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Richard Rohr: \u201cIt\u2019s not correct to say Jesus is God.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cROHR<\/b>: It\u2019s not correct to say Jesus is God. Now, don\u2019t run and report me to the bishop, all right? It\u2019s not correct to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Richard Rohr [1]<\/p>\n Richard Rohr, he\u2019s not wrong\u2026<\/p>\n Before you throw that electronic stone in the form of a comment or more passively, unfollowing me on Twitter, hear the both of us out\u2026<\/p>\n Remember when we were younger and way<\/em> too young to learn about \u201cthe sign of the beast\u201d but yet, that one Sunday school teacher who\u2019d be reading the Left Behind series decided it was their calling to then inform us, as children<\/em>, of the \u201cend times\u201d\u2026?<\/p>\n Right about then was when we all began to fear and think about death, the afterlife, and sin\u2026 I mean, can any of us remember how many times we repented and asked God into our hearts?<\/p>\n But, thankfully many of us can read this and chuckle,\u00a0now having a healthy amount of distance, from these types of experiences\u2026 and, hopefully, this means we can also seriously confront the question of whether or not our salvation depends upon our belief.<\/p>\n And, please don\u2019t hear me saying differently, I still believe in God\u2026\u00a0I just tend to\u00a0empathize<\/em> with the fact that there is a\u00a0strong<\/i>\u00a0possibility [using the information we have today] that Sam Green could be right in saying that we are nothing but \u201cbiological puppets<\/i><\/b><\/span>\u201d living under an illusion<\/em> of free will. And, that using\u00a0a basic level understanding of physics, there is very little place for volitional control coming from us as homo sapiens, or rather biological puppets, that are made up of grey matter presently being governed by the laws of our worlds physics.<\/p>\n Or, did John Calvin say that first[5]\u2026? But, okay,\u00a0so fully swinging it back around\u2026<\/p>\n Rohr is combatting the idea that Jesus was only<\/em> God. Period. He\u2019s doing this by acknowledging Jesus is not only God but, He is also fully <\/i>human.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He goes on to say in this PBS interview, \u201c\u2026 Jesus is the union of the human and the divine. That\u2019s different.\u201d Continuing on, Rohr says, \u201cI\u2019ve been a priest 43 years. Most of the Catholics Christians I\u2019ve met would for all practical purposes believe Jesus is God only, and we are human only. We missed the big point. The point is the integration, both in Jesus and ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n To take away the humanity of Jesus and to hone in on the idea that Christians\u00a0must\u00a0<\/em>believe Jesus to be God misses the entire point of the incarnation \u2013 in that, Jesus became one of<\/em> us for the sole purpose of being one with<\/em> us.<\/p>\n He\u2019s not so much questioning Christ\u2019s divinity<\/em> so much as he\u2019s acknowledging Christ\u2019s humanity<\/em> [being unified with the divine].<\/p>\n And, furthermore, it goes to say that\u00a0God\u2019s love for us is not dependent upon our belief in Him<\/b>.<\/p>\n Well, it depends\u2026<\/p>\n It depends upon the who, the what, the when, the where and, yes, even the how\u2026 Again, I\u2019m not writing a book here [2]; today it\u2019s just a blog post; so, I\u2019m definitely not going to address all of that.<\/p>\n But, what I will say, unequivocally, is that in today\u2019s conservative evangelical non-denom version of church, orthodoxy\u2026 it has been completely redefined. Which is why, I think, many of us today get upset when informed about what\u2019s really in the Bible.<\/p>\n I\u2019d even go so far as saying that the very nature and character of God have been so far redefined that we can barely tell the difference between God and Santa Clause (that is, if they were to simply switch robes [3]).<\/p>\n White, bearded, and authoritarian older men\u2026<\/p>\n The thing is, God is not any of that; quite literally, neither was Jesus (but, I talk more about that here & here).<\/p>\n That kind of God is actually not God \u2013 it\u2019s capitalism\u2019s version of Santa Clause (well, I mean, at least the version of Santa Clause depicted in that Tim Allen Movie)[4].<\/p>\n The point isn\u2019t orthodoxy, doctrine, and\/or possessing the right set of beliefs. Don\u2019t get me wrong, what we believe about God matters\u2026 Doctrine, it matters. But, what I\u2019m saying is that despite who we are and\/or how we act or, don\u2019t act, for this matter\u2026 God\u2019s love for us does not waiver.<\/p>\n Not only would that make God controllable but, it would make Him a bit codependent<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cThe emotionality of the creator of our universe does not waver by our personal behavior(s). In other words, God\u2019s mood is not determined by our acceptance or rejection of Him (e.g.\u00a0\u201cGod is very angry should you sin;\u201d or \u201cGod is very happy when you did that good thing for a friend.\u201d). That would make God, controllably codependent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Why does this matter?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re poor or powerless and God depicts a controlling abusive authoritarian man you\u2019re left wondering if the creator of the universe is on your side\u2026 As Christena Cleveland<\/a> said in a recent Facebook post<\/a> of hers:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if we took seriously the truth that God is not white or male? How would it alter our questions? How would it help us connect to our emotional experiences? What would it free us to admit to ourselves?<\/p>\n The late Black tennis star Arthur Ashe shared about his childhood experience with white male God: \u201cEvery Sunday, Arthur Jr. had to go to church, either First Presbyterian or Westwood Baptist, where his parents had met and where he would look up at a picture of Christ with blond hair and blue eyes and wonder if God was on his side.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m like Arthur, Jr. Though I was raised by black parents and in black church spaces, I was implicitly taught by U.S. culture that God is a white man. And not just any white man \u2014 a powerful white man who presided over the institution of slavery and is worshipped by people who turn a blind eye when our President boasts of sexual assault. He\u2019s the patron saint of white supremacy and toxic masculinity.<\/p>\n Every time we look at a U.S. coin or dollar bill, we\u2019re reminded that it is \u201cin God we trust.\u201d We\u2019re supposed to believe that God is on our side, that we don\u2019t need to be afraid, that our lives matter, that our bodies matter. But we feel it in our bodies and in our emotional experiences. We are not safe. This God is not with us. When all hope seems lost, when we are afraid, when we are confused, the God on the money cannot be trusted. In this God we *can\u2019t* trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Absolutely.<\/p>\n Just not in the way in which we were all taught\u2026<\/p>\n The point of this isn\u2019t to answer or explain what Orthodoxy is or isn\u2019t\u2026 the point of this is to say that we\u2019ve been taught what we believe only<\/em> matters if it\u2019s said to be \u201ccorrect orthodoxy.\u201d<\/p>\n What if the orthodox version of salvation wasn\u2019t the same type of salvation Jesus was referencing in scripture? What if these rules and laws were the thieves stripping us of life?<\/p>\n What if salvation wasn\u2019t an end goal what if salvation was to be had in the here and right now\u2026?<\/p>\n If we always believe that salvation is some celestial place we\u2019ll ascend to on our day of rest then how small are the odds we\u2019d receive it here and now?<\/p>\n\n
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What is Orthodox to Christianity?<\/h2>\n
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So, is our salvation dependent upon our belief?<\/h2>\n
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