Stimulus Vol 12 Issue 4 November 2004 |
Table of ContentsMaking sense of Genesis 1 “In this generation”: The comings and goings of the Son of Man Embryos and people: The perplexity of our beginnings St Imulus: The Package-Driven Church Hermeneutics in every day Theological foundations of the Ecological Crisis Holy Moley! Open Theism attacks the atonement! Book Reviews The Single Issue Transcendence and Self-Transcendence: On God and the Soul Called Again: In and Beyond the Deserts of Faith True Believer: John Howard, George Bush and the American Alliance The Shape of Things to Come Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism Sidewalks in the Kingdom
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November 2004 |
EditorialThe story continues
I have been living in the book of Revelation this year. You may conclude therefore that I have been obsessing about raptures, the millennium, who the beast is, and whether the 3½ years starts from 2010 or 2014. Fortunately, Revelation is not that kind of book. John presents the story of the people of God in a series of breathtaking pictures, connecting together and concluding all the major threads of the Old Testament story, showing how God has transformed all things through the Christ event, and how it is Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Lamb, who is now ruling history for his people. We can therefore be confident to withstand all that Babylon will throw at us, continuing to witness to the saving power of God – to the point of death if need be – knowing that this world will be transformed into the eternal dwelling of the people of God, women and men from every tribe, and tongue, and nation.
Rikk Watts starts us at the beginning of the story with Genesis 1. He exhorts us to stop warring over the length of the days and instead focus on the real significance of the chapter. “This world is God’s temple-palace and he has not abandoned it. If we are truly to bear his image, then neither should we.” There is a continuity between this world and the next and John himself states that all that is good in this world will be taken into the eternal city (e.g. see Rev 21:24).
At the pivotal point of the story, Jesus of Nazareth declared that “…you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mt 26:64b), but he also stated that “this generation” would see these things happen (e.g. Mk 13:30). John understood that this enthronement had already occurred, and painted his own picture of the Lamb reigning from the heavenly throne room. My article connects the story from Daniel 7, through Jesus’ Olivet discourse, to John’s own statement about this Son of Man.
Rikk Watts discusses the beginnings of the world. Gareth Jones discusses the beginnings of being human. What is the status of an embryo before God? Can we simply state that “human life is sacred from conception”? There are no simple answers, but as Christians we must “…see people in their wholeness and treat them accordingly. …dignity and preciousness in God’s sight [must] become operative for all humans, and not simply for any one group at the expense of other groups”.
In attempting to live out the story, Christians often do some strange things. St Imulus has some advice about using forty days to focus our purpose, although he expresses a clear preference for the “Microwave-Driven® Life”. While the story is documented in a form that has been available to us for centuries, there is much confusion around how to interpret it. Gary Holt presents a parable of hermeneutics – how we would respond to a stop sign if we interpreted it the way we often interpret the Scriptures.
Nicola Hoggard Creegan shows how our deficient ideas about the story have led us away from stewardship of nature to increasing alienation from nature. We need to understand better the continuities between this world and the next if we are to behave in a manner of which the author of the story would approve. Stu McGregor discusses “Open Theism” and its views of the author, most especially around the atonement.
As the people of God, we often “lose the plot” regarding our current place in the story. We do, however, know how the story ends. John’s vision of the new heaven and new earth where “the home of God is among mortals” provides us with future certainty as we grapple with present uncertainty.
“Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
David Cashmore Douglas Maclachlan |
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Making sense of Genesis 1 |
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“...to be part of the gospel imperative to transform minds and put faith in God into practice.” |
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STIMULUS THE NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND PRACTICE |