Did Adam, Eve and Jesus really exist?

Did Adam and Eve really exist?  Did a serpent talk to Adam and Eve like a little cartoon snake?  The story goes that when humans first came on the scene, we had everything that we needed.  Humans didn’t have to work for food because it was all there in all of its vegan glory.  It was like a big salad bar everywhere they walked.  They hung out with the animals, and there was no hunter or the hunted because they lived off of the earth.  However, they were told to not do one thing – don’t eat from one tree called “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  They had a TON of freedom to do just about anything – anything but distrust God.  God gave them everything they needed, and all God asked is that they recognize that God is not holding back anything for them to be happy.  An analogy would be a parent telling their child “We’ll go to the playground today, but just don’t try and cross the busy road.”  

This story might be just an allegory to explain how God created this universe out of love, and that originally there was perfect harmony on earth and that humans lacked nothing.  Humans selfishly decided that the universe revolves around them, and this introduced violence, greed, deceit, stress, worry, shame, and all sorts of pain into our world.  God put freedom of choice at the center of our existence, and with freedom comes the abuse of freedom.  

Did Jesus really exist?  Did God have a son that he sent on a trip to earth to forgive us of our sins?  The story goes that Jesus came to earth as a baby and grew up, made 12 close friends and went around healing people physically and spiritually. Jesus predicts his death and resurrection, and then sure enough, he is crucified and then rises from the dead 3 days later.  It’s an understatement to say that this story has a lot more meaning than even the story of Adam and Eve, but I believe that the core message is that God puts love at the center of our existence, and that love is ultimately sacrificing yourself for others.

To say that the story of Jesus is an allegory would be to ignore every rule of literary criticism that clearly shows that the story of Jesus is written as a historical narrative.  However, there are still people that believe that Jesus didn’t exist, or the story of Jesus is not to be taken at face value.  Regardless, there is truth in story regardless of whether it’s a historical story, or a parable-like story that communicate a truth.  Jesus wasn’t compelled to always deliver truth by detailing historical events – He delivered most of his stories in parables.  

I believe that the historical accuracy of most stories in the bible is beside the point, because I believe the messages of the stories in the Bible show us who God is, and they lead to life, regardless of whether they’re historical narrative, or allegory (I understand that plenty of people will disagree with me on this).  The message of the Bible is more important than the historical or scientific detail of the Bible, even though there is a tremendous amount of support for the historical accuracy for much of the Bible.

What does it mean for you if Adam, Eve, Jesus and other stories of the Bible aren’t historical narratives, but stories people told about the self-sacrificial love of God?  Would you still trust God?  Would you still love sacrificially?  

Do you have faith in a God of love, or faith in a set of doctrines?

Beyond nature

Belief, or unbelief in God, whether we want to or not, requires assumptions of God. Even if you don't believe in God, there has to be a definition of what you don't believe in.  Most atheists don't believe in a God that I don't believe in either.

One of the most common misconceptions of God is that God is a finite being that exists somewhere out of sight apart from our physical universe.  This view is essentially similar to the Greek "Demiurge" as a god that created the physical universe at one point of time "back then."  This is a normal way to view God, because as the material beings that we are, a finite being is an easy category to put God into to wrap our head around him. (Also, it's easy to call God "Him" because as sexual beings we think in terms of sexual orientation, and we like our God to be like one of us.)

This is an easy view for atheists and naturalistic scientists to reject when considering that there are countless scientific laws that can account for the spontaneous generation of any and all universes. If laws can begin to explain our universe, then why do we need God?

A more rational view of God, as explained by philosopher and theologian David Bentley Hart, is that laws and physical conditions were logically and necessarily prior to all worlds, all physical laws, all quantum events, and even all possibilities of laws and events.  Neither physical laws, nor quantum states could exist of themselves. God is not a force or cause within nature, and is not a kind of supreme natural explanation.

God is with us, holding our universe together.

When Jesus was kicking around dirt in the Middle East a couple of thousand years ago, he sometimes defied natural laws because He was God manifested on Earth -- the same God that wrote the laws of our universe.  Since God is love, God chooses sometimes to break the rules of nature to prove to us that we are loved.  Jesus' final act on earth was to die and come back to life because He wants us to know more than anything that he is God, and that we can know God by looking at his life on Earth.  He wanted us to see that self-sacrificial love -- giving up our life for others -- is the way of God. 

God is bigger than most of our attempts of trying to categorize and deconstruct Him.  Although God gave us Jesus to understand Him, Jesus didn't do any scientific lectures or "How I Made The Universe" TED Talks.  As interesting as these topics are, they are probably beyond our finite intelligence anyway.  Jesus was solely focused on showing us the way to life that leads to life and love.

