As I mentioned in an earlier note, I convinced a friend of mine to read Gatto's magnum opus, and hence could hardly refuse when she gave me a book of hers in return. With a few exceptions, I tend to avoid Christian literature. Especially anything written very recently that is popular with a "church" crowd. Perhaps I am being unfair and prejudiced, afterall, one should not judge a book by it's cover. Still, I've read one piece of Christian fluff too many and I really don't want to read anymore. I've also read secular fluff... just saying. Anyway, suffice it to say that the book far exceeded my expectations, and if this particular friend gives me any more books, I'd be happy to read them (well, except for the fact that I've already got 33 titles listed on my to-read list).
First off, the author is Dallas Willard. The back cover says that he is a theologian. Aside from the fact that he obviously writes Christian books, it doesn't state any qualifications or credentials for assigning him the status of theologian. However, it does mention that he is a philosophy professor at UCLA. Hardly the kind of guy I'd expect to find writing this kind of book. But, hey, I'm always game for an interesting read ;)
I cannot help but say that, from the start, I simply wish to describe this as "a happy book." I mean, the idea of "the gospel" and "the good news" really seems to pour into me from every word of this book. I guess I've gotten used to Christianity as mainly being about sin and guilt. The whole idea of Christianity is based on the fact that all have sinned and need a savior, and that God hates sin, and it causes pain and problems, but we all still sin anyway, and thus we should be in a constant state of...well, I don't know what exactly, but something bad. Now, I'm not belittling that or saying that any of that is untrue (except the very last bit), and neither does this book. But, this book suddenly reminds me that it's possible to move past all that. I can't think of a better way to say this than to quote the Bible. Everybody knows John 3:16, but here's verse 17:
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
Willard likes to dwell on the phrase "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Now, most people have probably heard that before - I had always interpreted it to mean something like "Hurry up and feel guilty for your sins, because you never know when you're gonna die and face judgment day." Willard interprets it much more simply, as "Living in the Kingdom of Heaven is now one of your options." My first reaction to that is "Huh?" The problem here is that I, probably like many Christians, have seen "The Kingdom of Heaven" as some vague and probably metaphorical phrase. If we've thought of it as a real place at all, we've thought of it as synonymous with heaven - that is to say, where Christians go after death.
But forgetting the phrase for a moment, he simply focuses on the word "kingdom." What is a kingdom? I think of castles, and knights and ladies and, well, kings. He defines it as whatever is within your sphere of control. For instance, each of us has a kingdom. At the very least, for most of us, our own body is our kingdom. My brain tells my hand to wave up and down, and, it does! In a more general sense, my house is part of my kingdom. If I want to rearrange the furniture, I have the ability to do that. For most people, they have a degree of control in their jobs, whatever that job may be. Some people have very large spheres of influence, such as CEOs, or political leaders, for instance. "Heaven," in this case, he simply interprets as "air" or "the atmosphere" - meaning it's all around us. God created the universe, it is part of His kingdom - always has been and always will be. However, on the Earth, within human activities, he currently allows His control to be absent (I suppose to allow free will - which really should be a whole 'nother blog of it's own). But, since Jesus came, we have an open invitation to join ourselves to His Kingdom, that is, the natural order and the way things should be. In fact, we were created to do so, and it is the only way that we can truly improve and strengthen our own kingdoms. And, He does want us to improve and strengthen our own kingdoms. That is what it means to be created in His image. We were created to be co-rulers of creation, in creative cooperation with Himself.
Now, that is not to say that this will happen overnight, or that it will be easy. There is a certain amount of work that is expected of us. However, we do it with Him, and somehow that softens the load. When I hear the word "discipleship," I tend to think of discipleship programs in churches, which are usually some kind of official arrangement where specific people in the church teach Christian skills to newer Christians, or young people - some vague social activity that I see as fairly pointless for myself. Or, maybe, I might think of how Christians complain that modern evangelism is just about an alter call, with no discipleship follow-up. In that case, like the great commission "Go ye therefore into all the world and make disciples of all men," I think of it as something that's expected of me, something I don't feel equipped to do with any sincerity, and I find it a very distasteful word. But, to think of it as something that I do with Jesus, "apprenticing yourself to Jesus," as Willard would describe it, had never occurred to me. But as I do think of it, it again reminds me of a cherished verse (my favorite version of this verse is from The Message, the end of Matthew 11):
"Come to me...I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you."
