Following the Jesus Centered Eightfold Path

A while back I had written a post where I spent a little time exploring Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism and some of its concepts that I felt had commonalities with my own faith.  I had found this to be a very mentally stimulating exercise that gave me new perspective.  Afterwards I had thought to myself that I really should spend a little time exploring some of the Buddhist teachings a little more to find out what else we have in common, and what else might give me new perspectives on my own faith.  But laziness and procrastination took over.

Then I read this article where the author spends some time exploring one of the divisions of the Noble Eightfold Path – right meditation.  One thing I love about what the author of this article says is that he mentions being uncomfortable with using the language “right” about each of the divisions since there is a certain feeling of pride and superiority to that language, and instead prefers language like “awakened meditation”, since the goal of Buddhism is to use the eightfold path to become more awakened.  I thought this had a certain profundity to it, as well as meshing with the Biblical attitude of humility.  And as I read the article with a curious mind I began to realize there were parallels that could be drawn to the Christian faith and the Noble Eightfold Path, and I’d like to explore that here.

First, a little bit about what the eightfold path is, and how it is split up.  The eightfold path is split up into a threefold division.  The first division is wisdom, and the factors that make up the quest for wisdom are awake view and awake intention.  The second division is ethical conduct, and is made up in the quest for awake speech, awake action, and awake livelihood.  And the third and last division of the eightfold path is concentration, made up of awake effort, awake mindfulness, and awake concentration.  Ok, let’s explore each of the eight factors of the eightfold path and how they relate to Biblical viewpoints.

Awake View

Awake view, which is usually spoken of as “right view”, can also be translated as “right perspective”, “right outlook”, or “right understanding”.  Involved in seeking awake view is the desire to understand the deeper reasons behind events in life.  It is not satisfied with simply perceiving, but deliberately seeks to understand why.  In the Pāli and Chinese canons, right view is explained thusly:

And what is right view? Knowledge with reference to suffering, knowledge with reference to the origination of suffering, knowledge with reference to the cessation of suffering, knowledge with reference to the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering: This is called right view.

As soon as I read the above quote, I was reminded of another quote from a hero of the faith whose books have been highly influential – Dietrich Bonhoeffer – who said:

Nothing that we despise in other men is inherently absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don't do, and more in light of what they suffer.

All too often I meet Christians who hold very legalistic views of the way a Christian should act.  But Jesus was not like this – Jesus defied religious convention.  All throughout His life he was a friend to those who had been rejected by the religious elite of His day.  Why is that?  Well, I Samuel 16:7 tells us that “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  I believe that the reason why Jesus was often so accepting of the “sinners” he met was that he perceived the reason behind sinful behavior – the suffering that motivated them to commit desperate acts.  And we ought to learn to look deeper when we are faced with “sinners” – to look for the suffering, and to seek to alleviate it.  Because Jesus told us:

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1-2

Brennan Manning said, in his book “The Ragammufin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out”:

Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last "trick", whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.

"But how?" we ask.

Then the voice says, "They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

There they are. There *we* are - the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to faith.

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.

Awake Intention

Usually described as “right intention”, this discipline is also known as “right thought”, “right resolve”, “right conception”, “right aspiration”, or “the exertion of our own will to change”.  In the Pāli and Chinese canons, it says:

And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.

I think the best way to sum this up is that it is renouncing worldly thought, and seeking to think spiritual thoughts of good-will towards other living beings.  Jesus often pointed out that it’s not simply outward adherence to the law that God is concerned with, but having the right intentions that He desires.  In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus said that if we speak to our brother in anger we have committed murder in our hearts, and if we look at a woman with lust in our hearts we have committed adultery in our hearts.  Jesus wants us to have the right intentions.  Some more passages that deal with the concept of our thoughts and intentions:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Phillipians 4:8

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
I Peter 2:1

One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper.
Proverbs 17:20a

Awake Speech

Awake speech, usually referred to as “right speech”, deals with avoiding language that is harmful – as the Pāli canon explains it:

And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech.

There are some other Buddhist writings which elaborate, and one I found to be very interesting was the Abhaya Sutta, which says:

In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, unendearing and disagreeable to others, he does not say them.

In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, yet unbeneficial, unendearing and disagreeable to others, he does not say them.

In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, yet unendearing and disagreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them.

In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, yet endearing and agreeable to others, he does not say them.

In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, but unbeneficial, yet endearing and agreeable to others, he does not say them.

