I don't celebrate Easter, as it is celebrated in American and Western culture, and haven't since God had mercy on me and opened my eyes to my eternal condition and what happened on that first day of the week on that cross on Calvary. I came into the faith in Pentecostalism so the initial reason for not celebrating Easter was probably more do to the fact that it is the mix of a pagan custom and Christian belief.
My theology today is Reformed. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and celebrated 52 Lord's Days of the year, so having one day (Easter) to specifically proclaim what happened in the tomb on that morning is confusing to say the least. This is NOT a political blog. I mention Barack Obama only because it was he in the news today on this subject. He attended church today for the first time since his inauguration, a malady that much of America suffers in that it is somehow meant to satisfy the perceived basic obligation of many.
Fox News reports that the pastor of the Episcopal church across the street from the White House "made no mention of the Obama's in his sermon. Instead he talked about the North Carolina Tarheels..." He also stated "I'm a fairly charitable person...but I hate the Yankees." This light banter, used to endear the pastor to visitors, is everywhere today and evidence of many churches that are Christian in name only. The main reason I bring up the Obama's experience is another comment, a theological comment that the pastor made. He said " I can't explain Easter to anyone. It just can't be done. It's like a professor trying to explain one of e. e. cummings poems." Again, according to Fox news he "called Easter an event based on faith, not on logic."
The problem with this last statement is more than semantics. It is not that he could just have chosen better words. We, as a nation, generally do believe the the resurrection is all faith and no logic. No... it is also logic. Please hear me out on this. Salvation comes by grace, and only by grace in that it is of nothing we ever did, could do or even desire. Salvation comes through faith, and only through faith in that that is the method God has chosen to bring us to Him. That faith, is in Jesus Christ, only in Jesus Christ, and only in the Jesus Christ that Scripture reveals.
I take issue with the pastor's interpretation because it infers that belief in the resurrection must be all faith and no logic because faith is void of facts and logic requires facts of which there are none concerning the Resurrection. The facts of the Resurrection are plentiful. There are testimonies of Pagan historians and Jewish historians on the problems caused that day by scattered soldiers and an empty tomb. There are facts in that we know how humans react in certain situations, and how the apostles reacted in those days, and the conclusion looks to logic to explain what must have happened.
If we, as the pastor recommends, say that there are no facts and no logic here and we must simply believe that it happened, we do a great disservice to all non-believers in that we who believe essentially say that "We are all dummies that just believe, and God has not given us the slightest intellectual evidence of the belief we have, and by the way, do you want chuck your mind and come with us? " I have to reiterate and amplify a little here. There are many things that are beyond even our imagination. I have mentioned this before, to me personally, the biggest mystery of all is how God could have mercy on someone such as myself! It is not that some belief cannot be based soley on faith. It is that the fact of the empty tomb and thus the resurrection of Christ is not one of them.
My theology today is Reformed. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and celebrated 52 Lord's Days of the year, so having one day (Easter) to specifically proclaim what happened in the tomb on that morning is confusing to say the least. This is NOT a political blog. I mention Barack Obama only because it was he in the news today on this subject. He attended church today for the first time since his inauguration, a malady that much of America suffers in that it is somehow meant to satisfy the perceived basic obligation of many.
Fox News reports that the pastor of the Episcopal church across the street from the White House "made no mention of the Obama's in his sermon. Instead he talked about the North Carolina Tarheels..." He also stated "I'm a fairly charitable person...but I hate the Yankees." This light banter, used to endear the pastor to visitors, is everywhere today and evidence of many churches that are Christian in name only. The main reason I bring up the Obama's experience is another comment, a theological comment that the pastor made. He said " I can't explain Easter to anyone. It just can't be done. It's like a professor trying to explain one of e. e. cummings poems." Again, according to Fox news he "called Easter an event based on faith, not on logic."
The problem with this last statement is more than semantics. It is not that he could just have chosen better words. We, as a nation, generally do believe the the resurrection is all faith and no logic. No... it is also logic. Please hear me out on this. Salvation comes by grace, and only by grace in that it is of nothing we ever did, could do or even desire. Salvation comes through faith, and only through faith in that that is the method God has chosen to bring us to Him. That faith, is in Jesus Christ, only in Jesus Christ, and only in the Jesus Christ that Scripture reveals.
I take issue with the pastor's interpretation because it infers that belief in the resurrection must be all faith and no logic because faith is void of facts and logic requires facts of which there are none concerning the Resurrection. The facts of the Resurrection are plentiful. There are testimonies of Pagan historians and Jewish historians on the problems caused that day by scattered soldiers and an empty tomb. There are facts in that we know how humans react in certain situations, and how the apostles reacted in those days, and the conclusion looks to logic to explain what must have happened.
If we, as the pastor recommends, say that there are no facts and no logic here and we must simply believe that it happened, we do a great disservice to all non-believers in that we who believe essentially say that "We are all dummies that just believe, and God has not given us the slightest intellectual evidence of the belief we have, and by the way, do you want chuck your mind and come with us? " I have to reiterate and amplify a little here. There are many things that are beyond even our imagination. I have mentioned this before, to me personally, the biggest mystery of all is how God could have mercy on someone such as myself! It is not that some belief cannot be based soley on faith. It is that the fact of the empty tomb and thus the resurrection of Christ is not one of them.
