If You Say So...

Every now and then a passage of Scripture sneaks up and smacks me upside the head, hits me in a way that I never saw coming. It happened today with Matthew 27:11. Pilate is questioning Jesus, and asks, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

Now, in the predictable, oft-read and oft-quoted NIV, Jesus replies "Yes, it is as you say." Nice, neat, no denying his black-and-white affirmation. But the New Century Version (my favorite translation of all time) reads differently. In the NCV, you can almost hear Jesus mumbling "Those are your words."

Quite a different meaning!

So different, in fact, that I went to BibleGateway.com to see which was more in line with the other translations. And the ambiguous mumbling in the NCV seems to win out. The King James has Jesus replying "Thou sayest." The New Living Translation reads "You have said it." The English Standard Version says "You have said so."

It seems less an admission of sovereignty, and more an acknowledgement of what Pilate, and the rest of the world, was trying to make him out to be. A tired acceptance of their small thinking and petty paradigms. Jesus didn't need to be king of the Jews, could never squeeze the entirety of himself into such a small role. He was, and Is, more. Overarching. Beyond.

And yet, 2000 years later, we continue to assault Jesus with our preconceptions of who he should be, what roles he should play in our lives and in our world. Many of the labels we apply to him are factual, but do we limit him to those? Are our paradigms so small that we only glimpse a small sliver of his glory?

Well, of course they are. We're only human, after all. But this week, I am going to be looking for a God who is so much More than I've made him out to be, who can do so much More than I could even begin to imagine.

I don't want to mistake the hands that formed the Universe for the hands of some small, petty puppet ruler subject to the laws of a more powerful, earthly empire. No, I do not. Because I need more than a king--I need Everything.

Thanksgiving Recipes

The holiday season (known by my family as "that month when Jenny cooks") is upon us, and for a girl who was born without the Betty Crocker gene, I do have a couple killer recipes up my sleeve. (I've gotta compensate for the rest of the year somehow.) I posted my holiday mainstays last year--wild rice with almonds and cranberries, an incredible side dish that can also serve as a hearty main dish for the vegans in your circle, and a brined, perfectly roasted turkey that my family swears is the best they've tasted (I even enjoy it, and I HATE turkey)--but I'll do it again, in case anyone wants to give them a try.

Here's a link to the turkey recipe.

And the wild rice.

The wild rice is almost ridiculously simple, and while brining a turkey takes a little bit of forethought and preparation, my method for roasting the turkey is worth a try. It produces a juicy, perfectly browned turkey without basting or cooking your turkey in a bag that could catch fire or leech chemicals into your food.

If I'm still feeling domestic in a few days, I may post my recipe for smothered salmon. It's absolutely incredible, as long as you don't ask how many calories it contains. :-P

Questions, Conservativism, Anabaptists and Orthodoxy

I'm one of those people who likes to understand things. Not just know the commonly accepted answer and be able to parrot it back--to actually get underneath the hood of a concept and become intimately familiar with how it works. (Which is, incidentally, why I struggled so much with math. I didn't get it, and I'm not big on working systems I don't understand.) The way I see it, if something is not worth understanding, it is not worth defending. Unquestioningly defending an answer someone else has come up, even if you perceive that someone else as being smarter than you, has caused a whole lot of heartache throughout the course of human history.

So, I come at my faith the same way, with a lot of questions. I know the commonly accepted "Sunday School answers," but I want to understand more, to understand deeper. If I'm wrong about something, or simply off-track, I'd rather know sooner than later. There are plenty of people who say we need to have "faith like a child," implying that we are simply supposed to simple-mindedly believe what we have been taught, but frankly, I can't believe that those people have spent a whole lot of time with children. Because healthy, secure, well-adjusted children ask a LOT of questions, questions that some would consider impertinent or improper, questions many adults are afraid to ask.

So, I'm cool with questions, and I think that examining and reexamining our beliefs is a good thing. I think many people are afraid of asking questions because they sense that their beliefs would not hold up under scrutiny, but you know what? I think that's okay. GOD is not going to crumble, even if some of our personal pet doctrinal issues do. Just because we may be wrong about something doesn't mean that God is wrong, that everything we have put our trust in is going to crumble under our feet, that we will be left in a free-fall through the cosmos with no one to catch us. If we place our trust in our own personal belief system, then yes, we are in trouble. But if we freely acknowledge our own weaknesses, foibles, and inadequacy and put our trust in God, well, then, what is there to worry about?

