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Ok, here goes an attempt to answer the current debate: How do you quantify closeness to Christ?
Is it subjective or objective? Is it a fairly constant gradient or a continualy changing state? Is it based on understanding, emotion, obedience or personal communion? Is is actually something we can aware of?
On an objective level we are always one with Christ and therefore as close as we can get.
Yet on a subjective level, I sometimes feel Christ in a physical and emotional form.
However, there have been times when I have not felt Christ but in looking back over that period I can see that Christ was closer than I could have imagined.
There have been times when I thought I was doing something for Christ and felt a real 'burden'/ 'vision' / righteous anger, and then found out I was being a donkey and it had more to do with pride/ stupidity / bad theology than Christ.
Actually, I haven't got a simple answer, but let me take a few blogs to unpack it. (We'll start obvious and basic to make sure we are not 'assumed evangelicals')
Point 1: We are always close to Christ because our relationship is based on the cross.
More next time...
(Hold off on the attacks ... I will unpack it more)

So, last week I finished reading the latest offering from those guys (and gals) over at Willow Creek. A snazy, shiny, skinny (I liked that bit) book called 'Reveal.' Supposedly a book which analyses data collected by the church over a period of 4 years and getting a few million data points, the cover claims that;


(Emphasies mine)

The thing is, all it really did was highlight what we should all already know. For instance, they 'discovered' that spiritual growth doesn't depend on church participation but Closeness to Christ. My alarm was at their alarm!!!

"Hold on?!?!" I'm thinking, "How exactly did you expect to measure spiritual growth?" The answer smacked of the obvious, "The closer people were to Chrsit the more spiritually mature they were." Well, um, durh!

Secondly they were alarmed that as closeness to Christ increased so did spiritual practices such as tithing, Bible reading, prayer and witness....... and the shocking truth lies where?

I think it smacks of the comsumer driven chruch we seem to be creating. Where we expect attendance to be the yard stick and are suprised when Jesus shows up in the process.

Check out the book, hopefully it'll just confirm what you already knew, if not then that's what's shocking.

Yesterday, in our module on the study of Christ, we had a lecture on Mary the Mother of Jesus and the Virgin Birth and the contribution to Jesus' humanity. We heard about all sorts of different things including about these Jewish Rabbis at the time of the gospel writings who would take one small verse of scripture and go off on one about all the different fanciful meanings, which made me and Lewis look at each other as if to say, Croeso i Gymru!¹

We finished the lecture quite abruptly as lunch was upon us. So in our next lecture, after we had been fed with a roast dinner, he started by asking if there were any questions from the last lecture, to which I asked, "what about all the Roman Catholic teaching that Mary had to conceive Jesus perfectly?" (Which is formally known as the Immaculate Conception.) Our Lecturer, Bob Letham, had only hoped question time to take 5 minutes but alas the next half hour was taken up addressing the subject to the detriment of our knowledge of the humanity of Christ (as that was what the lecture was supposed to be on!).

So the big question was this: How could Jesus be born of a human and be fully human without inheriting Mary's sinful nature. I think there are four possible and reasonable answers, some more heretical than others!

1. The Catholic View.
This view comes from a good place, since when it was 'invented', it was done so to try and preserve a high view of Jesus' deity. This view is that Mary, by special grace of God, was conceived without original sin in her. This way, when she conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, her contribution was not tainted with Sin. There is nothing biblically to suggest anything to do with this view.

2. The Denial of Original Sin view.
One possible answer that we didn't discuss yesterday but which did pop into my head, and I almost gave just to be heretical, is that we do away with the doctrine of original sin. That is that we all, in a way, inherit sin as a 'disease' from our fathers traced right back to Adam and Eve. Because of this we are all born with sin. If we simply deny this then that means that every human is conceived and born without sin and that Jesus could be conceived and born without sin. But of course, that means denying a significant and seemingly clear teaching of the Bible.

