Thank you for the interest shown, to those of you who are reading these entries. So here is my second letter written whilst I was in hospital.
A Second Letter from Hospital.
I am arriving at a point in my letters where it appears we do not have to believe in the existence of God to achieve a reasonable quality of life in this life, and I have to admit this is the substance of my prayers. They are petitionary prayers. I pray because I do believe, in fact I know God exists through a personal experience of my own, and I believe He hears my prayers. In this way He is the Supreme Comforter, I am finding. I acknowledge that it is His will as to whether or not He answers my prayers. If He does not immediately answer my petitionary prayers, I do not hold back on my prayers of praise and adoration. He has given me a wonderful life in a marvellous world, and has given us all the great gifts of science, technology, engineering, the arts and crafts. He has also given us the intellect to develop these endeavours, but unfortunately the devil has intervened, I believe, and caused us to misuse them. Finally God has given us spritual awareness, creating us in His image, and for those of us who recognise this gives us the ability to ask these fundamental questions, which includes the one I am considering at the moment, our desire to know what happens to us when we die.
Today I asked a stalwart member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church why do we believe in God? Is it only to achieve eternal salvation, which is all I have gained from reading the Gospel of St John (four times so far) whilst here in hospital? In any event, such everlasting life will be a spiritual existence with Jesus, the nature of which we know nothing? We do not really know whether or not we will meet our loved ones and others again. We do not know whether or not it will be soul sleep as the Adventists believe. My Christian bedside visitor answered my question by saying that we believe in God through faith, which seems to me at the moment to beg the question.
I believe in God because I believe in a supernatural creator, I cannot believe that this wonderful world and man's work in it has all come about by chance. Not only that, I also had a personal experience which brought me to know God, rather than just believe in Him. This brings me to give a brief account of the similar experience of C. S. Lewis, which he has described in a little book entitled "Surprised by Joy".
Throughout his teenage years he was settling with atheism. He possessed a great imagination, a supreme intellect, and he was an avid reader of books. He gained a first clsss honours at Oxford in English Literature and lectured there throughout his twenties. leading to his acceptance of the existence of God (but not yet to a conversion to Christianity). This acceptance of the reality of God arose through a conflict in his mind of a nagging search for an elusive experience he calls Joy. Alone in his study one night, after many years of debating with his colleagues in Oxford about the nature of existence and possible answers to some of our fundamental questions, he broke down and cried and accepted God into his life. Further intellectual study brought him to accept that the only religion which made complete sense was Christianity. My spiritual journey contains, in part, a striking similarity to his. Firstly a personal experience, then an intellectual study bringing me to believe that the only way to God is through Jesus.
The quest for Joy must be what keeps us going in this mortal life. We thank God every morning, even if we are suffering pain or discomfort, and try to do something which might be useful or helpful to others. Lewis suffered severe illness and discomfort in his last years, he died at 65 years old, but continued to write until the very end. So whether it be nuclear physics, or car engines or writing (my examples in these letters), I must try to find something to keep me going. I can pray to God to ask for guidance, but I too must play my part. This letter is not finished, it's getting late. I will try to sleep and if it is the will of God I will continue tomorrow.
This morning I am going to introduce my political views, prompted by my reading of the SDA Quarterly and their description and whole-hearted support of the universal church of Christ. I claim to be an anarchist, and have been so from my first teaching appointment at 25 years old. I began teaching as an optimist, believing that with education I could achieve progress through it, and help to change the world.This lasted for about ten years when pessimism set in, but I loved school-teaching and hung on to my job at the chalkboard level for another 30 years, because being an anarchist I was never interested in promotion, which would only have increased my authoritarian status. I suffer now through the lack of the financial resources to make my old age more comfortable, and more importantly to provide more for my wonderful wife. With God's presence I hold no regrets for myself, but I do regret not being able to provide for my wife in the way I would like. I have no children with whom I can relate, and none from my present wife. Her influence on my spiritual development has been considerable.