So, there was a long-winded introduction to the question of the day. This morning, Aaron and I were discussing the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism, and the different theories of atonement. (Theory 1 being the classical, ransom, or "Christus Victor" theory, theories 2 and 3 being the Anselmic theory of substitutionary atonement and the more specific penal substitution theory, and theory 4 being the moral influence theory.) (There-now you can look all of those up, LOL!) It all got started with a conversation about the growing popularity of Calvinism, and how neither Aaron or I can seem to get through a week without hitting our heads against something from either John Piper, Mark Driscoll, or the decidedly un-Calvinist Greg Boyd.

So here are my questions for you, fair readers. (How brave are you? ;-)) If you don't know the answers, research them and let me know your thoughts on the matter, because I am interested!

1. Why do you think Calvinism has enjoyed such a resurgence in recent years?

2. Do you personally lean more toward Calvinism, Arminianism, or something else entirely?

3. What are your thoughts on the various theories of atonement?

Personally, the more I dig, the more I find my views aligning with orthodox or Anabaptist understandings of certain issues. I find this interesting, especially since I know that my family isn't too many generations removed from Mennonite relatives. Did certain Anabaptist sensibilities seep down through generations of evangelical conservatism? Or did I just read too much C.S. Lewis as a kid? :-)

As to questions # 1 and 2, I'm a little bit confounded by the rise of Reformed theology. :-/ It seems counter-intuitive in our day and age. Calvinism and Arminianism both have good cases, and I actually see them as splitting a really thin hair, but if the hair has to be split, I'd guess I'd rather land on the Arminian side. It seems harder, but more hopeful, more in line with my perception of God's character. It's the same reason "Christus Victor" makes more sense to me, although I haven't settled my opinion on the matter of atonement yet.

Of course, I could be wrong. And that's why I keep asking questions. Seek and ye shall find, right? :-)

And Round One Goes To...

Pierced3, for their fantastic song "Just Drive!" *mad cheering and clapping* Way to go, girls--two more rounds to go!!!

Edited to add: Rumor is, they took it by a landslide. Like, a 71% of the total landslide. :-) Go girls--and go fans!!!

Girls Rock!

I've talked before about Pierced3--an uber-talented, uber-adorable sister act Aaron has been working with since they were 8, 11, and 13. (They're 11, 14, and 16 now.) Spunky, quirky, vegetarian homeschoolers who write, play and sing feel-good punk rock--what's not to like?

They've entered their song "Just Drive" in the USAA Garage Band Playoff, and would LOVE it if you would head on over and vote for them. Voting is open until Thursday, October 22, and you can vote as many times as you want.

So go vote, and show your support for girl rock! You go, girls!

Emerging Women

My article "Bumper Sticker Theology" is up at Emerging Women today, under the heading "It's Been a Rough Year."

It's nothing my "blog buddies" haven't read before--it's the same article I posted here about a year ago, and that appeared at TheOoze.com and in Geez Magazine--but if you've never been to Emerging Women before, the site is worth checking out. It's a gathering place of sorts for women who have a hard time fitting themselves into the traditional conservative Christian mold, and whose hearts break over the injustice in the world, particularly against women, their children, and the poor. Needless to say, it resonates with me. :-) The even posted recently about the movie "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," chronicling how Liberia's Women in White fought for--and got--peace.

So, hop over and check out some of their articles. It's a great place to hear women's varying perspectives on faith, justice, and what it means to be a follower of Christ in this day and age.

The Conservative Bible Project? Oh No They DI'INT!!!

You had to know it was coming. I'm just shocked that anyone calling themselves Christians could be so brazen about their agenda.

The Conservative Bible Project is, evidently, the backlash against "politically correct" translations of scripture. It will, among other things, "provide a framework against liberal bias," "utilize powerful conservative terms," "express free-market parables," and, most importantly, "debunk the pervasive and hurtful myth that Jesus would be a political liberal today."

Ironic that they admit "the project can adapt quickly to future threats from liberals to biblical integrity."

Oh. My. God. (And I mean that literally.) I mean, it's not like our culture hasn't already turned Christianity into a three-ring circus, a freak-show parading political pundits from every end of the spectrum, but this is just SO over the top.

Anyone else feel the sudden urge to learn Greek and Hebrew?