3. The Reformed Rational view.
This one was where it got overwhelming in a confusing sense for me, but I'll do my best to explain. We all sinned in Adam, but Jesus came as a second Adam. So just in the creation of the world the spirit hovered over the waters, so in Jesus creation, I guess you could say that the spirit hovered over Mary's waters or something (is that going too far?!). And then it all started to sound like a bit of forcing of logic a bit like how the Catholics did, requiring special grace and all that, but not that Mary was conceived without sin, just Jesus. It seems to me like a forcing of human logic upon something which is something else and of course it seems to go ever so slightly beyond what the Bible actually says.

4. The Orthodox view.
I put Orthodox in italics because as far as I know this isn't the actually view of the Orthodox Church on this particular matter (in fact in practice, they're pretty much Catholic on this particular subject). This view just smacks² of a lot of the tendencies of Orthodox Church theology, as far as I know. So this view is that I don't know - it's a mystery - but it works. Jesus was fully human but he was conceived without the taint of original sin. How that works out practically, I dunno, it's something of a mystery!

And this is where the Orthodox Church attracts me. They often explain things in terms of mystery whereas the Western churches (Catholic and Reformed/Protestant) try and force reason and make these overwhelming doctrines rational. I suspect this is one of the throwbacks of having that enlightenment thing all those years ago (even though there are hints that it stems from right back to the early church where the Western churches would talk more in terms of black and white whereas Eastern churches would be more vague).

Although our faith is reasonable, I would suggest it goes beyond human reason to a place we can't go. So although some things are clear to us, such as Jesus being fully God and human, but other things can't be forced into human rationality, such as exactly how Jesus became fully man. When we have this attitude, it makes us less arrogant, more accepting of others and gives us a greater sense of awe for our great God who is far greater than we can conceive. Allow yourself to be overwhelmed with God rather than just verging on it!

¹ For those who are so ignorant of Welsh that they don't know what it means, well, shame on you! It means "Welcome to Wales"!
² For those who are so ignorant of the English language, to smack of something is to have hints, flavours or essences of that said thing.

Before I go any further, I'd probably better explain that I don't in actual fact want to have my body remade out of half the periodic table and waste valuable shopping time watching some sport I don't understand. Instead, what I want is to be more accountable. You see, it's like this...

Last Saturday night, I met with some of the Prognosis boys and one extra (who made us good food) at his house in Maesteg, whilst the FWAGS (there's one fiance) met in Tom's new house in Porthcawl. We had a good time, we chatted, ate well, discussed the merits of one of Tom's ideas for worship by performance art (it involved a large room, one chair and a half drunk cup of coke [and I am well too reformed for that]), and the evening was only marred by a rather distressing game of rugby.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the M4, the FWAGS met to pray for each other and discuss the different types of encouragements and difficulties that come from being romantically involved with 'the emerging generation of thinkers in Wales' (if someone misses this irony, then I fear they're missing out on a lot of the Bible...). 

And they had a good time, a great time - a profitable time. Jen's looking forward to the next, and it was so encouraging to drive back to Cardiff with her so lit up by the gospel.

And the thing is, it really didn't take that much. Just a few people trusting each other, being honest, and offering to carry each others' burdens.

Strangely, this is something that seemed so vital to me when I was a student, the accountability thing, but since then, it's often felt like an optional extra. When was the last time I answered the usual Sunday question with "...actually, pretty rubbish. I've lost my assurance, and I'm working myself into the ground trying to justify myself... thanks for asking."
 
Before anyone rushes round, it's not like that, praise God. But if it were, would I trust my brothers enough to be honest with them. We all need a Jonathan, but don't you think that girls seem so much better at finding them?

In the words of Jon (Donne, or Bon Jovi, I can't remember which...) 'no man is an island', so pray for humility with me guys - it's pride that makes us lone rangers. We're not meant to walk alone, and none of us are alone in our struggles either. 
  

