Slavery and Myth

Here is a link to a remarkable speech from Joseph D'Souza, a leader in the church of India. In a little over eight minutes, he speaks on the largest source of modern slavery, the caste system and the degradation of the Dalit people. D'Souza gave this speech at the Third Lausanna Congress on World Evangelization, held last month in Cape Town, South Africa.

Reconciliation - Exploited and Oppressed People The Lausanne Global Conversation

Two of his points stand out to me as related and devastating.

Slavery is Founded in Creation Myth
At the base of the evil that causes a person to enslave another person is a belief that each person is created with greater or lesser value. If race is seen as a biological difference that reflects God's value on us, then we are not far from dividing ourselves along the same lines we believe God percieves. And the worst part of this sort of thinking is that our devaluing of another person can then be defended as reflective of our Creator's own design. This is what is happening in India. American slaveholders used the same myth.

The Church is Susceptible to Functioning Under the Same Myth
The consistent message of the Bible is that all humans are made in God's image and this high value in the eyes of God is modeled among his people, who live together and value each other in counter-cultural ways. There is no line that divides us one from another in value. Paul makes this point very carefully in Galatians 3:28-29. God certainly makes us different from each other with differing roles to play, but the value of each person is not determined by role.

And yet, the church gets this wrong so often. I found it chilling to hear D'Souza describe the church graveyard where the dead were divided by caste. Those graves now stand as a permanent reminder that the church can profess equality at the feet of Jesus and yet not allow the Gospel to shatter the sin endemic in so many cultural norms.

A Few Days with Dallas Willard

God molded me in two different ways over the past two weeks. Both were spiritual challenges, but one came through the molding of my mind and the other the molding of my heart.

As I mentioned in the last post, I took two trips back to back. I'll cover the first trip in this post. The first was a conference with Dallas Willard as the keynote speaker. It is not an overstatement to say that Dr. Willard's work has been one of the most influential factors in my Christian life. To spend a few days with him listening to his insights on the state of human depravity and the call to make disciples of Christ-like character was both a thrill and a challenge. It was an honor to be able to sit down with a man like this and thank him for the influence he has been on my life.

A few quotes will give you a taste of my experience:

On the question of original design: "What did God create us to be? For many Christians there is no answer to this question."

On the source of the human problem: "All of the troubles and failures of human existence are rooted in failure to think rightly about God."

On the Lord's prayer: "Unless we desire to hallow his name, then we will not want his kingdom to come or his will to be done."

On the full message of the Gospel: "Put your confidence in Jesus and live with him as a disciple now in the present Kingdom of God."

On the question of who we are: "You are a never ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe."

On the relationship between faith and knowledge: "We are a people of knowledge, not of faith. Faith is based on knowledge." "It is on the basis of knowledge that people come to faith."

On the sermon on the mount: "We make a mistake when we try to do the things in the sermon rather than trying to become the kind of person who would do these things naturally."

On the relationship between grace and effort: "Grace is God accomplishing in my life what I cannot accomplish on my own." "Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Those touched by grace exert tremendous responsive effort."

On the use of God's commandments: "Once you begin to grow in the Christian life, you see that God's commandments are a natural expression of who we are."

On becoming like Jesus: "As Jesus' apprentice I am learning from him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of God as he would lead it if he were I. I am with him in all my circumstances learning to be like him."

Dr. Willard's thought inspires to think more deeply about my spiritual growth. We are told to be renewed through the transformation of our minds, and I believe Dr. Willard is a Spirit-led guide for those pursuing this sort of transformation. If you are thinking of reading something from him, I highly recommend The Spirit of the Disciplines.

2 Weeks, 2 Extraordinary Trips

Tomorrow morning I set out on a two week whirlwind trip that will take me to both exotic Zimbabwe and exotic Wisconsin. You heard me, exotic Wisconsin.

Though I have to kiss my family goodbye and send them off to Michigan to stay with family, which I'm not excited about, I am excited about these two trips I'll be making back-to-back over the next two weeks. First, I'll be hanging out with about 40 other pastors in Green Lake, WI. Our host? Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy at USC and and author of some of the best books you'll ever read on spiritual growth, spiritual discipline, and life in Christ. His big ones are The Divine Conspiracy and The Spirit of the Disciplines, but almost everything he writes is golden.

On Friday I come home for two days; long enough to wash my clothes and repack. Then it's off to Zimbabwe where I will be staying with a small team at an orphanage just outside of Bulawayo. There I will be doing some work projects, playing with the children, and preaching. Mostly what I will be doing is working with my friend and travel companion John Hetrick to learn about the orphanage for the possibility of future partnership.

I'm sure I'll have plenty to share when I return. Please pray that God will use this time both to pour out his Spirit in me and to use me for solid ministry. Also ask God to make the time away from my wife and son bearable. Thanks.

Antony Flew Dies

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Antony Flew was a British philosopher renowned for his commitment to atheism. He was an author and debater committed to the notion that in the absence of confirming evidence, and by that he meant scientific evidence, one should not hold to belief in God. He held this view from the age of 15 to the the age of 81.

When he turned 81, Antony Flew changed his mind.

Al Mohler wrote a very good article here, in which he processes Flew's transformation from an evangelical perspective.

One of the most striking aspects of Flew's change of mind is his willingness to radically shift his worldview later in life and in the face of his legacy. The man wrote dozens of books arguing for the futility and nonsense of belief in God, and then, when impressed by theistic philosophers and the discoveries of design through scientific inquiry, he was willing to set aside his life's work and accept the view of his partners in the debate at the age of 81.

There is much to learn from Antony Flew, not the least of which is that there is something far more important than human ego. There is truth.