I write this in the aftermath of George Zimmerman’s acquittal for the killing of Trayvon Martin. I have my own opinion as to whether justice was served, but that is not where my thoughts are right now. My thoughts and indeed my grief have to do with the rapidly growing violence in our world, both on a very personal scale, as in the Martin, Zimmerman case, and on a scale that is global.
We hear often in the church conversations about sin. Usually the definition most commonly used is “separation from God” or “that which separates us from God”, and that separation occurred when the first man and woman ate from the tree of Knowledge against God’s warning not to eat of its fruit. This is referred to as “The Fall” which according to most traditions was set right, atoned for, by Jesus’ death on the cross. This language has grown weary and easily evaporates into the realm of sentimental and abstract platitude; nor does it ask anything of us. It is an easy and comfortable theology. I’d like to offer another interpretation to the Genesis myth and to the relevance of Jesus the anointed of God when it comes to reflecting on violence.
The man and the woman I believe were set up in the garden. As a part of their evolution they out of necessity had to acquire the knowledge of good and evil. I can only imagine God looking at his wristwatch and wondering when they would get around to tasting the so-called forbidden fruit. So this was no fall at all but a necessary coming of age in the development of humankind….humankind made in God’s image and therefore humankind sharing God’s knowledge of good and evil. Where the trouble begins, however, is the part of the story in which Cain murders his brother Abel. This is the point at which violence enters our world and it has plagued us ever since: Violence the first enemy, and a tangible, even visceral name for sin. And the symbols of violence are all around us: In our ridiculously lax gun laws, in the streets of our cities, in the so-called “stand your ground laws” in many states. We even fly fighter jets over our sporting events. The military industrial complex has grown exponentially in the past fifty years providing deadly weapons around the world, despite President Eisenhower’s prophetic warning of such a threat to peace.
The person of Jesus, like the prophets and sages before him offered a way of life that stands up and against such violence: a way of life governed by compassion, a way of life in which mercy is a cardinal virtue. We are taught by him to love justice, and to love peace and nonviolence. And love requires action. The life of faith up and against the vast presence of violence has created a tragic dichotomy in our world. And people of faith, all faiths, must do everything we can to stop this plague of violence. Jesus’ gruesome death on a cross is a symbol, a reminder that violence solves nothing, that violence only engenders scandal and tragedy. Let us be people of kindness, and trust and peace and nonviolence. Let it be our life’s work, as it was Jesus’ work….and sorry folks, whether legal or not, carrying a concealed handgun won’t help us on this way.
Your comments on the atonement and sin make me nervous. I take it you have abandoned historic Christianity altogether?
Where to begin? So much utter nonsense yet so little time to address it all.
So I wont. But first, you should have gone ahead and expressed your own opinion on the Trayvon case explicitly because you did so otherwise. Next time don’t hold back. Give us more insight and wisdom. You seem to overflowing with it.
You are completely wrong in your assessment of the fall -in its origin, it’s effects and in Jesus’ death and resurrection to ‘fix’ it.
God commanded them not to eat of the fruit. Satan suggested otherwise. They chose Satan. Bad idea. For all mankind. So just who set them up?
“Where the trouble begins however is the part where Cain murders Abel?” You’re kidding right? What about the part when Adam and Eve disobey God? What about the part when they decide to hide from their creator?
Sin IS separation from God. That separation is manifested in many, many ways.
Violence being but one. Jesus’ gruesome death speaks more to the separation than it does about violence. God came into this world to solve and repair a relationship problem. One that we created and continue to persist in.
Unfortunately your naive assumptions and simple answers corrupt His message and his work. Sad enough coming from a person of faith. Worse yet coming from a person of leadership.
I recommend actually reading the Bible.
Some more errors:
1. There is no moral equivalency between defensive violence vs. offensive violence.
2. Violence did solve the problems of King George, III, Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito.
3. Violence does (sometimes) solve the problems of women with guns when confronted by evil men with knives.
Gun grabbers need to be charged with murder. There were 26 children and DISARMED adult victims murdered by a crazy man in Newtown, Connecticut. There were about 56 million children and DISARMED adult victims murdered by crazy governments during the Twentieth Century. Those who DISARMED those victims are accessories to murder, have blood on their hands, and need to be held accountable. That includes you.
Let’s cut to the chase. Forget about Trayvon Martin, Stand Your Ground, and the Military Industrial Complex. The most important thing is What you tell your parishioners When they ask you, the way to heaven and how to have eternal Salvation?
Because what you wrote is Jesus’ gruesome death on the cross was only symbolic.
Last time I read the Bible, I read, Jesus Died on the Cross for Our Sins! and He is our Savior!
A lot bigger than a mere symbol and “that violence solves Nothing only engenders scandal and tragedy – wow how mixed up your are.
So if Jesus did not die on the Cross then that would have been the Tragedy.
The Scandal and the Tragedy here is that you are a Leader of a Christian Church and It appears that you need to go back to divinity school and start from the beginning.
You might want to start by reading the bible; maybe starting with the book of John; and with an open heart and mind to really understand what God’s words say. Stop trying to please mens ears and egos by writing your columns. Your column you wrote is Biblically inaccurate, based on your opinion (not the word of God), and it appears you do not believe the Scripture is divinely inspired and infallible.
John 3:16 ” For God So Loved the World that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting Life.”
Jesus was not a Martyr! He is Our Savior!!!
The Bible is Not Just some Feel Good Book, it is God’s word telling us how to be saved from eternal condemnation.
