Category Archives: Religion

October 18, 2009 · 10:12 pm

The Resurrection of the Dead vs The Immortality of the Soul

On Wednesday evenings I am leading a Bible study of Paul’s Corinthian letters. Recently we have been in I Corinthians chapter 15 and have been discussing the resurrection of the dead, the subject of the entire chapter. It is tempting to pull a few hopeful verses from this chapter for use in funeral services and move on just taking resurrection as a given in the Christian faith. But the Corinthians’ struggle to understand the meaning of resurrection as something very different from the immortality of the soul is very much a problem for us today.

The idea of the immortality of the soul was a very familiar idea to the Corinthians. It came to them as a basic part of Greek understanding of the world which taught that the soul and the body were separate things. The soul was good and immortal while the body was temporary and inadequate. On death the the soul was freed from the weak and temporal body to continue it’s immortal journey in the realm of the spirits. Understood correctly, it was best to accept death as a welcomed deliverance of the soul from its mortal prison. The Corinthians equated the immortality of the soul with the Gospel’s promise of the resurrection of the dead. All this sounds quite familiar to us as western society is heavily influenced by the philosophy of the Greeks.

There were, and are, however, serious incompatibilities between the Gospel and Greek philosophy that are particularly stark when it comes to the difference between immortality and resurrection. In Christian understanding death is not a part of God’s plan but has been imposed into our experience as a result of sin. Death is an enemy to be defeated. God’s plan is to deliver us from the influence of sin and its ultimate expression, death. When Jesus died His soul was not freed from an unimportant body. Rather he was experiencing in an act of love and sacrifice all the terrible destruction that our sins have imposed upon God’s plan. The resurrection of Jesus inaugerated the power of God’s plan in defeating death.

Another area that needs to be informed by the concept of the resurrection of the dead is respect for the body. While an immortal soul is delivered from bodily imprisonment in Greek thinking, the Biblical revelation teaches us that we are wonderfully made and that every part of us is loved by God and should be loved by us. We are not a soul trapped in a worthless body. We are a treasured creation that God has made, “a little lower than the angels … crowned with glory.” God’s redemptive plan includes all that we are, body, mind, soul, emotions, everything. The resurrection of the dead teaches what while our physical bodies are temporal and will “return to dust,” what lies beyond is a perfected extension of what God has already started, the redemption of our whole selves including the embodiment of all that we are.

Paul taught the Corinthians that the resurrection of the dead was a divine plan that expresses important aspects of God’s loving redemption revealed in the resurrection of Jesus. I think we need to pay attention, too.

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Filed under Body and Soul, Corinthian Epistles, Death, God, Immortality, Jesus, Paul, Resurrection

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October 6, 2009 · 11:20 pm

On Being an Introverted Pastor

I seldom give attention to the applications that make their rounds on facebook updates. I really don’t care which M*A*S*H character I am or how many Huggy Bears I can accumulate. But one that did catch my attention recently was “What Personality Type are You?” Several friends were posting the results from a  Myers-Briggs type test offered by the latest and greatest facebook app.

I did not need to take the test. Having been through several personality inventories in the past I knew exactly what the results would be: INtj. Translated and in reverse order that is slightly (j)udging vs. (p)erceiving; slightly more (t)hinking vs. (f)eeling; fairly strongly i(N)tuative vs. (s)ensing and always  pegging the scale on (I)troverted vs. (e)xtroverted. I test as an extremely introverted person.

Those who know me well are not surprised by this at all. They know that I would much rather read a book than go to a party, hardly ever go to a mall preferring to shop online, easily get lost in my own thoughts, and am the quiet one in a noisy group. All these are a part of the life of an introverted person.

Some folk are surprised, however, that a very introverted person can make it as a pastor. They assume the pastorate demands an extroverted personality.  But there are parts of the ministry best suited for an introverted person. Being alone in study or in prayer, understanding the interior landscape of spirituality, being quietly aware of one’s feelings and the feelings of others, able to step back and be reflective and analytical of dynamic situations; all these are things that come very naturally to an introverted person and are required for success in the pastorate.

Here’s the thing. The pastorate does not demand an introverted or an extroverted personality type. The pastorate demands many things, some of which come naturally to introverted people, some of which come naturally to extroverted people. The things I do naturally are, well, easy. The things I do not do naturally are the things that demand constant work and attention on my part.

So when you see me doing those things that come naturally to an extroverted minister, know that I am working very hard, may need encouragement, and always need a touch of grace. But know, also, that there are a host of things just as important on which an extroverted minister is working at very hard and, likewise, needs encouragement and grace.

What do you think? If you are a minister, what do you find easy and what do you find challenging? If you know me I would be very interested in your perceptions of me as an introverted person. I look forward to your comments.

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Filed under Introversion, Pastor, Personality Types, Prayer

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August 20, 2009 · 3:38 pm

“You need to lead now. You know where we are going.”

This week has been a great mass of emotions all clustered around one significant event. Last Sunday Wesley, my middle child, and I left for Waco, Texas to get him moved and ready to begin his seminary education at the Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. Every parent knows the mixture of emotions such an event evokes; sadness, joy, grief, pride, loneliness, and others. All these feelings are a part of the process of letting go of our children as they make their own way into an adult world.

One moment was particularly poignant for me, however, and unique, as Wesley not only goes off to graduate school, but takes an important step in following his calling into the ministry. We left for our long trip with two carloads of Wesley’s worldly possessions. Since Wesley had never driven to Texas, having flown in for his campus visits, I was in the lead with Wesley following behind as we made our way from Madison through Memphis, Little Rock, Texarkana, Dallas, and on to Waco. But I had never been to Baylor’s campus. So as we neared our destination I telephoned Wesley and said, “You need to lead now. You know where we are going.”

Almost immediately I began reflecting on my words not as a practical tactic for taking the right exit off the interstate but as a statement of faith. I believe that God calls new leaders for the church from each generation of believers and enables those leaders to envision new directions as we minister to an ever-changing world. “You need to lead now,” is my blessing that I give to Wesley and all other young men and women that God is calling to be the leaders of the church in a dynamic future. “You know where we are going,” is my pledge to always listen carefully to the ideas of young ministers who understand the future better than I do.

God bless you, Wesley, and God bless all your colleagues. You need to lead now. You know where we are going.

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Filed under Blessing, God, Parenting, Religion, Seminary, The Future

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