Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites.

• Psalm 26:4

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

• Mark 7:6

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

• Mark 8:14-21

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

• Matthew 16:24-27

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

• Isaiah 64:6

“Metaphysics. Religion has taken God’s transcendence philosophically and made him abstract and remote. Salvation then comes to be seen as escape to another world — with the result that this world is devalued and neglected.
“Individualism. Related to metaphysics is individualism – preoccupation with one’s own individual piety. Bonhoeffer recognized the need for an individual, personal faith, but ‘religion’ emphasizes this to the detriment of the church and the world.
“Partiality. Religion confines Christianity to one area of life — an ever-dwindling area as the process of secularization proceeds. The result is that Christians live increasingly in a ghetto, remote from the concerns of the secular world.”

• Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian.  He was anti-Nazi, but he joined to fight from within.  He was arrested and finally executed at Flossenbürg concentration camp.

Note: The quote is written by the book’s author to summarize Bonhoeffer’s anti-religious attitude.  I have quoted Bonhoeffer often and the quotes that the author used are the same or similar quotes.

While there are three points in the quote, they tie together.

If we apply a philosophical metaphysics to Christianity, our concept of God, God’s glory, and heaven itself becomes abstract.  We might even think solely of God and Jesus as being our pathway to that far off goal of Heaven, for some of us not terribly far away.  For none of us it is that far compared to eternity, but while trapped in this time and space, it does not seem very imminent for most people.

But with that being the sole nature of God, to prepare a place for us, we miss out on anything that God has available for us in this life.  Thus, we get to individualism, where we might consider ourselves to be pious.  We follow the rules that other people can attest to.  They have no idea where our thoughts wander unless it erupts in our actions.  We can get to the point where we feel pretty good about ourselves.  People know which pew we sit in, and they have been known to keep it empty even when we go on vacation.  Yes, everyone knows how wonderful we are.

But are we wonderful at all?  Isaiah talks about our best is nothing but filthy rags.  The only way we can get out of the way of sin is to turn our lives over to God, and then avoided sin is done by God within us.  But if God is too busy building us a mansion for when we die, will He even hear our prayer now?

Thus, metaphysics to its extreme distances us from God.  Individualism can make us feel so pious that we think we do not even need that distant God that only builds mansions.

And while we are in that little world, confined to a church building, and only for an hour each week, the rest of the world keeps on ticking.  We have our little break for an hour each week, but God has no place, not even in our thoughts the rest of the week.

But see how good we are, how good we feel, and how everyone else sees our wonderfulness!  It is due to that hour once each week, and everybody knows it.

But Bonhoeffer says that is not our purpose in life.  We are to leave that ivory tower and do God’s work for the other 167 hours of the week.  Bonhoeffer talked about how our Christian lives need to be a part of the secular world.  Do not get the wrong impression in reading these concepts in Bonhoeffer’s writings.  He is not saying for us to become part of the secular lifestyle, but to make a Christian lifestyle in the secular world, letting our light shine to all peoples and all nations.  What has happened instead is that the 167 hours apart from God have squeezed the life out of the one hour with God, and the secular world is invading the shriveled remains of what used to be a church.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.