Concerning anarchism, a word which my wife is uncomfortable with, I cite Paul Feyerabend in his book "Against Method", where he rejects anarchism as it is pejoratively known, but he makes an anarchical attack on the established methodology of science. He preferred to be thought of as a Dadaist, that movement within art during the 1920's which was a reaction to the horrors of WW1. I am firmly against authoritarianism as it is manifested in human institutions like schools, churches, and ultimately in nation states and government. The world, however, being as it is the domain of the devil, needs some form of government to arrest the cruelty, greed, selfishness and criminality of so many, and it appears democracy, inadequate as it is, is all we have to be partially successful in providing for the basic needs of people, and political stability. Therefore I am a law-abiding citizen, but I will not vote unless I am compelled to do so.
It may not appear that this account has much to do with the universal church of Christ, but I wrote in the margin of one page of the SDA Quarterly, near their suggestion of a question for discussion during their Sabbath School. It would be my response if I were present at thier discussion. Having discussed how the early church created unity as described in the Acts of the Apostles, the Quarterly is entitled "Oneness in Christ", the SDA ask, "How can we, as a church today, do similar things?".
My suggested reply would be that all members should pool their incomes and resources, just as Barnabus did (Acts 4: 36,37) - cited in the Quarterly - and my idea is continued in the preceding verses 34 and 35. That is, my margin entry continued by saying the pool should be divided equally amongst all members, after first taking portions for the poor and needy amongst themselves, but also for those outside their church. Pastors and elders should be included with their full salaries and resources placed into the pool, and a further portion taken out for the maintenance of the physical infra-structure of the church, and any agreed outreach and missionary work. The remainder would be shared equally, but each according to their needs.In Acts the early Christians sold their land and their houses and I think we are approaching an answer to my fundamental question, "What does it mean to be a Christian?".
As already indicated the problem with political anarchism is that it is idealist, an ideology, needing a society such as described by William Morris in "News from Nowhere", but there are many ideas from all types of anarchists as to how they would accomodate cruelty, greed, selfishness, criminality, and I now add laziness. In our fictitious Christian Anarchist Church, with the economics as we presently find it in this world, how would we deal with a person who claimed to be a Christian, joined the meeting and went through all of the rituals, but their motives were laziness and selfishness. They saw the opportunity to do less work than normal and yet maintain a reasonable standard of living. This standard would be enjoyed by all members equally through their share of the Church's pool.
In the early church meetings I do not think this problem arose, apart from, taking the Scriptures literally, worrying about Ananias and Sapphira who were struck dead on the spot by God! In "News from Nowhere" citizens less inclined to contribute to the well-being of all were indentified and admonished, but there would be far fewer of them than exist in our present corrupt society, where the division of wealth is so great between the rich and the poor. None were cast out, but restrictions on their freedom of movement might be necessary for a while, during a process of rehabilitation.
Combining then these two ideas, Christianity and anarchy, there are a number people who are interested in Christian Anarchism, a theological position well-documented, with Leo Tolstoy as a leading writer and source of inspiration. He had a considerable influence on Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jnr. Christian Anarchism is obviously criticised as being an oxymoron, but its adherents claim only the authority of God through Jesus, and do not unnecessarily submit to human institutional authority which is authoritarianism. They fellowship pretty well exactly as inferred by the universal church of Christ, referred to in the SDA Quarterly. Following their Scriptural references leads us into a further understanding of might be meant by the universal church of Christ. Quite simply, every member of it is a true Christian, but perhaps Neitszche was correct when he said the only true Christian died on the cross. We of course believe Jesus was resurrected and is with us now. In other words, linking up with the notion of an idealistic anarchist society, such a society will only arrive when we are all Christians, and all anarchists. This, of course, will never be the case in our present corrupt world, and so as Christians all we can do is hold on to our belief in the Second Coming of Christ. In the meantime we hold on to our God-given mortal life. I do not expect Him always to answer my mortal petitionary prayers. I will continue to pray for HIs forgiveness, His mercy, and His help in overcoming my difficulties, and now in hospital my infirmities, but all of the while I must try to find something worthwhile to do to contribute to the well-being of this world and future generations. I cannot be greatly motivated by the promise of salvation and eternal life. God willing, I will get those too.
