In Search of Kingdom Living

At the mundane level there are degrees in the kind and amount of evil that is produced.

I have finally finished my last paper for sys.theo.1 with Dennis Ngien. The paper was a major book critique on Ted Peter's – Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society. This book was disturbingly enlightening. I learned a lot about how evil manifests intself, especially in the 7 classic categories of evil:

1) Anxiety
2) Unfaith
3) Pride
4) Concupiscence (lust)
5) Self-Justification
6) Cruelty
7) Blasphemy

Not only are these all different forms of sin, but Peters argue that there is a progressive path starting from anxiety, all the way to blasphemy… what he calls 'radical evil'. Us mainline christians are so used to labelling all sin as the same – ie. eternal consequence is that you're a sinner in God's eyes. Yet, in terms of our own human interactions, can we honestly claim that the sin of lying is the same as mass genocide? Peters makes a convincing argument that we should be concerned with just how large the scope certain sins can affect our lives and our world.

What was especially disturbing was Peters' anecdotal evidence of radical evil. He started writing this book out of a need to explore the more extreme forms of evil that manifests itself in society. Without getting into detail, he shared some shocking stories about ritual abuse, cults, Satanism, etc.

The book has helped me articulate what sin and evil is, esp. in light of today's society. I really appreciated the look into the more extreme forms of evil found in Satanism (something mainlines tend to neglect). I also enjoyed how Peters described our social structure based on concupiscence framework. Isn't our current worldview based on our own selfworth and selfgain… at the cost of others?

What I found lacking in the book was a more detailed description of the historical development of Satan. Peters begins by looking at the biblical introduction of Satan through the book of Job (possibly the OLDEST book in the bible), and he suggests a very interesting perspective of Satan being a kind of 'external conscience' for humanity who indirectly points to the huge gap between us and God. What was frustrating, was the point in which Peters state that the idea of the Devil's fall from heaven developed during the intertestamental period and it was probably perceived as an extrapolation of the human sense of fallenness. If only Peters can explain this more in detail.

On to more lighthearted things – I've finished my assigned readings for the sys.theo.1 course, which means I only have 7 more books in the 10 BOOK CHALLENGE.

I've also begun teaching SS at church. I'm doing a series called 'equipping the church', and it's basically a mixed bag of various topics. I'm hopeful that in fall, along with Bill's theology class (TCBC's english preacher), and uncle simon's 'how to study the bible' class, I can start a third class that can meet the needs of the university students. Last week was the first class, and the first thing I did – I gave PT's bible/theology test to the class… BWAHAHA. There was a surprising mix of scores – I'm hopeful that some of them will want to go to either the bible or theo class in the fall. This coming week, I'll be talking about christian and emerging culture, and of course, will do another quiz with the class.

Oh the fun times.

In other news, I purchased 3 more books from Amazon. I bought Randy Frazee's youthful adaptation of Dallas Willard's 'renovation of the heart'. I purchased Jonny Baker's 'Alternative Worship' (a staple of the emergent conversation). And lastly, due to my increasing desire to understand all things jewish, I bought Athol Dickson's 'The Gospel According to Moses: What my Jewish friends taught me about Jesus'.

Just a few links to keep you going. These are my bread/butter as far as pomo christianity is concerned.

Ginkworld
theOoze
Brian McLaren
Open Source Theology
Labyrinth

Tune in again where we rock and roll all night long.