In Chapter 5, McLaren discusses the history of the development of "post-modernism" and why he sees it as a gift to all of us that MUST stay! He gives a myriad of examples of "Christian people" displaying overconfidence, and the ways this attitude has led to systemic sin. He notes that each of the following atrocities were carried out by people who called themselves Christian and were displaying excessive confidence in who they were, and what they should have and do:
1. The Holocaust in Europe... exterminating everyone who was not "like us".
2. European countries that had held sway over multiple nations for years, creating suffering before, during and after their release in the middle of the 20th century. England had "colonial holdings" in India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, Iraq, Tanzania, Sierre Leone, Kuwait, and South Africa. France in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Algeria. The people of these nations had suffered under the ruling hand of England and France. And, they have suffered in the violence that followed the colonists pulling out.
3. The Civil Rights movement showed the ways that white privilege had held non-whites in systemic poverty for hundreds of years... an example of over-confidence that we are still learning to let go of!
4. The mis-treament of Native Americans could only have happened with white Europeans believing in "manifest destiny"... the idea that God had given the land to us! This confidence led to the suffering of millions.
5. The environmental crisis has also come about because of our overconfidence... the extinction of species, the pollution of water and air, etc. have occured because we believed we could have and do everything we wanted, and the earth would continue to sustain us.
As he points out, post-modernism is simply a way of describing people who have come to terms with their "second thoughts" about human over-confidence. In McLaren's mind, this humility to admit that we CAN do wrong is the beginning of wisdom, and the first step toward true repentence, and fruitful change.
This chapter reminded me of the story of the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis. How do you respond to this section of his book?
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This will be a long one, as there are no other comments, so I feel as if I should make up for 50 people! David gives some great examples of overconfidence. It's a different way of thinking, usually I think the proponents are entrenched in their convictions, and to challenge the way it is, seems like a personal threat to the proponent's life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and reaching their goals.
In "Where the Rivers Run and the Mountains Rise" published in 2002 by the Wyoming Conference Rev. William W. Reid, Jr. has a chapter entitled "The Church and the Mines". After describing the awful conditions in the mines, Bill asks " ... what were the churches of the Wyoming Conference doing? In what ways were they obeying the call of Micah to "do justice" or of Amos "to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness as a mighty stream" or of Jesus to love neighbor as self?" Bill points out that in a church he served in Wilkes-Barre "in the early years of the twentieth century , the church's budget had nothing listed for fuel. The reason was that there were about four coal operators in the congregation who took turns filling the coal bins when coal was needed." Bill gives several reasons that the Methodist Church did not act to assist the coal miners. Then goes on with "A fourth reason why pastors and church leaders may not have gotten deeply involved in matters of justice for the miners may have been that most of the coal operators and Welsh miners who had the best jobs in the mines were Protestants, while many or most of the of the Irish, Polish, Italian, and other immigrants who worked in the mines were Roman Catholics, many of whom did not speak English." So the church members favored those like themselves. Bill asked, "Is it possible that church leaders, as so many Americans, were primarily devotees of rugged individualism and closer to the position and ideology of the managers than of the miners?" Bill points out that the Conference Journal from 1870 to 1912 the conference was more concerned with things like "the Roman Catholic conspiracy against our common schools system" than the welfare of the miners. There were many mine disasters throughout this time and no mention was made of them in the Annual Journals. In 1912 and forward some modern labor practices were suggested. But still the mine disasters were not topics in the Annual Journals.
It's a matter of society's viewpoint what is considered correct social policy at any given time. We've generally moved ahead, but at a glacial pace.
Of course, the above is just one example. The problem was and is nearly as much in our own backyard as anyplace in the world. We are often myopic. We can see the sawdust in our neighbor country's eye, but miss the timber in our own eye.
It's always strange to me that we take the redemptive message and use it as a means to gain stuff. Wealth, power, comfort, what ever, when Christ was always telling folks to loose or sell their things and their position. We're like the Jews who didn't want a baby king they wanted physical victory. Top Dog. Not a suffering servant.
Yeah Dave, like the tower of Babble (sp?)- it was a "look what we can do". There was no effort to please God in there. We do things simply because we can. We rape the Earth because we "need" what she has and hey, she can't defend herself. We don't care about the message of Christ (peace/hope/redemption not use, use, use, exhaust) and we don't remember God giving us through Adam a responsibility TO the land and animals but we sure do remember the part about having dominion over them cuz hey, that works for us.
We're so overly provided for that we don't even really know the process involved in producing all that we consume. And everything has a ripple effect. The church is a coal whore (as Harry wrote only in nicer terms) and so they sell their call to stand up for the poor and oppressed. This really means that the money saved is the deciding factor in why this issue was neglected - the bible says you can't serve both God and money and it says where your treasure lies there also is your heart - so God can not bless that church b/c they don't do the basic things he says to do, they do what is best for themselves - then they have no money and say "see we have no money we can't poss. buy our own coal - so the poor get poorer, the oppressed have no hope and the church is a ginormous social club of pansies.
It's frickin' ridiculous.
I'm glad to see others have been influenced by Rev. Reid.
We have gotten caught up in preserving ourselves as an institution, I say this including christianity, united methodists and local churches. The problem is that the institution is what Christ and Wesley and King were fighting against. McLaren talks about those few who have stayed have wondered if this institution can be reformed. I share his doubt about "a message purporting to be the best news in the world should be doing better than this." But I have stayed not because of doctrine or what the general church is capable of. I have stayed because of relationships with fellow believers and the ability to cure some small injustice with their help.
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