In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, and endearing and agreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them. Why is that? Because the Tathagata has sympathy for living beings.

Going back to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus said that if we express contempt for our brother we are answerable to the court and in danger of “the fire of hell”.  This is quite a tricky concept as Jesus also had harsh words to say to the Pharisees for their legalistic views when he called them hypocrites, whitewashed tombs, and broods of vipers.  But one must be careful to understand what it was that Jesus was criticizing when he did this – Jesus was constantly criticizing the religious views and philosophies of the day that were used to build up barriers between one group and another.  He attacked these aggressively, but was so gentle and forgiving to those who had committed “sins” in their desperation.  He recognized that offering condemning words to these “sinners” did not help them out of the desperate situations they found themselves in, and rather chose to offer them encouragement and a path out of their sorrow.

Some additional Biblical passages in regards to speech:

Those who guard their mouths and their tongues
keep themselves from calamity.
Proverbs 21:23

One whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble.
Proverbs 17:20b

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Colossians 3:8

We all stumble in many ways.  Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.  
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.  Or take ships as an example.  Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.  Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.  The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
James 3:2-10

Awake Action

“Right action” can also be translated as “right conduct”.  This is one subject of the eightfold path I found very interesting because I think I differ with the way achieving this goal has been worded.  First off, in the Pāli and Chinese canons, it is described this way:

And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, from stealing, and from illicit sex [or sexual misconduct]. This is called right action.
—Saccavibhanga Sutta

And what, monks, is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity: This, monks, is called right action.
—Magga-vibhanga Sutta

Now this is very interesting, because it matches quite well the way many people are taught to live “Christian” lives.  But here is where I differ from what I feel has become the norm.  Because I’ve seen the harm that can be done by merely focusing on “don’t”.  I have a good friend who left his Christian background because he felt that was the only thing they were about – he calls his old church “the Church of Don’t”.  I think there’s much more to following Jesus than what we abstain from.  But I’m getting ahead of myself, because there’s another discipline of the eightfold path which deals with this issue….

Awake Livelihood

This one is an area I struggle with – not so much with the immediate application, but with the implications and the greater application.  “Right livelihood” is defined as taking the application of not harming another being further to abstaining from anything that indirectly harms another being – one who seeks the eightfold path should not engage in trades or occupations which directly or indirectly harm another living being either.  In the Pāli and Chinese canons, it is defined like so:

And what is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood: This is called right livelihood.

Some Buddhist teachers have expanded this teaching to define five types of business that should not be undertaken:

1.    Business in weapons: trading in all kinds of weapons and instruments for killing.

2.    Business in human beings: slave trading, prostitution, or the buying and selling of children or adults.

3.    Business in meat: "meat" refers to the bodies of beings after they are killed. This includes breeding animals for slaughter.

4.    Business in intoxicants: manufacturing or selling intoxicating drinks or addictive drugs.

5.    Business in poison: producing or trading in any kind of poison or a toxic product designed to kill.

Now, first off, I’ll say that I haven’t thought of any Biblical passages that deal directly with this concept.  But Jesus did say to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).  And Proverbs 1:19 says:

Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the life of those who get it.

But what haunts me is the larger application of this principle.  It is certainly a noble pursuit to abstain from anything which might cause harm, whether directly or indirectly.  And what I struggle with is the idea that maybe God wants me to give up meat.  That’s hard for me, because I love eating meat.  But I don’t like the idea of killing animals, and if I had to kill my own animals in order to eat meat it would be more unsavory to me to eat meat.  But maybe I need to stop letting the indirect nature of the harm I’m doing be an excuse to me.  What if God wants me to be so sensitive to harm that I refuse to even take part in actions which indirectly cause harm?  This is a real struggle for me.

Awake Effort

“Right effort” can also be translated as “right endeavor” or “right diligence”.  The focus of this discipline is to make a persisting effort to abandon any harmful thoughts, words, or deeds – but it doesn’t stop there.  One who seeks “right effort” must replace the time they spent on harmful thoughts, words, or deeds with a persistent effort in seeking good and useful thoughts, words, or deeds, without a thought for the difficulty or weariness involved in accomplishing this.  In the Pāli and Chinese canons, it is defined like so:
And what, monks, is right effort?

(i) There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

(ii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.

(iii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

(iv) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, and culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen:

This, monks, is called right effort.

