Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, Article 1: God

At Toledo Mennonite Church, we are spending 24 days (starting today, Feb. 9, 2009) together as a congregation studying the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, one article at a time.

For more on the Confession of Faith, including a full text, go here.

The title of this document is very deliberate. There is no definite article in the title; it is neither the definitive confession of faith, nor is it the Mennonite perspective on the Christian faith (let alone the perspective of the Church of Jesus Christ on matters of doctrine). While according to the introduction to the Confession of Faith, Anabaptists have been writing confessions of this sort since the 1527 Schleitheim Articles, it has been my impression that Anabaptists are not so into creeds as certain other movements arising out of the Reformation have been. (My impressions on this point are, I believe, drawn from John Roth's Beliefs: Mennonite Faith and Practice: namely, that Anabaptists value "doing theology in community", emphasize "the priesthood of all believers" and Protestant notions of "sola scriptura", and see Anabaptist theology as an ongoing conversation albeit within a certain traditional framework). The Anabaptists of the Radical Reformation rejected, I think, the new Reformed scholasticism which defined orthodoxy in terms of a (practically) authoritative tradition that replaced the authoritative tradition of the Catholic Church. (My historical theology here is admittedly sketchy--please correct me if I am guilty of error!)

Still, the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective is intended by its authors to serve six stated functions:

(1) to provide guidelines for the interpretation of Scripture, while at the same time, the confession itself is subject to the authority of the Bible.
(2) to provide guidance for belief and practice; a written statement should support but not replace the lived witness of faith.
(3)to build a foundation for unity within and among churches.
(4)to offer an outline for instructing new church members and for sharing information with inquirers.
(5) to give an updated interpretation of belief and practice in the midst of changing times.
(6) to help in discussing Mennonite belief and practice with other Christians and people of other faiths.

It is my view that the Confession serves primarily a pedagogical and ecumenical purpose, and at the same time offers Mennonite-Anabaptist congregations with some basis for ongoing conversation as we practice doing theology in community. It provides a common framework, but not one with absolute authority. Our own congregation at TMC values its ideological diversity. I myself would offer the metaphor of the raft: we may be redesigning and rebuilding it while we are sailing on it, but we certainly need enough raft to stand on while we do so. (And there are limits to how radically we might redesign the raft without sinking and drowning!)

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Here is the summary statement of Article #1, entitled "God". (Link to full-text):

1. We believe that God exists and is pleased with all who draw near by faith. We worship the one holy and loving God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally. God has created all things visible and invisible, has brought salvation and new life to humanity through Jesus Christ, and continues to sustain the church and all things until the end of the age.

The short devotional offered by one of our members for today is a meditation on 2 Corinthians 9:8:

And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

He writes: "This verse describes for me some of the primary attributes of God as well as demonstrates God’s care for creation, especially those who have been created in God’s image."

Consonant with the historic, orthodox Christian faith, Mennonites believe in the Triune God as the whole Church confesses in the Nicene Creed. What we believe about God pertains to the acts of God in redemptive history. God is the Creator of heaven and earth. God has acted through Christ to give life to humanity in calling a community of faithful disciples. The article declares: "Beginning with Abraham and Sarah, God has called forth a people of faith to worship God alone, to witness to the divine purposes for human beings and all of creation, and to love their neighbors as themselves. (Gen. 12:2-3; Lev. 19:18; Rom. 4:11-25; 1 Pet. 3:9-11) We have been joined to this people through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ and by confessing him to be Savior and Lord as the Holy Spirit has moved us (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 3:22)."

Mennonite identity is centrally, first and foremost, membership in the people of God. We are a community of faith, not merely a class of individuals. And it is as a community that God--acting in Christ and in the Holy Spirit--has created us, His Church (see article #9).

We believe that God is beyond our understanding (Exod. 3:13-14; Job 37; Isa. 40:18-25; Rom. 11:33-36); yet we also believe that God has communicated truth to us about him. "We believe that what we know of God through revelation fits with who God really is." "God both surpasses human understanding and is truly knowable through revelation. Our knowledge of God rests in this tension."

We believe God is most fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, as the Nicene Creed says "very God of very God" (John 1:14, 18; Heb. 1:1-4).

We believe God is revealed as love. "We confess that in the divine being these attributes [which sometimes appear contradictory to us] are perfectly united." Yet, "according to Scripture, the love of God has a certain priority in relation to other divine attributes." So, we confess that God is "holy love", "almighty love", "preserving love", "righteous love", "redemptive love", "suffering love", and "faithful love" (Exod. 20:4-6; 34:5-7; Ps. 25:4-10; Isa. 6; 54:10; Matt. 5:48; Rom. 2:5-11; 3:21-26; 1 John 4:8, 16).

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Biblical theism is the cornerstone of Mennonite Christianitiy. Christianity is about being in relation to God, as part of a community of faith. Above all, God relates to us by His love--love which surpasses our comprehension and experience of human love, yet which is sufficiently analogous to our concept of love that the word--but more the experience of Jesus' life and actions--communicates God's nature to us.

As Rich Mullins wrote, "We didn't know what love was 'til He came, and He gave love a face, and He gave love a name".