It is extremely difficult (probably impossible) to make fair, competent judgments in complex, controversial matters without knowing all the relevant facts. Very few people know all the relevant facts in the Martin – Zimmerman matter. The members of the jury come closest to knowing all the relevant facts. They sat through the entire trial, listened to all the testimony, examined all the evidence, listened to the extensive arguments by attorney’s from both sides. Moreover, they were somewhat insulated from the hysteria, prejudice, and inflammatory comments that flooded TV, newspapers, etc.
Now the jury has reached its conclusion, and I respect the conclusion because I respect our jury system and the jury. I will not be so presumptuous as to second guess the jury, but many, many people are not shy about dismissing and ignoring the jury. Now the defendant, who was found not guilty, is in hiding because of numerous death threats. A totally disinterested person, whose phone number was accidentally associated with the defendant has received numerous death threats according to news reports. The family that the defendant recently rescued from a car accident is afraid to speak to the media because some of the hate and rage against the defendant might be aimed against them.
I fear a society where our jury system is dismissed and scorned by so many people, eaten up with rage and prejudice.
My goodness. What a “vigorous” reaction. Biblical fundamentalism is alive and well. Too bad curtesy and reasoned response is not. Flower’s view of the Genesis story makes a lot more sense than knee jerk references to ancient language, even if “Divinely Inspired”.
Ancient Language – Divinely Inspired – The Bible
I took the time to read your churches website with its statements of belief, doctrine, tenants and one of your parishioners’ comments in regard to this blog, who reaffirms your churches beliefs. It appears your church, very much, does not care if the Bible is divinely Inspired and one can merely interpret the Bible any which way one feels like interpreting it.
Here is a quote from your website I read, it is one of your church’s’ doctrine and tenants of belief – “Teaching and learning are critical to us, but our teaching is about discovery, rather than dogma. We engage scripture critically and imaginatively, not as an inerrant rulebook, but as God’s living word ever being interpreted anew.”
Another way to interpret this statement is;
say tomorrow depending on how you feel like interpreting those Ancient Writings (the Bible) that day, you may have thoughts, ideas or comments leaning toward Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism or maybe even Islamism; eventually taking your church toward becoming one of those other religions, maybe next week, next month or maybe next year, just depending on how you are feeling and how you want to interpret those Ancient Writings (the Bible).
Or maybe some non-Christian or atheist person comes along into your church and takes control of it because you have no real convictions, no moral compass or no absolutes and now you have this newly formed non-Christian church, or just maybe that is what your church has become.
After reading your website and writings, I see your church is just a Humanistic gathering not a Christ centered bible believing congregation.
And, No I am not being judgmental; I am just re-stating the facts of what you have written on your website and your writings.
In your Doctrine, you state you do not teach dogma.
So to be without dogma or to have no dogma; you have no religious belief or group belief…
For your information and straight from a humanistic dictionary –
Definition of dogma (n) Bing Dictionary
dog·ma [ dáwgmə ]
1. religious belief: a belief or set of beliefs that a religion holds to be true
2. group belief: a belief or set of beliefs that a political, philosophical, or moral group holds to be true – Synonyms: creed, doctrine , philosophy, canon, belief, view , tenets, code
Because of the tenor of these comments, I hope the Rev. Flowers does not respond. But to read a response which came in a more civil debate of the same issue, see, “Ask the Priest.Org”. Tap or click on “The Heresy of Literalism” and then, “Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be”. The folks who run that blog are Episcopalians so ya’ll will find plenty to disagree with but maybe some kernels that have the ring of truth.
Oh, and by the way, all those atheists, Buddists, etc,? The Episcopal Church Welcomes You. But watch out; we’ll have you reciting The Nicene Creed at least once a weetk, the way we do, and The Apostles’ Creed when your children are Baptized. Did I mention that the Creeds, to Episcopalians, are statements of basic belief? Is that what you mean by dogma?
thank you for your comments; people have quoted the Gospel of John; I’ve always had trouble with Jesus being killed for our sins; because as a human, I can think only in human terms and I know I could and would never allow my child to be killed for any reason if I could prevent it..
I had some consolation in the verse of John: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God ” I thought perhaps Christ himself made the decision;
I notice the people who wrote are men — not mothers
I suppose it is the prerogative of fundamentalists (literalists) to turn off their brains when they enter their churches or read the Bible. Fortunately, it is the prerogative of Episcopalians to keep our brains running.
I read Rev. Flowers’ thought provoking comments in the Coastline.
While there are some things I agree with and some I question, the issue of violence, self-protection, protection of others, etc., becomes very complicated. Here is a true story that touched me and helped me put things into perspective.
Many years ago our parish priest came to us from a small city in Virginia where he had served as a parish priest. He also volunteered as chaplain to the police department to work with police officers and others who had traumatic experiences. He worked ‘on call’ and was paid a minimal salary but, technically, was a member of the police force. He had to qualify with a handgun, was given a badge, had a uniform, etc., just like any other officer. This was of no consequence to him until there was a major upheaval in the police department. About half the police officers were fired (including the chief and most senior officers), so he and everyone else who were qualified as officers were pressed into service for several months until the vacancies were filled. Even though he was part-time, his duties were about like any other officer. And, there were times when he and another officer would have to enter rooms or buildings with their weapons drawn as they looked for the bad guys.
I asked him how he felt about that, and if he would have shot a suspect. His answer: “It was always frightening because you never knew what would happen. I never had to fire my weapon, but I thought and prayed about that a lot. I concluded, if I had to, I would shoot someone to protect another person, but would not shoot someone to protect myself. Fortunately, and by the Grace of God, I never had to make that decision. Honestly, I still wonder what I would have decided in that split second.”
His view makes sense to me. I hunt some, and we do have weapons in our house. I hope to be blessed like my priest of 25 years ago. I hope to always wonder, and never know, what decision I would make.