track Sermon. Listen to just an
excerpt.
Acts
17:23-25 For as I walked
around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar
with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something
unknown I am going to proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and
everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples
built by hands. And he is not
served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all
men life and breath and everything else.
Paul goes on to
explain, give reasons, to debate, to do his apologetics with these Greeks. That's the answer; Paul certainly used
the Logic track. But a few chapters
later we find, guess what, the story track.
Acts
22:1-8 "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my
defense." When they heard him speak
to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia,
but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law
of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way
to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,
as also the high priest
and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their
brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to
Jerusalem to be punished. "About
noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around
me. I fell to the ground and heard a
voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?' "'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. "'I am
Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied.
What is this?
The story track. Paul tells how this Jesus of Nazareth intervened in his
life. Paul told his story. Both Story and Logic are used powerfully
in the Bible. I am still
bummed.
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Then the answer
dawned on me. We need to use both tracks… dah. My rafting metaphor was wrong. I don't have to choose one over the
other, I need to use both! Is that
what Jesus meant when he said the first
commandment…
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.'
It is a… package
deal. It is a Swiss Army Knife. I should not rely upon mind alone or heart alone. Sometimes I need the blades of truth and
logic and reason. Other times I
need to be able to use the blades of story and passion and heart. People need to know I'm real; I feel; it
does work for me. Emotionally connecting to God is
extremely important. It is called
worship. But emotions can only
carry us so far, at a point we need something substantive to base our
faith. We need to know the reason.
Our faith needs to be founded upon
the truth of the reality of the way the world really is. We need our minds as well.
That's how I got
my metaphorical raft unstuck. There
is a checks and balances thing going on.
I need to have the passion of my story to connect to the hearts of
others, but I need to check it against the logic of reason and Scripture. I must have emotions but I cannot solely
base my faith there. I must use mind to check heart, but I must also use heart to make sure my mind does not become cold and ungentle
or disrespectful. I got my raft
unstuck and decided to make sure my sermons for the year were both passionate
and logical. My sermons this year
are going to include apologetic reasons and heart-touching story. We need both to be able to give the
reason for the hope that is within us! I am excited again…
…until I had
another thought. There might be a
3rd track. Next week I want to
explore the 3rd track to giving a reason for the hope we
have.