Now as I said when I spoke about “Awake action”, it seems that all too often the Christian life has been defined as a list of “don’ts”.  It’s become about what we abstain from, and this was the common perception among the religious leaders of Jesus day as well.  But Jesus turned things around.  He said the most important commandment was to love God, and the second most important was like it: to love everybody else as we love ourselves.  And love isn’t about “don’t” – love is an action.  Oh yes, love abstains from any kind of action that harms.  But it’s about so much more than that.  In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells a parable about a man leaving 3 servants in charge of his affairs as he goes away on a long journey.  Two of the servants invest the wealth they are left in charge of, and gain more.  The man is very pleased with these servants.  But the third buries the money he is left in charge of in the ground for fear that he will lose some and displease the master.  But this choice displeases the master very much.  Then Jesus goes on to tell another parable - the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46.   In this story, love is about feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, inviting the stranger in, and giving to the needy.  Love is not simply a “don’t” – love is a “do”.  Love turns from thoughts, words, or deeds that cause harm, and turns toward thoughts, words, and deeds that bring healing, peace, and restoration.

Another interesting thing to note about the Bible is that whenever justice is mentioned, the concept of mercy always seems to follow.  Here are a few examples:

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

I put on righteousness as my clothing;
justice was my robe and my turban.
I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
I was a father to the needy;
I took up the case of the stranger.
I broke the fangs of the wicked
and snatched the victims from their teeth.
Job 29:14-17

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
Isaiah 30:18

Actually it’s interesting that God’s sense of justice seems to be inverted from our own.  Jesus was always talking about how those who are viewed with disregard were the ones who were blessed.  He said that the poor are blessed but pronounced woe upon the rich in Luke 6:20-26.  He said if you want to be great you must be a servant (Mark 10:43), and He said that the last will be first and the first will be last (Matthew 20:16).  It’s interesting to note that often when God is instructing us to seek justice, He mentions the weak, such as the widow and the orphan and the alien (for example: Deuteronomy 27:19, Deuteronomy 10:18, Leviticus 19:9-11, Psalm 82:3-4, Jeremiah 22:13-17, just to name a few).  The strong don’t need us to seek justice for them – they are quite able to seek it on their own.  So the Bible lays out a clear duty for us to purposely seek a Godly form of justice that is tempered with mercy and love for the weak.  In another post on my blog – Praying In Jesus’ Name – I expound on this concept of living in a way that seeks God’s form of justice.  As I Corinthians 10:31 says:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

I’ll leave the musing on this discipline with one final thought.  I’ve heard it said that you cannot give up a bad habit – you can only replace it.  You see this played out when a smoker gives up cigarettes and then gains weight – he/she traded in one bad habit for another.  So what we must learn to do is to replace bad habits with good, useful, cultivating habits.  Habits that bring life, healing, and peace.

Awake Mindfulness

“Right mindfulness” is also translated as “right memory”, “right awareness”, or “right attention”.  In this discipline, practitioners seek to be constantly alert to phenomena that affect the body and the mind, and to eliminate any negative thought.  In the Pāli Canon, it is explained like this:

And what, monks, is right mindfulness?
(i) There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in and of itself—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.

(ii) He remains focused on feelings in and of themselves—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.

(iii) He remains focused on the mind in and of itself—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.

(iv) He remains focused on mental qualities in and of themselves—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.

This, monks, is called right mindfulness.

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus instructs his disciples not to worry, but to take faith in the fact that our heavenly Father clothes the lilies of the fields and provides for the sparrows.  And a passage that I find particularly beautiful comes to mind when I compare right mindfulness to the Bible:

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9

Awake Concentration

“Right concentration” is also known as “right meditation”.  Meditation is a practice of spending an amount of time concentrating fully on one thing and emptying your mind of all other thoughts.  Through focusing on nothing but their breathing, for example, a person can achieve a meditative state that often has better health effects than sleep (or so I’ve read – I really must try this, I’ve decided).  Meditation can also be developed through mindfulness of a visual object, or repetition of a phrase (known as a mantra).  The idea is that meditation helps one to suppress everything that might hinder you from developing wisdom – in fact, in the Buddhist tradition there are five hindrances:

1.    Sensory desire

2.    Ill-will

3.    Sloth

4.    Restlessness, or worry

5.    Doubt

In the Pāli canon, right concentration is defined like so:

And what is right concentration?
(i) Herein a monk aloof from sense desires, aloof from unwholesome thoughts, attains to and abides in the first meditative absorption [jhana], which is detachment-born and accompanied by applied thought, sustained thought, joy, and bliss.