Too Righteous for Ashes

You can call me a Christian, but please don’t call me religious.  This used to be my attitude.  Ash Wednesday?  No thanks.  That’s what “religious people”do.  I’m a Christian, and my faith doesn’t involve ashes, or chanting, or beads, or kneeling, or any of the “ritualistic, going through the motions stuff.”  Hello #kevinisajerk. 

I could ramble on about my narrow-minded, predjudiced, hypocrital ways, but I’ll digress from self-shaming.

I have no qualms with you calling me religious now, because I see “religious” in a new light.

It’s all too easy to judge those that seek God in different ways than you do.  Growing up protestant, I felt that my understanding of God was superior to Catholics, Lutherans and any person that worshipped in a church that didn’t have “Church of Christ” in it’s name.  Why?  Because it made me feel like I “had it right.” Like I had the “right interpretation of scripture.” Like I’m good to go when I die.  I was ignorant, to say the least.

Fortunately, with lots of prayer, study and introspection, I’ve moved on from looking at other Christians of different stripes, and people of different faiths and even no-faith with ugly condescension.

I see religious traditions like “Ash Wednesday” a lot differently now.  Even though I’m not “religious” about observing them, I do see a lot of value in observing some of these orthodox traditions. 

I look at Christian rituals and traditions as one way to help us break out of our punch-in, punch-out, autopilot, daily routines.  When we mindfully enter into these traditions we shift our focus toward what brings us life – a God who loves us, and shows us that life comes when we offer self-sacrificial love for others. Especially in western culture there are countless distractions – AKA “secular traditions and rituals” -- that draw us away loving others, and draw us into our own little kingdoms. More “religious traditions and rituals” that displace the self-focused ones isn’t a bad idea, in my opinion.

Reflecting back – why did I have negative attitude towards rituals like Ash Wednesday? For one, it was a tradition that I didn’t grow up with, so it was the typical “fear and disparaging of what you don’t know” and it was also a negative stereotype of thinking that people who do these traditions are just going through the motions, and not really understanding what they’re doing.

Is this stereotype true?  Actually, it doesn’t matter.  What matters is that if YOU mindfully enter in to Ash Wednesday, Lent, and most any Christian tradition that focuses our attention on God revealed through Jesus, it will break you out of your daily self-focused life and help you focus on God and others.

That’s being religious. And this is good.

A relationship with the invisible

 Do you have a hard time with the term “relationship with God”?  I’ve struggled with it.  Being a fairly analytical person, it’s difficult for me to think of having a relationship with a God who is invisible. 

Perhaps one of the reasons that this is difficult for me is that one of the main ways that I “relate” is by being with someone, and sharing experiences together.  How does this work with an invisible God?

Belief in an invisible God is as basic for me as believing elementary logic that something never comes from nothing. For our universe to exist there has to be something beyond nature – we call this “God.”  To believe in a universe that came from nothing – not from a supernatural force – I believe takes more faith than believing in God.  Atheists truly have a lot of faith in no-God.

Maybe should ask why would God want a “relationship” with me, or you, or anyone?

I believe God wants a relationship with me, because I believe that love is the reason for existence.  I believe that God would create, or put into existence, beings in his likeness.  Art always reflects the artist.  And because we’re all highly relational beings (why we’re on Facebook…), I believe that God must be relational.  Besides, why would God create something without having any interest in it?  That wouldn’t make sense.

Back to my original question -- how do I have a relationship with an invisible God?  I believe that I have a relationship with our invisible God through loving, and being loved through God’s creation.  It makes perfect sense because how else would a God that transcends nature love us and relate to in-nature beings? I am very blessed to have many people in my life that love me.  You probably do too.  And if you think you don’t, well you should know that God seeking you and God doesn’t make it easy for you to escape his love.  Fun fact: there are always people that will accept being loved by you.  Fun fact number two:  when you love someone else, there’s a good chance they might love you back.  And I’m NOT talking about romantic love here – I’m talking about self-sacrificial love, loving to give, not loving to get, love.  Trust me, in my dating days I had plenty of times I loved with not the same amount of love in return!  If you love like Jesus describes love – it will be hard to not be rich in relationships for long. 

From the minute we are born to the minute we die we are craving love. We crave our mother to love us, and our desire to have love and affirmation from our parents even when we are adults is ingrained in our souls.  Love is as natural to us as breathing is.  Loving and being loved is how relationships happen.  If we believe that God IS love, then loving, and being loved is how we have a relationship with an invisible God.

Love gives

Socrates argues that love is to desire something one does not have and considers to be good. However, when considering love through the life of Jesus, you will see that when God loves, God doesn't long to get something, but does so to impart something. Followers of Jesus look to Jesus as he loved not as a means to get something, but as a means to give of who we are. True love is self-sacrifice for others and not a means to get something. "For God so loved the world that he gave..."

