Chapter 13 (continued) A Way for the Western Christian Church to Correct its Misunderstanding
I’ve seen spectacular things, and heard of more: of gliders landing on fences, on cows, faces of cliffs and power lines. There’s a famous picture, copies of which grace the walls of many hang gliding enthusiasts. The scene is of a vast flat field of grass, representing unlimited opportunities for safe landings. In the middle of the picture, dwarfed by all that open real estate, is a solitary tree. Against the tree is a wrecked hang glider.
I recall an incident of that ilk quite vividly: it happened in California on the same day that earlier I had caught a whirlwind, which is just a visible thermal, and had a nice elevator ride, but for the most part the site was like our training hill in Washington that produced sled rides. About that time pilots (at least in California) began to fasten parachutes to the bottoms of their harnesses with Velcro. I never did, and after witnessing a horrible mishap on that day that actually was caused by a parachute, maybe I’m glad that I didn’t. It happened to the guy launching off in front of me. He ran toward the cliff edge, but went prone before he reached it. It wouldn’t have mattered so much if he didn’t have the parachute, but when his belly contacted the rock, it scraped off the ‘chute. But he continued on over the cliff and achieved flight. We watched the parachute just laying there on the rock as the lines deployed, knowing with a terrible certainty what would inevitably come to pass when the lines became taut. Sure enough, with an audible PAF! the parachute blossomed out as it left the rock, bringing the hapless pilot to a screeching halt and denying him the lift that comes with motion. Just like in a Roadrunner cartoon, the poor guy went into a vertical nosedive. What saved him from anything more serious than a broken leg was the narrow fire trail below the cliff. He may have recovered just enough airspeed to break his fall somewhat as he impacted the road, and what could have been a very sad event became instead a source of jokes that hounded him thereafter.
Infrequently some pilots choose to enhance their courage with a nip or two of spirits, or maybe a six-pack, or merely to enhance the experience by grazing on the local mushrooms. When a pilot is seen so indulging, grins light up the faces of his companions and, once the creature goes aloft, eyeballs follow his flight with eager anticipation of the probable outcome. Now that’s really gallows humor.
I remember a gentleman with a bent for innovative mechanics who, while attempting to modify his single-person ultralight for two-person flight, could not refrain from bragging about his creative genius. I didn’t have a chance to view his maiden voyage on the modified craft, but soon after that I saw him busy at work on additional modifications. He had a cast on his leg and a bandage on his cheek. I was going to ask him how the flight worked out, but I turned around instead, waiting discreetly until my back was turned to him before permitting myself to openly express my inner thoughts. I sometimes wonder whether he noticed my heaving shoulders.
The flight path of one ultralight that ended in a crater of its own making was described by an onlooker as the darting about of an angry bee. In this situation, as events later demonstrated, the difficulty didn’t involve micrometeorological conditions or mechanical defect. The issue became obvious as the bleeding pilot emerged from the damaged craft and proceeded on his own to continue on the ground a replica of the path that he had taken in the air. He finally fell down in a drunken stupor and remained there until external assistance arrived. He was wasted to the extent that it probably had saved his life.
I don’t need intoxicants to add color to my travels. I do just fine at that in my natural state. Grace isn’t my strong suit.
My lack of grace in things physical has another clear advantage besides giving me things to laugh about. It keeps me humble. I identify quite intimately with Paul’s description of the Christian “B” team in 1 Corinthians 1:10-31:
“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them who are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; or I., of Apollos; or I, of Cephas; or I, of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanus; besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel; not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be of no effect.
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
Here’s where self-pride might well intersect false doctrine, whether it be the negation of sexuality in matters of God or something else: regardless of whether or not the pastoral Church leadership accepts or rejects the status quo regarding a particular Church dogma, rarely if ever will a pastor display the courage or selflessness required to contradict it. For him too much is on the line: his ministerial career, his reputation, his status in the community; the correction of a faulty understanding, if it represents the prevailing viewpoint, is simply not worth it. I have been told by pastors specific instances where fear and self-interest prevented other pastors from speaking out about a doctrine that they were convinced was wrong. Other pastors in increasing numbers resort to the relativistic creed of the emergent church, ducking behind the claim that no person has access to absolute truth.
