Death of God

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
While attending seminary in the late seventies, I was required to read some theologians advocating the “death” of God. They charged “modern man” had grown too smart and sophisticated to believe in the God of the Bible. I feared if what these learned voices said was true, I might be getting all dressed up in a snazzy seminary education only to graduate and learn the prom was canceled.

As it turned out, the partisans of the “Death of God” movement could not have been more wrong. Far from succumbing to an early demise, “God” is flourishing. The problem in what sociologists are now calling the “post-modern” world is not that no one believes in God, but that everyone does, a least what passes for “God” among those deemed “spiritual” rather than religious. Judging from the forwards in my email, the internet is aflutter with talk of “God” as a sweet, sentimental Somebody, ever eager to send angels or otherwise cut you a break. (Please forward this column to ten other people within five minutes and you are sure to receive a blessing!).

Recently, a major survey of religious trends in America was released to great media fanfare. The USA Today headline proclaimed, “Faith is shifting, drifting or vanishing outright.” But in fact, “faith” isn’t on the decline. What is on the decline are self-professed Christians, especially those meaningfully connected to a local church. Today only 75% of Americans consider themselves Christians, a decline from 86% less than twenty years ago. If present trends continue, barely half of the population will be Christian by 2044.

While speaking of the God of orthodox Christianity, the renowned Catholic thinker, G. K. Chesterton, observed, “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything.” That’s what I see happening in America. People are more gullible, religiously speaking, than they were when the culture was more grounded in Christian teaching and values. Talk of “God” and “spirituality” abound, but faith in the living God--the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ--is sadly on the wane.

The good news is that Jesus remains the decisive clue to ultimate reality, the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The good news is that people yet hunger for a vital, personal relationship to the living God (John 17:3). The good news is that people need and want flesh-and-blood relationships with fellow pilgrims that no cyber-church can provide (Matthew 18:20). Our job as Jesus’ people is to get out the good news about him and his family, the church. Other voices, it seems, are drowning us out.

(For March 29, 2009)

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Nice Accident

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
I had a really nice auto accident the other day. Well, “nice” as automobile accidents go.

It was a fender bender outside a convenience store. I was pumping gas when a big, late-model pickup started backing in my direction. I quickly reached inside my car and sat on the horn but the truck kept coming. A fleeting second later, I heard the sickening crunch of metal on metal as my ‘96 Camry fender bravely faced off against a shiny steel pickup bumper. My fender lost.

The driver of the pickup pulled his vehicle away from mine, then got out and headed in my direction. He was a stately, elderly gentleman. “Tried to warn you with my horn,” I said, as he walked up.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear it,” he said. “Have a little problem with my hearing.” He then apologized for hitting my car and took complete responsibility for the accident. No excuses, no second guessing, no playing the blame-game. At his suggestion, we called local law enforcement to file an accident report.

We then exchanged insurance information and called his provider. A pleasant and helpful lady walked us through the process of filing a claim. Between being put on hold--and passing my cell phone back and forth as the phone interview progressed--the other gentleman and I got acquainted. He retired from Dixie Auto Parts in downtown Macon when the business closed in ‘96. ‘96 was when I arrived in downtown Macon. Sorry I missed him. I didn’t have the heart to tell my newfound friend he hit a preacher. Somehow I knew that would hit him pretty hard.

A patrol car pulled up and the officer got out, pad in hand. I told him we had determined no accident report was needed. He smiled, said “Thanks,” and took off to his next call.

By the time our phone call to the insurance carrier was done, I had a claim number and instructions on where to take my car for repair. A rental car would be waiting. I thanked the lady on the phone for her professionalism and kindness. “Where are you located?,” I asked.

“I’m in Macon,” she answered. “And I’m so glad to talk with you two because I never get a local call from Macon!” I was proud she was a Macon gal.

My newfound friend and I parted. I promised to let him know how things unfolded. The whole experience left me greatly encouraged. Just imagine “what a wonderful world this would be” if everybody accepted responsibility when needed, made amends, and parted friends.

That’s what Jesus intended. And in one little corner of the world on a busy Friday afternoon, that’s what happened.

(For March 22, 2009)

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Green Stamps and Change

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
When I was a boy, there was such a thing as Green Stamps. When a purchase was made at a participating grocery or department store, the customer received a set of Green Stamps. If you--or most of the time, your mother--saved enough Green Stamps, the family got a really cool gift: the latest, greatest toaster, a new rooftop antenna for the TV (remember TV antennas?), or a jazzy float for the summer beach trip.

During the heyday of Green Stamps in the sixties, the rewards catalogue of the S&H Green Stamp company was one of the largest publications in the United States. But then one day I woke up and Green Stamps were gone. They just disappeared. Nobody ever told me what happened to them.

Recently, I received an email entitled “24 Things About to Become Extinct in America.” It appears Green Stamps are hardly the only fixture of twentieth century life on the endangered species list. Add the “Yellow Pages.” In an internet world where more and people “google” for information, printed “Yellow Pages” are in decline. Craigslist.org and a hundred spinoffs are killing Classified Ads, once a staple of the newspaper business. Phone landlines are dying as younger consumers “go cellular.” Digital cameras have all but made developing film a thing of the past. In a world of email, hand-written letters are becoming ever more rare and priceless.