They don't know what they're doing

Probably the most amazing, deep, and most ponderous things that Jesus ever said was when he was hanging on the cross. He said:  "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

They do not know what they are doing. 

Don't they know that they're murdering someone?  Don't they see someone with open wounds all over body, hanging from nails in his hands, moaning in agony?  Don't they know that this is wrong?

They do not know what they are doing.

I think Jesus was preaching a little sermon as he was pleading to God.  The sermon is: Don't judge... because you never know if someone is simply acting in ignorance.

In other words, we are all learning, all of the time.  Because we're all learning different lessons all of the time, we will never know when someone else is in the middle of learning a lesson.  We don't know what we're doing, much of the time, because we're always growing and becoming wiser.  More importantly, we're hopefully becoming more loving and selfless like Jesus.

Jesus was willing to forgive people who were in the act of murder. What does that tell you about Jesus? 

Are we willing to forgive murderers?  Terrorists?  Racists?  Abusers?  Homophobes?  Liberals?  Conservatives? 

Jesus loved people and forgave people right where they are at.  For all we know, they do not know what they are doing. 

Jesus redefined power

Why is Jesus remembered 2000 years after his death? One of the reasons is because he redefined power. Power during the time of Jesus was always achieved by violence and control of people. Kingdoms became powerful by pillaging and assimilating smaller, weaker countries. Priority number one was to make sure you had yours. Climb over others on the ladder of success if necessary. Avoid the poor, dirty, smelly folks because they're bad for your brand.

Then from a small town in Israel comes along a guy saying that we should love our enemies. We should make it a priority to take care of the poor. We should invite the unpopular, socially awkward folks to dinner before the powerful, who's who of our town. Love is the only law.

This whole "servant attitude" wasn't too popular with the power brokers that built their kingdom on control or violence, so they killed him. But before they killed him, he forgave them. And then he came back (without a gun) to offer some departing wisdom on how self-sacrifice -- as shown in his final act on the cross -- is really what the hokey pokey is all about.

Jesus forgiving his enemies revealed that their futile violent ways were overcome by the truth of unconditional love. Love wins. Jesus showed humanity what God is really like -- he loves and forgives EVERYONE, no matter if they're the director of the city's largest orphanage or they're putting to death the town's beloved pastor. He loves us where we are at, and simply wants us to trust him that this is true (and that his way is best). This is unconditional love. Love is the only power that can truly unite. Power by control and violence will always create attitudes of making sure you get yours by control and/or violence, no matter how it impacts others.

Serving others, not controlling others is the example that Jesus left us. Everyone is our brother and sister. When we refuse to recognize everyone as our brother and sister, we don't concern ourselves with making sure that everyone is fed. When we treat each person as our brother and sister, our community is healthy, and God's will is being done.

Going Off Script

 
I'm fortunate to have a couple of guys at my office who meet up with me once a week to talk about Jesus, a Jewish carpenter from the first-century AD whom we're all obsessed with (I know - NERDS!). This past week one of the guys, we'll call him Xavier McQueen to keep him anonymous (and also to make him sound really cool), shared how he went from a life of meh existence, and boring daily routine, to a life full of passion. This conversation lead us to some thoughts about how our office life and life as suburban Americans not only is the stuff of sitcoms, but is also antithetical to being a follower of Jesus, and living a life of passion and purpose.

I believe that it's in our human nature to seek consistency through routines in our daily lives because it brings us comfort. Daily rituals such as work, coffee, exercise, adrenaline, religious rituals and anything else that you seek out daily will bring you comfort aren't bad of course -- but they can easily become a way of of avoiding something outside of our comfort zone that could stretch us from comfort -- to joy and meaning. Creating a life of comfortable daily routines is like living in a "Panic Room" to insulate yourself from the bad guys -- but deep down inside we know we're not meant to live in panic rooms. We can't "live" in Panic Rooms. Plus if you saw the movie "Panic Room" you learned that those rooms aren't all that.

We miss out on beauty and a billions different spices of life that God wants for us when we only lock ourselves into daily routines. I'm sure you've noticed like I have that oftentimes the most memorable and meaningful experiences in life happen when things go off script. It's the time you got lost on vacation and came across the most amazing place. It's the "chance" encounter with someone that turned into your spouse or your best friend. It's the time when someone you love went through a difficult time, but you were there for them and you were blessed as a result. It was the time your spouse or your friend went through a hard time together, and you became closer as a result.

It's sadly ironic that the Christian religion can so easily turn into a lifestyle of routine and suffocating rituals, and a Panic Room. It's ironic because if you look at the life of Jesus and his followers -- their lives defined adventure and spontaneity. The only daily ritual in their life seemed to be the daily question of "what can we do today that will help others, even if it might get us killed?" Following Jesus means that your rituals will center on others - not yourself. When we are there for each other, then nobody gets neglected. When we stop loving and serving each other is when the system breaks down.