Loving my neighbor as myself, one of two equally great commandments summing up the whole will of God for His people according to Jesus, means then to live as Christ lived with respect to all other human beings: clean or unclean, sinful or righteous, Jew or Gentile, Christian or non-Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or agnostic, friend or enemy.
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"Make me a channel of Your Peace."

-St. Francis

Read the full post.

Why might Christians affirm gay marriage?

I was asked in a comment on Jim Spiegel's blog (http://wisdomandfollyblog.com/2009/01/26/on-a-certain-irony-in-the-case-for-gay-rights/) to list some reasons that are given by Christians who view exclusive gay relationships as moral. I am responding here on my own blog because I feel I've already taken up too much space in Jim's comment section. :)

Below I try to answer Elliott's question. I try to faithfully represent some common argumentative moves among gay-affirming Christian writers (from my thus far limited reading experience).

Disclaimer: I am still learning on this issue, so please do not take the information here as authoritative.


1. It is pointed out that just as there are multiple expressions of heterosexual sexuality, there are multiple expressions of homosexual sexuality. Promiscuity, extra-marital affairs, and pornography are not exclusively found among gays and lesbians (nor, I might add, are certain sexual behaviors regarded by some as deviant and indeed harmful, including for example anal sex). Rather than condemning all sexual behavior as evil (while some respected figures in the historic Christian tradition have come very close to doing just that) Christians ought to recognize that some heterosexual behaviors are good, healthy, positive, productive, and beneficial while other heterosexual behaviors are destructive, harmful, immoral, and sinful. Sexually active gays and lesbians are often stereotyped as promiscuous and as people who routinely engage in harmful and deviant behaviors (anal sex, drug use). Gay men are often stereotyped as pedophiliacs. These stereotypes should be challenged. In considering the question: "Are all acts of sexual intimacy between same-sex partners immoral?" we should be aware of the diversity of such acts. It should not be concluded a priori that if some same-sex acts are immoral that therefore all same-sex acts are deserving of moral condemnation.

2. The burden of proof is placed upon those who would condemn all expressions of homosexuality to demonstrate that such acts are morally wrong and condemned by God in scripture in virtue of their being same-sex acts. It is often suggested that passages in the Old and New Testaments which explicitly speak against homosexuality speak against specific types of relationships (e.g., pedophilia), or against specific practices in specific cultural/religious contexts (e.g., idolatry and paganism), or against specific sex-acts (like anal intercourse in Leviticus).

3. Fellow Christians who are in long-term committed monogamous same-sex relationships are held up as evidence that such relationships are not obviously harmful and indeed may exemplify certain virtues which are praised and valued in heterosexual marriage relationships.


That's it for right now. I think I've answered Elliott's question. Elliott--and others--feel free to comment.

Let me point readers to two good resources on this topic:
1. One book I recently finished reading which I found quite helpful: Reasoning Together: A Conversation on Homosexuality by Mark Thiessen Nation and Ted Grimsrud (foreward by Tony and Peggy Campolo). Amazon. WorldCat. Ted Grimsrud's longer chapter in this book (his main argument for an inclusive stance) is available in full at his website, along with some shorter articles written for the Welcome Book series: http://peacetheology.net/homosexuality. (The Welcome Committee is an organization of "Mennonites Working to Increase Dialogue on Gay and Lesbian Inclusion": http://www.welcome-committee.info/). Thiessen Nation and Grimsrud are both teachers at Eastern Mennonite University (I believe Thiessen Nation teaches in the seminary and Grimsrud in the undergraduate program).


2. Articles by Justin and Ron at the Gay Christian Network website. Justin and Ron are both bible-believing Christians and gay men. Justin argues that God blesses same-sex marriages. Ron believes God calls gay Christians to lifelong celibacy.



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"Make me a channel of Your Peace."

-St. Francis

Read the full post.

Revolutionary Subordination in Paul's Theology

Link: "Against Empire, A Yoderian Reading of Romans", by Ted Grimsrud at peacetheology.net

Big Ideas:
1. Paul reinforces Jesus' anti-Constantinian stance. "For Yoder, Paul does not lead away from Jesus’ messianic ethic. Jesus and Paul are not stage one and stage two of the development of Christian ethics that leads inevitably to Constantinianism. Rather, what is central to Jesus’ message remains central for Paul."

2. Justification in Pauline thought is social; justification in Romans and Galatians it is the same thing as reconciliation in Ephesians. Yoder says: "Paul cares not so much about systematic theological speculation about how human beings are to made acceptable to God, but rather the very concrete Roman situation in which Jew and Gentile, legalistic Christian and pagan Christian, needed to accept one another."

3. The Christian's relationship to the Powers is one of "revolutionary subordination". Christian community witnesses to the nations the truth and power of the gospel of the kingdom of God to free us from idolatry to the powers.


This idea of "revolutionary subordination" is something I'm interested in unpacking further. Also, I want to ask how my own socio-political context (as a privileged and empowered white male educated U.S. citizen who is registered to vote in a nation that affirms separation of church and state) affects my own application of Jesus' message to my present context. Surely there will be differences from Paul's context in the 1st century Roman Empire in which the state "church" was pagan worship of the emperor.


(There is nothing further to this post.)


------

"Make me a channel of Your Peace."

-St. Francis

Read the full post.