Recently, Clewless, Jonny and myself have found ourselves in a module in college on Christology - quite simply it has flipped my lid. Last Wednesday afternoon's lecture was particularly enjoyable - partly because it was amusing to see Jonny resist the temptation to take sly looks at my open ESV when his greek version was becoming a little tricky (that is easily the saddest thing I've ever written...); and partly because it really helped me understand how to deal with that nasty 'In the beginning was the/a Word' when Jehovah's Witnesses turn up on my door.

I'm sure we all been in that situation: Sunday afternoon - Ding Dong - "Hi, do you like to read? Can I offer you a copy of this magazine?"...

An hour and a half later you're still stood on your doorstep, having only briefly left to scream into a pillow. Once they're gone the pride of having ridiculed their lack of greek doesn't last long before you wonder exactly how much good you've just done 'in the name of Jesus'.

If this is at all familiar to you, let me share with you the story that Jen's dad told me about an older guy in their church, and the way that he deals with Jehovah's Witnesses. It may seem obvious, but I really hope that the next time Bre'r Rabbit and Elder Flower come a'knockin' I care less about pronouns and more about their souls.

After opening the door, he'll invite them in, offer them a cup of tea, take their magazine and promise to read it prayerfully. When he tells them that he's a Christian, Jen's dad said that he often finds that they instinctively reach for their Bibles, as if preparing for a fight, but he'll interupt.

"Please don't, I'm sure you can confuse me with verses all day. I'm certain that you know your Bibles a lot better than I do mine..."

and here it comes;

"...I simply want to ask you; what assurance do you have that God loves you?"  

Once again, I'm floored by the simplicity of the gospel. We don't have a thing to boast in if it's not Jesus. I'm humbled by the old guys grace - more love in one sentence than I've ever shown with my lexicon. Guys, if you think I'm impressed with another cool way of flooring a J-Dub, I'm not. I want to realise, that our battle is not with them, it's with an enemy that Christ has destroyed in our place.

I'm told that Prince is a Jehovah's Witness. He wouldn't be a bad role model really would he? a lover, not a fighter...

"Oh, hi Sammy, how are you? Are you the new Youth Worker at AEC?" What you have just read is one of my pet hates. People assuming that because I am of a certain age then I must be a, "Youth Worker."

It's true I suppose, that the majority of 'young people' who are on staff in British churches are there as youth workers (my thoughts on this are a heated blog all of their own). But this isn't my concern today. Actually the reason I even mention "Youth Workers" is to conjure up that role in a church, that idea that as churches we have tailored programmes and ministries for youth and children, as well as specialised workers to reach and teach them. Right so you've got that thought in your mind...so let me ask you a question:

"Where are all our 'OAP Workers'?" 

The following link may alarm you. Government statistics from the 2001 census suggest that we live in an aging population!!! Not only do we live in a time where there are more over 60's than under 16's, but also a time where this ratio is still increasing in favour of the wrinklies.

It seems mind boggling to me that as churches we would set significant portions of our budgets to reaching people of about 2-18 years, while at the same time harbour a mindset that rights off an even larger segment of Britain. And lets be honest, that's what we do, don't get on any high horses, most of the time we wish we didn't have to bother with them. We think to ourselves, "I hate ploughing resources into these meetings or ministries that only appeal to the oldies. Forget them, let's focus on the future."  Guess what...60+ IS THE FUTURE!!!

Now please, don't come back to me saying that when we focus our attentions on reaching 60 pluses we aren't going to have any impact on future generations. That's just wrong. Our Sunday Schools would be a good deal fuller if we had more grandparents to bring their grand-kids to them! Also, just to throw a little more weight behind my argument, as churches we are always starving for more volunteer hours. Who else has more time on their hands than the retired population of Britain?

My point? We need to give this bracket of society the credit it deserves and figure out exactly how to tap this very, very deep well.