With this idea as Christians our priority should not be to seek salvation, forgiveness of our sins, mercy, everlasting life and to be with God for eternity. As my Christian bedside visitor said, we gain all of this only through faith in Jesus, not through works, and this needs to be looked at carefully. I accept that faith, not works, is all we need for eternal salvation, but what about salvation in this life? Later in my letters I want to draw a distinction between mortal salvation and eternal salvation, but here and now I am thinking about works. As Christians we should be seen to be united in fellowship, therefore our works have to be seen to be an important part of our Christian life. In tnis respect, I think this is the message in the SDA Quarterly, and arises out of our study of the Bible. Encouraging unity amongst Christians means that we will admonish anyone who is cruel, selfish, greedy and lazy, just as described in "News from Nowhere". There is then little difference between true Christians and anarchists, and Christian Anarchy should be seen as a profound alliance between our mortality and our sprituality.
Only saints might devote their whole lives to spiritual concerns, and be examples to the rest of us as to how to develop our own spirituality. Meanwhile we should spend most of our time on worldly benefits for others and future generations, and not so much time on going to church and mostly pretending by doing so it makes us better Christians.In tnis respect the vast amount of voluntary work done is whole-heartedly Christian in nature, even when done by atheists. In the Bible, and the Scriptures are quoted in the SDA Quarterly, we can read Ephesians 4:25 to 5:2 and Colossians 3:1 to 17, and the Quarterly goes on to say:
"There are many other passages of Scriture that invite Christians to follow the example of Jesus and to be living witnesses of God's grace to others. We are also invited to seek the welfare of others (Matt 7:12), to bear each others burdens (Gal 6:2), to live in simplicity and to focus on inward spirituality instead of outward display (Matt 16:24-26 and 1Pet 3:3,4), and to follow healthful living practices (1Cor 10:31)".
The last sentence of this paragraph from the Quarterly runs thus:
"As representatives of Christ believers are to be known, not only for their moral rectitude but also for their practical interest in the welfare of others. If our religious experience is genuine it will reveal itself and have an impact on the world ....".
I hardly need to say that a person does not have to be a Christian to exhibit these traits. Having just read the Scriptures referenced in the preceding paragraph I find nothing new, nothing unreasonable and nothng with which I disagree, but we do not need to have faith in Jesus to follow these admonishments, therefore I ask again, what does it mean to be a Christian? It can only be because we want everlasting life. This, as I have already said, will be a spiritual life, and we hope and pray it will be good. In the meantime we must lead, as good Christians or not, a life filled with good works. Being spiritual (and Christian), believing in the supernatural, I can pray to God for guidance. Others do not have this Comforter, perhaps they do not need Him but still do good works. The consequence for their lack of belief only God knows, and He coerces no-one therefore neither should we. We can encourage them to believe, and their good works can never be disparaged nor discouraged. The reverse in fact, we should encourage them to be healthy, unselfish, kind, honest and to contribute not only to their own well-being, but the well-being of others and future generations.
As Christians we believe in the Second Coming of Christ when all wickedness, pain and suffering will cease, and some Christians believe that because of their faith only they are the ones who will be saved. My faith is strong. I whole-heartedly believe in God and through Him coming to earth as Jesus I can relate to Him as no other, and according to His Will I will be with Him for eternity. This makes me claim to be a Christian, but it does not give me the right to claim to be a good Christian. It appears the SDA Quarterly is an attempt to bring their membership to that wholesome goodness through good works in this world, with which I agree, and the discarding of human sin, with which I also agree, but the organisation of their Church does not reflect this. No institutional Church does this. We are all in this world, but find it very difficult not to be part of it.
I have repeated myself many times in this letter to make my argument, just as the Bible so often repeats itself. If this letter inspires others to reject institutional human authority, I may have been inspired by God. Anything we can do to bring people closer to God has to be good, and anarchism will be seen to be another of God's gifts. In the meantime, with the devil at large, we need law and order through our present governments, and as I have said, democracy seems to be the nearest we have to some Christian principles. I think Jesus was an anarchist. Not a political revolutionary, certainly not violent although He did show anger, and although it could easily become institutionalised and authoritarian with the devil in control, Christian Anarchy offers a very reasonable alternative to all other Christian doctrines and theological interpretations of the Scriptures. To me the SDA Quarterly supports this sort of response to the Bible with its Scriptural references to the universal church of Christ, (which to me is in line with the tenets of Christian Anarchism - this was added while typing out my letters at home, which were hand-written in hospital).
