a merry schismatic christmas (part 4)

for much of my life i thought it was sinful to enjoy living on earth and to desire that life here wouldn't end. there were times in life where the idea of heaven just wasn't appealing compared to life here. there was always this dichotomy between the "spiritual" and the "worldly" or "fleshly." the goal of the christian was to become more spiritual and less worldly, and to long for the day when we could leave this place. this jumps right into where i left off, because to me, the gospel and salvation was always about getting to a place. we were saved so that we could go to heaven some day. everything was about going to place A or place B. and our ultimate mission was to get as many people possible to go to place A. the ideas of getting to a place and the emphasis on the spiritual versus the worldly are some of the perceptions i've been referring to.

the christmas before last-- the one where i said i was a little nervous because we bought our mom's mars hill's worship cd-- i went anne's family's prepared. at the time, i was reading a book by grand rapids theological seminary professor michael wittmer called heaven is a place on earth: why everything you do matters to God. i brought this book because it corrects many of the misperceptions i mentioned above, and wittmer, being a professor of systematic theology at a highly respected christian university, wouldn't be viewed as some off-the-wall heretic spouting off "questionable" teachings. i never needed to break it out, but part of me kind of wishes i had. in it, wittmer describes how creation, under the weight and damage of sin is, at it's core, still good; and that God hasn't given up, but is restoring it:

"like a stone tossed into a pond, the corrosive curse of sin rippled out to destroy the entire world: human society, the animal kingdom, and even the ground itself began groaning beneath the weight of sin. life on earth degenerated to quickly that within a few generations God ordered a great flood to wipe out everything, save only pairs of every animal and handful of people.
now place yourself in God's shoes. what is your next move? I doubt you would scrap the world, admitting that it is broken beyond repair. if you did, wouldn't you be conceding victory to satan? you would be admitting that satan had won, for the sin he introduced has overpower your good creation, making it irretrievably evil. no, if you are God, you will never concede that. instead, you will forcefully strike back at Satan with you plan of redemption (Genesis 12-Revelation 22). not content to merely snatch a few souls from this mess and leave everything else to the devil, you will not rest until you have redeemed every last corner of your good creation from evil's grasp. (heaven is a place on earth pg. 187-188)"

wittmer goes on to cite acts 3:21 where peter say christ must remain in heaven until the time has come for God to restore everything, or when paul says christ is reconciling all things whether on earth or in heaven to himself. what i really brought the book for, however, was for the part where wittmer explains 2 peter 3:10-13 which says:

"10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid
bare. 11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness."

wittmer explains that in the 16th and 17th centuries: "the best available greek manuscripts of 2 peter 3:10 read that "the earth and all of its works will be burned up." this is how every translation of that period, including the KJV rendered this verse. it is easy to see how whole generations of christians learned from their bibles to expect a future fire that would annihilate the entire world." (heaven is a place on earth pg. 202)

once again, the issue of perception springs up, in that, centuries of misinterpretation have lead to a misperception concerning the fate of earth. wittmer goes on, "however, scholars have since discovered older, more reliable greek manuscripts, and these texts say that rather than burning up, "the earth and all of its works will be found." instead of being destroyed, this term "found" implies that the quality of our works will be "laid bare," discovered for all to see. Much like gold passing through a smelting furnace, the good that we do will be purified while our less noble efforts will slough off. read this way, peter's vision of a coming conflagration seems to be a purging rather than annihilating fire. (heaven is a place on earth pg. 202)" wittmer then discusses the comparison of this judgement by fire to the noahic judgement by water which is mentioned in 2 peter 3:6-7. this comparison is important because the flood did not destroy the entire earth, but instead, destroyed the evil that had upon it accumulated.

so creation remains good, but evil is real and has disfigured it. that, i believe, is the biblical view and is one key misunderstanding of many american evangelicals. the second misperception i want to hit is the emphasis on "the spiritual" versus "the physical." whenever i go to anne's parent's house i always notice, "sky angel." sky angel is kind of like christian cable tv only it's a dish. like, "christian music" and "christian movies" and "christian dietary supplements" sky angel is part of the vast christian subculture market. this split of secular and christian, or even the idea of one's "spiritual life" is a further misperception that obstructs conversation. and like the misperception that creation is evil and is waiting for coming destruction, this too is unbiblical...



but why and how did this split occur? recently, the eminent scholar n.t. wright was interviewed by TIME concerning his new book surprised by hope. the interview is on the unbiblical idea that the goal of the christian life is to die and go to heaven. wright corrects that by explaining that heaven is an intermediary state and that the ultimate goal is the resurrection of the dead for life on the restored earth. in this interview wright also explains how the influence of platonic thought has created the dualistic way american christians view reality. this is a great interview which i'm thankful that wright did so that i don't have to attempt to explain these ideas myself. here's a few quotes:

Wright: "There are several important respects in which it's (going to heaven when you die) unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, "Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven." It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation. "

"Our culture is very interested in life after death, but the New Testament is much more interested in what I've called the life after life after death — in the ultimate resurrection into the new heavens and the new Earth. Jesus' resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the resurrection of all the dead, who will "awake," be embodied and participate in the renewal. John Polkinghorne, a physicist and a priest, has put it this way: "God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves." That gets to two things nicely: that the period after death is a period when we are in God's presence but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administering Christ's kingdom."

"The New Testament is deeply, deeply Jewish, and the Jews had for some time been intuiting a final, physical resurrection. They believed that the world of space and time and matter is messed up, but remains basically good, and God will eventually sort it out and put it right again. Belief in that goodness is absolutely essential to Christianity, both theologically and morally. But Greek-speaking Christians influenced by Plato saw our cosmos as shabby and misshapen and full of lies, and the idea was not to make it right, but to escape it and leave behind our material bodies. The church at its best has always come back toward the Hebrew view, but there have been times when the Greek view was very influential."

the whole interview is great, not that long and explains a lot. for so many years i struggled to make sense of the point in taking care of the earth and desiring for things to change in spite of the belief that everything was going south anyways and God was just going to destroy it all. i struggled with the separation of the sacred and the secular. much of it seemed so arbitrary and didn't make a lot of sense. i wondered if there was this big piece i was missing and, in fact, there was; and now that i've found it things have never been more clearer. but, unfortunately, i'm learning that what's clear for me isn't clear for others.