The "church" that Jesus started looked more like a house gathering of people plotting for missions of self-sacrificial love. These missions were not routine, they were not comfortable and they were not safe. "Ritual" was probably one of the last words anyone would use when describing what "church" was back in the days of togas and sandals. They sought love over comfort.

When you follow the God of love instead of making a god of comfort, it's impossible to have a life of me existence or boring daily routines. When we break out of our routine, we will find opportunities to give life to countless others and to ourselves.

Merit is BS

Merit is BS. Please hear me out. President Obama last night was interviewed by Bob Costas about the Olympics, and during a question on homosexuality, Obama said that he likes that being successful in the Olympics doesn't depend on your sexual orientation, race, etc. but instead "you are judged by your merit." What I'm writing now is not about Obama, but about the pervasive merit myth in America. This myth of the value of merit based achievement.

Read this: the playing field is not level. It never will be. If you think that working hard is a mathematical formula for success, then you're believing a myth. If you look at the countless amazing stories of people that have overcome adversity -- by their own merit -- then you're believing a myth. Before you queue up the Debbie Downer Wa Waaaaaa music on me, please let me explain.

I used to be one of those people that judged homeless folks for begging for money. I used to think "Frickin get a job man!" "Improve your own situation" "Wendy's is hiring right down the street from you." Until I learned that like 75% of the homeless are war veterans -- soldiers that came home with emotional wounds, and then added on to that chemical dependency wounds. I heard stories of other homeless people that needed to escape abusive situations.

I used to judge minorities for claiming a victim mentality. I used to think that color isn't a barrier to success anymore. I'd think of celebrities, athletes, politicians, and business people of different ethnic backgrounds -- man they overcame adversity so why can't everyone else? Then I heard stories from friends that experience discrimination regularly. Still today. I heard about getting pulled over for a DWB (driving while black). I saw and heard the statistics that clearly show that "White Privilege" is very real still today. I saw an HR study that a resume from a job candidate with a white sounding name is more likely to get a phone call for an interview than a resume from a non-white sounding name with the same qualifications. The playing field is not level.

Judging by merit is utilizing a broken measurement tool. Hard work is not a formula for success. The Olympics are probably the most obvious example of this, because most of the athletes getting awarded medals are people with not only hard work ethic, but with great genetics, great coaches, great training facilities, coming from big, rich countries. Judging by merit when it comes to people's careers, relationships, and other areas of life is just as flawed. Just to list a few variables that make for a bumpy playing field (in no particular order): where you were raised, how you were raised, siblings, friends, what type of education you received, genetics, IQ, mental fortitude, athleticism, diet, physical appearance, ethnicity, religion, and the list could go on and on. Countless things impact your outlook and your outcome in life. To say that you "succeed" or "fail" based on merit is B.S.

On a related side note, I should say that I'm not arguing that any one of these variables should keep anyone from "success" in the world. Any one of a countless number of variables, such as listed above, can cause adversity if you are claiming that someone can "merit" achievement by "working hard." I love the story of Nick Vujicic, the guy with no arms and no legs who uses his adversity to inspire millions. I'm a huge believer that anyone with any limitation can rise above. But I absolutely do not believe that success is merited solely by an individual's free will, and vice versa.

On another side note related to my other side note, I should say that I believe that despite millions of variables that impact our life, we can make choices that will affect us in positive ways and vice-versa. However, we can't always take credit for making good choices or making bad choices -- because of millions of variables. A lot of people, including ourselves, will make good or bad choices because we've been conditioned to think and act certain ways based on the millions of variables. The free will of other people individually and as a society plays in to our free will. It's really complicated. 

So without merit what do we have? Grace.

Jesus' life defined grace. Jesus spent much of his time focusing on the importance of taking care of the poor. Why didn't he spend his time instead telling the poor to work harder? Why didn't he open up a career center for disabled people? I contend it's because Jesus is a realist. He gets that the playing field is not level. Some people will be born into a hole that they won't climb out, some will fall into a hole they won't climb out and some will get pushed into a hole they won't climb out. It's not always the person in the hole that is to blame. It's ALWAYS our job to help someone out of the hole, and withhold judgment. Once we get to the know the person, THEN we can walk alongside them and coach them in their troubles if they ask for it.

Jesus sacrificed his life for people who lied to him, cursed him, and falsely accused him. Jesus' friends sacrificed their lives too, because they understood that grace should be given to everyone because we're all in the same boat -- we all got issues.

Merit is BS. Grace is the golden standard of measurement. Measure yourself, and others with the measurement of grace.