(ii) By allaying applied and sustained thought he attains to, and abides in the second jhana, which is inner tranquillity, which is unification (of the mind), devoid of applied and sustained thought, and which has joy and bliss.

(iii) By detachment from joy he dwells in equanimity, mindful, and with clear comprehension and enjoys bliss in body, and attains to and abides in the third jhana, which the noble ones [ariyas] call "dwelling in equanimity, mindfulness, and bliss".

(iv) By giving up of bliss and suffering, by the disappearance already of joy and sorrow, he attains to, and abides in the fourth jhana, which is neither suffering nor bliss, and which is the purity of equanimity — mindfulness.

This is called right concentration.

Now, in the Bible I have not found a description of meditation that corresponds to the idea of concentration on breathing or on a visual object.  However, I do not see anything against this idea, if it can achieve benefits (which apparently it can).  But I do find the concept of meditation upon a phrase (or mantra) to be something Biblical.  Joshua 1:8 tells us to mediate on “the law” day and night.  And Jesus told us that all the law was summed up as loving God and loving people, while Galatians 5:14 tells us that the entire law is fulfilled in loving our neighbor as ourselves.  So perhaps we should spend considerable time meditating on the meaning of love, and how to love our neighbor.  A few more Bible verses on meditation:

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2

I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
Psalm 119:15

My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
Psalm 49:3

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
Psalm 65:5-7

I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
Psalm 143:5

So I hope this has been helpful for you, and maybe helped you to look at things from a different angle, as it has for me.  It is definitely a discipline, but we should not tire of it:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.
I Timothy 4:15

Praying In Jesus' Name

What does it mean to pray "in Jesus' name?"  In John 14:12-14, Jesus says:

I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

So, commonly, Christians all around the world pray to God and end their prayers with the words "in Jesus' name, Amen."  But sometimes we don't get what we ask for.  I know I asked God to give me a million dollars before, and I never got it.  So does this mean that Jesus is a liar?

Well, what if asking for things in Jesus’ name means more than just saying “in Jesus’ name”?  In ancient culture, names were picked for their meaning more than for the way they sounded.  All over the Bible you’ll see that children were given names based on the meaning of the name – for example, when the twin sons Jacob and Esau were born, Esau was given his name because it means hairy; Jacob was holding onto Esau’s heel as he came out, and Jacob means "heel grabber".  So when Mary was told by an angel what to name Jesus, the original language was Y’shua.  Y’shua is like a nickname – a shortened version of “Jehovah shua”, shua meaning “saves”.  So Jesus’ name means “God saves”.  So the first thing we need to remember when we pray “in Jesus’ name” is that we are praying because God saves.

Secondly, in ancient culture a person’s name was more than just what you called them.  A name represented a person’s reputation or character – having a good name in town meant that one was respected and seen in a good way by the people of the community.  The fourth commandment – to honor your father and your mother – had a deeper meaning in Hebrew culture than the way it’s viewed today.  Today we think it merely means to obey your parents.  But in Hebrew culture, if a child lived in a way that was dishonorable, this would give his/her parents a “bad name” – it would damage their reputation.  So to live in a way that honored your parents meant that you were to live in a way that lifted up their reputation – when people see the way you live, they should think “he/she must have had good parents!” 

So when we pray “in Jesus’ name”, we should pray as ones in whom the Holy Spirit lives, and thus as people who are able to pray in His character.  We should seek the things He would seek, and in the way that He would seek them.  When we pray “in Jesus’ name”, we seek to pray God’s will over things on earth, and when you pray in this manner, Jesus WILL do it! 

But how can we do this?  How can we pray in Jesus’ character?  Well, there are many clues – one I’d like to highlight is a prophecy that Matthew claims Jesus fulfilled in Matthew chapter 12:

1     Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.
He is my chosen one, who pleases me.
 I have put my Spirit upon him.
 He will bring justice to the nations.
2        He will not shout
 or raise his voice in public.
3        He will not crush the weakest reed
 or put out a flickering candle.
 He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
4        He will not falter or lose heart
 until justice prevails throughout the earth.
 Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.
Isaiah 42:1-4 (NLT)

