John Ortberg brings the ouch

My most recent read was the me I want to be by Mr John Ortberg. If you aren't acquainted with Mr O, I would highly recommend you rectify that via his site, that of Menlo or with a book or two.

I could never do the whole book justice in any event & even less so in a short blog, but I have two quotes that continue to ring in my ears

people would rather debate doctrine or beliefs or tradition or interpretation than actually do what Jesus said...It is easier to be smart than good

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against theology (per se) and certainly not against beliefs or values, far from it. I do, however, sometimes get to wondering if we make aspects of discipleship more complicated than they need to be, because understanding them is just plain uncomfy any way you look at it.

Sǿren Aabye Kierkegaard put it like this

The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament

I don't know about you, but I increasingly want to bible to come 'too close', without even knowing what that always means. I certainly don't want to entertain the option of understanding and not feeling 'obliged to act accordingly'.

In my next blog, I'm likely to return to God's love and see if something that has helped me recently can be of any help to you guys.

Till then, how about we dare to be a little more New Testament - I will if you will. Besides, I hear smart is over-rated!

Your co-swindler

Jonathan