Heretics, witches and marshmallows

Light a fire, somebody's gotta burn. There's no doubt that there are places in the Bible where false teaching and untruth was confronted. In every case, whether a warning to those listening or to those speaking, the consequence of false teaching was having to deal with God. Then the religious stepped in. Religious folks, for some reason or another, decided that God needed protecting from false teaching and misunderstanding. This is a dangerous, slippery slope and, this morning, I'm thinking it may be one of the reasons that church is so screwed up. I'm not denying that there are some pretty harsh punishments listed in scripture for misbehavior. But those are pretty much reserved for heinous crimes like murder, adultery and disrespecting your parents.

Labeling someone a heretic, a witch or a pagan and burning, boiling, flaying, drawing, quartering or drowning them (not enough room to list all the fun we've had with heretics, witches and pagans) is a sport developed by the church years after it was co-opted by Constantine. It's popularity has made quite an impression on human history and has often drowned out the still quiet voice that said "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Maybe, after a careful review of the original languages, scholars discovered Jesus really said, "boil and flay your enemies and draw, quarter and drown those who persecute you," and I just lack sufficient scholarship to share an opinion with the world at large.

This little rant is driven by my personal exhaustion with all those saintly folks who have appointed themselves the guardians of truth at the door to God's throne room. The emergent church movement and a few who have gained some attention because of it are the latest inquirers who have stirred an inquisition. Rob Bell has written a book that has people calling him a heretic and dangerous. It consistently amazes me how many people out there resort to name calling, labeling and ostracizing instead of engaging in good, healthy conversation. Does Rob have it all right? No, I'm the only one who has all the right answers (just kidding). No human being ever has, nor ever will get their mind wrapped around God. Based on my understanding of scripture, the church was not formed to protect God from people who are trying to sort out who God is. The church was not formed as a teaching/scholarly institution (remind me to post more on how we've turned churches into synagogues). In fact, the Bible actually says that in the latter days (translate nowadays) there will no longer be a need to teach each other because the Holy Spirit will be poured out and he'll do a much better job of exposing God to people and people to God than we could ever do. It's true, look it up, and I'm not giving you chapter and verse because Biblical literacy has to start somewhere and I'm not spoon feeding you. The church is, at its very root, a service organization.

So am I saying all the people who disagree with Rob should shut-up? NO! I'm saying let's all relax and, when we're not out serving the lost, lonely, broken, hurting, homeless, imprisoned and rejected people of the world we can throw on our comfy sweaters and house slippers, sit 'round the fire and have friendly conversations about what we learned about God today. And if we should wholeheartedly disagree with one of our fellows on this journey...the fire's right there...but seriously, we sort it out and gently correct what might be wrong. At the same time we are fully willing to be gently corrected when our understanding wanders off point. (Note to some: disemboweling is not considered gentle.)

I think the whole world would be much more receptive to the love of Jesus if his followers weren't so vitriolic...but, hey, maybe I'm a heretic.