One of the very reasons why I refer to this as a "happy book," is that it offers "heaven" now. But, that is not to say that this eclipses the traditional view of heaven. There certainly still will be an eternal life after this life, and it will be different from this life. But, you can begin your eternal life now. You don't have to wait until you die. In fact, the only way you can have eternal life is through an apprenticeship with Jesus. There were times in my life when I was very depressed. I used to think about suicide, and wonder if it was really a sin? The Catholics seem to think so, but the Bible never mentions it specifically. I would be putting myself in the position of having to explain to God why I thought my timing was better than His - but after all, given how unhappy I was, I thought it was possible he might forgive me. I began to think of the Biblical description of the current state of Earth - paradise lost. Fallen beings roaming an almost forsaken wasteland. What was the point of being born here anyway? I already believed in Him - couldn't I just move on to heaven now? But perhaps that whole train of thought came simply from thinking of "heaven" as a place, rather than a mindset. Now, I think that heaven still is a real place, and that Jesus will probably physically return to Earth at some point, but it may very well be that if you don't first develop a "heavenly" mindset, you'll never be able to appreciate what the future holds in store for us. Kinda like "the dwarves are for the dwarves" at the end of CS Lewis' The Last Battle. Discipleship - that is, apprenticing oneself to Jesus - is the only way to eternal life, now or later. Again, a verse, John 10:10b:
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
I think trust has been a big issue for me. I believed in God, but I guess I wasn't really sure if He was good. I sidestepped the whole question with a bit of circular reasoning: God creates everything, and defines good, so if He says he's good, who am I to question that? He's good basically by definition. His own definition. But, if I was really honest with myself, I'd admit that I wasn't entirely sure that his definition of good coincided with my definition of good. In which case, for all I know, His idea of loving and blessing me might very well turn out to be torture from my point of view. There have been alot of good things that have happened to me in my life, and there have also been alot of things that happened that I wish would have gone differently. It's still possible that in the end, when I see everything together as a whole, I will feel that they were for the best - but it's also quite possible that I won't feel that way in the end. Why the heck should I trust God?? My only response up until this point has been, basically, that I don't really have any choice. If he turns out to be untrustworthy, then all is lost, and there ain't nothin' anybody can do to fix it. How you gonna fight God? But, there's a certain amount of bitterness in that position, and bitterness isn't exactly trust. What Willard had to say about trust didn't exactly change any of my thinking on this, it just made me realize that this was something that I needed to deal with. That maybe I didn't, as Willard puts it, feel that "the universe is a safe place" for me. He made me realize that this wasn't something I could push to the back of my mind, or weasel out of with clever arguments, without consequence. I think he was able to do this, because he always writes in a tone that doesn't exactly prompt guilt. Maybe I couldn't admit my lack of trust before because everybody else made it seem like a sin I should feel guilty for, instead of simply a problem to be solved. Anyway, it prompted me to pray about it - not so much in the sense of repenting as in explaining my feelings and asking for help. I can't say that my thoughts have really changed, but, at least for now, the bitterness and fear is gone. Childlike trust actually seems possible, perhaps even present. Like I said, I think this is "a happy book" :D
Anyway, the coolest part out of all of this, is the kind of picture that I come away with of what real eternal life might be like. The book, as I said above, presents the idea that He does want us to improve and strengthen our own kingdoms. But, we can only do this with His power. Willard makes an analogy with physical power. With the strength of your own body, you can accomplish a certain amount. With mechanical power, even more. With electrical power, even more. With nuclear power, almost more than you can imagine (in fact, it's so much power, that we can't really use it because it's so hard for us to control). Likewise, joining the "Kingdom of Heaven," is kind of like someone living in a rural area getting hooked up to the electrical grid for the first time. The main difference is that God's power is somewhat directional - there is plenty of room for creativity, but you can't "use God" to do evil. I can only think of this other power as will power. I think that being created in the image of God basically means that we are meant to basically be able to do whatever we can imagine, and whatever we desire. Like Phoenix/Dr. Jean Grey from X-men! But think about what happens in that movie, her power is directly linked to her will, and her emotions, and even the slightest lack of self-control on her part has disastrous consequences. She kills the man she loves and who loves her, she kills a man who is trying to help her, she almost kills another man who loves her, and in the end she kills herself. Her power is beautiful and terrible! I think we are all meant to be like that - but God can't give us the power to do what we want to do, because we haven't learned self-control yet. As we begin to learn self-control, and patience for His timing (impatience isn't self-control), He will be able to give us more of His power, and then we will be able to do more of the things we want to do. Like Phoenix. How cool is that?!?!?!
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