Greek again

I thought I've done with Greek after three quarters of labor. I didn't know that I need to go even deeper into it in my current exegetical class.

I don't say I 'hate' Greek, it's just that when you have other classes to attend and many others things to do at the same time, Greek doesn't come as a pleasant thing to study. Under such circumstances, I always feel that I have not given enough attention for it. If there's no other assignment and nothing else to worry about, I really don't mind learning another biblical language.

But again, to be frank, how many of us pickup a language simply because of interest? Isn't it we all do so out of practical reason rather than learning it just for fun? So, let's go Greek!

Sermon on the Mount - a picture of eschaton

In my own reading of the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) many times before it's never occurred to me that this particular passage could be viewed as a picture of eschaton (about end-time.)

I, like most people, generally assume Jesus’ discourse on the Mount is a radical call to his followers for entering the kingdom of God. It’s a sermon on radical discipleship. Its message was beyond the comprehension of its hearers. It went against all norms and worldly teachings.

Jesus began his discourse with “You’ve heard that it was said…..But I tell you.…” in almost every first sentence of the paragraph. All the stuff he spoke about in his discourse is not even easy for “faithful” Christians to follow suit. When common people (non-believers) read of such extreme instruction like “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (5:44),” they would think it is a senseless world.

However, to the Anabaptists, not only they won’t think of the world is senseless, they see it as a kingdom about to come, which motivates many of them to live and act out in anticipation of the coming. They see that the Sermon is not just about how to be a better individual Christian. It is a picture of how a church (the faith community) is to look. To them,

“It is an inauguration manifesto of how the world is supposed to look with Christ ushered in God’s kingdom. “

“It is about Jesus’ invitation to all people to become citizens of a new kingdom, a messianic community, where God is creating a new world.”

“The Sermon is eschatological, it concerns with the end of things – the final direction toward which God is moving the world.”

Anabaptists’ theology believes that when the people have that picture and know where God is directing them, then the church would know where it supposes to head its way. The rationale–we can only act within a world which we can see. If you see the picture depicted in the Sermon on the Mount, and it is the picture of the future, now you will have to start to live out that picture.

So do you see that picture?

Psalm 34:17-18

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (New Living Translation)

Psalm 121:7-8

The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore. (NIV)

Process Theology (II) - a relational process not entity

According to the view of process theology, God is not an entity but a process. In such case, who is the one directing the process? If God is some kind of a “force”’ which influences directly or indirectly in forming the universe, where is this force first originated then? If every agent in the creation has its own free will as advocated by process thinkers, without the existence of a sovereign will to control or to govern the direction or the development of this so-called “process” there would be chaos in the world. Ultimately, there will be no “process” but problematic disorder in the entire universe.

Process theology seems to focus primarily on the creation aspect of the universe and its interaction on the changing environment of the world. It fails to offer a holistic view about humankind existence in this world. In process theology, humankinds are just passing through time as event rather than being materially or physically existed as substance or being. This theology is pretty much restricted to its own perception of an evolved world with hopelessness.

In traditional theism God is viewed as Creator of the universe, and He is transcendent. God is seen as absolute in terms of power, knowledge, and his presence in all eternity. God is outside of the creation, thus anything that happens within His creation will not change or affect Him. It is within His creation that freewill exists as part of His plan for the natural activities of the creatures. Such empowerment would make all the creatures to bear the responsibilities and consequences of exercising their freewill. God would not affect by the action or freewill of all creatures, however their decision would affect themselves and their surrounding. God, out of His love and compassion for His creation, intervenes for the goodness of His people.

Traditional theism albeit is not a perfect theology for our full understanding of God, it considers a wider scope of our relationship with this God who created the universe. Traditional theists look beyond God solely as just our creator, but He is also a God of providence, who supplies all the needs for the existence of His living creatures. He is not just a God who brings about changes; He lives in the heart and mind of believers. He is not merely a process as claimed by process theology philosophers, He created human beings according to Scripture in His own image that we both have the power to think, the faculty to will, and the ability to feel like He does. We do not have a full picture of why the devil exists as God is good. All we know is that the devil is a “created” spiritual being and there was once in time he chose to sin against God and was permitted to exist until his time to be ended.

Although I rejected the idea of process theology, this however, does not suggest that our understanding of God must be trapped within our present knowledge of Him. Indeed, as modern science continues to develop in many aspects of our life and as we gain a better understanding of our relationship to the surrounding nature and environment, we should further develop a holistic view of God’s wonderful creation. We, on one hand, absolutely do not wish to restrict the advancement of science because of our personal faith, on the other hand neither do we want to let our still limited understanding of science to become the worldview and overstep our faith to claim a Godless world. Amen.

Process Theology (I) - a changing God

Process theology makes some good attempts in explaining the changing world with a new understanding of how ones can view God and His creation from a different perspective. Advocates of process theology found many contradictions within the traditional theism.

According to their view, they see God less as an entity but more as a process. This process changes over time and is carried out by the agents of free will including human’s will. Thus, God in process theology’s view is not omnipotent as classical theist understood. To them, God is actually offering possibilities to influence human’s free will to make things happened. Reality in process theology is not material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature.

Process theologians believe traditional theists developed their view of an absolute God from ancient Greek philosophers, and they have claimed something more than what should be understood from the doctrine of God. Process theologians claim the God in the Bible changes His mind and at certain point in time He decides thing differently when humankind acts in certain way. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Scripture was not a God who abandoned His people after the creation. Indeed, this God was perceived in the Bible as the God who interacts closely with His creatures. They argue unless the future is open to change otherwise human being will not have any kind of freewill.

Process theology advocates or thinkers question how humanity could have any freedom if God is in control of everything. If God is eternal and in control, where is the devil from? The goodness of God and the evil of the devil cannot exist at the same time. And if God is in eternity, then He is unchangeable, and as such the prayer or the persuasion of humankind to God is meaningless and futile. Since nothing can change or affect God why does He want us to change. If God is Spirit, how can the material things come out of spiritual thing; it is metaphysically impossible to get something out of nothing.

Process theology no doubt offers a new way of looking at how God can interact closely with His creation, especially with human beings from a distance when He is not in or under the creation. On the surface, process theology seems to make a better connection that creation is actually the overall changing process of all free will agents, which come into existence. However, this theory also does not scientifically explain how the universe comes about. Much of the development of process theology is derived from human own wisdom and understanding of the physical world through observation and power of reasoning. It is philosophical, and not based on empirical studies. It comes with more flaws than the traditional theism.

Long Beach

What a beautiful place!

I said a silent prayer and truly thanked God from my heart for a lovely outing here in one of summer afternoons

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