The situation is probably worse in the seminaries, the schools that teach doctrine, whether true or false, to new pastors. Their collective survival and reputation is at stake. As the Church leadership progresses in responsibility and eminence, the stakes get higher yet, making it ever more likely that the status quo will be maintained regardless of its basic truth.
If the Church is indeed burdened with a false understanding of the Holy Spirit, the way she may be able to extract herself from that difficulty is first to be exposed to the truth to the extent that Church members might question the status quo. Second, she must be made aware of the basic cause of the error, which was the sexual shame that afflicted mankind with the fall. Finally, she must exhibit the selfless moral courage not only to accept the truth in the face of opposition of tradition and Church leadership, but to proclaim it to others. That is a daunting task, but truth is truth, and the courageous Christian may expect the blessing and active support of the Holy Spirit in that endeavor, further supported by the fervent love engendered by a truthful understanding of the Godhead.
There’s still time to bring the whole truth back into Church doctrine – God hasn’t called the game yet, even though it seems a lot like we’re in the bottom of the ninth. If the Church decides to wake up about her own shortcomings, many people would have the opportunity, right here and now, of loving God with the fervor of which we are capable, and, with that fervor, of bringing a multitude into a loving relationship with God.
God’s solution to the immense loss suffered by mankind in its fall was the sacrifice of Jesus, as foretold in his command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. As a result of that loving act, mankind was given the gift of life, as promised in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The essence of that gift is the indwelling Holy Spirit, promised to all believers in John 14:15-18, according to the King James Version of Scripture (which we believe to contain the mistranslation of “she” into “he” in reference to the Holy Spirit):
“If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeith him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.
What this gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit means to Christians is nothing less than a regaining of that which was lost in the fall of Adam: a cancellation of their spiritual death through a rebirth in the Spirit, as promised in John 3:1-8:
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it willeth, and thou hearest the sound of it, but canst not tell from where it cometh, and where it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
Through this rebirth we have been given the opportunity to regain our communication and intimacy with God. Provided that we are obedient to God in our practice of it, we also can regain our innocence in sexuality and thus be free to enjoy without shame this intrinsically beautiful gift from God. Moreover, this freedom from shame should permit us to restore in innocence the attribute of gender to our understanding of the Godhead itself. If only we ask.
The ever-present problem with our spiritual rebirth is that, being so laden down with secular customs and understandings, we fail to perceive the wonderful freedom that has been opened to us through that rebirth. In John 16, Jesus speaks of His death, resurrection and second advent. In verses 23 and 24, He appears to be speaking specifically of the joy that is available to us after His resurrection:
“And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
To be sure, in John Chapter 16, Jesus also speaks of the tribulation that the world will impose upon Christians. Indeed, I have written at length on the topic of just such trials in the expectation that we soon may be participants in some unhappy events to come. But the point is that tribulations come from the secular world, not from God. In the midst of general persecution, even suffering, we can still, if we only ask, partake of the joys that our spiritual rebirth entitles us to, and which the secular world wishes to deny us.
It seems starkly apparent that even many Church Fathers, devout as they must have been, were so burdened by secular thought that they failed to fully receive the promised freedom of spiritual rebirth. Born again, they yet failed to accept the innocence that was their due. Instead, they wallowed in their sexual shame as if they were still fallen, and in that shame they castrated their God in their misunderstanding of the meaning of purity.
Examples abound of failures to receive God’s blessings in that and other areas of man’s interaction with God. The Catholic priesthood didn’t quite live up to the demand for celibacy. That certainly didn’t end well. Many Protestant Churches claim, principally on the basis of the unjustified interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13, centered upon an isolation of a Scriptural passage, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased, either upon the death of the last apostle or on the canonization of Scripture. They are opposed by a less rigid community who happily enjoy the gifts that supposedly don’t exist, although there are those among them who tend to overdo things. The Jewish community was heavily influenced by its traditions and rituals, in addition to simple self-centered pride and arrogance, to reject the Jesus who came in the flesh for its behalf. We all know how that worked out, although we must admit that, according to Paul, God had a hand in their blindness for the sake of the gentiles.
May you the reader be blessed with the truth, and in that understanding, may he or she find the wherewithal to experience the kind of love toward God that represents obedience to His command to love Him with all our hearts, minds and souls. May God richly bless you in that obedience.
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