A while ago I received some godspam. Yes, if you want to spread the word, then an electronic proliferation and dissemination is a godsend. This particular spam comes from the “writing ministry of Barry L. Davis” which you can learn more about at his web site, MindOfChrist.net. Somehow, I’ve ended up on Barry’s mailing list. To spam me thus is unacceptable. To spam me with such tripe is unforgivable.
Nevertheless, I sometimes pull his “daily devotions” from the junk folder as a kind of litmus test of the neo—con fundamentalist mind (which may be a contradiction in terms). I find myself in a state of bewilderment when I learn that this group has consolidated itself into a voting block 60 million strong in the United States. And so it must be taken seriously — taken seriously as a force, but not as an idea, not as a yearning.
For example, yesterday’s devotion asked me what I am prepared to die for. The question seems a wee bit contrived, but I have to remember that America regards herself as a nation at war and is on the brink of reinstating the draft. If you look at Barry Davis’ photo, you see that he is young — maybe eligible to serve. And so the question may have grave relevance for him.
His question is rhetorical. Evangelists live and breathe for the rhetorical question. Because they reserve the right to answer it. And this is Barry’s answer: Jesus tells us that the true measure of love is that we be willing to lay down our lives for our friends. And who are our friends? he asks rhetorically. Why, other Christians, of course. He interprets John 15:12—13:
I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. And here is how to measure it—the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.
The chief travesty is a displaced meaning. Jesus was trying to say something about the depth of God’s love. Barry is saying something about whom he wishes to call friend.
If a friend is one who does what Jesus commands (John 15:14), then it is easy to see how Barry might conclude that friendship is restricted to Christians. However, that interpretation does violence to what Jesus says afterward, and has the potential to do real violence in our world today. If our only friends are Christians, then we are no different than the fundamentalist Muslims of extreme sects who have proclaimed jihad against America. Fortunately, such people represent only a small number among a deep and widely held faith. If Barry has read the Qur’an, then he knows how it speaks of Abraham and Moses and Jesus and how these people are honoured in Islam as prophetic emanations of God. We have nothing to fear from Islam as faith. We have only to fear Islam in the hands of the few who choose to politicize it for irreligious purposes. We must take care not to commit the same sin when we interpret our faith.
John 15:16: “You did not choose me but I chose you.” We do not choose belief; it chooses us. Faith is a vocation. We are called to it. And it is arrogant for us to ascribe to ourselves the power to designate who is, and who is not, a believer. That power rests with God alone. And so, since belief is the index of friendship, it is likewise arrogant for us to ascribe to ourselves the power to designate who is, and who is not, a friend. All are friends. And we trust their hearts to God.
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Tue, Nov 2, 2004
Half-filtered