Clearly, there is a sea change going on around us. We may not like it and many loudly complain about it, but there’s no denying it: change at the speed of light seems the only constant in the digital age.

Frankly, the rate of change is a problem for churches, especially churches like ours that value tradition. “Tradition,” said Chesterton, “is giving a vote to our ancestors.” It’s a way of valuing those who have gone before and receiving the benefit of their experience and wisdom. Further, for a faith like ours grounded in God’s revelation in history--first in the life of Israel (the Old Testament) and supremely in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (the New Testament)--the past is always prologue in some measure to the future.

The rub comes in deciding what “traditions” are life-giving and non-negotiable (for example, Worship on the Lord’s Day) and what traditions are subject to change (for example, is 11:00 o’clock on Sunday morning the best time to worship God forever and ever, Amen?).

It’s hard to know what changes our church needs to make in order to preserve the best of our tradition while remaining responsive to a changing world. But in a world where Green Stamps have disappeared, it’s a question I’m pondering more and more.

(For March 15, 2009)

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Confessing Your Sins

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
According to recent news reports, only 1 in 4 American Catholics goes to Confession as much as once a year. Hoping to reverse this trend, the Archdiocese of Baltimore recently launched a campaign called, “The Light Is On For You.”

Whatever the Protestant/Catholic divide on the theology of confession, it appears at a practical level, the Protestant confidence sins need only be confessed to God has won the debate. That’s not an altogether good thing.

No, I’m not lobbying for a Baptist version of “The Light Is On For You,” with folks required to recite their sins to a sympathetic priest or pastor in a ritualistic way. But there are times when confessing our sins to another person can break the cycle of secret and shame that holds us in bondage. As the book of James has it, “Confess your sins to one another . . . that you may be healed” (1:16).

Baptists and other Protestants delight in the New Testament confidence Jesus Christ is our perfect high priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). There is “one mediator” between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5), so no earthly priest is required. Further, Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer to confess our sins directly to our heavenly Father: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

On the other hand, Jesus also gave his disciples authority to forgive sins: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23; Matthew 16:19). To my knowledge, this is the basis of Catholic teaching that “only” priests can forgive sins.

Rather than get caught up in the either/or thinking so typical in Protestant/Catholic debates, how ‘bout a both/and? Yes, as a matter of course, one can and should confess one’s sins directly to God. But there are times when a “priest” is needed to powerfully convey the grace and forgiveness at the heart of the Gospel. In other words, Jesus’ teaching about “retaining sins” is not a threat but a painful fact of life: sometimes our sins are “retained” until and unless a brother or sister in the family of faith becomes the welcoming, forgiving love of God to us.

Thus, the real difference in Baptists and Catholics is not whether a priest is ever needed. The real difference is that Baptists believe any Spirit-filled person can be a priest, not just those ordained to the office. Thus, the most radical Baptist mantra is not the “Priesthood of the Believer” (singular) but “The Priesthood of All Believers” (plural).

Choose your “priest” wisely. But if you are caught in a self-destructive cycle of secrets and shame, find someone you can trust to hear your confession and become the Good News to you. As Jesus warned, sometimes that’s required for his truth to set you free.

For March 1, 2009)

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Reboot Repentance

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
As most computer users know, computers like people, can be cantankerous. Computers become cranky when left running for long periods of time, especially when multiple programs are opened at once. Computer geeks call such a state a “drain on system resources.” When the drain becomes great enough, various programs compete for a diminishing pool of resources and the computer slows to a crawl or crashes. At that point, the only option is to restart the stalled computer, an operation known as “rebooting.”

People also need “rebooting” from time to time. The Bible calls this “repentance.” Repentance is taking stock of where one is in life and recognizing the need for change. Perhaps one is feeling the drain of being chronically overly committed. Perhaps one has too many ventures going for available time and energy. Such states are the spiritual equivalent of a computer about to crash. It’s time to “reboot.”

Fortunately, the early church set aside a season in the church year to attend to such soul work. The season is called “Lent.” Lent is a forty day period of preparation for the celebration of Easter. It commemorates the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness.

In the past, Lent was considered a “Catholic thing to do.” However, in the last forty years or so, many Baptists and other Protestants have reclaimed this ancient Christian practice. The practice of a forty day fast prior to Easter (excluding Sundays) began in the early centuries of the church’s life, long before there was a Protestant/Catholic divide. In other words, Lent belongs to all Christians, not just our Catholic brothers and sisters.

From its origins as a fast, Lent continues to invite Christians to give up something as a way of simplifying one’s life and making more room for God: perhaps giving up the morning newspaper to devote that time for prayer, or giving up an evening of mind-numbing television to claim some family time.

This Sunday, our GAs will help us prepare for the Lenten journey by offering a special lunch and service following Sunday worship (see cover article). Then on Wednesday evening, we will gather in the sanctuary to make an ashen cross upon our foreheads, recalling the biblical injunction, “You are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Thankfully, we make that difficult admission under the sign of the cross that promises eternal life to those who believe.

If you are experiencing “system drain” and are in serious need of “rebooting,” Lent offers that opportunity. It is God’s invitation to slow down, take stock, and start fresh. I can hardly wait.

(for Feb 22, 2009)

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