A Second Letter from Hospital.
I am arriving at a point in my letters where it appears we do not have to believe in the existence of God to achieve a reasonable quality of life in this life, and I have to admit this is the substance of my prayers. They are petitionary prayers. I pray because I do believe, in fact I know God exists through a personal experience of my own, and I believe He hears my prayers. In this way He is the Supreme Comforter, I am finding. I acknowledge that it is His will as to whether or not He answers my prayers. If He does not immediately answer my petitionary prayers, I do not hold back on my prayers of praise and adoration. He has given me a wonderful life in a marvellous world, and has given us all the great gifts of science, technology, engineering, the arts and crafts. He has also given us the intellect to develop these endeavours, but unfortunately the devil has intervened, I believe, and caused us to misuse them. Finally God has given us spritual awareness, creating us in His image, and for those of us who recognise this gives us the ability to ask these fundamental questions, which includes the one I am considering at the moment, our desire to know what happens to us when we die.
Today I asked a stalwart member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church why do we believe in God? Is it only to achieve eternal salvation, which is all I have gained from reading the Gospel of St John (four times so far) whilst here in hospital? In any event, such everlasting life will be a spiritual existence with Jesus, the nature of which we know nothing? We do not really know whether or not we will meet our loved ones and others again. We do not know whether or not it will be soul sleep as the Adventists believe. My Christian bedside visitor answered my question by saying that we believe in God through faith, which seems to me at the moment to beg the question.
I believe in God because I believe in a supernatural creator, I cannot believe that this wonderful world and man's work in it has all come about by chance. Not only that, I also had a personal experience which brought me to know God, rather than just believe in Him. This brings me to give a brief account of the similar experience of C. S. Lewis, which he has described in a little book entitled "Surprised by Joy".
Throughout his teenage years he was settling with atheism. He possessed a great imagination, a supreme intellect, and he was an avid reader of books. He gained a first clsss honours at Oxford in English Literature and lectured there throughout his twenties. leading to his acceptance of the existence of God (but not yet to a conversion to Christianity). This acceptance of the reality of God arose through a conflict in his mind of a nagging search for an elusive experience he calls Joy. Alone in his study one night, after many years of debating with his colleagues in Oxford about the nature of existence and possible answers to some of our fundamental questions, he broke down and cried and accepted God into his life. Further intellectual study brought him to accept that the only religion which made complete sense was Christianity. My spiritual journey contains, in part, a striking similarity to his. Firstly a personal experience, then an intellectual study bringing me to believe that the only way to God is through Jesus.
The quest for Joy must be what keeps us going in this mortal life. We thank God every morning, even if we are suffering pain or discomfort, and try to do something which might be useful or helpful to others. Lewis suffered severe illness and discomfort in his last years, he died at 65 years old, but continued to write until the very end. So whether it be nuclear physics, or car engines or writing (my examples in these letters), I must try to find something to keep me going. I can pray to God to ask for guidance, but I too must play my part. This letter is not finished, it's getting late. I will try to sleep and if it is the will of God I will continue tomorrow.
This morning I am going to introduce my political views, prompted by my reading of the SDA Quarterly and their description and whole-hearted support of the universal church of Christ. I claim to be an anarchist, and have been so from my first teaching appointment at 25 years old. I began teaching as an optimist, believing that with education I could achieve progress through it, and help to change the world.This lasted for about ten years when pessimism set in, but I loved school-teaching and hung on to my job at the chalkboard level for another 30 years, because being an anarchist I was never interested in promotion, which would only have increased my authoritarian status. I suffer now through the lack of the financial resources to make my old age more comfortable, and more importantly to provide more for my wonderful wife. With God's presence I hold no regrets for myself, but I do regret not being able to provide for my wife in the way I would like. I have no children with whom I can relate, and none from my present wife. Her influence on my spiritual development has been considerable.