This passage is a prophecy of Jesus, but I think it's appropriate to see this as a guideline for how we should live.  The word "Christian" was a term coined by the non-Christian population of Antioch as a derogatory term that stuck, and it basically meant "little Christ".  And the reason it stuck is because that's what we're really supposed to try to be.  We're supposed to be little reflections - yes, they are dirty, imperfect reflections; but reflections nevertheless - little reflections of Christ running around showing the world His glory.  So when I read this passage I notice some interesting things.  I notice that in verse 2, the passage puts two things back to back that might seem contradictory to our minds - we are to seek justice...but we're not supposed to shout or raise our voice in public.  How often do we seem to think that, because the cause we are fighting for is just in our eyes, it justifies shouting and raising our voice in public?  And verse 3 is terribly convicting to me, because it tells me that when we seek justice, we're supposed to do so gently, without crushing those who are weak and leaving a trail of damage in our wake.  But also it's terribly convicting because it tells me that we're not supposed to be seeking justice for the wrongs done to us, but justice for others around us who have been wronged.  And I see verse 4 as a promise that if we do this with determination - a determination to seek justice for others with a gentle spirit - we will receive respect.  And another thing that is interesting is that if you look back at verse 1, there are promises as well - the Lord will strengthen us, put His Spirit upon us, and He will find pleasure in us. 

In the past I’ve struggled with the fact that I was not given the things I asked for in my prayers.  But now I realize this is because all my prayers were so selfish.  I want to pray in Jesus’ character.  I want to seek the things He would seek, and pray His will in this world.  So I seek to pray for justice for others – justice for the weak and oppressed.  I seek to pray for justice that is achieved gently, and does not leave destruction in its wake.  I seek to pray loving prayers for healing, restoration, redemption, and peace.  And I believe that if our prayers are characterized this way, our requests will be granted.

But we shouldn't stop there.  The Christian mission does not stop at privately uttering a prayer to God.  We ought to seek to make our very lives a prayer to God.  We ought to live our prayers in the world.  We are citizens of Heaven, and we ought to live as though we were bringing Heaven to earth.  All too often I fear that we are trained by our religious upbringing to see the Christian life as being about pious living, and singing praise songs on Sunday.  But that's not what God wants!  Those things are not for God - they're for us!  Purifying our lives is about removing the things that would prevent us from loving our neighbor and loving God, and singing praise songs is about renewing our spirit - God isn't waiting on the edge of His seat every weekend thinking to Himself "oh gee, I really hope they sing my favorite songs this week!"  Don't believe me?  Take a look at this passage:

I can’t stand your religious meetings.
    I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
    your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
    your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
    When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
    I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
    That’s what I want. That’s all I want.” 

Amos 5:21-24 (MSG)

Wow.  Awkward! 

Justice is really important to God.  All throughout the Bible if you look for passages about justice you'll notice something - God is always talking about how He wants us to seek justice for...whom?  For ourselves?  For the powerful?  For the rich?  No - God wants us to seek justice for the oppressed, for the poor, for the widow and the orphan.  God wants us to seek justice for the powerless - for those who are unable to seek justice for themselves.  In Leviticus 19:9-10, Israel is instructed to leave the crops at the edge of their field unharvested for the poor to gather.  In Deuteronomy 15:11, they are commanded to share with the poor.  Psalms 82:3-4 says to "give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.  Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people."  Isaiah 1:17 shows us that when we seek justice, we should be seeking it with the oppressed, the orphans, and the widows in mind, and then this theme is repeated in verse 23.  Later on, in Isaiah 10:1-2, Isaiah pronounces sorrow upon judges who issue unfair laws that deprive the poor, deny the needy, and prey upon the weak.  When Jesus told the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, the King's measuring rod for justice was to examine how those being judged dealt with "the least of these."  I could go on, and point out many other passages where God's sense of justice deals with how the poor, the weak, and the powerless are treated - and Jesus repeatedly turned our idea of who is important on its head during His ministry. 

So how does one develop a sense of how God views justice?  It's so contrary to our own selfish way of seeing things.  In the New Testament, the commandment to love is the most repeated command.  Jesus says in John 13:35 that the world will know we are His disciples by our love.  So the way I see it, when I take that into context with the way the Bible portrays justice, I believe that if our hearts are filled with God's love, our vision of justice will be changed.  We will no longer see justice as treating rich and poor alike - through the eyes of love we will see it as giving special care to the poor, and protecting the powerless, lifting up the sick and the weak and those who are despised by culture.  And if we seek that kind of justice, I think we'll be living in the character of Jesus.

