The Easy Way Out

Friday night, Laurie and I went with Brian and Heather to hear Rob Bell speak on his “The God’s Aren’t Angry Tour.” We weren’t entirely sure what to expect. I think Brian and I had a basic idea, he would talk – without PowerPoint, or visual aids and would be fairly good at it. I think Laurie and Heather may have had an even lesser idea of what they were going to. Heather tried to explain it to someone as a “not a conference.”
In the end I walked away curious, contemplating and amazed. Bell spoke for nearly two hours without notes, a chalk board, white board or any other visual aids other than a replica of an alter on the stage.
He dressed in plain clothes – black jeans, a black shirt, white belt and tennis shoes. And he walked onto the stage, applauded the audience and went right into his message. There was no, “Thank you Dallas.” No, “I’m so glad you’re here.” Just the message he plained to give.

* just so you know, this isn’t much of a synopsis, but more or less my thoughts on a number of things – check out podunk PoMo fo a better synopsis of the message.

He began with the story of Cave Woman and Cave Husband. And how they go about their life, watching plants grow and going on the hunt. Before long they begin to realize there’s a power beyond them that controls how big the plant grows and how easy the hunt is. This power surrounds them, yet that they have no control over this power.

You may remember a few weeks ago I wrote about an emotional Sunday at church. I didn’t tell the whole story. Didn’t feel the need to at the time.
But after the service I was stopped by a young woman who told me she appreciated my prayer for Matt and appreciated my honesty. I thanked her, not really knowing how to respond and told her briefly about Matt and I being best friends and roommates for most of our lives.
She then began to tell me about a pastor she knew of who had written a book. She recommended the book and said it might be helpful for me and for Matt.
She told me that this pastor “has a theory” (my words not hers) that every illness and disease has a spiritual root. She told me that every illness we struggle with can be traced back to a spiritual condition or a broken relationship of some sort.
She explained to me that she herself has been struggling with an illness and just as the pastor suggested, this illness is caused by a broken relationship with a parent. And the same was true for her brother.
“That’s very interesting,” I replied. I asked her for the name of the book again and told her I’d have to keep an eye out for it.
Matt and I gave our testimony the following week, but I don’t believe my new friend was there.

So Cave Woman and Cave Husband have realized that there are these forces beyond them and they start to explain them with personalities, just like you and I. And I bet at some point Cave Woman has realized that when she scratches Cave Husband’s back, he tends to clean up around the cave a little more. I bet Cave Husband realizes that when he cooks dinner for Cave Woman she doesn’t nag him as much about his cave drawings on the wall.
Later on in life, they learn to plant their crops and they start to realize that if these forces that are beyond them provide the proper amounts of sun and rain, their crops will grow like crazy. But if the clouds and rain disappear and there’s too much sun, their crops will dry up and their food supply will diminish. I bet that at some point, while they’re wondering where their next meal would come from, Cave Husband remembered how Cave Woman’s nagging stopped when he cooked dinner and I’m sure Cave Woman remembered how Cave Husband cleaned up after himself when she scratched his back and together they realized that if they can make the sun god happy and the rain god happy, then maybe they’ll bring more rain and the crops will grow and their food supply will increase. They realize that this power beyond them has a personality and responds to things the way people do. So in order to make these powers, or gods and goddesses happy, Cave Woman and Cave Husband begin to offer sacrifices to the god of the hunt and the god of the plant. They start out by leaving out 3 percent of their crop so the rain gods and sun gods will be happy. And guess what?! The next planting season, their crops grow like never before.

My new friend, the one that stopped me after church assured me that the author of this book she’s been reading, isn’t one of those “healing pastors” like some televangelists. She said he tried that and realized it didn’t work – which led him to where he is today (writing a book to help heal people instead of laying hands on them?).

I’ve heard a lot of people talk/preach this idea of a health wealth doctrine. I’ve heard it said over and over again that if you serve God, if you just follow Him a little more, you’re life will be SO much easier. If you have a hard time in your life, just trust God a little more and His blessings will shower upon you.

I bet that’s what Cave Woman and Cave Husband thought too about their gods. But after their crops grew like never before, I wonder how they budgeted their next sacrifice. If it were me I might be tempted to just give 3 percent again. After all, if that took care of the problem, then why worry about doing more? Or maybe they thought, if 3 percent will give us this much growth, imagine what 10 percent might do! But maybe the next year, after they give 10 percent, they have another drought. I’m sure they must have looked at each other in fear. I’m sure they thought, we must have made this power beyond us angry so now we must give 20 percent. But what if the drought continues? Now they give 50 percent. And with a drought, they don’t have as many crops to begin with, so they’re left with less and less to eat for themselves. So now they have to offer up their animals. But the drought continues. So now they start cutting themselves. Maybe if they bleed their own blood on the alter the gods will be happy. But the drought continues. Now they offer their first born child. Finally the drought ends. Their neighbors take notice and see what Cave Woman an Cave Husband did and begin to keep track of the rituals that must be performed to keep the gods happy.
Now the neighborhood grows and they have priests and rituals and customs that the neighborhood follows anytime they need a blessing or anytime they fear they’ve angered the gods. Suddenly, they’ve created a religion based on their understanding of the world around them. But like many of us, I’m sure they were never really certain their sacrifice was enough. I’m sure they still had doubts in the back of their mind that said, “I gave 10 percent this year, but maybe I messed up somewhere else and I should have given 20 percent.”