Concerning anarchism, a word which my wife is uncomfortable with, I cite Paul Feyerabend in his book "Against Method", where he rejects anarchism as it is pejoratively known, but he makes an anarchical attack on the established methodology of science. He preferred to be thought of as a Dadaist, that movement within art during the 1920's which was a reaction to the horrors of WW1. I am firmly against authoritarianism as it is manifested in human institutions like schools, churches, and ultimately in nation states and government. The world, however, being as it is the domain of the devil, needs some form of government to arrest the cruelty, greed, selfishness and criminality of so many, and it appears democracy, inadequate as it is, is all we have to be partially successful in providing for the basic needs of people, and political stability. Therefore I am a law-abiding citizen, but I will not vote unless I am compelled to do so.
It may not appear that this account has much to do with the universal church of Christ, but I wrote in the margin of one page of the SDA Quarterly, near their suggestion of a question for discussion during their Sabbath School. It would be my response if I were present at thier discussion. Having discussed how the early church created unity as described in the Acts of the Apostles, the Quarterly is entitled "Oneness in Christ", the SDA ask, "How can we, as a church today, do similar things?".
My suggested reply would be that all members should pool their incomes and resources, just as Barnabus did (Acts 4: 36,37) - cited in the Quarterly - and my idea is continued in the preceding verses 34 and 35. That is, my margin entry continued by saying the pool should be divided equally amongst all members, after first taking portions for the poor and needy amongst themselves, but also for those outside their church. Pastors and elders should be included with their full salaries and resources placed into the pool, and a further portion taken out for the maintenance of the physical infra-structure of the church, and any agreed outreach and missionary work. The remainder would be shared equally, but each according to their needs.In Acts the early Christians sold their land and their houses and I think we are approaching an answer to my fundamental question, "What does it mean to be a Christian?".
As already indicated the problem with political anarchism is that it is idealist, an ideology, needing a society such as described by William Morris in "News from Nowhere", but there are many ideas from all types of anarchists as to how they would accomodate cruelty, greed, selfishness, criminality, and I now add laziness. In our fictitious Christian Anarchist Church, with the economics as we presently find it in this world, how would we deal with a person who claimed to be a Christian, joined the meeting and went through all of the rituals, but their motives were laziness and selfishness. They saw the opportunity to do less work than normal and yet maintain a reasonable standard of living. This standard would be enjoyed by all members equally through their share of the Church's pool.
In the early church meetings I do not think this problem arose, apart from, taking the Scriptures literally, worrying about Ananias and Sapphira who were struck dead on the spot by God! In "News from Nowhere" citizens less inclined to contribute to the well-being of all were indentified and admonished, but there would be far fewer of them than exist in our present corrupt society, where the division of wealth is so great between the rich and the poor. None were cast out, but restrictions on their freedom of movement might be necessary for a while, during a process of rehabilitation.
Combining then these two ideas, Christianity and anarchy, there are a number people who are interested in Christian Anarchism, a theological position well-documented, with Leo Tolstoy as a leading writer and source of inspiration. He had a considerable influence on Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jnr. Christian Anarchism is obviously criticised as being an oxymoron, but its adherents claim only the authority of God through Jesus, and do not unnecessarily submit to human institutional authority which is authoritarianism. They fellowship pretty well exactly as inferred by the universal church of Christ, referred to in the SDA Quarterly. Following their Scriptural references leads us into a further understanding of might be meant by the universal church of Christ. Quite simply, every member of it is a true Christian, but perhaps Neitszche was correct when he said the only true Christian died on the cross. We of course believe Jesus was resurrected and is with us now. In other words, linking up with the notion of an idealistic anarchist society, such a society will only arrive when we are all Christians, and all anarchists. This, of course, will never be the case in our present corrupt world, and so as Christians all we can do is hold on to our belief in the Second Coming of Christ. In the meantime we hold on to our God-given mortal life. I do not expect Him always to answer my mortal petitionary prayers. I will continue to pray for HIs forgiveness, His mercy, and His help in overcoming my difficulties, and now in hospital my infirmities, but all of the while I must try to find something worthwhile to do to contribute to the well-being of this world and future generations. I cannot be greatly motivated by the promise of salvation and eternal life. God willing, I will get those too.
