Proper Interpretation as an Act of Witness
Last night I read an essay and a book review that should create embarrassment for Christians who are concerned about their witness in American culture which is showing ever-increasing hostility towards disciples of Jesus.
First, the essay. It is part of the cover story “The Politics of Jesus,†in the November 12, 2006 issue of Newsweek (see pp. 42-43). In an essay entitled “The Case Against Faith,†bestselling author Sam Harris (see his Letter to a Christian Nation
Given the most common interpretation of Biblical prophecy, it is not an exaggeration to say that nearly half the American population is eagerly anticipating the end of the world. It should be clear that this faith-based nihilism provides its adherents with absolutely no incentive to build a sustainable civilization—economically, environmentally or geopolitically. Some of these people are lunatics, of course, but they are not the lunatic fringe. We are talking about the explicit views of Christian ministers who have congregations numbering in the tens of thousands. . . . (M)uch of what people believe in religion is intrinsically divisive, unreasonable and incompatible with genuine morality. . . . Religion is one area of our discourse in which people are systematically protected from the demand to give good evidence and valid arguments in defense of their strongly held beliefs. And yet these beliefs regularly determine what they live for, what they will die for and—all too often—what the will kill for. . . . We are living in a world in which millions of Christians hope to soon be raptured into the stratosphere by Jesus so that they can safely enjoy a sacred genocide that will inaugurate the end of human history. In a world brimming with increasingly destructive technology, our infatuation with religious myths now poses a tremendous danger. And it is not a danger for which more religious faith is a remedy.
Next, the book review. Jonathan Kirsch’s A History of the End of the World
Now I am not going to try to answer the charges raised by Kirsch or Harris. Perhaps I will reflect on them in a future posting. But there is the point I want to make: Hermeneutics (the principles for interpreting Scripture) and Exegesis (the steps we take in trying to determine the author’s intended meaning for the original recipients so that we can apply the book properly) count. They count deeply.
If well-known authors and preachers present a false view of the final coming of Christ, why should anyone trust them with regard to their understanding of the first coming of Christ? That is a profound question. It is one that points out that the way we study and apply Scripture is not only an act of worship, it is also an act of Christian witness. We must be resolved in demonstrating that we do not have a faith-based nihilism but a faith-based hope found in the Gospel.
The face of Jesus that people today will encounter is not ultimately found in art museums or on the pages of Bible study literature, pictures showing Jesus with flowing hair and neatly-trimmed beard. Giving a face to the person of Jesus is done in how we live as Christians. A portrait of Jesus is found in our faces and in our teachings and in our Christian living. Providing a picture of Jesus is even found in the way we handle or mishandle Scripture. If we don’t reflect the image of Christ both in our Bible study and in our biblically-rooted living, then people will turn their eyes away of Jesus. I am haunted by a statement by C.S. Lewis: The greatest argument for the Christian faith is Christians, and the greatest argument against the Christian faith is Christians.
We could debate Harris, arguing that the Christian faith is not myth. Rather it is lived-out-truth in our call to be disciples of Christ that brings tremendous blessings to people. But he would not listen. Why? Because he has witnessed so many who have failed to study Scripture responsibly and apply it responsibly. The charges that our faith is myth will only be rebutted when the Message of the Gospel is lived out in the followers of Christ. Peter’s words are instructive:
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, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil for Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God . . . (I Pet. 3:15-18)
Consider the last line of Harris’s attack: Our infatuation with “religious myths:†“. . . is not a danger for which more religious faith is a remedy.†We must respond by showing in our study of the Word and our living for the praise of God that what is needed is a remedy that is found only in a proper understanding of the Christian faith. Nothing less than the integrity of the Christian witness is at stake when we study and apply God’s Written Word.
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Harris raises an issue which better fits the book of 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Christians in Thessalonica, without access to the book of Revelation, stopped work to await the second coming. Is it really the book of Revelation or man’s human nature at fault here? Leon Morris, in his commentary on Thessalonians, comments, “This kind of thing can be done from a sense of serious purpose, but, human nature being what it is, it can easily degenerate into downright laziness and idleness” (p. 130).
Faith-based nehilism is a self-fulfilling label endemic to a culture obsessed with avoiding responsibility. Human nature, whether Christian or non-Christian, will seek the easiest way. Maybe that is why Christ called his disciples to take up their crosses and follow him.
Good point, Tom.
By the way, with regard to I Thess. 4:9ff. and II Thess. 3:5ff., Paul nowhere mentions the Christins quitting work because of a belief in the coming of Christ. We infer that rather than find explicit evidence for this viewpoint in Scripture. I have come to believe that what Paul is clearly doing in I Thess. 4:1-18 as a whole is contrasting Christian life with the non-Christian life. He explicitly contrasts the two life-styles with regard to sexual ethics (I Thess. 4:1-8) and death (I Thess. 4:13-18). The context suggests he is doing this with regard to work since the Greeks disdained manual labor. II Thess. 3:5ff. reveals that Paul had to give additional instruction on this probably due to the rejection of what he wrote in I Thess. 4:9ff.