The problem with them all is that "They all imply a particular definition of human life, which I think is false. ... [W]e are constantly insulting our humanity out of a particular theological frame of reference. We are beggars approaching God. We are telling God how unworthy we are." Such a theological construct, said Spong, is "simply not true. ... It is therefore bad anthropology, and no one can build good theology on bad anthropology." "Our problem is not a fall into sin," insists Spong. Our problem is "that we have not yet achieved our full humanity." Words like savior and redeemer and rescuer "simply lock us into the old paradigm," says Spong. The story of Jesus is instead the proclamation of Jesus "as the source of love calling us to love beyond every boundary, to love wastefully, to give it away, to never stop and count the cost: that's a new image of what it means to be human."
In other words, we do not need to be saved from anything and therefore we do not need a Savior. Instead we need to led by a fully human model into the full humanity that is our goal and destiny in Christ. Christ is not savior but enhancer of our human status and identity. Creedal Christianity needs purging in order for the new wave to be born and take over the failed Christian identity. The gospel according to Spong is that we have a good enough life now but it could be so much better -- freed from the antiquated constraints of morality, sinfulness, and righteousness we have the opportunity to be really free and fully human.
Hmmmm.... sounds exactly like the god we want but really don't need all that much. The freedom he lauds is captivity and that which is fully human is, in reality, the fatal sinful flaw that deprives us of our Creator's intention. There is nothing new here but that is the point. Spong and others offer little that is new. Their paradigms are the same old tried and true dead end roads of Christian heresy over the ages.
But you gotta admit that it is appealing... Think how much more time we would have to devote to developing that full self if we did not have to spend so much time preaching repentance from the old, failed self so stained and marked with sin and its death. But in the end it is a much harder sell. I have been told that Windows 7 has so many enhanced features over Windows Vista and XP but I find myself fairly comfortable with my old XP. Besides I am not sure I want to fork over the cash to cover the cost of the enhancements. In fact, it just may take Microsoft no longer supporting XP (along with its string of vendors) before I might take the ultimate risk of jumping into the newest and best operating system. The same could be said of seeing Christianity basically as an upgrade over the tried and reliable old model -- will the cost of the enhancements be worth the price of change? Now that is the age old question. In the end, what convinces us to abandon the comfortable misery we know is not that something better is out there but that the comfortable old misery is no longer tolerable and its death can no longer be ignored. And that, my friends, sounds exactly like the old, old story of Jesus and the family voice of repentance to prepare His way....
12 comments:
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools -- about sums up what Spong and others like him say.
Poor Spong, like all the aging leftists a rather tragic figure.
May he repent while he still has time.
You know I was thinking here is the post I can say Yeah, Right On -- until the unfortunate comparison to operating systems. Revelation was complete with Christ; operating systems develop.
Get 7. It's terrific. Way better than XP, and for those who held on to XP after Vista proved a disappointment, everything you hoped Vista would be And nothing like the reinvention of Christianity from Spong and others I've been hearing for forty some years now before there even were PCs.
Can't wait for Windows 8!
"It is therefore bad anthropology, and no one can build good theology on bad anthropology"
Wow, just...wow.
(I have to agree with Terry about Win 7, though ; ) )
Thank you so much, folks, for encouraging me to upgrade. My personal laptop is 6 years old and my office computer 7 years old. Unless they stop working or somebody comes through with a load of money for upgrades, at work and at home I will remain in XP mode.
BTW Terry... thanks for the attempt at non-criticism. You know, though, sometimes it would be nice to have you skip over something. I do not spend much time on my rambling thoughts. I put them out there as I get them. Some are better, some more polished than others. Until I can figure out a way to get paid for my opinions, you will have to settle for the pastoral meanderings of an errant mind that means well.
Loved the pairing of the posting with the cartoon.
"Bishop" Spong must really have had a lifelong problem with undershorts riding up! (grin)
The old evil foe seems to have no problem keeping up.
Spong is just insane. Why do people think insane rambling is profound?
At first I thought of "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." but by the end, it seems he is just crazy. He makes no sense at all.
Hey, I have a four year old Toshiba running Vista at home. Work and the kids have better computers! And likewise, I am not paid to blog.
Here's my concern in a nutshell. When we stand for what we stand for, if we do it by frequent reference to Catholic or Orthodox stuff or things like hanging on to an older os, we look to those whom we would convince exactly like what they think we are anyway -- Catholic or Orthodox wannabes, and/or people who want things frozen at a given point while the world has moved on.
Heresy is often appealing to the old Adam, and leads to spiritual death. "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,"
1 Corinthians 15:1-3 ESV.
"people who want things frozen at a given point while the world has moved on."
I guess I just don't know what this really means. I know that businesses market new stuff to keep people buying and themselves in business making money, but I don't see how it applies to the church. if we teach our children properly and pass on to them what was passed on to us, then how is there this "world has moved on" thing? What moved it on? Marketing people? I mean seriously young people can't embrace stuff they have never seen. The world of people doesn't move on spontaneously, it has to be pushed, a lot. And what in this world would want to push us away from what has been handed down to us so we can be cool?
Oh for God's sake. The quoted description was of the impression we give, particularly to those who do not see our point. And one source of that impression is comparing something that does not change, the Gospel, with something that does, computer operating systems. A decision to remain with XP is in no way comparable to remaining true to the faith once delivered, but when we make such comparisons, the point was, we look like people who want something frozen at some point while things have moved on. They have re operating systems, they have not re the Gospel, which is why such comparisons make us appear to confirm the impression they had of us already.
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