Responding to the "Rise of the Nones"

Over the last year or so, I have noticed books, articles, and blogs talking about a trend known as the “Rise of the Nones”.  On October 9, 2012, the Pew Forum conducted a study that explored this trend.  With issues like this, it seems that it is all too easy to take a pessimistic sort of response that essentially says “see, I told you this country was falling apart!”  But I am more interested in what lessons we should learn from this, and in how we should respond – every problem is an opportunity for growth.  So I wanted to explore and present my thoughts on how to respond to this situation.  But first I’d like to tell you about a friend of mine.

We’ll call my friend Simon.  Simon grew up in a church that had a tendency towards fundamentalism.  Simon likes to call his church background “The Church of Don’t”, because it seemed like that’s what being a Christian was to them: a long list of “don’ts”.  Simon grew up being told what to believe, and was given simple answers that favored literal interpretations of Bible verses, but Simon has a very rational mind, and a high intelligence.  When I met Simon, he had been out of the church for a while, but he went through an experience at one point where he stayed home from work for a few days because he was having a panic attack and couldn’t bring himself to leave the house.  He was told by a therapist that what he was going through was Religious Decompression syndrome.  Basically, Simon had left his “Church of Don’t” and had begun to defy some of the teachings of that faith.  But even though he didn’t believe in these teachings anymore, he was ridden with guilt and a feeling that he was messed up, even though he is quite a normal and gentle fellow.  I had the pleasure of meeting Simon’s therapist, and I’ll never forget one thing he said: truth does not need us to protect it.  See, often it seems that within Christian fundamentalism, questioning is discouraged.  But the Bible tells me that the most important thing is Love - because Jesus said that all the law and the prophets can be summed up in two commands: love God, and love your neighbor.  And with the parable of the Good Samaritan, paired with the command to love our enemies, I know that my neighbor is anyone and everyone.  And I John 4:8 tells me that God is love.  So the most fundamental of all truths is simply: love.  I Corinthians chapter 13 says that Love is patient.  Love does not demand its own way.  And love never fails.  So if love is fundamental to truth, then truth does not need us to protect it from questions or even from doubt.  Truth patiently bears our questions and our doubt, not demanding its way, knowing that it will prevail.  When Thomas said that he would not believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw the holes in Jesus' hands, and put his finger into them, and unless he put his hand into the hole in Jesus' side, Jesus did not come and condemn Thomas.  He appeared before Thomas personally and said "Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!"  Too often I fear we make the mistake of reading an angry tone into this passage.  But Jesus bore the full weight of evil on the cross without ever rebuking or condemning his persecutors - in fact, while he hung there gasping for breath, he said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."  Now, if he can forgive that, don't you think he can handle a little doubt?  No, when I think of Jesus appearing before Thomas, I bet you Jesus had a little bit of a smirk on his face when He called Thomas over.

So how do we respond to “the Nones”?

Love them

It’s all over the Bible, and is the single most repeated command in the New Testament.  Jesus says in John 13:35 that the world will know we are His disciples if we love one another – love is supposed to be the defining characteristic of Jesus’ followers.  So it seems fairly obvious to me that in responding to “the Nones”, we need to examine what the Bible says about love.  So I go to I Corinthians chapter13, and I want to speak specifically about a few of the things it says about love:

Love is patient

Bringing back “the Nones” is not going to be instantaneous.  It won’t be easy.  It’s going to take some real work on our part.  But love demands that no matter how we are responded to, we keep trying.  It’s important to realize, however, that this does not mean that the way to bring back “the Nones” is to call them up every so often to tell them how wrong they are and how they have sinned and must repent, and to never give up in this endeavor.  That would be to ignore the very next part of the definition of love in I Cor. 13: love is kind. 

Love is kind

Kindness means that we are gentle and giving.  If we are kind, we lift the other person up – wrapping them in affection and being considerate of their needs, seeking to meet those needs in any way that we can.  Kindness does not expect anything in return, but continues to give – this goes along with the phrase in verse 5 which says that love is not self-seeking.  Some dictionary definitions of the word “kind” even include the concept of being indulgent – if we’re kind, we indulge the doubts of “the Nones” and give them a thorough examination. 

