Response: God as Game Designer

So my husband, who is designing board games for fun, sent me this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wy3ORyK8CA
Since I don't want to be writing my Mid-Term on Moltmann right now I'm going to think about this instead.

The premise of the discussion is that if God designed the world like a game designer designs a game then he didn't do a very good job. If Heaven and Hell are the win loose conditions, then what are the rules? Well no one can agree, even on the 10 commandments. A good game has clear concise rules so that games spend 90% of the time playing the game instead of debating it. Christians, with their non-concise, unclear "rules" spend that 90% of time debating the rules instead. You win the game by maximizing chance, minimizing losses, and playing by the rules.

In some ways this is a reasonable argument. It would be nice to think that there are straight forward rules to live by that would lead to success, and it is clear that those have not been given to us.
I think, however that the analogy, while we long for its simplicity and ability to understand, is not accurate. Life is not a game. 1) Rules become ends in themselves and not fulfilling the Game. 2) Additionally, it seems clear that there is not one set of rules for everyone, instead faithfulness is a process. 3)Heaven and Hell are not win loose conditions to life. So here are my ideas and thoughts on those three things. I could definitely be wrong, and these are always works in progress.

Rules: The goal of the rules, can become the rules themselves. I should know as I'm a legalistic type of player. The rules of a game are not designed to be followed for the sake of following the rules. They are designed to make the game fun and accessible for all. The problem the Apostle Paul points out with the Jewish rules was that they were becoming ends in themselves instead of being instruments that empowered life to be fun and accessible for all. That is what people are trying to say when they say the New Testament supersedes the Old. Though I don't agree with that statement, it is true that the New Testament says that the old legalism is not effective. "Rules" are only good as long as they help.

One set of Rules: Unfortunately, I don't think that one set of rules works for everyone. If there were, then it seems likely that we would know them, perhaps they could be as clear as a board game's rules. Instead, faithfulness is a process, it is ongoing, it does not look the same for everyone. Nor is what was right for you in one situation necessarily right for you in another. Faithfulness requires discernment. This is the beauty of God's Holy Spirit. The "rules of life" are not written out, they are implanted, so to speak, inside of each of us. The Bible, our Community, our Experience, and Tradition helps us be attuned to, and understand, that voice of the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying anything goes. There are probably some things that are absolutely wrong (like rape) but most things are not black and white. That is why instead of rules, God gave us stories and a guide.

Heaven and Hell are not win loose conditions - Heaven has to be more than something at the end of life, or after the resurrection of the dead. Heaven is in the moments where the divine is manifest on earth. In Charity, in Love, in Compassion, in Beauty, in Creativity, in Solidarity, in Community. It is a blessing to experience Heaven on Earth, and yes Heaven is probably also an end game scenario where "there is a new heaven and a new earth" as Revelation says, but it is not a reward for playing by the rules. In fact, most Christians believe in the impossibility of playing by the rules.
Some Christians do treat Heaven and Hell as these win loose end game scenario. It speaks to an inner longing to escape from the trials of this world. But Heaven and Hell are not about individuals winning and loosing. Heaven is about a collective salvation. Redeeming a broken and suffering world.

Summary: So really what I'm saying is that Faithfulness is not about the End result! Being a "Good Christian" is not just about getting to heaven and avoiding hell, it is about a life lived now. There are lots of things that come from this, a life lived without fear, a life of abundance, a life of blessing to the world, a life of belonging and not loneliness. There are also risks and pain. It is not easy to glimpse redemption and live in a broken world. Life is complicated. God is bigger than all of us, and when we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit God can guide us in a way unique to us and our gifts and our situation in order to lead us in a life of Faithfulness now. Life's game is not about the end of our life, but the end of all history in a new creation.

Alright, lots more I could say but this is a way long post so I'll sign off now.

Paradigm shifts

In his book A New Kind of Christian, Brian McLaren talks about paradigm change in this transition that we’re in. I don’t want to take the time to go into all about transition time vs. change, nor defend the idea of our time as one of transition and paradigm change (first because I’m not sure I know enough to do so, and second because of space). What struck me so much was this model of paradigm change. It starts open and comfortable, as that paradigm begins to feel claustrophobic we move into a kind of funnel. At the beginning of that funnel we primarily look backward at the original paradigm and how much it fails you. Further into the funnel we begin to look forward to what a new paradigm might be. And finally, hopefully we find ourselves in a new paradigm which will work better for us and for society for a time. This kinda describes the transition from modern to postmodern. We don’t all go thru this, we don’t go thru it at the same time, etc.

The amazing thing for me is in that funnel. I know plenty of United Methodists who are so frustrated with the church. They spend their time criticizing, complaining, and judging and quite frankly have irritated the hell out of me. How can we expect to be a force for good and change in the world for Christ if we are busy bickering with ourselves. It doesn’t make our faith very appealing. But this model that Brian McLaren describes allows me to have more sympathy for people in this stage. I always tried to remind myself that the church is a hard place and that people need an outlet, but it is more than that. People are dealing with wholesale change that so far has no complete recognizable paradigm. They see all the negatives of their current world and work, but have not seen the possibility and hope of a new paradigm. They are looking back and haven’t gotten that monkey off of their back, so to speak in order to look at something different. And in some ways, perhaps they are scared not just of their own change, but for the church itself. For if more of the church doesn’t make this shift, perhaps it will die.

Just for the record, I don’t believe it will die. I am filled with hope (at least at the moment) for the future. There are others like me, and like you, and like Brian McLaren out there who are seeing God in whole new ways. The Methodist church may lose some power and size, but it will learn to see and seek God in incredible new ways! In fact, it already is.

Holy Saturday

Today is Holy Saturday. Yesterday I had the privilege of leading the discussion at my new church for our informal Good Friday Service. We really focused on Holy Saturday, after Jesus died, what was left. In a moment that was very special to me someone talked about death and how it seems hopeless when someone you love dies and you simply won't get a second chance until perhaps heaven, if they went there, if we'll recognize them there, and even that won't be for many years. In response I said that what we have as a church is a hope for something better, even if we can't understand what that better thing is. We point to a hope in God, in the Heavenly Banquet, in the rule of God on earth, in something even if we can't understand how it will make things better.

When I shared this with a friend he said it's kinda like a movie preview, the ones where you can't quite tell what the movie is about but you know you can't wait to see it.

When I'm in my darkest place, there is something that can't let go of that hope. I'm lucky, one of my spiritual gifts is faith. It's a good thing, and if anyone reads this and wants some of my faith just let me know and we can chat.