I remember when my sister Amy got sick. There was never a doubt in my mind that she was a Godly woman and following Christ every step of the way. I remember when my grandmother passed away – she had a heart attack – one of the last things she said was, “I want to see Jesus.” I remember my grandfather at her funeral missing her and wishing he was with her in heaven. I remember us joking about God being a University of Texas fan and not a University of Nebraska fan. I remember the stories he told and I never questioned where he stood with God or with his fellow man. The doctors were quite certain he had leukemia before he passed away. I remember when my mother found out she had cancer. I’ve never once doubted her faith. I never once doubted her relationship with her sister, her father, her mother or anyone else. We don’t talk about it much outside the two of us, but Laurie has a few health issues that the doctors haven’t been able to find a cure for. She struggles with her lack of energy and the frustration that comes with it all. I’ve never heard her question God and I don’t recall every hearing her complain. I can’t think of a single grudge she holds and she lets her stress and anxiety go with a good deal of ease.

When God called Abram (Abraham) to follow Him, Rob Bell said that God called Abram to leave his father’s household. This didn’t mean leave the couch, your bed, your father’s fridge and cable TV behind. This meant leave your father’s neighborhood and it’s ways of thinkings and their religions behind. God said I’ve got something new for ya. He said you don’t have to wonder where you stand with me anymore – you can know. Just follow these steps (in the first 5 chapters of Leviticus) and you’ll know that you and I are at peace.

When Jesus showed up on the scene He told folks gathered around Him, “I have a new yoke for you. My yoke is easy and it’s burden is light.” He was saying, “Guess what. That old yoke, or way of thinking you’re burdened with, that’s over. It’s done with. we’re going about things differently now.” When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, things changed. Like really changed.

Rob Bell pointed to the the writer of Hebrews who says, Jesus made peace with all things at the culmination of the ages…

While the Jewish folks had gotten pretty used to offering their sacrifices, Jesus said God wasn’t impressed with their rituals. Just like in Psalm 50 and Micah 6, God isn’t impressed with their rituals or that they shed the blood of animals, once or twice a year or 50 times a year. The shedding of blood isn’t what takes away sin. podunk PoMo summarizes it like this:

So the author of Hebrews says that the shedding of blood, that entire process, was never for God…it was for us. Because we need symbols. We need tangible exercises and rituals to understand things. Rituals help us believe truths and deal with the anxiety and shame that prevents us from knowing where we stand. So the whole system was for our benefit, not God’s.
What, then, is repentance? We tend to say, “Just repent, and then do this…”?
But that’s not it. Repentance is what happens when your eyes are opened to what has already been done at the culmination of the ages. And it’s followed by joy. You are invited to celebrate it!

You see we get in this mindset that by performing the ritual, everything is done. It’s taken care of. If we repent and say the sinner’s prayer and then do a, b, c and d, God will bless us.

But that still doesn’t answer the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” It still doesn’t tell me why my sister died or my grandparents or why my mom had cancer. Or maybe it does. Maybe they just didn’t make up with that friend in elementary school. Maybe they held an inner bitterness towards their mother. Or maybe they were holding on to a grudge.

But then Laurie poses this question, “What about the 12 month old who comes into my hospital with leukemia? What relationship has he broken? What grudge is he holding on to? What anxiety is he plagued with?”

The easy thing for me to say is, “Well all those folks, including my wife and mother and sister and grandparents all did wrong somewhere in their life so too bad. I guess I’m a better person than them because I haven’t had any serious health concerns (yet).”
That’s the easy thing for me to say. But in my opinion, that’s nothing more than a cop-out for someone who doesn’t want to face the facts. That’s just another part of the ritual/sacrifice system that Cave Woman and Cave Husband took part in. That’s me forgetting that God has made peace with all things at the culmination of the ages.

Perhaps the harder thing to do and understand is to simply accept that God is God. And trust that these people have made their peace with God already and their illness or sickness or suffering has absolutely nothing to do with their rituals, such as church attendance, or tithe. Perhaps it’s just the road God is leading them down so the bigger picture and plan that He has for each of us will come into fruition. Perhaps Jesus really meant what he said in John 9:

Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?” Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

The disciples wanted the easy way out. I want the easy way out. We all want the easy way out. But Jesus has brought about a new way of thinking and a new way of understanding.

Because peace has already been made with God at the culmination of the ages.

My new friend at church brought me the book she recommended. She gave it to me and said it was mine to keep. I can’t decide if I even want to open it up. Laurie thumbed through some of it and read some of the causes of her own illnesses and other medical problems she knows people have dealt with, or are dealing with. As I thought about the “root of the problems” I just can’t help but think, “This sounds like the easy way out. And maybe – just maybe – the gods aren’t angry with us after all.”