Love is not proud

This is going to be a tough one.  But the church needs to humble itself.  It needs to stop to listen to the voice of “the Nones”, and hear whatever accusations they may present.  The church needs to listen to the reasons why our modern church has seemed hypocritical and uncaring to them.  And it needs to consider if maybe, just maybe, it got some things wrong.  Yes, it’s possible that the church will need to change!  It’s even possible that these churches that have been left behind have misinterpreted the Bible!  Love means abandoning your pride in your knowledge, abandoning your pride in your superior principles, and examining what the beloved has to say with an attitude of humility while taking into account the possibility that the beloved may have a point.

Precisely because pride is so hard to eschew, and precisely it is so important that pride be left behind, I am spending more time on this concept than any of the others.  So I thought I’d provide a few quotes from other authors that I think go along with this principle of humbling ourselves, and of the importance of listening:

“One of the biggest mistakes people make is to confuse their interpretations of the Bible with the Bible itself. To come to a new understanding of a text or a passage than a traditional view of it, due to study of language, context, history, archaeology, etc., is not to change the Bible, but one’s understanding of it, and perhaps to be more faithful to it.”
- Brian Berghoef

"The first service one owes to others in the community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God’s Word, the beginning of love for other Christians is learning to listen to them. God’s love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives us God’s Word, but also lends us God’s ear. We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them. So often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to have to ‘offer’ something when they are together with other people. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people seek a sympathetic ear and do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking even when they should be listening. But Christians who can no longer listen to one another will soon no longer be listening to God either – they will always be talking even in the presence of God. The death of the spiritual life starts here, and in the end there is nothing left but empty spiritual chatter and clerical condescension which chokes on pious words. Those who cannot listen long and patiently will always be talking past others, and finally no longer will even notice it. Those who think their time is too precious to spend listening will never really have time for God and others, but only for themselves and for their own words and plans."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Life Together

"If we maintain the open-mindedness of children, we challenge fixed ideas and established structures, including our own. We listen to people in other denominations and religions. We don't find demons in those with whom we disagree. We don't cozy up to people who mouth our jargon. If we are open, we rarely resort to either-or: either creation or evolution, liberty or law, sacred or secular, Beethoven or Madonna. We focus on both-and, fully aware that God's truth cannot be imprisoned in a small definition."

- Brennan Manning

"Some communities don't permit open, honest inquiry about the things that matter most. Lots of people have voiced a concern, expressed a doubt, or raised a question, only to be told by their family, church, friends, or tribe: 'We don't discuss those things here.'

I believe the discussion itself is divine. Abraham does his best to bargain with God, most of the book of Job consists of arguments by Job and his friends about the deepest questions of human suffering, God is practically on trial in the book of Lamentations, and Jesus responds to almost every question he's asked with...a question."

- Rob Bell

Love always protects

This might be another tough one, but if I love someone who is going through a time of doubt, I believe it means I protect their right to doubt – even if I disagree with their reasons for doubting.  Because I am not living their life, it would be insensitive for me to say to someone who is living in doubt: “well, the Bible clearly says A, so therefore you have no reason to doubt!”  No, if I love this person, I respect the reasons they have for doubting and I protect their need to go through this process.  But through it all:

Love always hopes

No matter what reasons a person has for doubting, monumental though they may seem, one who loves will stick with them and keep a hopeful attitude.  Hope means that no matter how bad the odds may seem, love is sure things will work out for the better in the end.  This insistent optimism takes quite a bit of patience for sure…which is probably why “love is patient” is the first item in Paul’s list of the definitions of love.  But we have great news in verse 8:

Love never fails

This is a profound mystery to us, because humans fail all the time.  So, naturally, we have a pessimistic expectancy of failure.  But love demands that failure is not an option.  Love refuses to leave the beloved’s side no matter what the circumstances, and love believes that no matter what happens the beloved is never beyond saving.  It might seem like it would take a miracle, but here’s the thing about miracles: I've seen a man and a woman, both in a place where they were profoundly and similarly broken, somehow cross paths and connect, despite all the reasons they should not have.  I've seen a heart that had begun to fear it could never be loved, and even that it might not be capable of loving back, find love that it could not deny was real.  I've seen a barren womb open with uncanny timing - saving a young relationship from a long separation that might have left the relationship to wither.  I've seen differences in a relationship that once caused strife and seemed like weaknesses cause great strength.  I've seen stubborn minds change.  I've seen broken hearts mended, doubt turned to hope, and a skeptic's dead faith resurrected with new vitality it never had before.  You bet I believe in miracles.  I was a “None”, and I am a miracle, and it’s only because of love.