With this idea as Christians our priority should not be to seek salvation, forgiveness of our sins, mercy, everlasting life and to be with God for eternity. As my Christian bedside visitor said, we gain all of this only through faith in Jesus, not through works, and this needs to be looked at carefully. I accept that faith, not works, is all we need for eternal salvation, but what about salvation in this life? Later in my letters I want to draw a distinction between mortal salvation and eternal salvation, but here and now I am thinking about works. As Christians we should be seen to be united in fellowship, therefore our works have to be seen to be an important part of our Christian life. In tnis respect, I think this is the message in the SDA Quarterly, and arises out of our study of the Bible. Encouraging unity amongst Christians means that we will admonish anyone who is cruel, selfish, greedy and lazy, just as described in "News from Nowhere". There is then little difference between true Christians and anarchists, and Christian Anarchy should be seen as a profound alliance between our mortality and our sprituality.
Only saints might devote their whole lives to spiritual concerns, and be examples to the rest of us as to how to develop our own spirituality. Meanwhile we should spend most of our time on worldly benefits for others and future generations, and not so much time on going to church and mostly pretending by doing so it makes us better Christians.In tnis respect the vast amount of voluntary work done is whole-heartedly Christian in nature, even when done by atheists. In the Bible, and the Scriptures are quoted in the SDA Quarterly, we can read Ephesians 4:25 to 5:2 and Colossians 3:1 to 17, and the Quarterly goes on to say:
"There are many other passages of Scriture that invite Christians to follow the example of Jesus and to be living witnesses of God's grace to others. We are also invited to seek the welfare of others (Matt 7:12), to bear each others burdens (Gal 6:2), to live in simplicity and to focus on inward spirituality instead of outward display (Matt 16:24-26 and 1Pet 3:3,4), and to follow healthful living practices (1Cor 10:31)".
The last sentence of this paragraph from the Quarterly runs thus:
"As representatives of Christ believers are to be known, not only for their moral rectitude but also for their practical interest in the welfare of others. If our religious experience is genuine it will reveal itself and have an impact on the world ....".
I hardly need to say that a person does not have to be a Christian to exhibit these traits. Having just read the Scriptures referenced in the preceding paragraph I find nothing new, nothing unreasonable and nothng with which I disagree, but we do not need to have faith in Jesus to follow these admonishments, therefore I ask again, what does it mean to be a Christian? It can only be because we want everlasting life. This, as I have already said, will be a spiritual life, and we hope and pray it will be good. In the meantime we must lead, as good Christians or not, a life filled with good works. Being spiritual (and Christian), believing in the supernatural, I can pray to God for guidance. Others do not have this Comforter, perhaps they do not need Him but still do good works. The consequence for their lack of belief only God knows, and He coerces no-one therefore neither should we. We can encourage them to believe, and their good works can never be disparaged nor discouraged. The reverse in fact, we should encourage them to be healthy, unselfish, kind, honest and to contribute not only to their own well-being, but the well-being of others and future generations.
As Christians we believe in the Second Coming of Christ when all wickedness, pain and suffering will cease, and some Christians believe that because of their faith only they are the ones who will be saved. My faith is strong. I whole-heartedly believe in God and through Him coming to earth as Jesus I can relate to Him as no other, and according to His Will I will be with Him for eternity. This makes me claim to be a Christian, but it does not give me the right to claim to be a good Christian. It appears the SDA Quarterly is an attempt to bring their membership to that wholesome goodness through good works in this world, with which I agree, and the discarding of human sin, with which I also agree, but the organisation of their Church does not reflect this. No institutional Church does this. We are all in this world, but find it very difficult not to be part of it.
I have repeated myself many times in this letter to make my argument, just as the Bible so often repeats itself. If this letter inspires others to reject institutional human authority, I may have been inspired by God. Anything we can do to bring people closer to God has to be good, and anarchism will be seen to be another of God's gifts. In the meantime, with the devil at large, we need law and order through our present governments, and as I have said, democracy seems to be the nearest we have to some Christian principles. I think Jesus was an anarchist. Not a political revolutionary, certainly not violent although He did show anger, and although it could easily become institutionalised and authoritarian with the devil in control, Christian Anarchy offers a very reasonable alternative to all other Christian doctrines and theological interpretations of the Scriptures. To me the SDA Quarterly supports this sort of response to the Bible with its Scriptural references to the universal church of Christ, (which to me is in line with the tenets of Christian Anarchism - this was added while typing out my letters at home, which were hand-written in hospital).
